Colonel Nathan McCormack was removed from his position on the Joint Staff after his social-media posts criticizing Israel and America’s relationship with it became public.
McCormack reportedly described Israel as a “death cult” and America’s “worst ally.” He questioned whether Washington had effectively become Israel’s proxy and argued that unconditional U.S. support was damaging America’s own interests.
The Pentagon said his views did not represent the Department of Defense and returned him to the Army while an investigation was conducted.
Whatever one thinks of his language, the episode raises an uncomfortable question:
Can senior American officials openly challenge U.S. policy toward Israel without risking their careers?
Military personnel are expected to follow strict professional and operational-security rules. But criticism of any foreign government should not automatically be treated as disloyalty.
America’s armed forces serve the United States—not Israel, not any lobby and not any foreign leader.
If an alliance cannot survive honest scrutiny, perhaps the problem is not the criticism.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has emulated recent public statements made by his New York counterpart Zohran Mamdani by saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "not welcome" in the British capital for being responsible and “a perpetrator” of genocide.
"I do believe a genocide has been committed in Gaza," Khan said during an interview with Chanel 4 News.
"I think Netanyahu, who is responsible and is a perpetrator of genocide, I think he's broken the law, and I think justice needs to happen, and that means him brought to book."
he added: "The good news is, and this is very good news, is Netanyahu is not coming to London because if he did, he would feel the full weight of public opinion if he came. If there is any evidence of him coming to London, I'll be lobbying the Prime Minister to make sure the law's enforced, absolutely."
“People who commit genocide are not welcome in London," Khan concluded.
Burkina Faso built a 50 MW power plant in 90 days and finished a month early
Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo switched on the Pabré emergency thermal power plant on 21 July, about twenty kilometres north of Ouagadougou. Fifty megawatts, built in ninety days against a contractual deadline of one hundred and twenty, delivered a full month ahead of schedule. The cost was 18 billion CFA francs, roughly 31 million dollars, and the plant runs on 72 Cummins generator sets feeding directly into the national grid through SONABEL.
Understand why speed matters this much here. Only around a fifth of Burkinabè have electricity, and the country imports roughly half of what it consumes from its neighbours. That means every power cut in Ghana or Côte d'Ivoire lands in Burkinabè homes and workshops. A nation that cannot generate its own power is a nation whose lights are switched on and off by someone else's decisions.
Now notice who built it. The partner is Al Ahram Taqa Burkina, an Egyptian company, and its executives were decorated as Knights of the Burkinabè Order of Merit at the ceremony. This is African expertise building African infrastructure. No European consortium, no aid package with a lecture attached, an African firm delivering ahead of deadline on African soil.
And Pabré is only the opening move. Hours before the inauguration, the foundation stone was laid for a 120 megawatt plant at Ouaga Sud-Est in Saaba, a 133 billion CFA project. More plants are coming at Bobo-Dioulasso, Koudougou, Kaya, Komsilga and Donsin, together adding over 220 megawatts. The Prime Minister put the target bluntly, saying there will be no rest until national electricity production exceeds demand.
Say the honest part too. These are thermal plants burning fuel, an emergency answer rather than a permanent green one, in a country flooded with sunlight. The long game still has to be solar and hydro. But you cannot industrialise on promises, and a country at war does not have the luxury of waiting a decade for perfect infrastructure.
Ninety days from ground to grid, in a nation fighting terrorists on multiple fronts. Nobody handed Burkina Faso this. It decided the lights were its own responsibility and got to work.
It’s a little before eleven, but we can do what we want. We don’t have to be exactly on time.
I have a little meditation for you. It’s an exercise. Imagine you discover the Message today. You are in your home, in your town, and today you discover the Message for the first time. There is no website, there is no movement, you are alone. What do you do? Because if you are touched by the Message, you know there is a prophet somewhere who wants to welcome the Elohim, to build an embassy. You know all this story, but there is no movement. What do you do?
Try to imagine. You read the book exactly like you did. You are crazy enthusiastic. “I want to help!” I hope. That’s what you experienced, I hope. That’s why you are here today.
But there is nobody. No movement, no organization, no website. What do you do? Cry? No.[ “I make the Raelian Movement”]. “How?” That’s interesting, right? [“I talk to friends, one person at a time”] . And they all laugh, nobody follows you. That’s what happened to me. Any other suggestions?
Who wrote the Message, the book? Do you wish to come and meet me? Better than crying.
So, do you come? Do you try to find where Maitreya is? Where is he?
Maybe you don’t know, but I don’t know either, maybe you want to come and meet me? Is it OK? [Yes!] Imagine you take a train, a car, anything, and you go to where Maitreya is.
I was in a house in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, and I remember the first Raelian coming to meet me. It could have been you. There was no organization, nothing. He came and said, “How can I help?” Beautiful. He was the father of Jarel, Job Aymonier. “What can I do?” There wasn’t even a book published yet.
I spoke on TV before the book was made, and they send thousands of letters to the television. The postman brought bags, like garbage bags, full of letters to my house. I took my pen and answered each person. Many Raelians still have my answers.
He sent them to the TV because nobody knew my address. I answered one by one. Of course, I cannot write ten letters at the same time, each of them. It took hours.
And they knew my address from my replies, and Job Aymonier came. “What can I do? How can I help?” Imagine you are in this situation. No committee to welcome you, no angels, no place prepared, nothing. What can I do?
The first thing: we need to print the book and I don’t have the money to print them. He said, “I will pay.” It could have been you. “How much does it cost to print the book?” About two thousand dollars. And Job Aymonier said, “I will help. I will pay.” That’s how it started.
After that, I moved to the place of the second encounter, a beautiful old farm in the southwest of France, with many holes in the roof. Why did I move there, leaving the city of Clermont-Ferrand for this almost destroyed farm?
Because another Raelian came, and I said, “I want to change place because I stop my work as a journalist. I want to promote the book, and I need a place to stay.” He said, “I have an old farm in the southwest of France. No heater, but there is an open fire, old style, with wood.” I said, “Ok, I need to move.” Other Raelians came and said, “I have a truck. I can help you move.” We went there and made a fire immediately.
I remember the first guide, Jean Gary, who is with the Elohim. He came to meet the last prophet, to meet Rael himself. He entered through the small gate. There was a garden; and I love gardening. I was eating my own vegetables, raising my own chickens. I had rubber boots, turning the soil, not too deep, just a little. If you turn too deep, nothing grows. You must keep the topsoil on top and the bottom soil at the bottom. If you want to have a garden one day, don’t turn it completely, just a little bit, because the bacteria which make the vegetables grow are at the top.
So, I’m there, in jeans and rubber boots, working the ground. Jean Garry comes and says, “I want to see Rael.” I say, “It’s me.” He was expecting someone dressed all in white, with a strange hat. Instead, there was a gardener covered in mud. It could have been you.
The surroundings matter when you meet someone for the first time. Today, if a new Raelian arrives, there is a gate, security, beautiful rooms. The image is easy. Maitreya arrives all in white.
But back then? In the garden, mud everywhere. “Where is Rael?” “What? It’s me?” “I want to help.” “Ok, welcome.”
Behind my farm, there was a small field with grass, good for cows. I said, “In one month, I want to organize the first Happiness Academy in this field.” “Can you help me?”
Imagine it’s you. You have to organize everything: the tent, the place. I will speak, but you organize everything. Imagine it’s you. Many people would leave, saying, “This man is crazy.” But Jean Gary stayed in my farm. There was one room available, full of pigeon droppings. It was a pigeon house, a hole in the roof, rain falling inside, but not on the bed. And he stayed with me and organized because I just wanted to speak and do gardening.
There was no sound system, no microphone, no toilets. People dug holes in the ground. That was the first Happiness Academy, organized by Jean Gary. That could have been you.
So, your first question, I want to meet Rael, where is Maitreya? And you go, full of dreams and expectations. He might be a prophet all white but he is a farmer. And you follow your decisions and the prophet asks you to organize the field to make the first Happiness Academy. Imagine, because becoming Raelian today is very easy. There is a website, national guides, regional guides, beautiful Happiness Academies in big hotels. Very easy. That’s why I want you to imagine being the first. Imagine.
A funny detail because it’s good to laugh: the first thing Jean Gary did was offer me a cigarette. That was very kind of him. That’s my best memory. “Do you want a cigarette?” That was Jean Gary. At that time, he was addicted to smoking. My farm was in the middle of nowhere, ten kilometers from the village. Every day he drove to buy cigarettes.
I asked him, “Do you want to continue smoking forever?” “No, I saw the message, I want to stop.” “Why not today?” “Ok, I try but I cannot.”
So, I will help you, let’s go to the village together. We went to the shop where he bought cigarettes. They sell packages with ten packs of cigarettes. I said, Jean, instead of coming every day, buy the big package. If you want to stop, buy the package. And he bought it. When we came back, I said, “See this garbage? Throw your package out. Oh, the emotion! Throwing away 10 packs is not as easy as throwing one pack. All this money!” He threw it away. That’s how he stopped smoking. The first guide of the Raelian Movement offered me a cigarette. Unforgettable.
So, imagine you are the first. Now come back to today. Look at all of you. I’m sure you if you had been the first, you would still be here. But it’s interesting to feel it. How lucky we are to have each other.
The Message is a treasure, but the greatest treasure is you.
The first letter from Lotus, the first contact with Shizue, still here. I remember every one of you. The first contact with Tony. “You should come to Okinawa”. “What is Okinawa? Is it a food?” For all of you, there was a first contact and we are together. I have no family on Earth, no father, no mother, no grandmother, nobody.
You are my family. And I am very lucky, to have no mother and no father on Earth. But to have you, you are all my children, and this feeling of oneness together from China, Portugal, France, from everywhere. In this small room we share a beautiful love in the light of the Elohim. Feel it.
Thank you all for your beautiful love. I feel your love. Every love story has a beginning. Would you have fallen in love immediately with a farmer full of mud? Would you have stayed? Would you have organized with me?
The Raelian Movement is you.
We are and I really love us. You are my family. And the gift is this: you have a father with the Elohim. The love of Yahweh for you is the love of a father.
Feel it. Wherever you go on Earth, the love of the Elohim is guiding you, is always there. You can go and travel to the other side of the Earth, alone, no other Raelian around, but you carry the love of the Elohim.
トランプ：ホルムズ海峡を再開するには、1日20億ドルが必要だ。
中国外相：海峡は戦争前には開かれていました！ この混乱の根本原因は、あなた方がイランに対して行った違法な軍事作戦です。
ホルムズ海峡をめぐるアメリカと中国の新たな応酬は、世界で最も重要なエネルギー輸送路の一つをめぐって高まる地政学的緊張を、再び浮き彫りにしました。
