Alastair Crooke

Director of Conflicts Forum, a small geo-political and geo-financial consultancy, and adviser to a number of larger geo-financial entities. Quotes from:

[zerohedge @zerohedge]

Alastair Crooke Says Trump Has Until Jan. 3 To Strike Iran As Netanyahu Calls "Several Times A Day" Asking For War https://t.co/QixaFecOol

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Trump Turns On Netanyahu

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of excerpts from leading Israeli political & security commentators (predominantly translated from Hebrew), 10 Nov 2026

https://t.co/CT6CmT67lk

[Mark @Mark4XX]

CROOKE: IRAN PREPARES A LASTING BLOW TO TRANSFORM THE REGION

Former British diplomat and MI6 officer Alastair Crooke describes how Iran has grown tired of the endless cycle of partial peace and partial war. Tehran is no longer interested in another round of talks that never settle anything. In his analysis, Iran now sees itself in position to land a lasting blow that permanently changes the region in its favor.

END OF THE HANGING GAME
➡️ Iran does not want to continue with a structure of a little bit of peace, a little bit of war, and negotiations that never really settle the matter.
➡��� They are looking for an end to this phase rather than another temporary arrangement.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE BLOW
➡️ Iranian leadership views a move toward a massive response as the most likely outcome and perhaps even the best from their perspective.
➡️ They expect to deliver a punishing blow on the region and on those who have supported attacks on Iran.
➡️ The aim is to land a transformative blow that changes the region completely.

NO DEAL, ONLY IMPLEMENTATION
➡️ Iran is telling the United States it must agree to the seven conditions and implement them tangibly before any next stage begins.
➡️ Partial relief or the usual assumption that willingness to talk means readiness for concessions will not work.

THE HARD-NOSED CALCULATION
➡️ Iran is no longer so frightened by the prospect of further US bombing, which previously failed to collapse the Islamic Republic or end its programs.
➡️ They ask why return to the old pattern of limited lifts in exchange for concessions.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Alastair Crooke sees Iran forcing a decision rather than living indefinitely with the hanging parity of a bit of peace and a bit of war. The path they favor is not a deal but a conflict phase that permanently shifts the region in their favor. The hanging game is finished.

#Iran #AlastairCrooke #RegionalShift #TransformativeBlow #MiddleEast #USIran #Hormuz

HT: YouTube Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom @AWCrooke

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Trump Turns On Netanyahu

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of excerpts from leading Israeli political & security commentators (predominantly translated from Hebrew), 10 Nov 2026

https://t.co/CT6CmT67lk

[Judge Napolitano @Judgenap]

Alastair Crooke : Time Running Out for Netanyahu https://t.co/udWEfQ1tnl

[Judge Andrew Napolitano @JudgingFreedom]

Alastair Crooke : US at Cross Purposes on Ukraine: CIA vs Trump https://t.co/El5hF8pKJd

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Time is closing in for a Netanyahu-Trump last roll of the dice

This is the nexus of the Israeli election and the US elections just days ago, writes Alastair Crooke, 6 November 2026

https://t.co/UaygpV0dy8

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Netanyahu's Covert Dealings With Trump Are Collapsing

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of excerpts from leading Israeli political commentators (predominantly translated from Hebrew), 4 Nov 2026

https://t.co/vtSs7gDcc9

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

Alastair Crooke: US-Israel Divide Deepens After Midterm Defeat
https://t.co/Um677K8BNq

[The Unz Review @UnzReview]

"The ground on which Europe stands is shaking" - Alastair Crooke https://t.co/uIaWE4DP5S

[SOTT.net @SOTTnet]

Yet another financialised initiative from the Witkoff-Kushner stable

Alastair Crooke: The latest Witkoff-Kushner Ukraine proposal (outlined by David Ignatius) is another exercise in “Money Diplomacy.” It offers reconstruction funding for Zelensky, NATO-style security guarantees, an energy pipeline with profits split between Russia and Ukraine, and a ceasefire along the current line of contact.

The plan treats territorial and security questions as secondary to creating long-term financial benefits for Western banks, investors, politicians, and Ukrainian officials. It is culturally deaf to Moscow’s stated priorities. Lavrov and Peskov have rejected freeze-style solutions; Russia insists on a comprehensive settlement that addresses security for future generations, not a financial sweetener that leaves Ukraine as a permanent pressure tool.

The fatal flaw, Crooke argues, is that for Witkoff and Kushner it is “all about the stuff that really matters — money.” That is not the case for Russia.

https://t.co/TCY2ZfrSjA

#SOTT #Ukraine #Witkoff #Kushner #Geopolitics

[Mark @Mark4XX]

NETANYAHU’S NUCLEAR DEMAND: FORMER DIPLOMAT EXPOSES THE IMPOSSIBLE HIT

Former British diplomat Alastair Crooke joins to examine reports that Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing Donald Trump for a tactical nuclear strike on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain facility in the days after the midterms. Crooke, drawing on Israeli media and the physics of the site, explains why such a weapon cannot reach the buried target. The mountain is granite and the facilities sit far deeper than any tactical device can go. What does a former diplomat see that the briefings keep missing?

THE NUCLEAR DEMAND
➡️ Netanyahu has been calling Trump almost daily to press for strikes, and Tucker Carlson reports the Israeli leader wants a tactical nuclear hit on Pickaxe Mountain.
➡️ The decision window sits days after the midterms, around November 7.
➡️ Israeli media treat the Qatar-mediated talks as going nowhere while the pressure for a strike continues.

THE PENETRATION FAILURE
➡️ “A nuclear tactical nuclear weapon is not a deep penetrating weapon.”
➡️ The best conventional bunker-buster, the B61-11, must be dropped from a C-130 and reaches only about 10 meters into granite.
➡️ Pickaxe Mountain facilities sit at least 100 meters below the surface in solid granite.
➡️ Crooke’s verdict: “It won’t be effective at all. It will probably mostly bounce off the granite wall.”
➡️ Steep slopes make even accurate delivery difficult; the device simply cannot reach the target.

THE TELEVISION WEAPON
➡️ The MOAB creates a huge airburst pressure wave designed for caves and canyons, not deep mountain granite.
➡️ Its real value, Crooke notes, is the visible fireball that “will look good on television” so leaders can claim the nuclear program is finished.
➡️ Effectiveness is highly doubtful, yet the claim of success remains easy to broadcast.

THE ISRAELI FOLLOW-ON
➡️ If the United States is first to use a nuclear weapon, Israel already possesses nuclear-capable Tomahawks that can be loaded into submarines.
➡️ Those submarines must surface to fire, giving Iran a short detection window.
➡️ Crooke puts the odds of a successful Iranian counter at roughly 50/50.
➡️ Elbridge Colby has been revising the protocols for tactical nuclear use, though the exact status remains unknown.

THE BOTTOM LINE
A tactical nuclear strike on Pickaxe Mountain is theater that cannot reach the target, yet it risks opening a door Israel is prepared to walk through. Crooke’s warning is simple: the physics do not care about the politics. The mountain does not yield.

#NuclearStrike #PickaxeMountain #AlastairCrooke #TacticalNuke #IranWar #Netanyahu #Trump
HT: YouTube Danny Haiphong

[Curt Mills @CurtMills]

As Trump ‘Makes Nice’ with Moscow, the CIA Has Other Ideas

Why is U.S. policy on Russia–Ukraine so self-contradictory?

Alastair Crooke for @amconmag

https://t.co/q67Mf8sd2Q

[Daniel Davis Deep Dive @DanielLDavis1]

America Voters Rejected the War-Lusting Elite.
This election wasn’t so much against “Red America” or for “Blue America” as it was a rejection of the imperial arrogance of an elite that thinks the American ppl are disposable game pieces to use as they see fit, especially in support of wars no one wants and none of us needs

Alastair Crooke argues the election reflects a deep rejection of perpetual conflict and a demand to restore America as a republic focused on domestic renewal and economic self-sufficiency.

“The U.S. (and by “U.S.” he means the war-lusting elites, from both parties) has got to stop this propensity to go to war every year, time after time after time,” Crooke says, calling for a return to a paleo-conservative vision where America is “not an empire, (but) a republic.”

Meanwhile, America isn’t the only land where ruling elites love war. Europe is unraveling, he said. Protests and tensions across France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and beyond expose the failure of the liberal order to deliver prosperity.

“We’re seeing something much deeper… the collapse of liberal modernity,” Crooke warns, as Western governments can no longer provide the quality of life to their populations they once did, largely bc they spend so much on supporting wars and building up to fight new ones.

Watch this clip from Trump: A Lame Duck With a Loaded Gun.

https://t.co/GJjiIFxD6Q

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

Alastair Crooke: US-Israel Divide Deepens After Midterm Defeat
https://t.co/Um677K83XS

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Time is closing in for a Netanyahu-Trump last roll of the dice

This is the nexus of the Israeli election and the US elections just days ago, writes Alastair Crooke, 6 November 2026

https://t.co/UaygpV0dy8

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Netanyahu's Covert Dealings With Trump Are Collapsing

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of excerpts from leading Israeli political commentators (predominantly translated from Hebrew), 4 Nov 2026

https://t.co/vtSs7gDcc9

[Judge Napolitano @Judgenap]

Alastair Crooke : US at Cross Purposes on Ukraine: CIA vs Trump https://t.co/olCMleJSNF

[Alastair Crooke @AWCrooke]

Leading Israeli Commentators: 'Netanyahu Seeking to Annul Election Results’

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of excerpts from leading Israeli political commentators (predominantly translated from Hebrew), 31 October 2026

https://t.co/Z1e8WlTG6t

[The Unz Review @UnzReview]

"The Iran war and the ‘terrible power of the purse’" - Alastair Crooke https://t.co/8oUOcXIwqR