Has the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe finally been answered? In what appears to be a well-coordinated disclosure campaign, several knowledgeable "insiders" have recently made public statements claiming that "ET" is real and has been visiting Earth for decades.

In mid-May, Stanford Medical Professor Garry Nolan caused a stir during an innovation and investment conference hosted by the SALT i-Connections leadership forum when he stated unequivocally that a small group of scientists have been reverse engineering alien technology for quite some time.

One of the compelling things about the fifteen minute interview in which he discussed this revelation is how careful the host, Alex Klokus, is to frame Dr. Nolan's testimony with sober and logical questioning, as if to guard against potential accusations of quackery.

In their well-sourced piece, journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal detail the allegations of David Charles Grusch — a "former intelligence official turned whistleblower" — who has provided both Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General with "extensive classified information about deeply covert programs" in possession of "intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin." — thedebrief.org, "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Craft of Non-Human Origin," June 5, 2023.

For his part, [Retired Army Colonel Karl E.] Nell wholly concurs with [David Charles Grusch — a "former intelligence official turned whistleblower] that for the "past eighty years" secret programs have "focused on reverse engineering technologies of unknown origin" and "that at least some of these technologies of unknown origin derive from non-human intelligence." He considers this conclusion "indisputable."

It is also true that in filing his whistleblower complaint, Grusch has placed himself in legal jeopardy by formally attesting that his statements are made "under the penalties of perjury."

People are bombarded with so much government-sanctioned propaganda and outright lies that they never know whether official statements are true. Outside institutions — including academia and the news media — have embraced so much "fake news" over the years that their reputations are in no better shape. The end result is that nobody in a position of authority is trusted or believed.

The "bombshell of the millennium" explodes right outside Americans' doors, and the public largely shrugs because it accepted an ugly truth long ago: it is constantly being deceived. With all due respect to our extraterrestrial friends, perhaps that is the most important news story of our time.

In the past two decades, that is to say since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad, a new discourse has developed in which post-Saddam Iraq is depicted as part of an empire being built by the Khomeinist regime in Tehran.

[T]he Khomeinist empire-building scheme in Iraq has failed. To be sure, Iraq is now slated as Iran's principal trading partner. But this is largely due to exports of Iranian gas and electricity to Iraq, exports for which Iraq has failed to pay so far. Iraqi debts to Iran are estimated at between $17 and $22 billion.

[Iraq's] Shiite community, assuming that such a label is accurate, is also divided with those remaining loyal to Tehran providing a dwindling minority.

Iraq had signed oil exploration and production deals with more than 60 countries while the Islamic Republic is excluded. Last week, Baghdad signed a deal with Ankara for a gas pipeline to the Turkish port of Yumurtalik to supply Europe.

Iraq may still be uncertain about what kind of future it wants. But one thing is certain: it doesn't want to be a fiefdom for the mullahs of Tehran.