Critical State: The Military Cargo from New Jersey to Israel

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Jersey City Warehouse Fueled Israel’s War on Gaza

At Drop Site News, Jose Olivares and Alex Colston report that researchers from the Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International have documented a single private warehouse in Jersey City that processed more than a thousand tons of military cargo bound for Israel each week during the first eight months of 2025.

The authors described how three New Jersey logistics firms — Interglobal Forwarding Services, G&B Packing Company, and G&G Services — have repeatedly appeared on bills of lading and contracting documents, and how the warehouse had functioned as a consolidation point for tank parts, F‑16 components, ammunition, armored and unarmored vehicles, and other military gear.

“The PYM and PI’s report documented that 91% of all Israel-bound sea exports of military gear that did not go through a US military base passed through the IFS and the G&B warehouse,” according to the article.

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Olivares and Colston explain that cargo typically moved from the facility to Port Newark–Elizabeth and then on Maersk vessels through Mediterranean transshipment points before reaching Haifa, and they quantified average weekly tonnages for both sea and air shipments.

The reporting raises questions about end‑use transparency, the role of private freight forwarders in export chains, and potential regulatory blind spots that allowed large volumes of sensitive materiel to transit commercial facilities with limited public visibility.

If You Read One More Thing: Wikipedia But Racist

At The Guardian, Jason Wilson reports that Elon Musk’s new AI‑generated encyclopedia, Grokipedia, had published entries that promoted white‑nationalist talking points, praised far‑right figures, and recycled racist pseudo‑science.

• Wilson documents multiple examples in which Grokipedia’s articles amplified extremist narratives, cited banned or unreliable sources, and framed historical and scientific claims in ways that echoed white‑supremacist rhetoric.

• The platform’s editorial model — AI‑generated content with limited human moderation — has allowed problematic material to proliferate quickly.

• Wilson traces the broader implications for public knowledge ecosystems, arguing that an AI‑first encyclopedia could magnify disinformation and normalize extremist frames if left unchecked.

• The reporting underscores concerns about platform accountability and the limits of automated content curation.

The Low-Grade War on Venezuela

In an analysis at The New Republic, Perry Bacon writes that the Trump administration has pursued a series of aggressive measures toward Venezuela that together amounted to a low‑grade campaign risking escalation into open conflict.

• Bacon documents nearly two dozen strikes on small vessels, aircraft maneuvers near Venezuelan waters, and public signaling that has included a formal designation of Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle as terrorists — moves that expand the administration’s options for force.

• He writes that the White House has authorized covert CIA operations inside Venezuela and that many actions proceeded with limited congressional debate or international buy‑in, raising legal and strategic concerns.

• Bacon argues the pattern resembled a run‑up to larger military intervention, warning that the combination of covert operations, public intimidation, and weak oversight increase the danger of miscalculation and unintended war.

Deep Dive: Venezuelans Deported by the US Face ‘Hell’ in El Salvador

In a new report, Human Rights Watch and Cristosal have documented a pattern of severe abuse and procedural failures surrounding the transfer and detention of Venezuelan migrants who were removed by US authorities to El Salvador in early 2025.

Their joint report, “’You Have Arrived in Hell’: Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador’s Mega Prison,” describes how people who were apprehended or processed by US agencies were sent to El Salvador and placed in the maximum‑security Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), where survivors and witnesses reported systematic mistreatment, prolonged isolation, and conditions that the researchers concluded amounted to torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

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The report explains that many of the transferred individuals had not been convicted of violent crimes and that the criteria used to identify alleged gang affiliation were unreliable and arbitrary. The report explains that an “Alien Enemy Validation Guide” and other screening tools have been applied in ways that assign guilt by association — counting tattoos, clothing, gestures, or social‑media connections as indicia of membership — measures that experts and family members described as deeply flawed. Human Rights Watch and Cristosal argue that these procedures produce wrongful classifications and expose people to foreseeable risks when they are handed over to Salvadoran authorities.

Inside CECOT, the report recounted repeated accounts of physical violence, humiliating treatment, and severe deprivation. Survivors told researchers that guards beat detainees on arrival and throughout their confinement; one detainee said, “They beat us almost every day.” Others describe forced head shavings, prolonged solitary confinement in a segregated area known to detainees as “the Island,” and incidents of sexual violence and threats. The report quotes detainees who said that, upon being brought into the facility, officials told them, “You have arrived in hell.”

Human Rights Watch and Cristosal identify patterns of enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention. Families report that they were denied information about relatives’ whereabouts for extended periods; some relatives say they received no official confirmation of detention until months later. The organizations describe cases in which detainees were held without meaningful access to counsel, without consistent medical care, and with severely restricted contact with the outside world. The report emphasizes that secrecy and lack of transparency compound the risk of abuse and make independent monitoring difficult.

The report examines the bilateral and programmatic context for the transfers. It describes US funding and cooperation with Salvadoran security agencies, noting a grant letter and other assistance that the authors say facilitates the operations. Human Rights Watch and Cristosal have also raised legal concerns about the transfers, arguing that sending people to El Salvador in circumstances where they faced a real risk of torture or ill‑treatment violated the principle of non‑refoulement under international law. The organizations have called for the suspension of any arrangements enabling transfers until independent safeguards and monitoring are in place.

Researchers also scrutinize the legal authorities and administrative mechanisms used to justify the removals. The report points out that a mix of immigration procedures and emergency proclamations have been invoked, and it questions whether adequate legal review and oversight has occurred. The authors argue that the use of expedited or exceptional authorities without transparent safeguards has increased the risk that people could be wrongly designated as security threats and transferred without meaningful procedural protections.

Human Rights Watch and Cristosal document the human consequences of those policies through detailed interviews with survivors, family members, lawyers, and medical professionals. The report describes physical injuries consistent with beatings, psychological trauma from prolonged isolation and threats, and the long‑term health impacts of inadequate medical care. It recounts the anguish of families who have been unable to locate loved ones and the frustration of lawyers who have faced obstacles in obtaining records or access to clients.

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The organizations conclude that the pattern of transfers and the conditions of detention require urgent remedial action. They recommend that the United States immediately halt transfers of third‑country nationals to El Salvador due to the risk of torture or ill‑treatment; disclose any agreements or understandings governing transfers; condition assistance on verifiable human‑rights safeguards; and rescind emergency proclamations or other measures that circumvented normal legal protections. They urge El Salvador to investigate allegations of abuse, ensure independent oversight of detention facilities, provide adequate medical care and legal access to detainees, and hold perpetrators of abuse to account.

Show Us the Receipts

For Inkstick, KC Cheng takes a look at Rwanda’s high‑profile entry into global cycling, examining the ways the move has become part of a carefully staged effort to recast the country’s image by using sport, spectacle, and curated narratives to attract investment and tourism. State actors, private sponsors, and international partners choreograph events, control access, and amplify favorable coverage while sidelining dissenting voices and human‑rights concerns. The piece traces media strategies and the local costs of image management, highlighting how the veneer of progress can obscure ongoing repression and the uneven distribution of economic benefits.

Tyler Hicks reports on local activists and experts documenting the rapid expansion of surveillance technologies across US towns, focusing on automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) and private vendors like Flock Safety. He describes how municipalities have purchased solar‑powered cameras that collect billions of plate scans, which outside agencies, including ICE, have accessed, often without clear legal safeguards. The story chronicles community pushback — mapping projects, council hearings, lawsuits — and highlights civil‑rights warnings about racial bias and opaque data‑sharing. Technology has outpaced regulation, leaving activists to mount local defenses while federal oversight lags and surveillance networks proliferate across everyday public spaces.

At The World, Heidi Shin covers the educators and mental‑health professionals piloting a culturally tailored program to help Asian American teens manage college‑admissions stress. The program includes workshops that combine peer support and counseling techniques adapted to community norms, aiming to reduce stigma around seeking help and to reframe success beyond test scores. The program has “teen ambassadors” who “launch their own ideas” to improve mental health among peers. As they support their peers, they learn to take better care of themselves, too.

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Critical State is written by Inkstick Media in collaboration with The World.

The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.

With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”

Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.