Tag: military industrial complex

Israel Receives 1,000th Aircraft Carrying US Military Supplies Since October 7, 2023

The Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) announced on Wednesday that it has received the 1,000th aircraft as part of an airlift operation delivering US military equipment to Israel that began following the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

“To date, over 120,000 tons of military equipment, munitions, weapons systems, and protective gear have been transferred to Israel via 1,000 aircraft and approximately 150 maritime vessels,” the IMOD said in a press release. The ministry said it and the IDF have been “conducting a cross-continental logistics airlift operation on a scale unprecedented since the establishment of the state.”

The IDOF said that its missions in the US and Berlin have been involved in the operation, suggesting the flights could include German-supplied military equipment. Germany is the second-largest arms supplier to Israel after the US, and recently announced it was lifting a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel.

Through the airlift operation, Israel has received “advanced munitions, weapons, armored vehicles, medical equipment, communications systems, and personal protective equipment.” The equipment has not only supported Israel’s destruction of Gaza but also its war in Lebanon, its invasion of southwestern Syria, its war with Iran, airstrikes on Yemen, and military operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, the IDOF announced that it signed a “multi-billion dollar” contract with the Israeli firm Rafael to procure more Iron Dome defense systems in a deal funded by US military aid. “The $8.7 billion US aid package, approved by Congress in April 2024, includes a dedicated $5.2 billion allocation to enhance Israel’s air defense systems, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the high-powered Laser Defense System, which is currently in its final phase of development,” the IMOD said.

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Trump buys millions in Boeing bonds while awarding it contracts

Trump bought up to $6 million worth of corporate bonds in Boeing, even as the Defense Department has awarded the company multi-billion dollar contracts, new financial disclosures reveal.

According to the documents, Trump bought between $1 million and $5 million worth of Boeing bonds on August 28. On September 19, he bought more Boeing bonds worth between $500,000 and $1 million. In total, Trump appears to have bought at least $185 million worth of corporate and municipal bonds since the start of his presidency.

Kedric Payne, Vice President of the Campaign Legal Center, told RS in a phone interview there is “absolutely” a conflict of interest in Trump’s purchase of Boeing, especially since it is “a government contractor that is connected to military actions that the president controls almost unilaterally.”

Trump also bought between $1 and $5 million worth of Intel bonds in August, a week after the Trump administration took a 10% stake in the company. “I love seeing their stock price go up, making the USA RICHER, AND RICHER,” Trump posted on Truth Social on August 25. Trump purchased Intel bonds on August 29.

The partial purchase of the chip manufacturer, done under the auspices of driving technology research vital to national security, drew praise from some advocates of corporate accountability, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Others raised concerns about how the U.S. government could maintain fairness. “Will the government favor firms in which it owns stakes over other competitors that might have better technology or processes?” asked Peter Harrell, a Non Resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment. Since the U.S. government’s partial ownership could give the Trump administration far more influence over the company, Trump’s personal investment in Intel could blur the lines between personal, corporate, and national interests. Intel has said the government’s partial ownership would be passive, with the government agreeing to “vote with the company’s Board of Directors on matters requiring shareholder approval, with limited exceptions.”

Upon entering office, Trump did not move his assets into a blind trust run by an independent trustee that could not be directed by the Trump family. Instead, he opted to hand over his business empire to his sons. The White House did, however, insist that the bond purchases were made by independent financial managers “using programs that replicate recognized indexes when making investments.”

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Epstein enlisted Rothschild-run bank to fund Israel’s cyberweapons development: Report

Deceased US financier and notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein attempted to use a Swiss, Rothschild-run private bank to raise money for Israeli cyberweapons development, according to leaked emails from the inbox of former Israeli premier Ehud Barak. 

The emails were obtained from a hack carried out by non-profit whistleblower Distributed Denial of Secrets, and cited in a report released by Drop Site News. 

In 2019, Bloomberg revealed that Ariane de Rothschild, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Group (then vice chairman), visited Epstein’s New York mansion in 2015. Epstein was found dead in his prison cell less than two weeks later. 

The bank denied it at the time, but admitted four years later that de Rothschild met Epstein as part of her “duties” at the institution – coming after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released the sex offender’s meeting calendars. 

Epstein provided introductions to US finance leaders and law firms and provided tax and risk consulting, the bank said, while also assisting de Rothschild personally on “a couple of occasions” with estate management advice.

However, emails released by the US House Oversight Committee earlier this month revealed a closer relationship between Epstein and de Rothschild. Epstein had arranged to see a play with her, and had also planned a trip to Montreal with her. 

The Barak emails obtained by Handala show that Epstein tried to use his friendship with de Rothschild to fundraise for Israeli cyberweapons development. After retiring from government in 2013, Barak worked with Pavel Gurvich – a graduate of the Israeli army’s Unit 81 technology unit – to find cyberweapons startups linked to the Israeli intelligence community. 

Conversations between Barak and Gurvich included a variety of cyberweapons concepts and ideas derived from Israeli army research and inspired by the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) vast surveillance network. 

Epstein also pushed plans to finance these cyberweapons companies and sought to get support from de Rothschild. 

The emails show Epstein played the role of middleman between the former Israeli prime minister and de Rothschild.

“If Ehud wants to make serious money, he will have to build a relationship with me. Take time so that we can truly understand one another,” said a message from de Rothschild relayed to Barak by Epstein. 

“I’m ready. But I need your advice re HOW? (ladies is your forté),” Barak responded to Epstein.

“It’s not clear whether the Rothschild bank ultimately participated directly in Epstein and Barak’s cyberweapons efforts – but in October 2015, de Rothschild negotiated a $25 million contract with Epstein’s Southern Trust Company, the same entity Epstein used to fund Barak’s intelligence-linked security startup Reporty Homeland Security (now known as Carbyne) earlier that year,” Drop Site News revealed. 

Earlier this month, Drop Site News also revealed via leaked emails that Epstein and Barak helped Israeli intelligence shape the security apparatuses of several African nations, most notably in Cote d’Ivoire.

The new US House Oversight Committee disclosures from earlier in November show that de Rothschild and Epstein remained close over the years. 

Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution but was given a non-prosecution plea deal by the Miami US attorney, Alexander Acosta, who stated that he was warned to “back off” because the convict was connected to an unnamed intelligence agency.

The sex offender was again arrested in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges. He died while in prison awaiting his trial, under mysterious circumstances. 

Prison authorities claim he committed suicide, yet this is disputed.

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Australia’s weapons programs exposed in defence industry cyber attacks

A series of cyber attacks on defence industry supply chain contractors has exposed threats to Australia’s weapons programs, security analysts say.

Over the past week, it was revealed that a hacker group shared material about Australia’s $7 billion Land 400 military program after allegedly breaching several Israeli defence companies.

The Cyber Toufan group posted images and details on Telegram about the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) next-generation Redback infantry fighting vehicle.

Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems is involved in the project, supplying the vehicle’s high-tech turrets.

Another group claimed responsibility for a cyber attack on IKAD Engineering, a key player in the Australian defence industry.

The J Group ransomware gang alleges it infiltrated the company’s systems for five months in what it described as a “staycation in the defence supply chain”.

The hackers claimed they obtained information relating to Australian naval contracts, including the Hunter Class frigate and Collins Class submarine programs.

IKAD Engineering chief executive Gerard Dyson confirmed the incident, saying an “external third party” had gained unauthorised access to a portion of its internal IT systems

He said so far only “non-sensitive project information” had been impacted, along with employee files, adding that IKAD did not have direct connections into ADF systems. 

Cybersecurity experts warned even non-sensitive data could have strategic value, and the attacks should be a “wake-up call”.

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Macron Commits to Send Ukraine 100 Fighter Jets After Zelensky Meeting

France has agreed for the first time to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, as part of an deal struck between President Emmanuel Macron and President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Monday.

Ukraine will purchase “around 100 Rafale fighter jets, with their associated weapons” from France over the next decade, the Élysée Palace announced on Monday. The deal will also see Kyiv provided with next-generation air defence systems, drones, and bombs from French sources.

It comes amid a tour of European capitals by President Zelensky, who is seeking to shore up support from allies as the war with Russia continues to grind on. The Ukrainian leader already secured a deal in Athens on Sunday to receive American liquid natural gas shipments through Greece to ensure energy supplies during the harsh winter, and plans on visiting Spain on Tuesday.

In a Paris press conference on Monday afternoon, President Macron said that the arms deal represents a “new step” in French commitment to Ukraine, which he described as “Europe’s first line of defence”.

“This agreement demonstrates France’s commitment to placing its industrial and technological excellence at the heart of Ukraine and Europe,” Macron said per Le Figaro, while at the same time expressing a desire for a “fair and sustainable” peace.

“Russia alone has chosen war. Everything is ready for peace; Russia alone refuses to accept it,” he said, continuing: “Russia is pursuing the objective of taking control of Ukraine.”

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Ecuadorians reject return of US bases

Voters in Ecuador have rejected a proposal to bring US military bases back to the country, in a national referendum held on Sunday.

With around 95% of ballots counted, the official tally shows that 60.58% voted against President Daniel Noboa’s initiative to allow foreign troops to operate in Ecuador as part of efforts to fight organized crime and drug trafficking.

Noboa said he accepts the results. “We consulted with the Ecuadorians, and they have spoken. We fulfilled our promise to ask them directly. We respect the will of the Ecuadorian people,” he wrote on X.

US troops were stationed at an airbase in the port city of Manta until 2009, when then-President Rafael Correa refused to renew the lease and banned foreign bases in Ecuador.

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CCP Linked Entities Hold Properties Adjacent to Military Bases Across the US

Over the past few years, several sensitive properties near U.S. military bases have been purchased by Chinese entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party. In 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government panel that reviews foreign purchases of American land or companies for national security risks, received a tip that a company called MineOne had bought land within a mile of an air base.

The report triggered a national security review. MineOne, which is majority owned by nationals of the People’s Republic of China, purchased 12 acres within one mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and began converting the property into a cryptocurrency-mining facility.

Also in 2022, Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan purchased 23 acres of industrial land in Nashua, New Hampshire, for $67 million. The site is close to L3Harris Technologies, near BAE Systems’ electronic systems division, and within 30 minutes of New Boston Space Force Station. The sale bypassed CFIUS review despite its proximity to these defense facilities.

In 2023, Fufeng Group bought 370 acres about 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. The company’s chairman, Li Xuechun, served as a deputy to the Shandong Province People’s Congress and was honored as a provincial Model Laborer. Grand Forks Air Force Base was being expanded at the time to lead future intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. Fufeng leadership has repeatedly emphasized the Party’s role in guiding the company’s development. The project was halted after Pentagon objections.

That same year, Chinese real estate tycoon Sun Guangxin spent tens of millions to buy more than 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base, where U.S. military pilots train. Sun is a former captain in the People’s Liberation Army with close links to the CCP. His senior advisers are former PLA generals, and he operates dozens of CCP grassroots branches. The land includes a private runway and sits between Laughlin Air Force Base and the U.S.-Mexico border. Sun is the wealthiest businessman in Xinjiang Province and a long-time CCP member.

Some of these problematic purchases are harder to trace back to the Chinese Communist Party because they are carried out through layers of shell companies and intermediary entities, sometimes using U.S. or Canadian residents to further obscure CCP involvement. One example is the network of companies connected to Esther Mei and her husband, Cheng Hu, which corporate and property records show has acquired land beside several sensitive U.S. military installations.

One of these properties, the Knob Noster Trailer Park in Missouri, sits directly outside Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B-2 Spirit nuclear-capable stealth bomber fleet.

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US approves new $330m arms deal for Taiwan

Washington has cleared a $330-million package of aircraft parts and maintenance support for Taiwan on 13 November, marking the first US arms sale since President Donald Trump returned to office. 

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the approval and thanked Washington for continuing what it described as a policy of regularized arms sales.

The State Department decision includes equipment, spare parts, and repair services for Taiwan’s fleet of US-made F-16 and C-130 aircraft, as well as components for its domestically produced Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF). 

The Pentagon said the proposed sale “will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient’s fleet of F-16, C-130,” and other aircraft.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the package will help maintain fighter readiness, bolster air defenses, and strengthen the island’s ability to respond to China’s “gray-zone” incursions. 

President Lai Ching-te’s government has vowed to ramp up defense spending amid China’s continued military pressure around the island. 

Taiwan’s presidential office called the deepening security partnership with Washington “an important cornerstone of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Beijing expressed anger at the sale, repeating its claim that Taiwan is part of its territory. 

China’s Foreign Ministry said “the Taiwan question is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China–US relations,” and warned that China will do what is necessary to defend its “sovereignty, territorial integrity and security.”

Taiwan requested the package earlier this year, seeking “non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and return support for F-16, C-130, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft,” according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Trump has said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him he would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office, a remark made after the two leaders met in South Korea as trade discussions continued. 

Reuters reported there had been “fear in Taipei that there could have been some sort of ‘selling out’ of Taiwan’s interests,” which did not materialize as Washington proceeded with the sale.

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American B-2 Stealth Bomber Fleet and a CCP-Linked Trailer Park, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

A trailer park, a billionaire linked to Chinese Communist Party intelligence services, and a U.S. nuclear bomber facility. It would be rejected by Hollywood as too far-fetched for a movie plot, but the story is frighteningly real.

A foreign-owned trailer park in rural Missouri sits directly beside Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of America’s nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bomber fleet. The Knob Noster Trailer Park lies less than a mile from the runway, separated from the base by only a fence. Business records show the property was acquired in 2017 through a maze of shell companies ultimately controlled by a Canadian couple, Esther Mei and Cheng Hu.

The couple has documented ties to Chinese tycoon Miles Guo, also known as Guo Wengui or Ho Wan Kwok, who has described himself as a former intelligence “affiliate” of the Chinese Communist Party. Guo was convicted in July 2024 on nine federal counts, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering in a billion-dollar fraud scheme.

Guo Wengui rose from a poor village in Shandong to become a flamboyant Beijing real estate tycoon operating in the gray zone between business and the Chinese security state. He functioned as a “white glove,” facilitating deals and protection for powerful officials while amassing wealth through politically connected construction projects. A key relationship was with Ma Jian, the powerful head of Chinese counterintelligence in the Ministry of State Security, with whom Guo later admitted having a long-running partnership as an “affiliate” of the security services.

Ma Jian allegedly used his position to shield Guo’s businesses and crush rivals, including an episode where a vice mayor who blocked one of Guo’s projects was brought down using compromising surveillance footage, clearing the way for Guo’s development. Guo cultivated access to senior Chinese and foreign elites, hosted lavish dinners, maintained a garage full of supercars, and even acted as a cutout to meet the Dalai Lama on behalf of Chinese intelligence.

In 2015, after a high-stakes business dispute and the arrest of Ma Jian, Guo fled China, reportedly leaving just ahead of his own likely detention. He settled first in the UK and then in New York, where he purchased a $67.5 million penthouse in the Sherry-Netherland and quickly became a person of interest to U.S. authorities.

He met repeatedly with the FBI, providing detailed information on the finances and personal lives of Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping’s family, effectively trading intelligence for protection. At the same time, he began reinventing himself as an anti-CCP dissident and built a media and political ecosystem in the United States.

In 2017, Steve Bannon needed new financial backers and found in Guo a wealthy partner who shared an aggressive stance against the Chinese Communist Party. Together they launched ventures such as GTV Media Group and promoted the “New Federal State of China,” a self-styled anti-CCP “government in exile” announced in a choreographed event on a boat in New York Harbor.

Guo’s media outlets promoted conservative content, targeting mainly Chinese expatriates and right-wing circles. He simultaneously pushed branded products, cryptocurrencies, and investment schemes that raised hundreds of millions of dollars until the SEC ruled several offerings illegal and forced large restitution, leading to GTV’s shutdown.

Despite presenting himself as a champion of Chinese freedom, Guo waged aggressive campaigns against long-established Chinese dissidents in the West, mobilizing followers to harass them at their homes and accusing them of being CCP spies using classic Communist rhetoric. At one point he publicly offered to “atone” to Beijing, asking the Chinese leadership to assign him a “clear, targeted task” to prove his patriotism and support for Xi Jinping.

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Hegseth Orders Pentagon to “Wartime Footing,” Tightens Ties With Industry

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), recently rebranded as the Department of War (DOW), is shifting its focus to a “wartime footing.” In a speech to a group of defense-industry executives and DOD officials on Friday, Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined a broad plan to overhaul the Pentagon’s acquisition system and speed up weapons production:

Our objective is simple: Transform the entire acquisition system to operate on a wartime footing, to rapidly accelerate the fielding of capabilities and focus on results…. American industry and spirit are begging to be unleashed to solve our most complex and dangerous war-fighting problems. We need to get out of our own way, out of your way, and enter into real partnership with you rather than overprescribe and decelerate your natural progress.

He later underscored:

We’re not building for peacetime. We are pivoting the Pentagon and our industrial base to a wartime footing. Building for victory should our adversaries FAFO [f*** around and find out].

The “transformation” was urgent, he said:

This is a 1939 moment, or hopefully a 1981 moment, a moment of mounting urgency. Enemies gather, threats grow. You feel it. I feel it. If we are going to prevent and avoid war, which is what we all want, we must prepare now.

Bureaucracy and Rumsfeld’s Shadow

Hegseth began his address by naming his “adversary” as being not on a battlefield, but inside the Pentagon. “The foe I’m talking about is much closer to home. It’s the Pentagon bureaucracy,” he said. “Not the people, but the process; not the civilians, but the system.” He called it “one of the last bastions of central planning” that “with brutal consistency stifles free thought and crushes new ideas.”

“The modernization of the Department of War is a matter of life and death ultimately of every American,” declared the secretary.

Then came an unexpected admission. “The speech so far is not my own,” Hegseth said. “Those words are practically verbatim from a speech given by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on September 10, 2001.” He ended by again invoking Rumsfeld, urging the audience to build on “Rumsfeld’s vision.” That vision — outlined one day before 9/11 — was meant to “liberate” the Pentagon from bureaucracy. Instead, it ushered in two decades of war, privatization, and unchecked spending.

Rumsfeld’s name now carries a toxic legacy. His call to streamline defense spending became the justification for expanding it. He presided over the Iraq invasion, privatized logistics on an unprecedented scale, and normalized permanent war as policy.

By reviving that speech, Hegseth aligned himself not with meaningful reform to shrink the war machine, but with the model that made reform nearly impossible — one that equated efficiency with removing oversight and security with continuous mobilization.

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