Tag: perpetual war

Europe ‘wary’ of US arms dependence after unprecedented NATO spending boost

As European nations commit to their most significant military buildup in decades, growing unease is emerging over their reliance on US weapons manufacturers.

Despite depleted stockpiles due to aid to Ukraine, many European leaders are questioning the wisdom – and political cost – of deepening their dependence on US arms under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.

Trump’s recent trip to Europe underscored his push for allies to buy more US-made weapons. Yet his open admiration for Russia and controversial comments – such as threats to annex Greenland – have fueled wariness. “Buying American weapons is a security risk that we cannot run,” Danish parliamentarian Rasmus Jarlov declared earlier this year.

Canada is now considering exiting the US-led F-35 program in favor of Sweden’s Gripen fighters, Bloomberg noted on 27 June. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said, “We should no longer send three-quarters of our defense capital spending to America.”

Meanwhile, in France, President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded EU efforts to boost local weapons production, with the bloc fast-tracking a €150 billion ($162 billion) defense funding initiative.

Despite these efforts, the US maintains a commanding lead in key defense technologies – from missile systems to satellites – and European firms lack the capacity to meet the continent’s defense needs. 

Carlyle estimates Europe’s planned defense buildup could reach €14 trillion ($16 trillion) over the next decade when infrastructure is included, far outstripping current European capabilities.

“We have far too many systems in Europe, we have far too few units, and what we produce is often far too complicated, and therefore too expensive,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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Russia Launches Another Massive Drone Strike On Kyiv

The Russian Federation launched another massive drone and missile strike on the nation of Ukraine today in the ongoing war; over 400 drones, and 40 missiles were used, according to local news reports.

Many of the attacks appear to have targeted civilian infrastructure, as Russia pressures the Ukrainian population.

There is no moral authority on either side, as targeting civilians has become a feature of this war for both combatants.

Ukraine continues its ‘mobilization’, further traumatizing the population, as the draft age appears to have been reduced to 18 as Ukraine runs out of soldiers.

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Israeli defense minister threatens to restart war against Iran

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on 27 June that he has instructed the Israeli army to prepare a military plan targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, as well as its regional alliances.

In a post on X, Katz said the “enforcement plan” would focus on “maintaining Israel’s air superiority, preventing nuclear advancement and missile production, and responding to Iran for supporting terror activity against Israel.”

“We will act regularly to thwart such threats,” he added, warning Iranian leaders to “understand and beware: Operation Rising Lion was only the preview of a new Israeli policy, after 7 October, immunity is over.”

Speaking separately to Israel’s Channel 12, Katz elaborated that the plan would be implemented regardless of the current ceasefire.

“We are saying unequivocally, once the Iranians violate, we will strike,” he said. He stressed that Tel Aviv would not seek US approval for such actions, comparing the approach to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, “just times 100.”

Katz’s statements follow a US-brokered ceasefire earlier this week, ending a 12-day Israeli war on Iran. The truce, announced by US President Donald Trump, was preceded by US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, including the Fordow site.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to strike Iran again should it attempt to restore strategic infrastructure.

The New York Times reported Katz’s claim that Israel is determined to prevent the advancement of “threatening long-range missiles,” while continuing to disrupt Iran’s air power capabilities.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned, “Iran is not Lebanon … We do not accept any ceasefire or halt in operations that implies an agreed-upon arrangement.” He added that Tehran would “decisively respond to any breach by the Zionist regime.”

Behind the scenes, Washington has sought to reopen nuclear negotiations. 

According to a CNN report, the Trump administration is considering a proposal to fund a $20–30 billion civilian nuclear program in Iran through Gulf partners.

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Bibi Fumes After IDF Soldiers Confirm Lethal Weapons Routinely Used On Crowds At Gaza Aid Sites

Soon after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributing aid to war-torn Gaza in May, disturbing reports emerged of Israeli soldiers killing unarmed Palestinians approaching aid points for food. As the world’s eyes turned from Gaza to Israel attack on Iran, the pace of these reported killings increased — with multiple incidents claiming more than 50 lives each. Now, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper has dropped a bombshell report, with Israeli soldiers and officers confirming the routine use of deadly force on unarmed Palestinians as a barbaric form of crowd control — with the practice carried out under orders from superior officers. 

Gaza’s Hamas-run health authority says 529 Palestinians have been killed at humanitarian aid sites or while waiting for food trucks just since late May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) took on the task of distributing food in the strip. While Israel’s defenders invariably discredit Gaza casualty counts, US Army Colonel Nathan McCormack, who previously headed up the Joint Chiefs’ Levant and Egypt branch, has said, “We (Department of Defense, Department of State and the U.S. Intelligence Community) consider the Gaza Health Ministry figures to be generally reliable.” A shadowy organization, GHF is led by an evangelical Christian leader with close ties to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. 

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Netanyahu Wants To Visit White House To ‘Celebrate’ Iran Strikes With Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to meet with President Trump at the White House in the coming weeks after the 12-day US-Israeli war on Iran, Axios has reported.

Israeli officials said that Netanyahu wants to “celebrate” the joint bombing campaign with Trump, as the Israeli leader is declaring the war a victory, although Israel got hit hard by Iranian missiles right up until the ceasefire took effect, something President Trump has acknowledged.

“Israel got hit really hard. Those ballistic missiles, boy, they took out a lot of buildings,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday.

Netanyahu may be seeking additional military aid from the US to replenish Israel’s interceptors and bombs in the ongoing conflict. The Axios report said that Trump and Netanyahu are “closer than ever” and that US and Israeli officials have discussed the possibility of Netanyahu’s third White House visit this year, but so far, a date hasn’t been set.

The report comes after Trump called for the corruption charges against Netanyahu to be dropped, which an Israeli official claimed is part of a strategy to ‘bring an end to the war in Gaza, the release of all the hostages, an end to Netanyahu’s trial, and a serious regional move.”

According to a report from Israel Hayom, Trump and Netanyahu have reached an understanding on terms for a potential deal that would end Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza and involve other moves in the region, but many of the terms are likely unacceptable to Hamas and Palestinians in general.

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MILITARY INTELLIGENCE MUST BE OBJECTIVE, NOT POLITICAL

In 2003, then Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the UN regarding Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program. “Every statement I make today is backed up by solid sources,” he said. “What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions. Clearly, Saddam Hussein and his regime will stop at nothing until something stops him.” After the invasion, it was found that the US case for WMD’s was false. However, the war could not be stopped and would cost the US trillions and thousands of servicemember lives.1

On 15 February 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana’s harbor. Initial intelligence concluded that it was sunk by an external explosion, presumably a Spanish laid mine. ‘Remember the Maine, and the hell with Spain’ quickly became a rallying cry and the US soon was at war with Spain. In the 1970s, new evidence pointed to a more likely cause of the explosion – an internal fire in the coal bunker. The ultimate cause may never be known, but at the time, the US was eager to have a war to gain control in Cuba and overseas territories so objective investigations were not possible at the time. The USS Maine was a convenient excuse to finally go to war.

In September 1944, the Allies tried to execute Operation Market Garden, a bold gambit to have airborne forces seize a series of bridges deep into the Netherlands to allow swift victory in the war. Eisenhower allowed Montgomery tremendous resources for the plan, which ultimately failed due to a multitude of factors including ambitious timelines and ignoring intelligence on German strength, particularly at Arnhem, the final objective. The 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far depicts how Allied politics overcame prudence and ignored intelligence:

Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning: Only the weather can stop us now.

General Stanislaw Sosaboski: Weather. What of the Germans, General Browning. Don’t you think that if we know Arnhem is so critical to their safety that they might know it too?

Lt. General Frederick Browning: See here, General Sosaboski, I should think you would have more faith in Field Marshal Montgomery’s plan.

General Stanislaw Sosaboski: Faith? I will tell you how much faith I have. I am thinking of asking for a letter from you stating that I was ordered to go on this mission in case my men are massacred.

Lt. General Frederick Browning: I see… I do see. Do you wish such a letter?

General Stanislaw Sosaboski: No… In the case of massacre: what difference will it make?

Last week, the US executed a complicated bombing mission to destroy three Iranian nuclear sites. From a technical standpoint, the mission seemed nearly flawless. No aircraft were lost and direct hits with large bombs were achieved at all of the planned objectives. However, as with any bombing mission, exact bomb damage assessment is impossible unless the US is physically on the ground where the bombs detonated. Damage assessment is complicated and the intelligence community still has assessment of the impact of the bombing on the Iranian nuclear effort ongoing. In short, the strategic impact of the raid remains to be seen.

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Last Christian Town In West Bank Attacked And Besieged By Israeli Settlers

The last entirely-Christian town in the Israeli-controlled West Bank is enduring a wave of attacks by violent Jewish settlers, a local church leader says, prompting families to flee and leading clergy to declare the town is “no longer safe” for its inhabitants. Ominously, settlers have also set up an “outpost” on the fringe of that town — Taybeh, Ramallah — a 4,500-year-old community with huge significance in the story of Jesus Christ. 

“The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as ‘Ephraim’ — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today,” Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Taybeh’s Church of Christ the Redeemer, told the Catholic, Arabic-language ACI MENA news service. “We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege...Since last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment.”   

This and other videos embedded below are circulating on social media, purportedly capturing the settlers’ latest attacks on Taybeh this week (BBC confirms an attack took place on Wednesday).

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Senate blocks war powers resolution for Israel-Iran conflict

The Senate voted down an attempt to take away power from President Donald Trump to incite further military action in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Senators voted largely along party lines, except Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who voted with Democrats and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who voted with Republicans.

Fetterman said he fully supported the strikes on Iran and that they made the world safer.

The resolution was put forth by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

“I think the events of this week have demonstrated that war is too big to be consigned to the decisions of any one person,” said Kaine on the Senate floor.

War powers have sparked a debate on Capitol Hill for both Democrats and Republicans alike.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump ally, voiced her opposition in TV interviews and on social media.

“Six months in, Steve, and here we are, turning back on the campaign promises, and we bombed Iran on behalf of Israel, yes it was on behalf of Israel. We are entering a nuclear war, World War III,” she said on Steve Bannon’s War Room. “No American slept better after America bombed Iran, because all of a sudden we now have threats on our homeland.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., criticized the strikes as “unconstitutional.” He appeared on “Face the Nation” alongside Rep Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

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Israel Vows To Maintain Air Superiority Over Iran

Though U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, officials in Jerusalem are taking no chances. On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare an “enforcement plan” against Iran that includes a clear threat of future kinetic actions.

The plan calls for “maintaining Israel’s air superiority, preventing nuclear advancement and missile production, and responding to Iran for supporting terrorist activities against the State of Israel,” Katz proclaimed on X. “We will act consistently to thwart threats of this kind. I suggest that the toothless snake’s head in Tehran understand and beware: Operation Rising Lion was just the preview of a new Israeli policy.”

“After October 7th,” Katz added, “immunity is over.” That was a reference to the day in 2023 that Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel that touched off the latest round of bloodshed in the Middle East.

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Israel Pummels South Lebanon In Biggest Airstrikes Since November Hezbollah Ceasefire

In an dangerous sign that hostilities involving Iran and Israel could quickly ratchet again, Israel on Friday is pounding southern Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is entrenched, in the biggest escalation there since a November ceasefire was agreed to.

Massive plumes of smoke have been observed over the region, with Lebanon’s official National News Agency reporting that a residential building in Nabatieh was directly struck, resulting in the death of at least one person and the wounding of 21 more.

Local media further says there over twenty strikes in only under 15-minutes, making it the most intense attack in well over six months.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed what it said were airstrikes targeting a “significant underground project” used by Hezbollah. The statement touted that the site was “completely taken out of use” following the strikes,

But questions remain as the IDF said that it targeted a Hezbollah site identified as Beaufort Ridge, which actually lies some five miles from Nabatieh.

“In recent days, the IDF identified attempts by the Hezbollah terror organization to restore the site, and therefore the terror infrastructure in the area was struck,” the Israeli military said.

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