Tag: perpetual war

Pentagon to ‘downgrade’ US military command from Eurasia to Africa, consolidate ‘AMERICOM’: Report

The Pentagon is working on a comprehensive restructuring of US military command – including a “downgrade” of major headquarters and a “shift in the balance of power” among prominent generals, the Washington Post reported on 16 December. 

Sources familiar with the matter told the US outlet that the “major consolidation” is being sought by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. 

The ambitious plan is described as part of Hegseth’s vow to “break the status quo” and cut the number of four-star army generals.

“It would reduce in prominence the headquarters of US Central Command, US European Command, and US Africa Command by placing them under the control of a new organization known as US International Command,” the sources said to the Washington Post.

“The plan also calls for realigning US Southern Command and US Northern Command, which oversee military operations throughout the Western Hemisphere, under a new headquarters to be known as US Americas Command, or Americom,” the report adds. 

“Pentagon officials also discussed creating a US Arctic Command that would report to Americom, but that idea appears to have been abandoned.”

This would reduce the number of major army headquarters from 11 to eight, while reducing the number of four-star generals and admirals who report to Hegseth.

According to the sources, the plan aligns with President Donald Trump’s national security strategy, published on 5 December.

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The Oligarch Part 1: How one powerful man made Zelensky president, Ukraine his pocket state, and sent it to war

Igor Kolomoysky built up Ukraine’s largest bank, then plundered it for billions in a scheme so elaborate it looks like a state intelligence operation. During the 2014 Maidan revolution, he ended up caught in a whirlwind of far-right militants, rising Western scrutiny, and a dramatic denouement with his bank – and fled abroad. Not one to give up, though, Kolomoysky had a plan for revenge and its name was Vladimir Zelensky.

Zelensky, however, soon ran amok. He “tricked Putin” in Paris, ruining hopes for peace in the Donbass, and setting the stage for the fateful events of 2022. Caught between Western pressure and his benefactor’s menacing presence, Zelensky tried to play both sides until events forced his hand. Yet Kolomoysky’s downfall merely left an open niche for a new shadowy figure to stride in.

Below is the first part of RT’s investigation, based on hundreds of pages of court documents, dealing with Kolomoysky’s rise, his turning PrivatBank into an empire of fraud, the events of Maidan, and his involvement in the post-Maidan world.

“He did play as Napoleon, right, Zelensky?… This Napoleon will soon be no more,” said a man with curly grey hair and a scraggly grey beard from the defendant’s cage in a Kiev courtroom. It was the middle of November, and Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoysky was speaking at a hearing in the longstanding fraud charges he faces related to his plundering of PrivatBank. Looking relaxed in a track suit and speaking in Russian, Kolomoysky predicted that Vladimir Zelensky would come crashing down with him due to his own intimate involvement in the corruption scandal currently roiling Ukraine.

Events in Ukraine have taken on the feel of a Shakespearean tragedy as one after another in Zelensky’s inner circle has fallen or fled under the taint of corruption. Perhaps it would be fitting if Kolomoysky ends up with the last word in this sordid affair, for it was his efforts that gained Zelensky the presidency in the first place. When the oligarch himself finally met his comeuppance, into the breech stepped another Kolomoysky-made man, Timur Mindich, who would reconstruct much of his former benefactor’s patronage network for equally corrupt aims.

It is perhaps an exaggeration to say that all crooked roads in Ukraine lead to Kolomoysky – if only because corruption there is too pervasive to trace to one man. Yet, Kolomoysky seems to stand upstream from the entire intertwined morass of militant nationalism, cronyism, and corrupt patronage networks that have defined modern Ukraine.

So who is Igor Kolomoysky and why does his name still echo in the halls of power in Kiev? This is the man who orchestrated one of the largest and most elaborate embezzlement schemes in modern history that cost the Ukrainian state 6% of GDP to remedy. This is the man who built up massive private security forces and financed far-right militias at an estimated cost of $10 million per month in the fraught post-Maidan period. And it is a man whose machinations Zelensky was loath to confront until Western pressure forced his hand.

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Top British General Warns That UK Families Must Be Ready To Lose Sons and Daughters in a War Against Russia

The UK is obsessed with a conflict against Russia.

The absolute insistence with which British authorities keep trying to brainwash citizens into supporting a needless military conflict with Russia is mind-boggling.

Now, the UK top military chief has gone farther than anyone, by warning that British families ‘must be prepared to send their sons and daughters to war against Russia’.

Daily Mail reported:

“In a stark message, Chief of the Defense Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said ‘more people’ needed to be ready to take up arms to protect the country.

He explained that although the chances of a direct Russian attack on UK soil remain remote, that ‘does not mean the chances are zero’.”

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Britain plans ‘Iron Dome’ missile shield to protect UK from Russian attack, Armed Forces chief reveals

Britain is developing an ‘Iron Dome’ defence system to intercept Russian missiles and drones, the head of the Armed Forces has revealed.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said a system similar to that employed by Israel to block attacks from Palestine is needed due to the threat posed by the Kremlin.

It would protect critical infrastructure and major cities in the UK. Sir Richard told LBC radio: ‘We call it the integrated air and missile defence. 

‘And we have, over 30 years, not really faced a threat from the air in that way.

‘The threat has evolved. Russia’s capability and willingness to use ballistic and cruise missiles has become more apparent.’ 

He added that the UK would need to invest more in ‘radar capability, airborne air defence and our ability to shoot down drones and cruise missiles’.

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White House Chief of Staff Suggests Regime Change in Venezuela Is Real Goal of Boat Strikes

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has suggested that the goal of the US bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in the waters of Latin America is the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to a two-part report published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday.

Wiles discussed President Trump’s Venezuela strategy in an interview with Vanity Fair reporter Chris Whipple on November 2, 2025. “He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will,” she told him.

While Trump and his top officials have been clear about their desire for regime change in Venezuela, they have framed the bombing campaign against boats as an effort to stop drug shipments to the US. Wiles’s comments suggest that the campaign’s real purpose, at least at the start, is to pressure Maduro.

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Israel obtained, ignored Hamas document laying out Oct. 7 attack plan, report alleges

Israeli officials had intelligence that Palestinian terror group Hamas was preparing a wide-ranging attack before its October 7 assault but dismissed the information, The New York Times reported Thursday.

A document obtained by Israeli authorities at least a year before the attack “outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people,” the newspaper reported.

The 40-page document, which was reviewed by the newspaper, did not specify when the attack might happen. But it provided a blueprint that Hamas appears to have followed: an initial rocket barrage, efforts to knock out surveillance, and waves of gunmen crossing into Israel by land and air.

Some 3,000 Hamas terrorists burst into Israel on October 7 under cover of heavy rocket fire, attacking army bases and invading communities at a music festival. Some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were brutally slaughtered in the unprecedented assault, and another approximately 240 people were taken hostage.

The Times said the document, which included sensitive security information about Israeli military capacity and locations, circulated widely among the country’s military and intelligence leaders, though it was not clear if it was reviewed by senior politicians including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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US OBLITERATES 3 More Venezuelan Drug Boats Just Hours After President Trump Designates Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

United States Southern Command on Monday announced that Joint Task Force Southern Spear took out three narcotrafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific. 

A total of eight “narco-terrorists” were killed in the strikes. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking,” US SOUTHCOM said.

Video from the strikes shows massive explosions on each boat, turning them into burning piles of rubble.

US Southern Command said in a statement on X,

On Dec. 15, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of eight male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions—three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third.

Trump signed an executive order earlier on Monday to designate fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) and empower his administration to take on the “concentrated, large-scale terror attacks by organized adversaries.”

This will likely be used to justify the defense of America against drug cartels further, as the order directs the Secretary of War and Secretary of Homeland Security to “update all directives regarding the Armed Forces’ response to chemical incidents in the homeland to include the threat of illicit fentanyl.”

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Senate Advances $900 BILLION Defense Spending Bill with Military Aid to Ukraine

The US Senate on Monday voted to end the filibuster and advance the National Defense Authorization Act to a final vote. 

The bipartisan vote, 76-20, invoked cloture on the bill, bringing it one step closer to final passage, which could still take days.

Still, some lawmakers seek to amend the bill further, which would then require House passage before landing on the President’s desk.

Senator Ted Cruz, who showed no concern about Ukraine funding or other unnecessary provisions, has called for an amendment to restrict military aircraft at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), following the deadly crash between a female helicopter pilot and a passenger airplane in January.

The presidential hopeful released a campaign-style video of himself at a Monday press conference, calling for the rewriting of Section 373 of the bill and its replacement with his ROTR Act to add more protections for aviation safety in the bill’s language.

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Biggest Military Funding Bill Still Allows Promoting Soldiers By Race And Sex

Five months ago, in these pages I expressed concern that Congress was missing the opportunity to restore merit to the military personnel system. To accomplish that task I urged Congress to include a meritocracy provision in the 2026 NDAA that does four things: (1) require all military personnel actions to be based exclusively on merit; (2) forbid race and sex-based preferences; (3) provide for reasonable exceptions when mission success requires sex or race be considered; and (4) define key terms so idealogues in the Pentagon cannot manipulate the language to further their diversity agenda.

When the House and Senate passed their versions of the NDAA, it appeared that between the two chambers some progress toward establishing a merit-based personnel system was being made. When the compromise bill resolving the differences between the House and Senate version, S. 1017, was released last week, it was readily apparent that Congress had no intention of requiring merit principles to govern military personnel actions. To make matters worse, the drafters employed smoke and mirrors to put a merit-sounding title on a provision that just reinforces the Biden-era identity preference status quo.

What’s Not in the NDAA

The bill passed by the House had a provision that would have specifically forbidden the use of race or ethnicity in personnel actions except for certain special operations missions. It also required all personnel actions to be based “exclusively on individual merit, fitness, capability, and performance.”

While it did not address sex-based preferences, it did put Congress on the same page as the administration insofar as racial discrimination was concerned.

The initial Senate version, on the other hand, lacked any attempt to restore a meritocracy or to eliminate identity preferences. Had the final version negotiated between the House and the Senate accepted the House provision it would have been a big improvement. Instead, what we got was a provision that, when viewed in context, sends the unmistakable message that race and sex-based preferences are alive and well in the military personnel system.

Gaslighting on Merit

To appreciate the sleight of hand the Congress pulled off, one must look at how its members framed the issue. Section 525 of the final version of the bill is titled “Requirement of equal opportunity, racial neutrality, and exclusive use of merit in military personnel actions.” Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, it is the text of the legislation and not the title that is important. All this section does is add “command selection” to Section 529C of the 2024 NDAA so that the provision now reads, “MERIT REQUIREMENT. — A military accession, promotion, or command selection in the Department of Defense shall be based on individual merit and demonstrated performance.”

Note what this provision does not say. It does not say that personnel actions shall be exclusively based on merit and demonstrated performance. It does not say that racial and sex-based preferences shall not be applied in military personnel actions. It does not define “merit” and “demonstrated performance.” And it does not provide for reasonable and legitimate exceptions, such as assigning women to Female Engagement Teams and blacks to a special operations mission in Africa where the ability to blend in with the local population might be critical to mission success.

You may ask, “Why must Congress be so specific? The language seems straightforward, and a reasonable interpretation would not allow for discrimination or preferences.” When, however, ideologues get to interpret the statute, they will manipulate the language to further their ideological goals.

We know this because of what happened after President Biden signed the 2024 NDAA into law on December 22, 2023. From that point forward “military accession” and “promotion” were to be based on “individual merit and demonstrated performance.” Furthermore, “DOD Instruction 1350.02,” the Department of Defense (now called the Department of War under the Trump administration) policy on Equal Opportunity, required service members to be “evaluated only on individual merit, fitness, capability, and performance.” The statutory language and the department’s instruction would seem to make merit the standard. But things are not always as they seem.

Because neither the federal law nor the department’s policy specifically prohibited race and sex-based preferences and Congress did not define key terms, Pentagon ideologues continued with business as usual. Neither the 2024 NDAA provision nor the Department of War’s policy language contradicted the “diversity is a strategic imperative” mantra of the Biden Pentagon. Despite the language of the 2024 NDAA and the Pentagon policy, the senior leadership in the Pentagon and the Department of Justice argued in federal court that racial preferences were appropriate in granting admission to West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy. “Diversity is our strength,” they said.

In their interpretation of both the federal statutory law and Biden’s Defense Department policy, considering skin color to achieve diversity was part of the “merit” calculation. “Performance” was weighed not in relation to any objective standard, but relative to the amount of melanin in an applicant’sskin. When Congress fails to define key terms, ideologues can manipulate the language to achieve their goals. Clever lawyering can even convince federal judges to go along with the scam.

By adding “command selection” to a statute Department of War has already twisted to allow using racial preferences does not change anything. Furthermore, codifying the language of the DOW policy without defining the terms allows the DOW bureaucrats to supply their own definition.

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BRITAIN ESCALATES: First Female MI6 Intel Chief Blaise Metreweli Warns of Russia’s ‘Aggressive’ Threat in First Speech, Vows a More ‘Active’, ‘Operational’ Role

Granddaughter of a Ukrainian Nazi, Metreweli is going after Russia – coincidence?

The United Kingdom is hell-bent on the confrontation against Russia.

For many, it’s a clever way to distract from the real problems of mass migration, two-tier policing, censorship, stagnant economy, skyrocketing taxes… the list goes on.

But for some, like the new MI6 Intel chief, it’s reportedly a multi-generational conflict – it’s personal.

Let’s call back a BBC News quote back from June:

“Blaise Metreweli was announced as the incoming head of the Secret Intelligence Service earlier this month. She will be its first female ‘C’ in its 116-year history.

With little known about her wider backstory, several newspapers reported on Friday that her grandfather was Constantine Dobrowolski, who defected from Soviet Russia’s Red Army to become the Nazis’ chief informant in Chernihiv, Ukraine.”

Yes, you read it right: she is the granddaughter of the man they called ‘The Butcher’.

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