Tag: perpetual war

Could the US Military’s Recruitment Problem Be a Good Thing?

Some experts worry that, if the country went to war, many reserve units might be unable to deploy. A U.S. official who works on these issues put it simply: ‘We can’t get enough people.’”

“Vietnam Syndrome” hasn’t gone away! It resulted in the elimination of the draft and ultimately morphed into “Iraq Syndrome” – so it seems – and even though those lost, horrific wars are now nothing but history, the next American war is ever-looming (against Canada?… against Greenland?). And yet, good God, the military is having a hard time recruiting a sufficient amount of patriotic cannon fodder.

“We can’t get enough people” – you know, to kill the enemy and to risk coming home in a box. And maybe that’s a good thing! The public is kind of getting it: War is obsolete (to put it politely). War is insane; it threatens the future of life on the planet – even though a huge swatch of the American media seems unwilling to get it and continues to report on war and militarism as though they literally equaled “national defense.” After all, we spend a trillion dollars annually on it.

Indeed, war unites us… in hell.

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Yves Engler: I’m Being Charged for Responding to Anti-Palestinian Hate on X (Twitter)

UPDATE:  After writing the report below, the Montreal police claimed that Engler was victimizing the police by writing the report below.   Engler wrote this update before being taken into custody.  Engler says that a new investigator has told him that the Montreal police will be charging me with intimidation, harassment, harassing communication and “entrave” (interference) towards the original police investigator.

Canadian activist Yves Engler was arrested in Montreal on Thursday for pro-Palestinian posts on Twitter (X).  He was charged with harassment and indecent communication on the social media platform.  He will be arraigned on Friday.  Thousands of people have already written to the Montreal police urging them to drop the charges.   We urge our readers to do the same.

Engler has written 65 articles that have appeared on Antiwar.com here and here.  He is the author of 12 books.  Engler was notified in advance and wrote this on his website the day before his arrest.

Tomorrow the Montreal police will arrest me for posting to social media against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Today I received a phone call from a Montreal police officer by the last name of Crivello. She asked me to come to a downtown police station where I will be charged for harassment and indecent communication. Crivello said a complaint was submitted against me months ago by a legal firm on behalf of racist media personality Dahlia Kurtz. Crivello said I had described Kurtz as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist” on Twitter. Guilty as charged.

On dozens of occasions I’ve responded to Kurtz’ racist, violent anti-Palestinian posts on X. Six weeks ago I wrote an article noting:

Amidst this ever-worsening holocaust in Gaza, the media and politicians want us to believe Canadian Jews are the real victims. In an egregious example, the Winnipeg Sun just published “Dahlia Kurtz mobilizing pushback on Canada’s Jew-hate problem.” Palestinian suffering is omitted from the long profile of an unhinged Jewish supremacist. The article describes Kurtz combating “‘Free Palestine’ hatefests” and selecting Justin Trudeau “winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award.”

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US official demands Zelenskyy return to talks over critical minerals deal

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy return to negotiations over a critical minerals deal with the US, amid a deepening rift between Washington and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy had on Wednesday rejected US plans to strike a deal for a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the US offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.

“He needs to come back to the table,” Mike Waltz said of Zelenskyy at a press briefing on Thursday.

“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” he said.

The comments came shortly after the US cancelled a planned news conference with Zelenskyy and a US envoy in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian leader had planned to address the media alongside Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, the US envoy for Ukraine, following talks in Kyiv on Thursday.

“At the request of the American side, the format of the meeting provides for protocol filming and does not include statements or questions,” Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Serhii Nikiforov told reporters.

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US switches stance on Ukraine war, seeking $500bn in payback

Ukraine’s diplomatic situation was upended during the past week, as its main ally, the United States, reversed several positions.

US President Donald Trump announced on February 12 that he was beginning direct talks with Russia to end the war, overturning his predecessor’s promise that there would be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”.

On the same day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Russian diplomatic language invoking “realism”, when he told Ukraine Defence Contact Group partners in Brussels that “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” and that “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”

Eventual NATO membership has been a US promise to Ukraine since 2008, and the US has, throughout the war, supported a restoration of the border Russia recognised with Ukraine in 1991.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called the one-sided concessions “clumsy” and “a mistake”.

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Trump Should Cut Off Europe’s Defense Welfare Queens

The new administration isn’t even a month old, but already hysteria has swept Europe. After visits by Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, top European officials threw “a temper tantrum” in the words of one observer, which featured wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments on a Biblical scale. On Monday French President Emmanuel Macron hosted an emergency summit of selected continental leaders, which generated abundant kvetching but little more.

Ukraine and its European advocates warn of a new Dark Age if the U.S. makes peace with Russia, as President Donald Trump is trying to do. Even worse, NATO members fear the loss of their heretofore presumed birthright to defense by America. Governments which have repeatedly claimed that Kiev’s defeat would invite a reformed Red Army to march to the Atlantic are preparing new excuses for failing to spend more on defense. The spectacle resembles a theatrical farce.

Americans have subsidized the continent’s defense for eight decades. Despite complaints from Washington, Europeans have consistently minimized military expenditures, convinced that the U.S. would continue to do whatever was necessary to protect them. There were occasional American outbursts, such as by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates more than a decade ago. However, this political theater changed nothing—Gates retired three weeks after his famous speech—and the Pentagon continued to provide defense welfare for prosperous and populous nations across the pond and beyond.

Indeed, top U.S. officials, including Joe Biden as both vice president and president, repeatedly told the Europeans “never mind,” visiting the continent to assure listeners that no matter how little they did, they could count on America to bail them out. The Europeans understandably left the heavy lifting to Washington while concentrating on funding generous welfare states at U.S. expense. (The same Europeans often pilloried Americans for their “Anglo-Saxon model” of capitalism.)

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Europe Sending Peacekeeper Troops to Ukraine ‘Unacceptable’, Says Kremlin

Britain is set to pitch a plan for thousands of European NATO members’ soldiers to be deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers in the coming week, a notion Russia says may constitute a “direct threat”.

Moscow has attempted to pre-empt a European initiative to buttress security in the east of the continent by deterring further fighting after a putative future ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia specifically cited a report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph this week professing to reveal the plan for a European deployment to Ukraine after a ceasefire to keep the peace that would allegedly run to 30,000 troops.

Responding on Thursday morning from the Kremlin, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned “the deployment of NATO countries’ troops to Ukraine cannot be acceptable for Russia”.

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Delighted Kremlin says it ‘absolutely agrees’ with Donald Trump as panic grips Europe over President’s attack on Zelensky and ‘plans to abandon NATO’

The Kremlin has said it ‘absolutely’ agrees with Donald Trump after the US president warned Volodymyr Zelensky to ‘move fast’ to end the conflict in Ukraine – as Europe has been left panicked at the prospect of Washington abandoning Kyiv.

‘[The Trump administration] talk about the need to establish peace as soon as possible and do it through negotiations,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. 

‘We have also already mentioned that this position is more favourable to us than the previous administration, and that here we absolutely agree with the American administration.’

Peskov went on to hit out at the Biden administration, claiming that the previous team in Washington ‘did not declare any goals to initiate a peace process’ and spoke ‘only about war.’

He also declared that any plan to send European troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission would be unacceptable for Russia and that it was monitoring such proposals with concern. 

Moscow is likely feeling emboldened following Trump’s scathing attacks on Zelensky yesterday, in which he called the Ukrainian President a ‘terrible’ leader, ‘a modestly successful comedian’ and ‘a dictator without elections’.

In what appeared to be a thinly-veiled threat, and a shocking departure from US policy on Ukraine, the President went on to say that ‘Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.’

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With just ONE HOUR to decide, Zelensky REJECTS U.S. proposal for rare earth minerals in exchange for military aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has firmly rejected a U.S. proposal to grant Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for military aid, upping the stakes in an already complex geopolitical tug-of-war. According to reports from The Economist, The Washington Post, and Reuters, the proposal was first presented to Zelensky during a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week. Zelensky, however, has repeatedly deferred or outright rejected the deal, signaling a reluctance to cede control over Ukraine’s natural resources to foreign powers.

The proposed deal, which reportedly grants the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine’s mineral reserves, emerged during tense negotiations amid the ongoing conflict with Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump has openly stated that he wants Ukraine to “pay back” the estimated 300 billion in aid provided since 2022 by offering the equivalent of 500 billion worth of rare earth minerals. These minerals, which include lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium, are essential for technologies ranging from batteries and nuclear power to advanced weaponry.

Misaligned expectations and strategy

Zelensky’s refusal to sign the deal during the Munich Security Conference last weekend underscores a fundamental disconnect between Kyiv and Washington. While U.S. officials view the proposal as a means of recouping investments and securing long-term strategic interests, Zelensky is advocating for a more equitable partnership.

In October 2024, Zelensky unveiled his so-called “victory plan,” which included a proposal for joint use of Ukraine’s critical resources with the U.S., contingent on continued military assistance and strategic deterrence. However, at Munich, he emphasized that Ukraine was not yet ready to commit to such a deal, seeking better terms that align with the country’s sovereignty and economic interests.

“This is not about who gets what,” Zelensky reportedly told reporters at the conference. “It’s about creating a partnership that respects Ukraine’s independence and ensures a sustainable future for our people.”

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Poland Revives ‘Fort Trump’ Idea In Effort To Keep US Troop Presence

Poland is reviving the idea of creating a large military base called “Fort Trump” as European allies walk a diplomatic tightrope with the Trump administration as he pushes for Ukraine peace without their representation.

The country’s President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday revealed that assurances have been communicated from the Trump White House over the future of America’s troop presence in Poland. There are no plans for a US troop reduction along NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ – he was told.

Trump and his top national security officials have been pushing hard for Europe to do more to bolster its own security, instead of relying on Washington dollars and deployments.

Duda addressed this in Tuesday comments as follows: “There are no concerns that the U.S. would reduce the level of its presence in our country, that the U.S. would in any way withdraw from its responsibility or co-responsibility for the security of this part of Europe.”

“On the contrary, I hope that thanks to the efforts that President Trump is currently making, the war in Ukraine will end,” he continued, immediately following a meeting in Warsaw with Gen. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

“I will say that in my personal opinion, America has entered the game very strongly when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. I know President Donald Trump, I know that he is an extremely decisive man and when he acts, he acts in a very determined and usually effective way,” Duda said, praising the longtime friend of his. The two appeared to be close during Trump’s first administration.

Washington initially deployed and bolstered Pentagon forces in Poland following Crimea being annexed by Russia in 2014, which was the result of a popular referendum among the population.

International reports commonly estimate there are some 10,000 American troops in Poland. The Associated Press quoted Duda as expressing hope for an increase in troops, especially if Poland follows through on the prior Fort Trump idea:

Duda said Hegseth told him “that we can rather expect a strengthening of the American presence here. We even talked about the fact that I hope that Fort Trump, which we talked about during the first term of President Donald Trump, will really be established.”

Duda had first spoken publicly on this when he visited the White House in 2018, though the military outpost was never established.

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US-Backed Kurdish SDF Agrees To Integrate Into Jolani’s Syrian Army

A major agreement has reportedly been reached between the Kurdish SDF and the post-Assad Syrian government, which will reportedly include the full integration of SDF fighters into the national army. The deal also is said to have included the civil leadership in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

Details are still emerging about a lot of exact specifics beyond the SDF integration into the military, which has been sought since the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over Syria and ousted the former Assad government. The deal is expected to increase the integration of AANES territory into national government institutions at least to some extent.

It is an open question, however, how much autonomy the Kurds in that territory might retain. Some of the HTS leaders have ruled out the idea of giving any autonomy to the Kurds, and suggested that any role in the national government requires them to first totally disarm and submit.

Integration into the Syrian Army seems well short of that position, and raises the question of how Turkey will respond to the announcement. Turkey has insisted they would invade if the SDF weren’t eliminated, and integration might be short enough of that goal that Turkey close partnership with the HTS could be impacted.

SDF leader Mazloum Abdi has made comments about the potential for a deal just a day prior to these announcements. Abdi said that he was hopeful for the new HTS-led government in Syria, and promised SDF support for national stability and unity.

Turkey isn’t the only potential objector here. The Kurdistan Syria Front (KSF) issued a statement very critical of SDF and the AANES deal, even though its exact terms still aren’t public.

They warned that the deal undermines the legitimate rights of Kurds in Syria, and complained of a “path of compromise” the SDF and their associates have been on since October.

The KSF was particularly critical of the lack of consensus with other Kurdish groups before making the deal, saying that they were undermining the appearance of a unified Kurdish stance in regional and international negotiations.

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