Tag: perpetual war

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Canada’s Liberal Government Opens Military Ranks to Foreign Nationals for Fast-Track Immigration

In yet another reckless move by the far-left Liberal government, Canada is now throwing open the doors of its military to foreign nationals, offering them a fast-track path to permanent residency.

Under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s regime, skilled immigrants from around the world can now snag jobs in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as doctors, nurses, or even pilots, and get expedited immigration status in return.

Additional reporting indicates applicants may be required to:

  • Have extensive prior service in a recognized foreign military
  • Secure a multi-year CAF job offer
  • Possess post-secondary credentials before being admitted under the program.

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced this disastrous policy on Wednesday, touting it as a way to “attract highly skilled foreign military applicants” and “strengthen our armed forces.”

“Finally, we are creating a new category for skilled military recruits to attract highly skilled foreign military applicants. Eligible recruits with a job offer from the Canadian Armed Forces, including doctors, nurses, and pilots, can be invited to apply for permanent residence.

“They will be subject to the same security and military requirements. This new category will support our government’s commitment to strengthen our armed forces, defend our sovereignty, and keep Canadians safe.”

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Trump officials plan to build 5,000-person military base in Gaza, files show

The Trump administration is planning to build a 5,000-person military base in Gaza, sprawling more than 350 acres, according to Board of Peace contracting records reviewed by the Guardian.

The site is envisioned as a military operating base for a future International Stabilization Force (ISF), planned as a multinational military force composed of pledged troops. The ISF is part of the newly created Board of Peace which is meant to govern Gaza. The Board of Peace is chaired by Donald Trump and led in part by his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The plans reviewed by the Guardian call for the phased construction of a military outpost that will eventually have a footprint of 1,400 metres by 1,100 metres, ringed by 26 trailer-mounted armored watch towers, a small arms range, bunkers, and a warehouse for military equipment for operations. The entire base will be encircled with barbed wire.

The fortification is planned for an arid stretch of flatlands in southern Gaza strewn with saltbush and white broom shrubs, and littered with twisted metal from years of Israeli bombardment. The Guardian has reviewed video of the area. A source close to the planning tells the Guardian that a small group of bidders – international construction companies with experience in war zones – have already been shown the area in a site visit.

The Indonesian government has reportedly offered to send up to 8,000 troops. Indonesia’s president was one of four south-east Asian leaders scheduled to attend an inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington DC on Thursday.

The UN security council authorized the Board of Peace to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza. The ISF, according to the UN, will be tasked with securing Gaza’s border and maintaining peace within the area. It is also supposed to protect civilians, and train and support “vetted Palestinian police forces”.

It is unclear what the ISF’s rules of engagement would be if there is combat, renewed bombing by Israel, or attacks by Hamas. Nor is it clear what role the ISF is meant to play in disarming Hamas, an Israeli condition to proceed with Gaza’s reconstruction.

While more than 20 countries have signed up as members of the Board of Peace, much of the world has stayed away. Although it was set up with the UN’s approval, the organization’s charter appears to grant Trump permanent leadership and control.

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Eric Trump invests in Israeli company behind ‘low cost per kill’ drones

US President Donald Trump’s son Eric is investing heavily in a merger between Israeli drone manufacturer Xtend and Florida-based construction firm JFB Construction Holdings.

Xtend, which made weapons tested on Palestinian civilians during the genocide in Gaza, prides itself on its “low-cost-per-kill” drones. 

The $1.5-billion merger aims to take the Israeli drone maker public. Xtend will then be listed on the NASDAQ.

“I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in. Drones are clearly the wave of the future. Xtend has unbelievable potential,” the US president’s son said in a statement.

Joseph F. Basile III, chief executive officer of JFB, said in a statement that “by pairing XTEND’s operating system and advanced AI capabilities with JFB’s execution, infrastructure and buildout expertise, we see a clear opportunity to accelerate US manufacturing, scale production responsibly, and support a next-generation defense technology platform built in America and ready for the public markets.”

“By combining our platform with JFB, we are acquiring the resources we need to scale our manufacturing capabilities in the US and gaining access to the US public markets,” said Xtend CEO Aviv Shapira. 

Xtend’s various types of drones are documented to have participated in attacks and targeted killings in Gaza. Reports have said an Xtend drone was used to find late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in battle in October 2024. 

Israel’s use of deadly drone warfare has been widespread and is responsible for heavy civilian casualties in Gaza as well as in Lebanon.

The new merger has been described as an expansion of Trump’s business empire, which has been branching out into various sectors, including AI and cryptocurrency.

One such AI giant that has entered into multi-billion-dollar partnerships with the US and Israeli governments is Palantir, which also played a role in the Gaza genocide.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp openly stated this week that his company is dedicated “to the service of the west and the United States of America” and aims to “disrupt” and “on occasion” to “kill” the enemies of the west and the US. 

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US Withdrawing All Forces From Syria, Over A Year After Regime Change By Proxy War

Last week we and others reported that American forces finally after many years withdrew from the remote Al-Tanf Garrison, a base in southern Syria near the borders of Iraq and Jordan. US troops had long operated out of Tanf to pressure the Assad government as part of the long-running US-backed regime change project. The US primarily trained the Syrian Free Army (FSA) in that remote desert area – which was an umbrella group of various factions, among them jihadists, armed and funded by Washington.

But the majority of US forces had long occupied the northeast of the country, where the oil and gas fields are concentrated, specifically Hasakah and Deir Ezzor provinces. But over several weeks, the Pentagon has been handing over its constellation of small bases to the Syrian government of Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Qaeda and ISIS name: Abu Mohammad al-Jolani). At times throughout the Syrian proxy war, the US had anywhere from 800 to 2000 troops on the ground, but likely also more contractors and intelligence operatives.

Under Trump, Washington has been weighing a complete withdrawal since the year’s start, having fully backed the Jolani regime in the wake of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. This has been awkward to put it mildly, given Jolani had long been on the US terror list, after being dropped once he took control of Damascus.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reports, “The U.S. is in the process of withdrawing all of its roughly 1,000 troops from Syria, according to three American officials, ending a decadelong military operation in the country.”

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Senators Talk Digital Freedom for Iran While Expanding Surveillance at Home

Three US senators want federal funding to help Iranians bypass censorship and access VPNs. The same three senators have spent years supporting the surveillance systems that track Americans online.

We obtained a copy of their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for you here.

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Lankford (R-OK), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) are backing funding for anti-censorship technology and virtual private networks abroad.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), whose privacy record is largely clean, is also supporting the effort. The bipartisan coalition wants to help people circumvent government internet controls. Just not the American government’s internet controls.

Graham’s voting record reads like a blueprint for the surveillance state he claims to oppose overseas. He voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 and has supported every major expansion since. When Section 702 of FISA came up for reauthorization, Graham backed it. When Congress considered making Section 702 permanent in 2017 with no sunset clauses and no congressional review, Graham backed that too.

His encryption stance is just as consistent. Graham co-sponsored the EARN IT Act in 2020, which would pressure platforms to weaken encryption to avoid liability.

He also backed the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data (LAED) Act, a bill that would require companies to build backdoors into their security systems. VPNs work because of encryption. Graham has spent years trying to break it.

He’s also pushed to repeal Section 230 protections and supported requiring government licenses for companies offering AI tools. When surveillance mechanisms he championed caught his own communications, Graham complained. Privacy for senators. Mass surveillance for everyone else.

Lankford introduced the Free Speech Fairness Act, which removed restrictions on political speech by religious and nonprofit organizations. That same senator has backed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which will likely require platforms to implement age verification and give regulators the power to pressure companies into removing content.

He called for Section 230 to be “ripped up” and backed a national strategy against antisemitism that includes government coordination on speech. When Edward Snowden revealed the scope of NSA surveillance, Lankford branded him a traitor for telling the public what their government was doing.

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How MI6 backed ‘right-wing religious fanatics’ in Afghanistan

In 1980, journalist John Fullerton sat down for lunch in London with members of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6. The spooks asked the restless reporter to name five cities where he would like to work. He scrawled the answers unhesitatingly on a paper napkin.

“The top one was Peshawar in Pakistan,” he told Declassified, explaining his desire to move near the turbulent Afghan border. “The Soviets had invaded Afghanistan but I couldn’t find ways to be a freelancer out there. There were no journalists covering it. Everyone had left Kabul. So I wanted to cover the war and that’s how SIS employed me.”

He had been on good terms with SIS for many years already, after a chance encounter with Nicholas Elliott, one of the agency’s high fliers. Elliott, who famously confronted the KGB double agent Kim Philby, had just retired as an SIS director when he spotted an article by Fullerton exposing a power struggle between the police and military in apartheid South Africa.

Fullerton grew up in Cape Town, rising to night news editor on the Cape Times before migrating back to the UK, the country of his birth. After checking he was not a mole for the apartheid regime’s Bureau of State Security, British intelligence eventually took him on as a “contract labourer”, a cheaper option than a permanent SIS officer position.

“They employed quite a lot of these contract labourers, many from military backgrounds,” Fullerton commented. “SIS had gone through a period of retrenchment in the 1970s and early 80s and it had shrunk. From having three fully staffed stations in Latin America it went to having none.”

This all changed under Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who received informal advice on espionage from Elliott. “She took a great interest in foreign affairs and intelligence and she tried to beef it all up,” Fullerton remarked, adding that her Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington was eager to get “scenes of Afghans fighting communists onto television screens.”

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Indonesia To Send First 1,000 Troops To Gaza By April For ‘Stabilization Force’

Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops to be deployed in Gaza as early as April as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force, an army spokesperson said on Monday.

A total of 8,000 Indonesian soldiers will be ready for deployment by June, while the final decision will be made by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. “The departure schedule remains entirely subject to the political decisions of the state and applicable international mechanisms,” the spokesman said in a text message to news agency Reuters.

Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak previously estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 military personnel could be deployed, with final numbers “still being negotiated”. 

On Saturday, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said that its military’s participation in Gaza as part of the peace plan devised by US President Donald Trump should not be interpreted as a normalization of political relations with Israel. 

“Indonesia consistently rejects all attempts at demographic change or the forced displacement or relocation of the Palestinian people in any form,” the ministry said.

The deployment, which has a non-combatant, humanitarian mandate, could only be carried out with the consent of the Palestinian Authority, the ministry said.

“Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations or any action leading to direct confrontation with any armed group,“ the statement said. Indonesian troops would also have no mandate to demilitarize any party, it added.

However the mandate of the stabilization force includes ensuring “the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip” and “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”. The resolution authorizes the force to “use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate”.

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Israeli soldier confesses to murder, sexual assault in Gaza during live stream

A video shared on social media platforms has ignited widespread anger online after an Israeli soldier openly confessed to committing atrocities, including murder and rape, in the Gaza Strip during two years of genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged coastal territory.

In a live TikTok broadcast featuring American YouTuber Jeff Davidson, the soldier said, “We don’t just kill, we also rape,” alluding to acts committed by Israeli forces against women and children in Gaza.

In the live stream conversation, held during the Gaza onslaught but only made public recently, Davidson first inquired about the soldier’s identity and military connection. The individual claimed to be part of the Israeli military and broadcasting from inside Gaza.

When confronted by Davidson with the reality that the Israeli army caused the devastation in Gaza, the soldier acknowledged it without hesitation or any sign of regret.

The soldier directed the camera outward and detailed widespread devastation in the area, as the American interviewer requested him to display his surroundings.

“You wanna see Gaza? Don’t be surprised, there’s no house here. Flat, all flat,” the soldier said.

Davidson responded, “You guys flattened it?” The soldier replied: “Oh yeah.”

The discussion heated up when the soldier tried to rationalize attacking children by presenting a picture of a child with a gun, asserting he discovered it in a destroyed house.

Davidson rejected his assertion, emphasizing that children protecting themselves from an invading military can never warrant killing or attacking them. He also held the Israeli regime accountable for the dire situation in Gaza.

In a surprising turn, the soldier continued, stating, “We have killed women and children,” and coldly added: “And by the way, don’t worry…we rape them too.”

Human rights organizations have highlighted the video as strong proof of grave war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli military against Gaza civilians, asserting that backing from successive US administrations and Western allies fosters a perceived culture of impunity for such offenses.

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on Sunday that 726 bodies have been retrieved since the ceasefire agreement with Israel came into effect on October 10 last year.

The ceasefire concluded Israel’s two-year genocide that started on October 7, 2023.

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Trump’s Board of Peace rallies ‘thousands’ of troops for Gaza deployment

US President Donald Trump has said members of his newly formed Board of Peace have pledged “thousands of personnel” and billions of dollars to a potential international stabilization force that will be tasked with administering Gaza.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said countries taking part in the initiative will formalize their commitments at a meeting on February 19 in Washington, describing the deployment as part of efforts to maintain “security and peace” in the Palestinian enclave.

“Member States have pledged more than $5 BILLION DOLLARS toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts, and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police,” he wrote, adding that Hamas must uphold its commitment to full and immediate “demilitarization.”

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Kiev Mayor Klitschko Says City Near Catastrophe, Survival of Ukraine ‘An Open Question’, as Anti-Corruption Bureau Arrest Former Minister Galushchenko Trying To Flee the Country

Mayor Klitschko tells it like it is, while former minister Galushchenko fails to flee prosecution.

While Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was warm and defiant in the Munich Security Conference, back home, the situation continues to devolve, risking getting to the point of no return.

Outspoken Kiev mayor – and former boxing champion – Vitali Klitschko has come out and said that Ukraine’s survival ‘as an independent nation’ remains an ‘open question’, as the Russian missile and drone strikes on energy infrastructure have brought Kiev to the brink of catastrophe.

Financial Times reported:

“’Right now, the question of the future of our country — whether we will survive as an independent country or not is still open’” said the former international boxing champion turned mayor.”

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