Tag: perpetual war

Donald Trump promises to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president

Donald Trump has promised to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president.

The Republican nominee told the National Guard Association of the United States in Detroit that a reserve force is critical for defense in outer space.

Fears of Russia developing nuclear weapons to use specifically in space have ramped up in recent months.

Space is also becoming a vital area of national security as adversaries develop their celestial military capabilities. 

Trump set up Space Force in December 2019 to form the first new branch of the military since 1947, when the Air Force became its own entity.

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NYT Uncritically Reported Israel’s Version of Golan Bombing

As the US-backed genocide in Gaza continues, US media assist in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to widen the war, parroting the words of the aggressor. A consequential example of US press support for escalation was Western media’s coverage of the July 27 strike that killed 12 Druze children on a soccer field near the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Israel and the US immediately blamed the Iran-backed Lebanese organization Hezbollah for the strike—citing Israeli intelligence reports of an Iranian Falaq-1 missile being found at the soccer field (BBC, 7/28/24).

But, in a move that Hezbollah expert Amal Saad called “uncharacteristic” (Drop Site, 7/30/24), the group adamantly denied responsibility for the attack. Saad, a lecturer in politics at Cardiff University, noted that targeting the Syrian Golan Heights—where many inhabitants are hostile towards Israel—would be “illogical” and “provocative” for Hezbollah. Further, if the organization had accidentally committed an attack, Saad pointed to a precedent of the group issuing a public apology in a case of misfire, with the organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrullah, visiting families of victims.

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Something’s Coming, We Don’t Know What It Is But It Is Going To Be Bad

“With a click, with a shock
Phone’ll jingle, door’ll knock, open the latch
Something’s coming, don’t know when but it’s soon…”“Something’s Coming,” lyrics by S. Sondheim, music by L. Bernstein – West Side Story

Shock should not be the word, but when World War III breaks fully loose many who are now sleeping will be shocked. The war has already started, but it’s full fury and devastation are just around the corner. When it does, Tony’s singular fate in West Side Story will be the fate of untold millions.

It is a Greek tragedy brought on by the terrible hubris of the United States, its NATO accomplices, and the genocidal state of Israel and the Zionist terrorists who run it.

Tony felt a miracle was due, but it didn’t come true for him except to briefly love Maria and then get killed as result of a false report, and only a miracle will now save the world from the cataclysm that is on the way, whether it is initiated by intent, a false report, an accident, or the game of nuclear chicken played once too often.

Let us hope but not be naïve.  The signs all point in one direction.  The gun on the wall in the first act of this tragic play is primed to go off in the final one.  Every effort to avoid this terrible fate by seeking peace and not war has been rejected by the U.S. and its equally insane allies.

Every so-called red line laid down by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinians, and their allies has been violated with impunity and blatant arrogance.  But impunity has its limits and the dark Furies of vengeance will have their day.

“It is the dead, not the living,” said Antigone, “who make the longest demands.” Their ghostly voices cry out to be avenged.

I wish I were not compelled by conscience to write this, but it seems clearly evident to me that we stand on the edge of an abyss. The fate of the world rests in the hands of leaders who are clearly psychotic and who harbor death wishes. It’s not terribly complex. Netanyahu and Biden are two of them.

Yes, like other mass killers, I think they love their children and give their dogs biscuits to eat.  But yes, they also are so corrupted in their souls that they relish war and the sense of false power and prestige it brings them.  They gladly kill other people’s children.  They can defend themselves many times over, offer all kinds of excuses, but the facts speak otherwise.  This is hard for regular people to accept.

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Biden Pentagon spokesman insisted Afghan withdrawal wasn’t chaotic but his emails say otherwise

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman has long insisted there was no “chaos” during the bungled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but his own email correspondence shows senior officials were acutely aware that conditions in the country were chaotic and spiraling into deadly violence, according to newly obtained government documents.

These memos and emails chronicle political efforts by the Biden/Harris administration to soft-pedal the truth to the American people about its first major foreign crisis. The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the nonprofit watchdog Functional Government Initiative.

The memos show, for instance, that while then-DOD Undersecretary of Communications John Kirby tried to jaw-bone reporters to portray the Afghan withdrawal as orderly like President Joe Biden had promised, he was receiving briefings from diplomats and military officials in theater who were frantic to stabilize a crisis, particularly at the Kabul airport were evacuations of Americans were taking place.

One State Department situation report emailed to Kirby on Aug. 16, 2021 — 10 days before a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. Marines — referred to “breaches” and “flightline insecurity” at the airport that resulted in the exchange of gunfire that killed five Afghans and may have wounded an American soldier. “The crowd was out of control, the firing was only done to defuse the chaos,” the email reported, citing an official U.S. statement released inside the country.

“Hundreds have flooded the flight line and in at least one case, have forced themselves onto at least one US mil (and other civilian) aircraft. Crowds continue to run alongside planes, including mil aircraft,” the report added. Several Afghans clinging to U.S. aircraft fell to their deaths.

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Under the radar, Ireland is helping illegal Israeli settlements do business

Ireland has been called the most pro-Palestinian country in Europe. So this might surprise you: at the same time – largely under the radar – it has been playing a pivotal role in connecting businesses in illegal Israeli settlements with consumers around the world.

Take the case of Etsy, the popular platform for more “ethical” artisanal and vintage shopping online. The company’s business outside the Americas is handled by its Irish subsidiary. This business includes hosting dozens of shops that explicitly list illegal settlements as their locations (as documented in a recent investigative report I worked on).

Etsy has a big Dublin office not far from Ireland’s parliament, which has been discussing a new bill to prohibit state investment in settlement businesses. It is the latest but not the only example of such contradictions. Airbnb has been challenged for years for listing properties in settlements, also through its Dublin-based subsidiary.

What is going on here? Two Irish trends seem to be colliding with each other. For decades, Ireland has worked to make itself a particularly “attractive” base for expanding multinational companies. Meanwhile, it has a long history of opposing occupation and it has been on the global stage for supporting Palestinian rights and statehood.

This is why people of conscience around the world should keep an eye on the Emerald Isle. It has an opportunity to help protect global consumers from complicity in Israeli war crimes. There also seem to be some clear ways in which the country could take action against settlement businesses, including under anti-money laundering legislation.

Illegal Israeli settlements have been expanding amid Israel’s war and “plausible genocide” in Gaza. They have also been in the news for increasing violence by some settlers against Palestinians who live nearby. The United Nations human rights office said that the establishment and expansion of these settlements amounts to a “war crime”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024 also confirmed that these settlements go against international law. It was clear that all countries are obliged “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining” this unlawful situation.
Ireland, which additionally officially recognised Palestine as a state earlier this year, is not a country that you’d expect to be enabling illegal Israeli settlements. But it has worked since the 1950s to become a hub for thousands of multinational corporations – including those with connections to these settlements like Etsy and Airbnb.

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Ukraine attempted attack on Kurchatov nuclear power plant

“The primary goal of the Ukrainians was to seize the Kursk nuclear power plant to blackmail Russia. They failed and now they are trying to bomb him risking nuclear destruction over Europe” revealed Russian officials and the president of Russia himself who also informed the IAEA.

In more detail, Russian special forces commander “Akhmat” revealed to Russia Today Kiev’s failed plan to seize the nuclear power plant in Kursk province and use it as a bargaining chip against Moscow in possible peace negotiations.

In this way, it is supposed that Ukraine could … trade the area around the nuclear plant for some of the territory that the Russians completely control, possibly in Donbass, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

And if their… demands were not met, then they might threaten the entire Russian border province with even a nuclear disaster, betting that the Russians would not dare to hit them inside the nuclear power plant.

Chechen General Apty Alaudinov added that the actual number of Ukrainian and foreign well-trained commandos who stormed Kursk is over 11,000.

“The Ukrainians wanted to seize the Kursk nuclear power plant by August 11. Obviously they could not achieve their goal.

The Ukrainians deployed over 11,000 men. Most of the military equipment that the Ukrainians brought with them has already been destroyed. They have already wasted all the resources they had available.”

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The Problem Isn’t the US Having the Wrong President, the Problem Is the US Empire’s Existence

The reason I find myself fighting with both Harris supporters and Trump supporters is because they see the other party as the problem while I see the US empire itself as the problem. They seek to make things better by ensuring that the empire is under the correct management, while I seek the end of the empire.

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People say things like “Oh but Kamala Harris speaks so compassionately about the suffering of the Palestinians!”Foley, Timothy PBest Price: $30.41Buy New $18.00(as of 06:47 UTC – Details)

These dupes had eight years of Obama speaking eloquent, compassionate-sounding words while continuing and expanding all of Bush’s ugliest policies, and they still haven’t learned the lesson here.

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Call me naive but I am truly, legitimately shocked that the Democrats are running on such a warmongering platform instead of pretending to stand for peace this election season. Between the new party platform attacking Trump for not starting a war with Iran, Harris talking about having the “most lethal fighting force in the world” and pledging to protect US interests from “Iran and Iran-backed terrorists”, this is the kind of campaign you’d expect to see from an ultrahawk Republican like Tom Cotton or John Bolton. But those Republican warmongers are not popular enough within their own party to secure its nomination.

I really was not expecting the Democrats to be campaigning like this. Certainly I was expecting them to GOVERN as extreme warmongers like Biden has been, but to sell the American people on it on their actual election platform is really surprising. Usually they put a lot of effort into campaigning as the responsible adults in the room; instead they’re openly going all Dr Strangelove and yeehawing on the bomb. There’s normally a lot more distance between who Democrats are and who they pretend to be.

It’s so wild because they’re just handing Trump another easy “vote for me I’m the peace candidate” campaign like they did when they lost in 2016. All they need to do is lie and say they’ll bring about peace, and instead they’re practically campaigning on starting a war with Iran.

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Could It Be This Cynical?

Bear with me while I engage in a bit of speculation.

Since the NATO/Ukraine invasion of Russia, in the Kursk direction, began the hot question has been: Why? None of the usual suspects can make this move make sense. The Ukrainians are stripping their main defense lines in Donbass and sending their best trained and equipped reserves to die in a futile adventure of some sort—even as the Russians appear to be rolling up the Donbass frontline. Most agree that these invading forces in Kursk are doomed—Macgregor: ‘I don’t think they’ll make it [out of the meat grinder]’. The Ukrainian losses are already horrific, since they are operating without air cover and are increasingly cut off from support and resupply. Larry Johnson paints a grim picture:

The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that it has killed more than 4,400 Ukrainian and mercenary troops, destroyed 65 tanks and more than 400 armored and infantry fighting vehicles. It appears that some of the Russian forces in the area are using this as a training exercise — i.e., a live fire event for untested troops where they get to put their training into practice. The new units are fighting alongside and under the guidance of experienced forces, with the Chechens playing their typical gnarly role.

Big Serge has written a lengthy substack trying to figure this out: Back to the Bloodlands. He presents four theories of what’s behind this, but ultimately finds none of them persuasive: 1) The Atomic Hostage; 2) Diversionary Front; 3) Bargaining Chip; 4) Pure Spectacle. As I type I’m listening to Ray McGovern admitting that no one seems able to make sense of this. And yet …

Listening the other day to John Mearsheimer and Danny Davis, Davis cited several usually reliable sources to the effect that Ukraine is reported to have moved 1/3 of their entire army to the northern border for use in a full scale offensive into Russia. The latest claim is that this is to force Putin to negotiate from a position of weakness—an utterly implausible notion. But Ukraine is about to double down. Is this pure madness?

Here’s the one thing that all these commentators appear to agree on: NATO—which means the US—is behind this. Does that fact help us to understand what’s going on? Why would the US do this—push Ukraine to commit its best remaining forces to a suicidal venture that will only hasten the end? Will the US somehow derive some benefit from this deepening Ukraine tragedy?

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CIA Director Burns Visits Balkans In Attempt To Maintain U.S. Hegemony

CIA Director William Burns visited the Balkans this week with stops that included Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Pristina. The expressed aim of the visit is to ensure regional stability, in an attempt to maintain U.S. hegemony in the volatile region.

Former Serbian Ambassador to the United States, Ivan Vujacic suggested that the visit to Serbia likely included admonishments not to engage in any actions that could destabilize Bosnia or Kosovo, with a clear warning that such actions would have serious consequences on relations with the United States.

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WWIII: Belarus Masses Troops/Equipment On Ukrainian Border As Russia Strikes Kyiv

Belarus is reportedly gathering a substantial number of troops and military equipment, including tanks, artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), and aircraft near its border with Ukraine under the pretext of conducting military drills.

The troop concentration is notably near the city of Gomel, approximately 30 km from the Ukraine-Belarus border, reported Inkerman.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has warned Belarus against making any aggressive moves and emphasised that any violations of Ukraine’s state border would trigger self-defence measures.

A Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, killed Ryan Evans, a 40-year-old British safety adviser for Reuters, on 24 August 2024. Four Reuters journalists were injured in the attack and are currently receiving medical treatment, one with serious injuries.

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