Tag: perpetual war

Israel bombed southern Lebanon with banned white phosphorus munitions: Report

Israeli forces in recent months have targeted forests and populated areas in southern Lebanon with internationally banned white phosphorus bombs and munitions, local media reports say.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that the most recent attacks occurred near the town of Kfar Kila.

Israeli forces are also carrying out “a search operation” near Kfar Kila from their base in Metula, a town on the northern side of the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories.

The report further says the attacks endangered civilians’ lives and caused massive fires in the region.

Israel continues to use white phosphorus munitions in south Lebanon, causing lasting damage and driving villagers away.

A series of reports have said that white phosphorus attacks are “putting civilians at grave risk” and “contributing to displacement”.

A recent investigation by Qatar-based al-Jazeera found that Israel had dropped 117 phosphoric bombs on southern Lebanon, striking at least 32 towns and villages between October and March.

The impacted area spanned nearly the entirety of Lebanon’s 100km southern border with the occupied territories. Israel’s repeated use of white phosphorous has drawn the ire of international humanitarian organizations.

On March 19, Oxfam called on the administration of US President Joe Biden to “immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel.”

Israel reportedly used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon, according to a Washington Post investigation in December.

Photos and videos verified by international rights groups and reviewed by The Post show the characteristic ribbons of white phosphorus smoke falling over Dheira, a southern Lebanese village, on October 16.

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Appetite for Destruction: US Gambles on New Texas Factory to Churn Out Ammo for Ukraine

The Ukraine proxy conflict continues to feed the insatiable US cycle of arms spending and production, with yet another newly-unveiled manufacturing facility joining its ranks.

A Texas factory that reportedly cost US$500 million to build is geared towards boosting the gravy train of US warmongers.

NATO’s proxy conflict in Ukraine has an avid appetite for ammunition and has eaten its way into both US and EU stocks with lackluster results to show for it. The Pentagon is hoping the General Dynamics facility in Mesquite, Texas, will help satiate this ammo craving.

American factories in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, together produce about 36,000 155mm shells per month. Managed by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD.N), the new Universal Artillery Projectile Lines facility jam-packed with cutting-edge machinery can churn out 30,000 units per month for the Kiev regime.

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New evidence US blocked Ukraine-Russia peace deal, and a new Ukrainian excuse for walking away

Since the collapse of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in April-May 2022, the Biden administration and establishment US media have maintained a near-total vow of silence.

Even as Russian President Vladmir Putin has directly accused the US and UK of sabotaging the negotiations in Istanbul, President Biden and his top principals have never offered a rebuttal, and no major US outlet has bothered to seek one. The lone exception was an anonymous senior administration official, who told the Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov that Russian complaints were “Utter bulls—.” The official added: “I know for a fact the United States didn’t pull the plug on that. We were watching it carefully.”

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Top US Law Schools Present Undeniable Evidence Of Israel’s Gaza Genocide

On May 15, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR), a U.S.-based advocacy group training undergraduates in human rights law at colleges and universities worldwide to counter abusive state, corporate, or private conduct, published a 105-page analysis of international law and its application to Israel’s military actions since October 7, 2023. Drawing on extensive evidence and historical legal precedents, the findings leave no doubt that Israel has committed horrific breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention in Gaza.

A collaborative effort by some of the West’s most prestigious law schools, the report has now been submitted to the United Nations. The institution has yet to comment on the UNHR investigation’s irrefutable, bombshell contents. The mainstream media has also remained silent. Given the complicity of Western journalists in whitewashing and justifying unconscionable crimes in Gaza, this is not surprising. However, the silence has been so pervasive that the report may have even gone unnoticed by committed Palestine solidarity activists.

This silence is itself an injustice, as the UNHR has produced a singular, indispensable resource for factually, legally, and morally refuting the arguments and assertions of Zionists and their allies, old and new. The report details, in devastating forensic detail, the variety of deplorable, murderous ways in which the Israeli state and its operatives at every level are culpable for committing genocide in Gaza, from public expressions of “blatant and unequivocal dehumanization and cruelty” to military actions explicitly designed to maximize Palestinian slaughter.

As defined in the Genocide Convention of 1948 and interpreted by international courts and tribunals, the crime of genocide requires that a perpetrator kill, seriously harm, or inflict conditions of life calculated to destroy a group, in whole or in part, with the intent to destroy that group. Thomas Becker, UNHR’s legal director, tells MintPress News: “What’s happening now is both unprecedented and, in many ways, a textbook case of genocide.”

Five days after the publication of the UNHR’s landmark investigation, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intent to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for numerous crimes against humanity and atrocities committed since October 7, 2023. While it remains uncertain whether they will ever face justice, the Network’s report should inspire governments and citizens worldwide to work relentlessly towards achieving that righteous goal.

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Here’s Why the World is Falling Apart (and What You Can Do About It!)

Do you ever get the feeling that everything is breaking down all at once?

Forget about starting a family or buying a house. It’s becoming harder and harder for young men and women just to put food on the table.

And those lucky ones who defy the odds and manage to start a family sure aren’t spending their time at neighbourhood barbecues while the kids play a game of pick-up street hockey. Today, they’d be lucky to pry the kids away from their device long enough for them to notice that there are other kids in their neighbourhood. Not that the parents are any better at living life.

What’s everyone doing on those devices? Scrolling through their never-ending social media feeds of doom porn and ragebait, of course! They’re busy watching Israel holocaust Palestine and NATO inch closer to nuclear war with Russia and people at home engaging in public freakouts as society disintegrates and the world devolves into madness.

That faith in the ability of hard work and determination to help us all improve the planet and leave a better place for our children? Gone. Replaced by a sinking feeling that the world is heading to hell in a handbasket and that maybe it isn’t worth saving anyway.

Yes, from the macrocosm of geopolitical crises and financial trickery to the microcosm of economic disintegration and spiritual malaise, it seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong. Increasingly, it feels like we’re just bystanders watching the messy spectacle play out on our screens, digital drivers rubbernecking at the car crash of chaos unfolding on the information superhighway.

But did you know that there’s a name for this phenomenon? And that it’s part of a years-long plan by the powers-that-shouldn’t-be to destabilize the world and move their agenda forward? And did you also know that by merely watching this disaster taking place, we’re actually helping that plan along?

No? Well, you’re about to learn all about it! Let’s dig in.

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Is Joe Biden Issuing Legal Orders to the US Military?

Is it legal for a U.S. president to order American troops to take action that enables a genocide? I should think not. The president takes essentially the same oath of office as military members do. Its essential thrust is supporting and defending the U.S. Constitution. As the civilian commander-in-chief, the President issues orders to the military that are of course authoritative, that must be obeyed, except when those orders are illegal. So, for example, U.S. presidents shouldn’t be able to order torture, nor should they be able to issue orders that contribute to genocide, and, if they do, service members are within their rights to refuse to obey such orders. Indeed, if they put “integrity first” (the leading Air Force core value) as well as the U.S. Constitution, one might argue that should feel compelled by conscience to disobey.

It’s not an easy issue for sure, because the Biden administration claims that Israel is not prosecuting a genocide in Gaza. In fact, the Biden administration sees Israel as a vital ally to America, fully deserving of near-total U.S. support, therefore any service member who objects to orders on legal or moral grounds runs up against the full authority and weight of the chain of command.

Honestly, I’m glad I was never put in this position when I was in the U.S. military. Yet I still think about it. How would I feel as an Air Force officer loading or flying 2000-pound bombs to Israel to be dropped on Palestinians in Gaza? How would I feel as a Navy officer covering the flanks of Israel so that the IDF can concentrate its forces in murderous assaults on Gaza? How would these and similar actions be in the cause of defending America and supporting the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic?

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People Surprised and Worried by UK Army Ad Showing Exclusively White People

People have expressed ominous surprise that the British military is once again targeting white men in recruitment ads, with some seeing it as a sign that war is coming.

“After being totally dismissed from adverts for years now, the lesser spotted white male is now seemingly making quite the comeback for UK Military Ads,” commented an X user.

The UK Army clip in question appears to feature exclusively white people and features no diversity whatsoever, despite previous military ads and TV commercials in general being full of it.

It shows a white British soldier and his comrades, who all appear to be white too, helping a group of anguished people, who are also entirely white, evacuate an area.

“What’s your gut saying? Do nothing? Or help? You’ve got the instincts. Now get the training,” says a voiceover.

“When the UK Military start putting out new adverts, actually featuring White Men, you best believe they’re taking us to war,” commented one individual.

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CHEAP AND LETHAL: THE PENTAGON’S PLAN FOR THE NEXT DRONE WAR

WORRIED ABOUT a potential war with China, the Pentagon is turning to a new class of weapons to fight the numerically superior People’s Liberation Army: drones, lots and lots of drones.

In August 2023, the Defense Department unveiled Replicator, its initiative to field thousands of “all-domain, attritable autonomous (ADA2) systems”: Pentagon-speak for low-cost (and potentially AI-driven) machines — in the form of self-piloting ships, large robot aircraft, and swarms of smaller kamikaze drones — that they can use and lose en masse to overwhelm Chinese forces.

Earlier this month, two Pentagon offices leading this charge announced that four nontraditional weapons makers had been chosen for another drone program, with test flights planned for later this year. The companies building this “Enterprise Test Vehicle,” or ETV, will have to prove that their drone can fly over 500 miles and deliver a “kinetic payload,” with a focus on weapons that are low-cost, quick to build, and modular, according to a 2023 solicitation for proposals and a recent announcement from the Air Force Armament Directorate and the Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon’s off-the-shelf acceleration arm. Many analysts believe that the ETV initiative may be connected to the Replicator program. DIU did not return a request for clarification prior to publication.

The new robot planes will mark a shift from the Defense Department’s “legacy” drones which DIU says are “over-engineered” and “labor-intensive” to produce. The four contractors chosen for the program are Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics, and Zone 5 Technologies, which were selected from a field of more than 100 applicants.

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Pacific on the Edge of War as Chinese Naval Forces Board and Seize Military Boats of Philippine Navy

The Pacific appears increasingly nearer to war as Chinese vessels encircled and boarded military resupply boats belonging to a key American ally.

Tensions erupted as the Chinese Coast Guard seized ships of a Philippine Navy resupply mission that was underway near the Second Thomas Shoal. The Armed Forces of the Philippines revealed pictures of the Monday confrontation in a social media post, calling the attack “coercive, aggressive, and barbaric.”

The shallow reef, also known as Ayungin Shoal, is part of the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, one of the many areas in the region claimed by Beijing.

The Philippine military was resupplying a tank landing ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which was intentionally run aground on a reef just off the disputed shoal in 1999 to bolster the country’s claim on the island.

Although likely not even remotely seaworthy at this point, the Sierra Madre remains an actively crewed commissioned vessel of the Philippine Navy.

China has similarly fortified its claims on the area, deploying missiles to some of the islands in 2018.

Videos show the resupply mission turning to blows as China became involved. In one clip, Chinese sailors could be seen waving and swinging axes, machetes and other melee weapons as the boats closed in to become a chaotic mass.

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White House to Send Allies’ Patriot Air Defense Systems to Ukraine

Per a Thursday report in the Financial Times, the U.S. will suspend all orders for Patriot air defense systems to other countries and redirect their production to Ukraine.

According to the White House, it will be “re-sequencing” the planned deliveries so that Ukraine will receive produced systems at an expedited rate.

The move comes on the heels of the Biden administration’s promise of getting more Patriot systems for Ukraine “relatively quickly” at the recent G7 summit. 

The redirection will reportedly not affect exports to Taiwan.

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