Tag: perpetual war

‘Unbearable burden of war’: Hundreds of officers retire from Israeli army

Hundreds of Israeli officers have withdrawn from military service this year – citing the “burden of war” and unsatisfactory conditions for reservists, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported on 19 December. 

“About 500 majors have already retired this year,” Israel Hayom said. The Israeli army is “surprised by the scope of the phenomenon, and admits that they estimated that the wave of departures would expand when the fighting subsides, and not in the midst of the war,” the daily added.

The report confirms that Israel started its war on Gaza last year with a “particularly acute manpower crisis.”

In 2022, a record number of over 600 Israeli majors retired from service. While the pace of departures slowed down at the start of 2023, as the war erupted in October of that year, the “trend is now worsening” once again, and the “outlook for 2025 is not encouraging.” 

One of the reasons is “the unbearable burden placed on [soldiers] by the war.” Many are tired of leaving their houses and families and putting themselves at risk for a “not so rewarding” salary. 

“The army is interested in increasing the number in order to establish more combat units, more defense battalions, more air defense units, and so on. At the moment, it is not clear how the army will manage to do this,” according to Israel Hayom.

Not only majors and captains are hesitant to continue service, but unit commanders are, as well.

The ground battles in Gaza and Lebanon have taken a toll on Israeli forces. A few weeks before the war and ground operations in south Lebanon ended, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel was facing a “huge” shortage of soldiers due to a serious enlistment crisis.

The newspaper said at the time that 7,000 recruits were urgently needed.

The atrocities and war crimes being committed against innocent Palestinians as part of the genocide that Israel has been waging in Gaza for over a year have also taken a psychological toll on some soldiers.

Earlier this year, dozens of Israeli reservists signed a protest letter saying they would not obey a government-issued call to Gaza, citing the atrocities being committed there.

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Beijing Designs Military For War With U.S., Including Missiles, Cyber-Enabled Psychological Weapons

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has added hundreds of new missiles and 100 more nuclear warheads as part of a military buildup designed for a war with the United States, according to a Pentagon report made public Wednesday.

For the first time, the survey of Chinese military power reveals extensive PLA preparations for sophisticated information warfare operations against the United States, including the use of deepfake online posts and cyber-enabled psychological warfare. Pentagon analysts said the goal is to influence U.S. military leaders’ decision-making, demoralize troops and sow divisions in American society.

The report provides new details on extensive PLA advances in weapons systems, doctrine and training. The efforts include practice for missile strikes against U.S. aircraft carriers and warships during operations against Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing has vowed to annex as early as 2027.

“The PLA increasingly views warfare as a confrontation between opposing operational systems, rather than annihilation of opposing mechanized military forces,” the report said. “Following this logic, PLA writings refer to systems destruction warfare as the next way of war, transforming from mechanized warfare to an informatized and intelligentized style.

The PLA calls its information warfare activities “cognitive domain operations.” The report describes “an asymmetric capability to deter U.S. or third-party entry into a future conflict, or as an offensive capability to shape perceptions or polarize a society.”

The operations target the U.S. government and military, media organizations, businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and policy communities.

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Alleged Killer of General Kirillov Arrested, But Holes Remain in the Story

Akhmad Kurbanov is suspected of murdering Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. He was located and detained shortly after planting the bomb that killed Kirillov and his aide. In the photo above, reportedly lifted from social media by the FSB, Kurbanov is chanting, “I’m number one.” (Okay, that’s a joke.)

Russian authorities made quick work of scouring surveillance video feeds to identify the suspect car and capture Mr. Kurbanov. Within 24 hours, with no signs of torture or duress, Kurbanov was spilling his guts:

“I came to Moscow on instructions from the Ukrainian special services”: interrogation of Igor Kirillov, the head of the RKhBZ troops, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, detained for the murder. The citizen of Uzbekistan faces punishment up to life imprisonment, the FSB reported.

“Why did I do this, for what? They offered me 100 thousand dollars and a European passport”

On instructions from the Ukrainian special services, a native of Uzbekistan installed a high-power IED on an electric scooter, which he parked near the entrance to Kirillov’s house. For observation, I rented a car sharing car and installed a Wi-Fi video camera there – the filming was broadcast online to the city of Dnepr. When the officers left the entrance, the contractor remotely activated the IED.

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America’s Origins of Russophobia

For those that grew up in the United States in the 1990s and 2000s, the explosion of Russophobia over the past decade likely came as something of a surprise. A brief survey of the history of Russophobia, however, reveals that the decade and a half after the end of the Cold War was something of an anomaly in the past century and a half of American foreign policy, with a blend of inherited geopolitical fears and ideological tensions leading to a generally anti-Russian sentiment in Washington.

Our investigation begins with the so-called “Testament of Peter the Great.” An eighteenth century forgery of largely Polish origin, it purported to show, in the words of the University of London historian Orlando Figes, that the aims of Russian foreign policy were nothing less than world domination:

“…to expand on the Baltic and Black seas, to ally with the Austrians to expel the Turks from Europe, to conquer the Levant and control the trade to the Indies, to sow dissent and confusion in Europe and become the master of the European continent.”

First published in Napoleonic France in 1812, on the eve of the Grand Armée’s ill-fated invasion of Russia, it was to go on to provide the grist for many an English fear-monger’s mill.

In 1817, Sir Robert Wilson’s A Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia in the Year 1817 luridly detailed the military and geopolitical threat supposedly posed by Russia, and a decade later George de Lacy Evans’s On the Designs of Russia repeated these earlier warnings—both were favorably received by the public and among the ruling establishment, paranoid as ever about any potential threat to British control of India. Then, in 1834, the highly influential David Urquhart published his own pamphlet, England, France, Russia and Turkey, casting Russia as the perpetual antagonist to British interests in the Near East and Central Asia.

Not everyone was fooled, however. As noted by the Mises Institute’s Ryan McMaken, the great British liberals, such as Richard Cobden and John Bright, often opposed these characterizations and exaggerated threats. In turn, they were rewarded only with the scorn familiar to today’s scoffers. Indeed, the perception of Russia as a natural, age-old enemy became embedded in British geopolitical thought.

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NATO arms Poland more than Ukraine in preparation for potential war with Russia

The massive transfer of NATO military equipment to Poland testifies to the West’s possible preparations for a direct war with Russia. Weapons and equipment arriving in Poland in such quantities, as if we are currently on the eve of a major war, lead to a dangerous escalation.

NATO is massively transferring military equipment from European countries to Poland, arming the country much more heavily than it armed the Ukrainians on the eve of the Russian special military operation. This is part of the Atlantic Alliance’s efforts to pressure and isolate Russia in Eastern Europe.

The grouping of NATO forces on the borders of Russia and Belarus has been a systematic effort for years. With such actions, NATO, in the interim, wants to tie up as many Russian and Belarusian forces as possible on the borders, while in the near future, Poland is intended to be a staging point in case of any hot war with Russia.

The exclave region of Kaliningrad, which has no land border with Russia proper but borders NATO countries Lithuania and Poland and has access to the Baltic Sea, is particularly at risk. Responding to this NATO threat, Russia and Belarus have increased their military group deployed along the borders of Poland and Lithuania.

Russian tactical nuclear weapons have also been deployed in significant quantities in Belarus. The goal of deploying nuclear weapons is to show that Russia and Belarus are capable of causing irreparable damage to NATO, essentially meaning it is for deterrence. Therefore, if NATO is ready to risk a nuclear war, then it will not be Russia’s choice, which will only be left with the choice to respond.

Moscow recently updated its nuclear military doctrine, according to which Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it using conventional weapons – if this poses a threat to the vital interests of the state. Under the updated doctrine, Moscow also reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus as a member of the Federal State.

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Ukrainian Neo-Nazi Claims Nuclear War will be GOOD for Ukraine

Ukrainian Neo-Nazi Evgeny Karas claimed during in an interview on Tuesday with the Ukrainian broadcaster Radio Bayraktar that Russia striking Ukraine with nuclear weapons would in fact be good for Ukraine. The man is the leader of the ‘S14’ terrorist group, whose members have a record of harassing minorities and have been accused of high-profile political murders, according to RT.

”Nuclear war is good,” Karas said in the interview, according to RT on Wednesday. “When it happens, we’ll have no more reasons to whine. Nothing worse could happen after a nuclear strike.”

While the aforementioned statement may indicate a nonsensical bloodlust, Karas went so far as to claim that nuclear fallout in Ukraine may even be good for evolution.

“A nuclear war may help us evolve in a way that we could see through an official and tell whether he is a thief or not,” he said according to RT.

While the Neo-Nazi may think nuclear war will be enjoyable, the Japanese who actually experienced it did not.

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Proof that Syrian ‘prisoner’ discovered and freed by CNN crew was one of Assad’s ruthless henchmen as ex-intelligence officer is now missing

A shocking image of the Syrian ‘prisoner’ who was discovered locked up Damascus prison by journalists proves that he was actually one of former dictator Bashar al-Assad’s henchmen who ruthlessly killed and tortured inmates. 

The feigned inmate was found by CNN‘s chief international correspondent Clarrisa Ward and her team while they toured an abandoned detention site last Wednesday.

He was found under a blanket trembling and exclaiming ‘Oh God! There is light!’, in a video that went viral. 

But earlier this week Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy reported that the man in the clip was in fact a first first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, which served former President Assad.

CNN launched an investigation into the man’s identity and confirmed that he was not a ‘civilian father’ named Adel Gharba, but rather Salama Mohammad Salama. 

Citing local sources, CNN said in a statement Monday that Salama ‘was known for running the Air Force Intelligence Directorate’s checkpoints in the city’ and was accused of ‘having a reputation for extortion and harassment’.

Now, an image, that was shared with CNN by locals and Verify-Sy, shows Salama wearing a sly smirk behind a desk that appears to be inside a government office. 

He is dressed in military uniform, further proving his links to the Assad regime. 

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How the West Rebranded Al-Qaeda’s Jolani

Corporate media is heralding the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the emergence of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani as the new leader of Syria, despite his deep ties to both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

“How Syria’s ‘diversity-friendly’ jihadists plan on building a state,” runs the headline from an article in Britain’s Daily Telegraph that suggests that Jolani will construct a new Syria, respectful of minority rights. The same newspaper also labeled him a “moderate Jihadist.” The Washington Post described him as a pragmatic and charismatic leader, while CNN portrayed him as a “blazer-wearing revolutionary.”

Meanwhile, an in-depth portrait from Rolling Stone describes him as a “ruthlessly pragmatic, astute politician who has renounced ‘global jihad’” and intends to “unite Syria.” His “strategic acumen is apparent,” writes Rolling Stone, between paragraphs praising Jolani for leading a successful movement against a dictator.

CNN even scored an exclusive, sit-down interview with Jolani, even as his movement was storming Damascus. When asked by host Jomana Karadsheh about his past actions, he responded by saying, “I believe that everyone in life goes through phases and experiences … As you grow, you learn, and you continue to learn until the very last day of your life,” as if he were discussing embarrassing teenage mistakes, not establishing and leading the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria.

This is a far cry from the first time CNN covered Jolani. In 2013, the network labeled him one of “the world’s 10 most dangerous terrorists,” known for abducting, torturing and slaughtering racial and religious minorities.

Still on the U.S. terrorist list today, the F.B.I. is offering a $10 million reward for information about his whereabouts. Washington and other Western governments consider Jolani’s new organization, Hay?at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as one and the same as Al-Qaeda/Al-Nusra.

This poses a serious public relations dilemma for Western nations, who supported the HTS-led overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. And thus, Politico and others report there is a “huge scramble” in Washington to remove HTS and Jolani from the terrorist list as quickly as possible.

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Syria: Will the United States Try to Stop Israeli Militarism in the Middle East?

For the past several decades, the United States and Israel have tried to isolate Syria in the Middle East.  Only U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, after the October War in 1973, tried and succeeded in bringing Syria into the step-by-step peace process negotiations with Israel.  Since then, however, U.S. efforts to negotiate a peace such as the Reagan plan in 1982 or the unsuccessful efforts to arrange an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon have ignored any role for Syria.  Currently, U.S. tolerance of Israeli military power against Syria complicates the task of reducing the violence and allowing the Syrian rebels to have the time and space to establish a stable government in Damascus.

For most of its history, Syrian authority has been marked by instability due to authoritarian leadership and a diverse population.  The fragmented nature of Syrian society; the absence of a strong national identity; and the debilitating conflict with Israel have contributed to weak governance.  Any Syrian government, particularly the current one that tries to take hold after 14 years of confrontation, will face a difficult geopolitical environment that limits policy options; inhibits risk-taking; and compromises central authority.  The various ethnic divisions, even among the majority Sunni Moslems, will make it difficult to achieve political and economic cohesion.

One hundred years ago, the wife of the British consul described inter-communal relations in a way that still fits: “They hate one another.  The Sunnis excommunicate the Shias, and both hate the Druze; all detest the Alawites; the Maronites do not love anybody but themselves are duly abhorred by all; the Greek Orthodox abominate the Greek Catholics and the Latins; and all despise the Jews.”  The Alawites. who have politically dominated the country in recent times, were singled out for persecution in the past by the Sunni majority,  Most of the population in Syria is Moslem, but 20 percent of the Moslems belong to various schismatic sects.

Today, Syria is in predictable chaos, and the presence of numerous foreign powers adds to the conflict.  Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have made it particularly difficult for the new regime by launching hundreds of air strikes against Syria, and seizing territory beyond the Golan Heights that provided a sightline to Damascus.  Former Israeli Air Force officers commented on social media that these attacks were carried out as part of an operation based on plans that were drawn up years ago.

Turkey has backed various Syrian rebel groups along the Syrian-Turkish border, and plans to continue the fight against Syrian Kurds based in northeastern Syria, where the Kurds have support from nearly 1,000 U.S. military personnel.  Among the foreign powers in Syria, Turkey has the greatest access and influence with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the fight against former president Bahshar al-Assad.

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Rep. Michael McCaul Says Drones Seen Flying Over US Military Sites are ‘Adversarial’ and Likely Coming from Communist China

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has raised alarms over unidentified drones observed near U.S. military installations, suggesting they may be adversarial and likely of Chinese origin.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, one of America’s most vital military installations, faced an unsettling breach of its airspace over the weekend, reigniting concerns about the security of critical U.S. defense facilities.

Mysterious drones buzzed over the Ohio base, forcing the temporary closure of its Class Delta airspace late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

According to base spokesman Bob Purtiman, the origin of the drones remains unidentified, and their intentions are officially deemed “not malicious.”

“I can confirm small aerial systems were spotted over Wright Patterson between Friday night and Saturday morning,” base spokesman Bob Purtiman told The War Zone on Sunday.

“Today leaders have determined that they did not impact base residents, facilities, or assets. The Air Force is taking all appropriate measures to safeguard our installations and residents,” he added.

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