Ukrainian frontline military commanders in favour of talks with Russia

Ukrainian military personnel now on the front line, fearing an eternal conflict, are in favour of talks with Russia, the Financial Times reported. The article predicts that Ukraine is approaching the “darkest hour” of the conflict, admitting that the Ukrainian army is losing on the battlefield to Russia, which is advancing relentlessly.

“Right now, I’m thinking more about how to save my people,” said Mykhailo Temper. “It’s quite hard to imagine we will be able to move the enemy back to the borders of 1991,” the Ukrainian battalion commander added.

Another commander also told the newspaper that he is now in favour of negotiations with Russia, adding that he fears that “his grandson might one day inherit an endless conflict.”

An officer of the 72nd Mechanised Brigade operating in Kurakhove said: “If the US turns off the spigot, we’re finished.”

Keep reading

US air strikes target Houthis in several cities in Yemen

The United States military has struck a number of cities in Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and the key port city of Hodeidah.

Forces from the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the military command responsible for US forces in the Middle East, “conducted strikes on 15 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen today”, it said on X on Friday.

Four strikes targeted Sanaa and seven hit Hodeidah, according to the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV network. Correspondents with the AFP news agency also reported hearing loud explosions in both cities.

The Hodeidah strikes hit the airport and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base, Al Masirah said. Footage on social media verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency showed large plumes of smoke resulting from the strikes in Hodeidah.

At least one strike hit Dhamar province, and air raids took place in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa, the Houthi media office also said.

“These actions were taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said in its post on X, adding that the strikes took place at around 1400GMT.

Keep reading

Investigation reveals Israeli troops committing first ever ‘live streamed genocide’

Al Jazeera has released a new documentary, available on YouTube, detailing Israeli war crimes and human rights violations in Gaza, based on videos filmed and posted on social media by soldiers themselves.

“We live in an era of technology, and this has been described as the first livestreamed genocide in history,” Palestinian novelist Susan Abulhawa told Al Jazeera’s investigative unit (I-Unit).

Since the start of Israel’s extermination campaign in Gaza last October, Israeli soldiers have posted thousands of videos and photos on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

Rodney Dixon, an international law expert featured in the film, says the videos are “a treasure trove which you very seldom come across … something which I think prosecutors will be licking their lips at.”

The film also includes information collected by Al Jazeera journalists working on the ground in Gaza, as well as Israeli military drone footage. It is unclear how Al Jazeera obtained the drone footage.

The videos show evidence of the Israeli army’s murder of unarmed civilians, wanton destruction, torture of detainees, and use of human shields in Gaza.

Many videos showed Israeli soldiers using explosives to demolish residential buildings and homes.

“The fact that they’ve been able to rig these buildings up with explosives shows very clearly that there’s no current threat from those buildings,” Charlie Herbert, a retired major general in the British Army and researcher for the project, told Al Jazeera.

Keep reading

FIVE CHINESE U of M Grads Caught Spying On America’s Largest National Guard Base In MI—Only Short Distance From Controversial Proposed Chinese Battery Plant Supported By Dem Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Five recent Chinese graduates of the University of Michigan have been charged with conspiracy, making false statements to investigators, and destroying records during the federal investigation. They were caught with cameras late at night on the base at Camp Grayling, America’s largest US National Guard training facility in Grayling, MI.

The students claimed to be there to observe a meteor shower. Their presence coincided with military exercises involving Taiwanese forces, which led authorities to believe they were engaged in espionage.

According to M-Live, the five suspects who graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2024 are Zhekai Xu, Renxiang Guan, Haoming Zhu, Yi Liang, and Jingzhe Tao. They were found on the US military training base in 2023 near tents, military vehicles, and sensitive communications equipment. Court records show that the students were part of a joint program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

MSN reports – The students were found at Bear Lake on the camp’s property after midnight on Aug. 13, 2023. About 7,000 military officials, including some from Taiwan, were participating in live firing exercises, records show.

A U.S. sergeant major found the students taking photos near classified equipment and soldiers sleeping in tents, records show.

One of the students told the sergeant major they were Chinese media members. The sergeant major told them to leave, which they quickly did.

Keep reading

Israeli authorities are using facial recognition technology to entrench apartheid

The Israeli authorities are using an experimental facial recognition system known as Red Wolf to track Palestinians and automate harsh restrictions on their freedom of movement, Amnesty International said today.  In a new report, Automated Apartheid, the organization documents how Red Wolf is part of an ever-growing surveillance network which is entrenching the Israeli government’s control over Palestinians, and which helps to maintain Israel’s system of apartheid. Red Wolf is deployed at military checkpoints in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where it scans Palestinians’ faces and adds them to vast surveillance databases without their consent.

Amnesty International also documented how Israel’s use of facial recognition technology against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem has increased, especially in the wake of protests and in the areas around illegal settlements. In both Hebron and occupied East Jerusalem, facial recognition technology supports a dense network of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to keep Palestinians under near-constant observation. Automated Apartheid shows how this surveillance is part of a deliberate attempt by Israeli authorities to create a hostile and coercive environment for Palestinians, with the aim of minimizing their presence in strategic areas.

Keep reading

IDF Prepares For ‘Serious And Significant’ Attack On Iran

The IDF is preparing for an attack on Iran: “It will be serious and significant, we are at the peak of preparations and deal with it most of our time. This will have consequences for Iran – and they should understand that,’ reported Israeli journalist Doron Kadosh.

The IDF says that they expect significant cooperation in the offensive action from the partner countries in the region.

The number of ballistic missiles launched from Iran to Israel in this week’s attack – 201. Most of them were intercepted by the Israeli air defense systems.

Keep reading

Israeli airbase sustains extensive damage from Iranian missile strikes, but Israel is censoring reports on the damage

Iran’s recent attack on Israel, which saw nearly 200 missiles being lobbed at the country in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, is largely being framed in the media as a failure. According to their narrative, Israel managed to intercept most of the missiles and the population was largely spared.

However, satellite images tell a different story, with Israel’s Nevatim airbase in the Negev desert apparently being hit hard by ballistic missiles from Iran.

The imagery, which was released by the AP, showed a large hole in the base’s aircraft hangar as well as a crater on one of its runways. The base houses Israel’s F-35 fighter jets.

Iran claims that 90 percent of the missiles it sent hit their targets after being fired in successive waves, but Israel has been doing its best to cover up the damage. Although the IDF did eventually admit that some of their air force bases were impacted, they specified that no aircraft, troops or weapons were hit. However, the entire topic is the subject of heavy military censorship.

For example, when the Wall Street Journal asked the IDF about an initial assessment by the Israeli army that the damage was only minor, they refused to provide further details on the grounds that they “didn’t want to give information to Iran” about the extent of the damage.

Israel has also closed off a number of military zones and barred reporting on where Iranian missiles hit the ground.

However, some Hezbollah sources have claimed that they put the Hatzerim, Nevatim and Ramon airbases out of service with their missile strikes.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, one senior Hezbollah source claimed: “Most of the bases targeted by Iran in Israel were hit directly, especially the airbases. Most of the objectives of the strike were achieved according to the set plan. Nevatim, Hatzerim, Tel Nof, Netzarim and Glilot bases were targeted. The scale of Israeli missile interception was weak. It has been confirmed that there were significant casualties among Israeli soldiers.”

The Wall Street Journal did report that two fallen missiles from Iran were found near the Dead Sea close to Dimona, which is the location of Israel’s nuclear facilities, although it is not known if they fell there or were shot down.

In addition, a missile hit a road just outside of the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence service near Tel Aviv. Another strike damaged around 100 houses in a town to the north of Tel Aviv.

Keep reading

Biden Regime Gives $157 Million to Lebanon as Flood Victims Continue to Suffer in Southeast US – They Really Don’t Care About You

On Friday evening Secretary of State Antony Blinken broke the news on X that the Biden regime is sending $157 million to the people of Lebanon.

In his announcement on Twitter Blinken bragged that the Biden regime is “committed to supporting those in need and delivering essential aid to displaced civilians, refugees and the communities hosting them.”

Earlier today Alejandro Mayorkas warned that there would be a FEMA funding shortfall for the rest of the hurricane season this year.

Keep reading

‘The Biden/Harris Doctrine’ Has Brought The World Closer To World War III

By a strange turn of fate, on October 1, 2024, the day that Iran launched the largest ballistic missile attack ever against Israel, Foreign Affairs magazine published an article by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which he claimed “the Biden administration’s strategy has put the United States in a much stronger geopolitical position today than it was four years ago” and that Iran is being held in check.

A year earlier, Foreign Affairs published another tragically erroneous article by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, which said, “Although the Middle East remains beset with perennial challenges, the region is quieter than it has been for decades.” Six days after this article was posted, Hamas launched a sneak attack against Israel, massacring more than 1,200 people and maiming and injuring many more. In a stunning violation of journalistic ethics, Foreign Affairs allowed Sullivan to revise his article after the Hamas terrorist attack. Here is a link to the original version.

In these articles, Biden officials are trying to rewrite history by manufacturing false narratives of a successful Biden national security doctrine that they claim has enhanced U.S. and global security.

This is, of course, preposterous. Not only has there been a huge increase in global instability since Donald Trump left office in January 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has brought the world closer to World War III because of an increased chance Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, the real prospect of an Israel-Iran War, a new Russia-China-Iran-North Korea Axis, a growing chance that China will attack Taiwan, and other current and potential crises.

Several Biden allies have tried to invent a so-called Biden Doctrine since 2021. Most made fatuous claims that Biden was reversing the damage done by President Trump to the country’s alliances, deterrence, and global leadership despite clear evidence that Trump strengthened alliances and had a successful foreign policy that brought global stability and kept U.S. troops out of new wars. Others asserted that Biden “restored trust abroad for the U.S.,” a claim that many U.S. allies would dispute. Several experts, including Blinken and Sullivan, wrote that President Biden enhanced American foreign policy by strengthening the American economy. The huge advantage that Donald Trump currently has in the polls over Kamala Harris on the economy proves this isn’t true either.

In January 2024, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an article titled, “A Biden Doctrine for the Middle East Is Forming. And It’s Big” on a supposed new Biden Middle East peace initiative to quickly end the Hamas/Israel war. Under this plan, the Biden administration would bring peace to the Middle East with a tough stand on Iran, push for recognition of a Palestinian state, and greatly scale up the U.S. security alliance with Saudi Arabia. None of these things happened. Instead, Middle East security has deteriorated in 2024 to the worst level in decades.

If there is a Biden/Harris national security doctrine, it is a doctrine of abysmal failure. There are four reasons for this.

Keep reading

First Plutonium Pit For Nuclear Warhead Produced In The U.S. In 35 Years Is Now “Weapon-Ready”

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced the completion of the first weapon-ready example of a vital component for the W87-1 warhead. The component, called a “plutonium pit,” is the radioactive component that acts as a first stage ‘trigger’ apparatus used to initiate the detonation of the thermonuclear device. Plans call for the W87-1s to be used in the future LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), a program that is massively over budget and faces numerous issues.

The NNSA calls this “an important milestone for the United States’ nuclear weapon stockpile modernization” as it phases out the aging W78 warheads, one of two types that are placed atop LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBMs currently stationed in silos. The other is the W87-0.

“The W87-1 nuclear warhead will replace the W78 nuclear warhead, which was first introduced in 1979 and represents the oldest weapon in the U.S. nuclear stockpile that has not undergone a major life extension or replacement,” the Government Accountability Office noted. “The W87-1 will be carried on the Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and is slated for deployment in the early 2030s.”

The W87-0s will initially be installed on Sentinels, but those will eventually be phased out as well.

To make any of this happen, however, NNSA needs new plutonium pits. A good description of how the pits play a critical role in a nuclear warhead can be found at the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, stating:

“Pits are the hollow plutonium cores of the fission “primaries” (triggers) of two-stage modern warheads. A warhead explosion would begin with the implosion of the pit to supercriticality, which would enable an exponentially growing fission chain reaction in the plutonium. That fission explosion—“boosted” by neutrons from a fusion reaction in tritium-deuterium gas injected into the middle of the hollow pit just before implosion—would ignite a much more powerful “secondary” nuclear fission-fusion explosion.”

Keep reading