Tag: perpetual war

Military Threat: China’s AI Robots

Last week, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organized the World Robot Conference – where they showcased the latest advancements that China’s robotics industry has produced over the past several years.

According to the CCP, China’s humanoid robots are “catching up fast with global rivals,” with advances such as the incorporation of AI into some of its robots that have military capabilities.

We’re picturing mindless robot patrols enforcing the next ‘welded in’ pandemic lockdown, with deadl(ier) results.

As Anders Corr notes in The Epoch Times, China’s humanoid robots on display at the conference could easily be equipped with weapons and probably already have been. The People’s Liberation Army has demonstrated armed flying drones and quadruped AI robots that resemble dogs with machine guns mounted to their backs. The killer robot dogs can reportedly fire their weapons autonomously.

China’s rapid rise in robotics is state-directed and subsidized to the tune of over $1.4 billion, according to an official announcement in 2023. In 2012, China installed fewer than 15 percent of industrial robots globally. By 2022, that number increased to over 50 percent, with China installing over 250,000, the most in the world. By comparison, Japan and the United States installed just about 50,000 and 40,000, respectively.

In 2016, a Chinese company bought Germany’s Kuka, one of the world’s three leading industrial robot makers. The other two are Japan’s Fanuc and Switzerland’s ABB. Tesla is also a leading robot maker. It plans to deploy 1,000 humanoid Optimus robots in Tesla factories in 2025. Given the close connections of all four of these companies to China, there is a significant risk of technology transfers and IP theft, further driving China’s rapid rise in the robotics space.

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Kiev warns about millions of illegal firearms in circulation

Millions of illegal military-grade firearms are circulating in Ukraine and Kiev is now trying to get the situation under control, Interior Minister Bogdan Drapaty has said.

The senior official made the remarks on Ukrainian TV on Friday, promoting a plan to address the problem of mass illegal-weaponry in teh country, which was approved by the country’s parliament earlier this year.

While an exact number of illegal weapons held by Ukrainians is unknown, it is likely between two and five million pieces of military-grade firearms, the minister said, citing estimates by Kiev’s “European partners.”

The weaponry being held unlawfully includes “trophy” pieces found by civilians in combat zones, as well as firearms handed out in an uncontrolled fashion by the Ukrainian authorities themselves in the early days of the conflict with Russia, Drapaty explained. To avoid legal trouble, citizens must register their arsenals by December 25, he said.

“After declaring [firearms], a person will have the right to keep it as long as the martial law remains enacted, and to use it to resist armed aggression,” Drapaty stated, while urging civilians to use their firearms against the Russian military.

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The U.S. Regime’s Plans to Control the World

The U.S. Government’s plans to control the world are displayed not merely by its lie-based invasions, such as against Iraq in 2003, and against Libya in 2011, and against Syria in 2012; but also by its coups, such as against Honduras in 2009, and against Venezuela in 2012 and again in 2019, and against Ukraine in 2014; and by its sanctions, such as against Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Iraq, and Syria; all of which kill and destroy millions of people, and produce tens of millions of refugees, etc.

An excellent example of the planning that the U.S. Government devotes to expanding still further its empire — the lands that it controls, America’s colonies or ‘allies’ — was provided in a 28 February 2023 hearing by the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on ‘Defense’ (Aggression):

Betty McCollum, the leading Democrat on the Subcommittee, addressed the U.S. Secretary of ‘Defense’ (Aggression), Lloyd Austin: 

As General Milley [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] said, we don’t go to war alone. So if we include Australia, Canada, NATO, you know, all the great powers that we work with, we would have a multiplying effect that neither China or Russia has.

    Would that be a fair statement, Secretary Austin or General Milley?

    Secretary Austin: That is, in fact, correct, Ranking Member McCollum. We will always fight with our allies and partners. And, again, the capability that they bring to the table magnifies our overall capability. So you could expect that in any instance we would be able to draw upon some of their capability as well. So we work on a routine basis to make sure that we are interoperable and make sure that—-

    Ms. McCollum: Thank you. Thank you.

    I would like you to, a little, go into more importance on the recent–on February 2, the agreement that you signed with the Philippines, whichever one of you gentlemen want to answer that.

    President Marcos seems to have made some deliberate decisions to align more closely with the United States’ interests and away from China. Could you kind of tell the committee more about this agreement with the Philippines and how you see it enhancing our efforts in the region, because I think this goes back to the whole question of the multiplying effect of having resources that China and Russia do not have, and if there are any other nations in Indo-Pac that you see wanting to align more closely with the United States. …

    Secretary Austin: Well, I was, as a matter of fact, out in the Philippines and engaged the President on this particular issue. And I was really pleased that the President made the decision to move forward and increase the number of sites where we could work along with the Philippine forces to increase interoperability and develop their skills as well. And it is actually a benefit to them, as you know. So this really is a significant movement forward. …

    General Milley: Just two points. One is you are correct on the allies and partners, Australia, Japan, but there are many other countries there as well, to include European countries. We have done exercises with the Brits and the French also in the Asia-Pacific region. So they are force multipliers.

    Secondly is our sub force, which is rarely talked about, and I am not going to talk about it in detail right now, but our sub force is incredibly–submarine force–incredibly capable and very deadly and extremely lethal. So those two pieces I think would make a huge difference and help deter any kind of aggression by China.

    The last thing is the Philippines, but the Philippines and other countries in that region, they sit astride the key sea lines of communication that China relies on for their international access to the Middle East oil, et cetera, et cetera.

    So those allies and partners of ours are fundamental. …

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German envoy admits he spread lie about 7 October mass rapes

The German ambassador in Tel Aviv has admitted that he spread fabricated Israeli atrocity propaganda intended to give credence to Israel’s debunked claims of mass rapes by Palestinian fighters on 7 October 2023.

“I regret having believed – like so many others – that that suicide letter was real. It turns out it was a fake,” Ambassador Steffen Seibert posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. “I find this an appalling act given that so many real lives were taken at the Nova festival, so many crimes committed, so many souls destroyed.”

Last week, Seibert shared a letter purporting to be from an Israeli who died by suicide because he was unable to live with the trauma he experienced at the Supernova rave on 7 October.

The fake letter was widely disseminated after it was shared by two notorious Israeli propagandists, Hen Mazzig, who translated it to English, and Aviva Klompas.

Mazzig had claimed that “After miraculously surviving the October 7 massacre, the young Israeli man decided to end his life after witnessing too many horrors, including the rape of a girl.”

“The overwhelming weight of everything he saw, heard and experienced, along with his inability to save the girl being assaulted nearby, made him feel incapable of continuing his life.”

Mazzig works for an Israeli propaganda outfit called the Tel Aviv Institute. Klompas, a former Israeli government speechwriter, is the CEO of another lobby group called Boundless Israel.

Both have been very active in pushing Israel’s debunked claims of mass rapes on 7 October.

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Harris Will Continue to Ignore U.S. Law and Arm Israel, If Elected

When President Joe Biden bowed out of his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, a wave of enthusiasm for a new face on the presidential ticket spread across the electorate. Boosted by memes and “Brat” tweets that portrayed Harris as a different kind of leader, many expressed hope that she would differ from Biden in her stance on supplying arms and diplomatic support to Israel for its war in Gaza.

When Harris chose progressive Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, who previously bent a listening ear to “Uncommitted” delegates who called for an arms embargo on Israel, cautious optimism grew, but questions remained.

But when Harris sat down for an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday, her first since the start of her campaign, the vice president seemed to shut the door on the possibility of change. 

When asked whether Harris would “do anything differently” in her approach to ceasefire talks and withholding weapons shipments to Israel, Harris, with Walz by her side, doubled down on her “commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself.”

“And that’s not gonna change,” she said, after evoking scenes from the October 7 attacks in Israel. Harris added the caveat that how Israel defended itself mattered, saying, “Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.” She then called for the end of the war and that the U.S. has to “get a deal done.”

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The Real Tragedy of Afghanistan 

Any story of the August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan must begin in the earliest days of the Obama administration, when the young president, possessed with an overwhelming mandate to end the endless wars begun by his predecessor, was rolled by members of his own cabinet—most notably Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—and his top military and intelligence advisers, who together prevented the president from doing what he was sent to Washington to do: End the disastrous wars begun under George W. Bush.

Almost alone among Obama’s advisers counseling withdrawal were his vice president, Joe Biden, and Biden’s longtime adviser Tom Donilon, then serving as Obama’s national security adviser. 

Twelve years later, President Biden must have felt some measure of satisfaction that it was he who was able to do that which his two predecessors, Obama and Trump, could or would not, when he ordered the final withdrawal of American troops from that Central Asian wasteland. 

And yet, as with anything involving Biden and his national security team of Keystone Cops, all did not go as planned. 

The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was and remains a deeply divisive one. While Biden for once showed some measure of political courage in ordering the withdrawal, the execution went badly awry. Tragically, on Aug. 26, 2021, thirteen American soldiers and 170 Afghan civilians were killed in a terrorist attack by the Islamic State–Khorasan Province at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The reaction to the botched withdrawal from America’s own militants was swift. Clutching his pearls on CBS’s Face the Nation, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham exclaimed, 

We set the conditions for another 9/11. I’ve never been more worried about an attack on our homeland than I am right now. And we did not end this war. President Biden said that he wanted to take Afghanistan off the plate for future presidents. He’s done the exact opposite. For the next 20 years, American presidents will be dealing with this catastrophe in Afghanistan. This war has not ended. We’ve entered into a new deadly chapter. Terrorists are now in charge of Afghanistan.

Needless to say, none of this came about. In point of fact, it was the Taliban, once in power, that ended up taking out the perpetrator of the Abbey Gate attack. And, as an actual military expert, the decorated combat veteran and The American Conservative contributing editor Douglas Macgregor, told TAC this week, 

The sudden, rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan removed the failed American ‘whole of government’ fiasco in Southwest Asia from the national spotlight, but at great cost, revealing the acute lack of professional military competence in the senior ranks of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Criticism of Biden’s decision to withdraw has become a staple of Trump’s stump speeches. Missing from the criticism is the fact that the ceasefire agreement signed under Trump between the U.S. and the Taliban in February 2020 provided the US with a four-month window to withdraw—this would have been true regardless of who was president. Trump often claims that, unlike Biden, he would have kept Bagram airfield. Speaking at a rally in late July, Trump claimed, 

I was getting out. After 21 years you get the hell out, but I would have kept Bagram. It’s one hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. We gave it to them so stupidly.

Translation: If I were president, we’d still be there. 

His criticism reeks of opportunism. But still more, what it misses is that the entire enterprise was a tragedy—from start to finish—because it was unnecessary. The Taliban did not attack America; Al Qaeda did. Besides al Qaeda, the main movers behind 9/11 were Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Recall that Ahmad Uhmar Sheikh, at the direction of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence director general, General Mahmoud Ahmed, wired $100,000 to 9/11 hijacker Mohomed Atta. Bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, with the connivance of ISI. 

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How Blinken’s Disinformation Perpetuates the Suffering in Gaza

After a three-hour meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Anthony Blinken professed Israel’s acceptance of a supposed ceasefire proposal. However, less than 48 hours later, it became evident that this proclamation was likely part of a PR disinformation strategy designed to dress the wolf in sheep clothing.

The complicity between Joe Biden Administration and Netanyahu became more apparent when White House National Security (Israeli) Communications Advisor John Kirby responded to a question about the Administration’s stance on Netanyahu’s conditions on the ceasefire, particularly regarding Israel’s control of Gaza’s southern borders and military stationed inside Gaza. Kirby’s subtle reply implied U.S. acceptance of Netanyahu’s conditions, stating that the Israeli army could have security responsibilities on the border. He added the focus should be now on the release of Israeli (100) captives and “six weeks of calm”—only a respite before Israel resumes its horrific crimes against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that Egypt and Israel were scheduled to discuss Netanyahu’s additional terms on the new American amended ceasefire plan. Following the conclusion of these meetings, Egypt reiterated its rejection of Netanyahu’s conditions to maintain an Israeli presence at Rafah and in the Philadelphia Corridor.

If Egypt and Israel do not agree on Netanyahu’s new conditions, why would Blinken expect the Palestinians to accept something Egypt wouldn’t allow? Is this part of an American-Israeli scheme to pressure the Palestinians into agreeing to terms that Egypt opposes? Could it be a tactic to use Palestinian acceptance as leverage against Egypt? Or, is Blinken, in effect, acting as a Zionist agent, colluding with Israel to maintain Israeli control over the Gaza-Egypt border, in violation of existing bilateral agreements?

In his distorted statement regarding the repackaging of Netanyahu’s conditions as a “bridged proposal,” Blinken went further by suggesting that the suffering of Gaza’s 2.3 million people is a consequence of the Resistance’s refusal to accept the new American/Israeli dictate, rather than being a result of Israel’s malevolence war. In other words, by refusing to surrender—one of Netanyahu’s key demands—the Palestinians are blamed for their own suffering.

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DNC Convention Features Former CIA Director Who Was in Charge of Drone Programs that Killed Thousands

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta (2009-2011) was among the featured speakers on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on August 22 when Kamala Harris accepted the party’s nomination as its presidential candidate.

In his remarks, Panetta reinvoked the supposed glory days of the Obama administration when he gave the order to U.S. Special Forces to assassinate Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.

Panetta said that Harris would fit the bill as a “tough commander-in-chief to defend the USA against tyrants and terrorists.”

According to Panetta, Harris “knows a tyrant when she sees one” and “will stand up to them”—unlike Donald Trump, whom Panetta suggested had coddled dictators such as Vladimir Putin and effectively told them “they could do whatever they want.”

Panetta said that Trump is intent on “bringing back a new era of isolationism in U.S. foreign policy,” which the U.S. “foolishly and dangerously adopted in the 1930s.”

Quoting from Ronald Reagan, Panetta emphasized that “isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical government.”

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First US-Made F16 Jet Downed In Ukraine During Combat, Pilot Killed

US and Ukrainian officials have revealed to The Wall Street Journal that a F-16 fighter jet has crashed during combat in Ukraine’s skies – a significant first – which comes just weeks after an initial batch of some one dozen of the American-made aircraft were transferred to Kiev’s armed forces. 

“The pilot, Oleksiy Mes, died while helping to repel a massive Russian missile attack on Monday, the officials said,” WSJ writes. “Initial reports indicate the jet wasn’t shot down by enemy fire, U.S. officials said.”

That missile and drone attack had been one of the largest since the war’s start in Feb. 2022, targeting 15 out of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts, and taking out vital energy structure nationwide.

The Pentagon was initially questioned about the crash, but when referred to Kiev officials, the Ukrainian Air Force belatedly acknowledged the crash and death of the pilot on Thursday.

Given Ukraine has lost one of the $30+ million jets so quickly after getting the first highly anticipated transfer, this could prove highly embarrassing given how publicly the program was touted as a “game-changer” by Zelensky government officials.

Other more realist outside observers have noted that it is too late for such aerial systems to significantly change Russia’s clear military, manpower, and aerial superiority.

According to more details of the circumstances of the aircraft downing: “A person close to the Ukrainian military said the cause of the crash was unknown and an investigation was under way,” WSJ continues. “The person described Mes as a hero who successfully shot down multiple Russian missiles on Monday before the crash.”

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A Detailed Look at What the US Doesn’t Want You To Know About Weapons It Sends to the Jewish War Criminals in Occupied Palestine

The Biden administration recently approved five major arms sales to Israel for F-15 fighter aircraft, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, air-to-air missiles, mortar rounds, and related equipment for each. Though technically sales, most if not all of this matériel is paid for by U.S. taxpayers — Israel uses much of the military aid Congress approves for it effectively as a gift card to buy U.S.-made weapons.

The total value of the five weapons sales exceeds $20.3 billion.

More extraordinary than the price tag of these arms deals is that the White House made them public. Prior to last week’s announcements, it had disclosed just two arms sales to Israel. By March, the Biden administration had already greenlit more than 100 separate weapons deals for Israel, or about one every 36 hours, on average. The administration presumably kept the value of each arms deal “under threshold” to avoid having to notify Congress.

From 2017 to 2019, the U.S. had approved thousands of below-threshold arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates worth a total of $11.2 billion. Exploiting this loophole helped the Trump administration avoid scrutiny of its enabling of a devastating and indiscriminate bombing campaign in Yemen. The Biden administration appears to be following the same playbook for the destruction it is enabling in Gaza.

The White House isn’t shy about publicizing arms transfers to other countries. For example, it has been very transparent about the military aid it sent Ukraine since February 2022. Biden promotes arming Ukraine as industrial policy, marketing the military aid as a boon for domestic manufacturing and jobs. The Pentagon not only itemizes what specific matériel the U.S. sends to Ukraine, but also shows on a map where in the U.S. those weapons and equipment are made.

By contrast, nearly all the publicly available information on U.S. arms transfers to Israel comes from leaks reported by the media. The Biden administration says very little about the weapons it delivers to Israel or how the Israeli military uses them. The following analysis is intended to shed light on both. In doing so, it helps explain why the Biden administration prefers to arm Israel in secret.

What follows is a non-exhaustive list of attacks by the Israeli military since October 7 that likely violated international law, grouped by the type of U.S.-supplied weapon involved in the attack.

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