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Euro-Med: Israel destroyed 75% of Gaza’s farmlands, uses starvation as weapon

Press TV – June 23, 2024

An international human rights organization says Israel has rendered over 75 percent of farmlands in Gaza unusable either by isolating them to annex those lands to its so-called buffer zone, or by bulldozing them.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor made the comment in a Sundy report, adding that the regime’s forces seek to destroy Gaza’s food basket of vegetables, fruits and meat, in addition to destroying its local food production system.

The organization noted that “in addition to destruction of all components of local food production,” Israel is also preventing the entry of food supplies and humanitarian aid in order to “perpetuate famine in the Gaza Strip and use starvation as a weapon of war as part of its ongoing crime of genocide, which continues for the ninth month in a row.”

Euro-Med added that its teams have documented evidence of the occupation army intentionally killing farmers who were either working or attempting to access their lands and farms.

In addition, Euro-Med said it has also documented extensive destruction of farms, greenhouses, water wells and tanks, and agricultural equipment by the regime’s forces.

Euro-Med urged the international community “to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including essential food and non-food items, in order to address the territory’s health and environmental disaster in an immediate, safe and effective manner.”

The organization’s report came after the Gaza media office decried the use of starvation as a tool by the United States and Israel to achieve their political goals in Gaza despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

“We condemn the inhumane crime of starvation used by the occupation and the American administration in a gruesome manner to achieve political goals,” it said in a statement last Monday.

According to the statement, thousands of sick and wounded people have no access to food or medicine amid the continued closure of Gaza’s crossings by Israeli forces.

“The situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly catastrophic and difficult, with the humanitarian crisis significantly worsening, especially for children, the sick, and the wounded who lack food and treatment.”

Earlier, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, had said in a separate statement that more than 50,000 children in Gaza require immediate medical treatment for acute malnutrition.

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

India supplied Israel with arms amid war on Gaza

MEMO | June 24, 2024

India has reportedly provided Israel with advanced Hermes 900 drones as well as other weaponry manufactured in the city of Hyderabad, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Sunday.

The report said the factory, established by Israel to supply these drones to the Indian military, converted 20 of them specifically for the Israeli army due to the shortage created during the war back in February.

The factory, a joint venture between the Israeli defence company, Elbit Systems, and the Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani’s consortium, is the first in the world to produce these drones outside of Israel.

This dramatic decision was likely approved by the highest officials in India, likely due to Israel being one of its main arms suppliers to the country.

The move joins other reports indicating India has supplied Israel with artillery shells and weapons since the start of the war. The strategic partnership between the countries has proven highly beneficial for Israel, according to the Israeli paper.

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | 2 Comments

Plan to establish US Marine regiment in Guam ‘to escalate camp confrontation, stir up regional tensions’

Global Times | June 23, 2024

The US Marines plan to deploy to Guam a littoral regiment capable of a flexible and rapid response in a “few years,” media revealed on Saturday, which Chinese observers said is aimed at preparing for great power competition, blatantly exposing the US’s combat intentions against China.

On Saturday, Japanese media outlet Kyodo News reported that General Eric Smith, commandant of the US Marine Corps, told a press conference in Washington that the Marine Littoral Regiment is “designed as a counter to PRC aggression,” to protect Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Smith said the regiment, due to be based on Guam, “will have responsibility to rapidly deploy inside the first island chain into the Philippines in order to spread the battlespace out and to protect those strategic lines of communication that emanate from Japan, back to the Philippines, back to Hawaii.”

The island chain refers to an area that includes Japan as well as the island of Taiwan and the northwest Philippines.

In the event of potential conflicts with China, such as China advancing its cause of national reunification, or conflicts erupting between China and the Philippines or Japan over territorial disputes, the US may use these deployments to strike against China, Chinese observers noted.

“This demonstrates the US’ relentless preparation to compete with China, with a clear Cold War mentality,” Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The plan to establish a littoral regiment in Guam again demonstrated that the US is engaging in camp confrontation, seeking to rally countries like Japan and the Philippines, as well as to strengthen its control over these allies through military deployments and cooperation, enticing them to join the US’ chariot and making these countries work for its anti-China strategy, Zhang said.

This will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire and stir up regional tensions, Zhang warned, noting that the US wants to benefit from the chaos, such as selling more military equipment.

Kyodo reported that the new regiment in Guam will be the third of its kind that is capable of long-range detection and engagement using mobile missile batteries, as well as deploying small groups of marines to remote islands. The first unit was activated in March 2022 on Marine Corps Base Hawaii and the second was set up in Okinawa in November last year.

This exposed the US attempt to adopt a strategy of dispersion of its military forces, as the commandant of the US Marine Corps confirmed that the relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam will begin in December.

Some observers believe that the US military forces’ shift from Okinawa to Guam is a strategic retreat, indicating a lack of security in Okinawa.

But Zhang sees it differently.

“Strategically, the US military is not retreating from Okinawa; it may withdraw its forces, but some weapons and firepower will remain in place. On the one hand, the US is instigating conflicts, while on the other hand, it does not want its forces to suffer losses. Therefore, it is pushing countries like the Philippines and Japan to be firmly tied to its warship as cannon fodder,” Zhang remarked.

Zhang also revealed the ongoing competition between the US Army and the Marine Corps for roles, funds and functions. He noted that the deployment of these assets is not actually the Marine Corps’ expertise, but should instead be a focus of the US Army.

The US Marine Corps primarily focuses on amphibious operations, but now there is a need for the corps to undergo a tactical transformation toward littoral operations, emphasizing land-sea integration. This in itself will bring about significant changes to the Marine Corps’ functions, which presents a considerable challenge, said another Chinese military expert, who requested anonymity.

If the Marine Corps insists on transformation, these disputes with the US Army will intensify, making the regiment’s implementation more challenging, some military experts warned. They believe that in reality, it is impractical for the regiment to target China.

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | 1 Comment

EU to bypass Hungarian veto on tapping Russian assets – FT

RT | June 24, 2024

The European Union has developed a scheme to use profits from frozen Russian assets to secure a $50 billion loan for Ukraine, which will be used to purchase arms, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell and other sources. The loophole effectively bypasses Hungary’s opposition to legislation that would have allowed the EU to hand over interest accrued on Russian funds to Ukraine.

In an interview with the FT, Borrell said that since Budapest had opposed an EU agreement to transfer revenue to Ukraine, it “should not be part of the decision to use this money.” He added that the bloc’s workaround was “sophisticated as every legal decision, but it flies.”

The West froze around $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets when the Ukraine conflict escalated, trapping around $280 billion in the EU.

Earlier this year, Brussels proposed seizing the interest earned on the assets to acquire weapons for Ukraine. The suggestion faced resistance from Hungary, a vocal critic of the West’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, particularly its arms shipments to Kiev.

Under the US-led initiative, proceeds generated by Russia’s frozen assets from next year will be used to pay off the loan.

The legal loophole allowing the EU to tap Russian assets is likely to suffice in guaranteeing the payout of the loan, the outlet said, citing officials familiar with the matter.

However, Budapest can still block an EU decision to extend sanctions on Russian funds, which has to be renewed every six months by the bloc’s 27 members, the officials added.

To placate Hungary, the EU proposed a deal under which its share of the bloc’s funds would not be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine in exchange for not vetoing other members transferring the revenue to Kiev, according to Borrell.

“We have offered Hungary: your money will not be used to support Ukraine in any means. Not just lethal, but on anything,” Borrell said. The proposal, however, has been rejected by Budapest.

Moscow has denounced the decision to transfer profits from its assets to Ukraine as a blatant and illegal “expropriation.”

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | 1 Comment

Pentagon has ‘nothing to say’ about strike on Crimean beach with US-supplied weapons

RT | June 24, 2024

The Pentagon has refused to comment on the deadly Ukrainian cluster munition attack on a crowded beach in Sevastopol, Russia on Sunday, RIA Novosti has reported. The Ukrainian attack carried out with US-supplied ATACMS missiles killed at least four people, among them two children, and injured 151, according to local officials.

Four missiles were intercepted by air defenses, while a fifth deviated from its trajectory and detonated its cluster warhead over the busy Black Sea beach, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

When RIA asked the Pentagon about the use of US supplied weapons in the strike on Sunday, an official replied, “we have seen the reports and have nothing to say.”

Moscow has placed the blame primarily with Washington, accusing it of enabling the “premeditated terrorist missile attack.” The targets for these US-provided missiles are assigned to Ukrainian troops by American specialists, based on their own intelligence data, the Defense Ministry stated.

According to data from the flight tracker Flightradar, a US RQ-4B Global Hawk reconnaissance drone was patrolling in the Black Sea south of Crimea during the Ukrainian missile strike.

The number of people injured in the strike stood at 151 as of Sunday night, according to Sevastopol’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev. A joint team of specialists from the Health Ministry’s Federal Center for Disaster Medicine arrived in the city to work with the victims, he wrote early Monday.

Kiev deliberately chooses mass gatherings of people as targets, both out of hatred and to sow panic, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said following the attack. The day of the Holy Trinity holiday was picked deliberately, she claimed.

Ukraine has previously targeted the Crimean Peninsula with US-provided ATACMS missiles. In May, ten ATACMS were shot down on a trajectory aimed at the strategic Crimean Bridge, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said at the time.

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | 1 Comment

Max Blumenthal: ‘TARGETED FOR EXPOSING ISRAEL’S LIES’- The Washington Post Attacks The Grayzone

Afshin Rattansi’s Going Underground | June 21, 2024

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Video | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Catching Up To Germany, The “Climate Leader”

By Francis Menton | Manhattan Contrarian | June 15, 2024

Here in New York, our leaders fancy us to be the “climate leader.” After all, our legislature has enacted the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” of 2019, setting out the most aggressive mandatory emissions-reduction targets of all the U.S. states. Allegedly, 70% of our electricity will come from “renewables” by 2030. Nobody can top us!

But can we really catch up to Germany? Germany was in the “climate leadership” game before almost anybody else had even heard of it. It was all the way back in 1990 that Germany adopted its first emissions-reduction target — 25 to 30 percent fewer CO₂ emissions by 2005, compared to 1987 levels. In 2000, while New York was still in its climate diapers, Germany passed its Renewable Energy Act, granting large subsidies for the development of wind farms. In 2010 Germany adopted its “Energiewende” legislation with mandatory emissions-reductions targets of 80-95% by 2050. All along, the country has been on a crash program to build wind turbines and solar panels for well over 30 years.

So sorry, New York. Germany is the true “climate leader.” Perhaps we should check in on how it is going over there.

In a piece on January 3, Reuters provided the statistics from Germany for the most recent full year, 2023. The headline is “Renewable energy’s share on German power grids reaches 55% in 2023.”

The share of renewables on Germany’s power grids rose by 6.6 percentage points to 55% of the total last year, the sector’s regulator said on Wednesday, as Europe’s largest economy moves closer to its 2030 target. . .  [of] 80% of its [electricity generation].

The achievement elicited some self-congratulatory happy talk from Environment Minister (and Green Party member) Robert Habeck:

“We have broken the 50% mark for renewables for the first time,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a statement. “Our measures to simplify planning and approvals are starting to take effect.”

Read a little farther, though, and you find out that only 43.2% of the 55% came from wind and solar generators. Most of the rest (8.4%) came from “biomass,” otherwise known as wood chips imported from the U.S. — probably not what you were thinking of as the supposedly emissions-free “renewables.” (The remaining 3+% consists of hydro and some unspecified “other renewables.”).

Perhaps you are wondering, despite Habeck’s happy talk, how can it be that after 30+ years of a crash program, with enormous subsidies, to build wind and solar generators to provide electricity, Germany is only up to getting 43% of its electricity from those sources? Is there maybe some problem? If you are wondering about those things, you will not find the answer here.

And then there’s the question of whether a huge build-out of wind and solar electricity generation might have any collateral consequences for a modern industrial economy. For example, might wind and solar generation be more expensive than electricity generation by fossil fuels? Here are the latest consumer electricity price data from Eurostat, covering the second half of 2023. Key quote:

For household consumers in the EU (defined for the purpose of this article as medium-sized consumers with an annual consumption between 2 500 Kilowatt hours (KWh) and 5 000 KWh), electricity prices in the second half of 2023 were highest in Germany (€0.4020 per KWh), Ireland (€0.3794 per KWh), Belgium (€0.3778 per KWh) and Denmark (€0.3554 per KWh).

Somehow, great “climate leader” Germany has the very highest consumer electricity prices in all the EU. The 40.2 euro cents per kWh is equivalent to 43 U.S. cents at the recent exchange rate of 1.07. The latest data from the U.S. EIA gives the average U.S. consumer electricity price as 16.68 cents per kWh for March 2024. That makes the German electricity price more than two and a half times the U.S. price.

Aren’t wind and solar generation supposed to be cheaper than fossil fuels? Somehow that doesn’t seem to be working out. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that no matter how much wind and solar you build, you can’t get rid of any of the fossil fuel generators, because you need them all for backup of intermittency. So you end up paying for two redundant systems.

Then there is the effect of high energy prices on economic growth. How’s that going in Germany? Here’s a February 23 report from Euronews, with the statistics from Germany for the 2023 year:

Year-on-year GDP growth was -0.2% in Q4 2023, a notch better than Q3 2023’s -0.3% and also in line with market expectations. For the full year 2023, Germany’s GDP shrank 0.3%.

U.S. GDP growth for 2023 was reported as 2.5% by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

A guy named Theodor Weimer, head of the Deutsche Börse, gave a speech in April to a group of Bavarian business leaders. The speech became public when it was released on YouTube last week, and it was then covered by the Telegraph. Key quote:

The coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz was, [Weimer] argued, a “catastrophe,” Germany was “economically on the way to becoming a developing country” and “one thing is clear: our reputation in the world has never been so bad.”

And finally, in the European elections just held last week, the German Green Party has been reported one of the biggest losers, going from 21 seats to just 12, a loss of 9, or almost half of the prior total.

Well, maybe being the “climate leader” is not so great after all. At least, maybe, the people are starting to catch on. Here in New York, it will take a while longer.

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | , , | Leave a comment

Hey, Jim Jordan: Ask Fauci Who His Bosses Were!

To get to the bottom of Covid censorship, we must understand who was in charge of the global pandemic response.

llustration by Anthony Freda
By Debbie Lerman | June 13, 2024

As recently reported by Reclaim the Net, Anthony Fauci is being called to testify by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan for his “alleged role in the Biden White House’s censorship initiatives.”

Right away a glaring issue emerges: The censorship of dissenting COVID narratives started all the way back in late January-early February 2020, with Fauci implicated in the censorship as early as February 2, 2020. The Committee tacitly acknowledges this by requesting documents dating back to 2019, even as it frames the inquiry politically as a “Biden Administration censorship” problem.

In fact, the entire disastrous, unscientific lockdown-until-vaccine pandemic response was initiated and insidiously perpetrated by the Task Force, which was housed in the Trump White House, in the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

The group responsible for pandemic policy within the Task Force was not HHS or NIAID, where Fauci worked, or any other public health agency. It was the National Security Council (NSC).

All communications about Covid had to go through OVP/NSC.

We know from the Twitter files and subsequent investigations that the Intelligence Community (FBI, CIA, DHS, CISA) was heavily involved in censoring Americans on many issues, starting at least as far back as 2016. Foreign military/intelligence agencies of allied countries collaborated on censoring the U.S. population.

So if anyone is truly interested in who initiated and enforced censorship of dissenting Covid voices, they should ask the following questions of Fauci under oath:

Who was responsible for the US government’s Covid response policy, including censorship of dissenting views?

We know from official government documents that Covid pandemic policy was set by the National Security Council (NSC), NOT the public health agencies. But who exactly on the NSC was in charge? Who wrote the policy?

  • Dr. Fauci: Did you participate in crafting the pandemic response policy with the National Security Council, including censorship of dissenting views?

Why were Covid meetings classified?

On March 11, 2020 Reuters reported that “The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified.” Reuters sources said “the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”

Furthermore, government officials said “dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January.”

  • Dr. Fauci: Why were the Covid response meetings classified? Were you present in those meetings? Were censorship plans discussed in those meetings?

Who was in charge of government communications about Covid?

According to the US Government’s COVID-19 Response Plan, starting on February 28, 2020 “all federal communication and messaging” about the pandemic had to go through the Office of the Vice President, which housed the Task Force, which was led by the National Security Council.

  • Dr. Fauci: In your role on the Task force, were you in charge of crafting the communications about the pandemic? If not, who on the Task Force was in charge of messaging?
  • Were you in charge of efforts to censor messaging that questioned or contradicted Task Force/NSC policy?
  • If not, who was in charge of designing and enforcing the censorship efforts on behalf of the Task Force/NSC?

Why was the CDC forbidden from communicating about the pandemic?

Although it was supposed to play a leadership role in pandemic communications, starting on February 28, 2020 the CDC was actually “not permitted to conduct public briefings,” according to a Senate report.

It sounds like the agency that was supposed to be in charge of communicating with the public about the pandemic was itself being CENSORED by the Task Force/NSC.

  • Dr. Fauci, who forbade the CDC from conducting public briefings about the pandemic?
  • Why were CDC communications with the public completely shut down?
  • Was this part of the overall efforts by the Task Force/NSC to censor any messaging that contradicted their policy?

Why was the intelligence community so heavily involved in Covid censorship?

Many deeply and carefully investigated reports show extensive involvement of military/intelligence agencies and personnel in Covid censorship efforts.

Here are just a few examples:

How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate, by David Zweig

Pentagon Was Involved in Domestic Censorship Scheme, by Alex Gutentag

The Virality Project Was a Government Front to Coordinate Censorship, by Andrew Lowenthal and Alex Gutentag

  • Dr. Fauci, were you coordinating with the FBI, CIA, DHS, CISA or any other intelligence entity to censor messaging that questioned or contradicted Task Force/NSC policy?
  • Why were intelligence agencies involved in censoring Covid messaging?

Were international NGOs and the WHO involved in censorship of American citizens?

Here’s one of the earliest known instances of Covid censorship from all the way back in February 2020, in which the following international cast participated:

As reported by US Right To Know :

on Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 11:28am

Farrar flagged a ZeroHedge article [now archived] in an email to Fauci and Collins, raising the possibility of virus=bioweapon. In the email, he mentioned that the WHO leaders were in the process of making an important decision. He said they might “prevaricate” which means “avoid telling the truth.”

Regardless of whether they prevaricated or not, just two and a half hours later, at approximately 1:57pm ZeroHedge was suspended on Twitter.

  • Dr. Fauci, was your correspondence with Farrar, involving the leaders of the World Health Organization, in any way related to the suspension of ZeroHedge on Twitter?
  • If so, which of you was responsible for conveying the message to Twitter about the suspension?
  • Were international organizations like the WHO, and NGOs including the Wellcome Trust, involved in Covid censorship activities in coordination with U.S. officials/agencies?
  • Were you involved in any international Covid censorship activities?

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | 1 Comment

Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of war

By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | June 23, 2024

The Middle East is sitting on a powder keg, and every minute that passes brings heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Canada, the U.S., Great Britain and Kuwait have all warned its citizens in Lebanon to evacuate.

The impending war is caused by Israeli refusal of a ceasefire in Gaza. Hezbollah says they will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza as the continuing genocide is perpetrated by Israel, but as soon as a ceasefire begins, Hezbollah’s response will cease.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese resistance group which is heavily armed. Most experts agree that the military might of Hezbollah and Israel are quite comparable on many levels, but Israel has air superiority.

Israel has a sophisticated air defense system, the ‘Iron Dome’. However, this system can be overwhelmed by Hezbollah if they were to launch a massive amount of missiles at Israel, and all agree that Hezbollah has a huge arsenal of missiles.

If the ‘Iron Dome’ was inundated by missiles launched from Lebanon, the effectiveness of the Israeli defenses would stop, and Israel could suffer destruction on a scale it has never experienced before. We have witnessed the destruction of Israeli missiles on Gaza, and homes and buildings across Israel could face a similar disaster.

Hezbollah demonstrated it has an air defense system, but it has been secretive in showing the capabilities of its defense from Israeli jets; however, on at least one occasion Hezbollah utilized their air defenses to repel an Israeli jet flying over Lebanon.

Amos Hochstein, the U.S. special envoy dispatched recently to Israel and Lebanon in hopes of averting a war between Israel and Hezbollah, came back empty-handed. Hochstein had been successful in a negotiation between Israel and Lebanon in 2022 over the maritime borders, but this time he was not negotiating with the Lebanese government alone, but with the most powerful resistance group in the Middle East.

The root cause of all conflicts in the Middle East emanate from the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine, which has stripped away all human rights, and civil rights, from about six million Palestinians, while the six million Jews in Israel live in a quasi-democracy with human rights and civil rights comparable to most western democracies.

U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly told Israeli officials the U.S. does not want to see a wider war in the Middle East, where other nations could be involved should Lebanon face destruction.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel would “turn Beirut into Gaza” in the event of a war.

Experts agree that Biden would continue to support Israel even in the face of a war on Hezbollah. The international community has come out against Israel and its genocide on Gaza, but Biden continues to support war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel.

Biden has sponsored a ceasefire plan, but Israel refused it, and experts suggest that the Biden plan was not designed by Washington to succeed, but was drafted only as an exercise in buying time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli public and military are divided on the war on Gaza. Many are demanding Israel stop the war and get the hostages out after almost 9 months of captivity. Others support the war on Gaza as part of the Zionist plan to eliminate all non-Jews and create one Jewish nation from the ‘river to the sea’.

Netanyahu firmly demands the continuation of the war on Gaza and demands that Hamas be destroyed, but his military leaders have said that is an impossible task, as Hamas is an ideology, that of resistance to occupation, which is guaranteed to all people through the Geneva Convention.

On June 18, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said plans for an attack in southern Lebanon had been approved and steps had been taken to “accelerate readiness in the field.” The statement came from Major General Ori Gordin, the head of IDF Northern Command, and Major General Oded Basiuk, who heads the IDF’s Operations Division.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah that they faced “destruction” amid “all-out war” at the Israel-Lebanon border.

Katz’s threat came after Hezbollah published a surveillance video that it took by a drone over various Israeli military, infrastructure and civilian installations, including some in the Israeli port city of Haifa.

“In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit,” Katz wrote on X.

On June 21, Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for a deadly air strike in south Lebanon that Israel said killed one of the group’s operatives. Hezbollah also claimed several other attacks on Israeli troops and positions over the course of the day.

In a meeting with visiting Israeli officials in Washington, Blinken underscored “the importance of avoiding further escalation in Lebanon and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes”, according to a statement.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had warned “no place” in Israel would “be spared our rockets” if a wider war began, in a TV address on Wednesday. He also threatened Cyprus if it opened its airports or bases to Israel “to target Lebanon”. Cyprus houses two British bases, including an airbase.

Israel invaded and brutally occupied Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. Its withdrawal was a victory for Hezbollah. In 2006, Israel launched a second war on Hezbollah which saw Israel prevented from invading by the might of Hezbollah, and in the following years the resistance group has gotten much stronger militarily.

Dozens of Israeli towns are now deserted, with around 60,000 Israelis evacuated to temporary accommodation, while about 90,000 have also fled from southern Lebanon.

Israel has launched roughly four times as many attacks as Hezbollah over the course of the conflict, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a Wisconsin-based research group specializing in conflict data analysis. Last week, Israel made its deepest attack yet into Lebanon, striking 75 miles north of the border.

Israeli troops have also deployed white phosphorus in Lebanon, a substance that burns at high temperature and can be used to create smokescreens to obscure troop movements, but can cause respiratory damage and deadly burns. Its use near civilian areas is a violation of international humanitarian law.

“It’s not a question of if it will happen but when it will happen,” Avichai Stern, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, the largest town in Israel’s north, said in an interview, and added, “We have to wipe them out.”

The war between Israel and Lebanon can be avoided if Israel will stop the unrelenting attacks on Gaza, which have resulted in over 36,000 deaths, mostly women and children.

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , | 2 Comments

Ex-DoD Analyst Derides Bid to Upgrade Outdated B-52s With Nukes

By Svetlana Ekimenko – Sputnik – 23.06.2024

The defense policy bills for fiscal year 2025 in both the US Senate and House include funding to enhance the nuclear weapon capabilities of approximately 30 B-52H Stratofortress bombers. However, the Pentagon is not enthusiastic about the proposal and instead favors a more expensive option of investing in a next-generation nuclear-capable bomber.

Congress’ bid to restore the B-52 bombers’ nuclear capabilities comes in the wake of repeated disappointments in developing US hypersonic standoff weapons, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

“Putting nukes back on the upgraded B-52 is a band aid that covers that,” said the former analyst for the US Department of Defense.

“It is important to note that Congress and the Pentagon have already approved and funded engine, avionics and radar upgrades for the nearly 60-year-old B-52 airframe. The B-52H models will be designated B-52J’s, upon upgrade. This was justified several years ago with the B-52Js as a delivery mechanism for planned AGR-183 hypersonic missiles – a missile tested by the Air Force, but one that is no longer being funded in the FY2025 defense budget,” she underscored.

Dozens of the Pentagon’s hypersonic missile projects for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and DARPA have suffered setbacks, despite a desperate race to catch up with Russia and China in this field.

The hypersonic weapon that was in development by the Pentagon, the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), had been mired in delays and test failures. The weapon was to be fired from beneath the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber and also contain a glide vehicle. The ARRW program, launched in April 2018, was to achieve operational deployment in 2022. However, in November 2023, after conducting two test flights in August and October 2023, the Fiscal Year 2025 budget provided no funding for procurement or further research and development of the AGM-183, effectively ending the project.

“The initiative will be costly and profitable for the defense industry, and in practical terms it keeps the B-52 in the game for tax-payer dollars. It is somewhat practical, as nuclear re-arming of the new B-52J model, as it completes other B-52 upgrades, fits well in the Boeing and Northrup Grumman industrial base,” noted Kwiatkowski.

It’s really all about the Congressional lobbyists, the ex-DoD analyst pointed out, clarifying that in the House, “Congressman Mike Rogers is the second-highest recipient of defense lobby money; In the Senate, Deb Fischer’s top donor is Northrup-Grumman a major missile developer, and Boeing, the maker of the B-52, is her fourth-largest donor.”

The conventional B-52H Stratofortress bombers had been part of the US nuclear triad close to a decade ago. However, under the New START treaty with Russia, the planes were stripped of these capabilities. With the treaty set to expire in February 2026, there is a drive to “beef up the US nuclear arsenal”. Congress has been advocating making the old bombers nuclear capable again, but the idea does not appear to be viewed favorably in the Pentagon.

“The treaty expires in 2026, and… We need to be prepared to face a nuclear environment without any treaty limitations,” said House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., as he introduced the amendment to the passed FY25 defense policy legislation. In line with that bill, the Air Force would start upgrading the bombers within a month after the accord expires. Accordingly, it is hoped that the restoration of the B-52’s nuclear capabilities might be completed by 2029.

Democrat Congressman Adam Smith of the Armed Services Committee had voiced opposition, and was cited as saying:

“The Department of Defense is not interested in doing this… What they’re interested in doing is investing in the B-21, which is the next generation nuclear-capable bomber. This would cost a great deal of money. Also, they’re currently trying to extend the life of a number of B-52s out to 2050, which they think they can do. This would be another added expense to that.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee also voted to advance its version of the bill on restoration of nuclear capabilities of the fleet of bombers dating back to the 1960s.

Kwiatkowski dissected the features of the B-52 bomber that originally made it a suitable aircraft for nuclear warheads’ deployment during the Cold War, singling out such aspects as “manned crews, ability to fly long distances, with refueling carried out in safe airspace.”

These aspects, as well as the “relatively long lead time from launch of aircraft to actual release of nuclear weapons allowed time for recall, and the application of better intelligence and diplomacy,” she said, adding:

“Today, the push is for unmanned or smaller crews to fly the upgraded B-52 (reducing the need for human decision-making and debate once launched), and today, no airframe that flies as slow and ‘unstealthy’ as the B-52 would be safe after take-off and in flight, given intelligence and defensive capabilities of the target countries and their allies.”

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty entered into force in 2011. Ten years later, Russia and the US negotiated an extension until February 2026. Amid NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, Moscow suspended its participation in the accord on February 21, 2023.

At the time, President Vladimir Putin during his February 2023 speech to the Federal Assembly referenced everything from Washington’s unilateral withdrawals from milestone strategic weapons treaties, to NATO’s enlargement towards Russia’s borders in violation of previous verbal agreements.

Moscow added that it would continue to comply with quantitative restrictions on strategic offensive arms and exchange notifications with Washington about ballistic missile launches. In June, the US announced its “countermeasures” in response to Russia’s suspension of the treaty. Both sides say they continue to abide by New START’s numerical limits.

Karen Kwiatkowski stated that it is clear why the Department of Defense is against the proposition of upgrading the outdated bomber aircraft fleet. She indicated that the DoD recognizes the vulnerabilities and the high cost associated with such a project.

“Upgrading the B-52 is largely a political statement rather than a serious “pillar” in the old concept of US nuclear triad. Nuclear armed B-52s, instead of serving as a signal to an enemy that nuclear war can be prevented even after launch as it was throughout the Cold War, today would simply be a late-to-the-party nuclear suicide drill,” remarked the retired US Air Force officer.

She lamented the fact that there are currently “no statesmen in the West interested in preventing nuclear war, as we had during the Cold War.” No matter how much the range of the B-52 is upgraded, these outdated planes will never be able to “fully capitalize on the current advances in technology and stealth,” remarked the expert.

“Pentagon thinking has one foot in the past (a triad that includes bombers because we have always done it that way) and one foot in the future – irreversible attacks and hostage-holding strategies via high-speed, radar-evading missiles and other weapons launched from land, sea and space. This straddling of past and future delivers the B-21 [Raider aircraft] – a platform that is profitable for manufacturers but unlikely to truly function as planned in coming decades. But that is where US defense path dependency has brought us,” Kwiatkowski pointed out.

On a personal note, the former DoD analyst suggested it would be both “cheaper and wiser” to upgrade the B-52 with its human pilots than the B-21 Raider, which is “little more than another unmanned stealth missile.” After all, she summed up, such a platform would not provide any “additional ability, stability or political motivation for political leaders to approach an actual nuclear war cautiously and wisely” in the multipolar world.

“If war is politics by other means, a manned nuclear weapon that can be aborted mid-flight is better than an AI-driven nuclear event that politicians will later claim “wasn’t their fault” or was “hacked,” said Kwiatkowski.

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | | Leave a comment

Investigation confirms Israeli tank killed six-year-old Hind Rajab

The Cradle | June 23, 2024

An investigation by open-source analysis firm Forensic Architecture concluded that a six-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, and several of her relatives were killed by an Israeli tank gunner opening fire on their car.

Hind and her relatives were killed on 29 January while fleeing their neighborhood in Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the area. Their bodies were finally recovered 12 days later.

Forensic Architecture mapped a total of 335 bullet holes in the Kia sedan they were killed in.

The investigation, carried out in cooperation with Earshot and journalists from Al-Jazeera’s Fault Lines, also found that two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medics who tried to save Hind were also killed by Israeli tank fire.

While the deaths of most Palestinians killed by Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza pass unnoticed, Hind’s killing gained international attention when the PCRS published the audio of the call for help made by Hind’s cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadam.

After the adults in the car had been shot and killed, Layan desperately used a cell phone to call the PRCS dispatcher.

Layan said, “They are shooting at us. The tank is next to me. [We are hiding] in the car. We’re next to the tank.”

Layan screams until her voice stops abruptly twenty seconds into the call.

During the call, a total of 64 gunshots are heard within just 6 seconds, indicating a firing range of 750–900 rounds per minute. This range of rounds per minute is consistent with Israeli army-issued weaponry, such as the M4 assault rifle or the FN MAG machine gun on a Merkava tank.

Israel has tried to claim that its tanks were not in the area where Hind, Layan, and their relatives were killed. Israel instead suggested they were killed by gunfire from Hamas. But Forensic Architecture notes that the firing range observed in the call exceeds that of the AK-47 assault rifles most commonly used by Hamas.

By measuring the sound of the bullet traveling at supersonic speed and comparing it to the sound of the blast from the muzzle of the gun reaching the recording device at the speed of sound, Earshot was able to determine that the tank firing at Hind and Layan’s car was located between 13 and 23 meters away.

“At such proximity, it is not plausible that the shooter could not have seen that the car was occupied by civilians, including children,” Forensic Architecture writes.

The “ballistic analysis supports the final words of Layan Hamada: the gunfire came from a tank that was next to them.”

After the Israeli tank gunner killed Layan, six-year-old Hind was the only person left alive in the car. PCRS dispatchers sent paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun in an ambulance to rescue her. When they reached the site of Hind’s car, they were immediately killed.

Forensic Architecture reported the ambulance was destroyed using a 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank Multi-Purpose-Tracer (HEAT-MP-T) round.

“Our assessment of the position of the tanks at the time of the attack, together with the direction of the shot, suggests that the ambulance was likely hit by ammunition from an Israeli tank,” Forensic Architecture wrote.

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Advantage Hezbollah

By Alon Mizrahi | June 23, 2024

Remember last week’s video from Hezbollah, with the drone over Northern Israel?

Well, there’s a new one, and it is also very interesting. It doesn’t look like footage from a drone, but rather like satellite imagery.

But this is not Google Earth or some nonsense like that. No publicly accessible satellite service will show you Israel’s top security sites. Try it. You’ll get nothing. It’s all blurred out.

So by publishing this Hezbollah accomplished two goals: first, they know many Israeli secrets and their specific locations. Second, they have access to high-quality satellite imagery.

This means Hezbollah can not only potentially hit sensitive sites with high accuracy. What it also means, and is just [as] problematic for Israel, is that Hezbollah may be able to track the movements of Israeli forces deep in Israeli territory in relative real-time. A capability no enemy of Israel ever had while directly involved in an armed conflict against it.

We know that Iran has dozens of satellites in space, some capable of state-of-the-art high resolution. When Israel fought Hezbollah in 2006 Iran had no such capability. Today it is a major international satellite powerhouse, using domestically-developed missiles and launchers.

June 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Video | , , | Leave a comment

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