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Netenyahu to Hamas: It's over. Don't die for Sinwar. Surrender - now
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 14:01 M. Murcek [17] 
6 16:22 Skidmark [39] 
7 16:23 Skidmark [34] 
5 07:47 MikeKozlowski [14] 
4 15:33 Super Hose [18] 
11 11:11 Skidmark [22] 
1 16:25 Skidmark [19] 
6 15:34 Super Hose [15] 
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5 12:17 NoMoreBS [16] 
9 18:43 trailing wife [25] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
4 20:16 Super Hose [22]
2 12:26 Skidmark [29]
7 19:37 trailing wife [33]
5 07:32 MikeKozlowski [23]
6 09:24 Cleared Cookies Lost Nic [22]
3 12:09 Deacon Blues [39]
2 06:35 Procopius2k [12]
2 05:15 Grom the Reflective [18]
2 16:22 Angstrom [34]
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1 02:51 Grom the Reflective [18]
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Page 2: WoT Background
3 21:12 Mullah Richard [31]
4 07:56 Mullah Richard [16]
4 08:40 Procopius2k [24]
2 09:15 MikeKozlowski [14]
1 05:07 Grom the Reflective [20]
2 06:32 Frank G [17]
3 06:54 M. Murcek [18]
2 15:35 Super Hose [21]
3 04:52 Besoeker [26]
2 09:40 Mullah Richard [18]
4 15:45 Procopius2k [17]
2 02:49 Grom the Reflective [12]
3 16:18 Skidmark [20]
2 18:43 ed in texas [19]
1 00:30 Grom the Reflective [14]
4 16:20 Skidmark [24]
1 16:20 Skidmark [15]
Page 4: Opinion
4 15:37 lord garth [13]
4 06:38 Besoeker [15]
14 22:17 trailing wife [16]
9 12:48 Abu Uluque [14]
10 18:43 borgboy [24]
7 15:42 lord garth [22]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 06:41 Besoeker [14]
1 15:40 lord garth [21]
0 [19]
9 21:09 Mullah Richard [19]
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1 06:51 Cholutle Thrans9751 [19]
1 01:05 Grom the Reflective [9]
3 13:05 Grom the Reflective [15]
1 00:51 Grom the Reflective [16]
1 11:52 Skidmark [14]
Page 6: Politix
11 16:59 Skidmark [23]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
‘Person of interest' in Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll's murder case is in police custody
[NY Post] Strange. In Non-WOT for now
A new "person of interest" was taken into custody in connection to the murder of Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll on Sunday, a month after a different person was taken in and questioned by investigators, but later released, according to police and reports.

"[The Detroit Police Department] can confirm that a person of interest has been taken into custody in furtherance of the investigation into the murder of Samantha Woll," the department said in a statement to The Post.

"In an effort to ensure the integrity of this ongoing investigation, no further details will be released at this time. Additional information will be released in the near future."

Woll, president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Detroit Synagogue, was found stabbed to death outside her home on October 21.

A suspect was taken into custody in November but was later released without being charged.

The latest possible suspect, an unidentified man, was not an acquaintance of Woll and appears to be a total stranger, the Detroit News reported, citing two sources familiar with the investigation.

The man detained Sunday is also not the same person who was taken into custody last month, sources confirmed to the newspaper.

Woll, 40, was killed as the US has faced a wave of antisemitism following the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, but authorities have stressed the slaying was not driven by hate.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/11/2023 11:39 || Comments || Link || [17 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The latest possible suspect, an unidentified man, was not an acquaintance of Woll and appears to be a total stranger

A Muslim/sympathiser "stricking" against "Gazan genocide", or Wakandan striking against "white racism"?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 13:21 Comments || Top||

#2  "They all look alike..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2023 14:01 Comments || Top||


Cambridge Scientists Admit 25% VAX-19 People Now Have VAIDS
[THAIMBC] VAIDS - Vaccine-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. As some of the deeper thinking Conspiracy Thinkers, often Factual News Reporters 6 months ahead of MSM., are wondering more and more. Are we looking at a Population Mgt. Process, or was the Worlds' leadership just in a panic mode for an it's Test Lab accidental release? .... BTW: These findings were shared with MHRA over a year ago?????
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/11/2023 06:22 || Comments || Link || [34 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  Yes, and one gets hearing aids from listening to assholes.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 11:05 Comments || Top||

#2  It appears the entire point of COFVID was to come up with something Fauxi could take credit for curing after his failure with AIDS.

Oops...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2023 11:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Since billions of people had the jab - more than one, that means hundreds of millions with AIDS?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 12:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand currently when your DX is COVID the Federal government will send $5000 dollar (finders fee my injection).
Posted by: Dale || 12/11/2023 13:43 Comments || Top||

#5  that means hundreds of millions with AIDS?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is apparently (based on research now almost a decade old) an acquired, more or less partial misbehaviour/deficiency of the immune system, Grom. So very likely this, too, is not full-blown AIDS as we know the sexually transmitted disease of that name. That’s my guess based on this second or third-hand description of the original research. I would suggest tracking down the original study as described in the Telegraph article the tweet references, and see what the data and conclusions look like, then report back. Journalists do enjoy getting overexcited about the SCIENCE!!! they claim to so f*cking love.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2023 14:10 Comments || Top||

#6  ^Yea, but why bother? It's obviously bull.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 14:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Nice.
Concrete pre-convictions.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 16:23 Comments || Top||


Seattle police release graphic video of drivers hitting pedestrians, suspects at large
[FoxNews] Could be WOT
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 04:50 || Comments || Link || [19 views] Top|| File under: Mob Rule

#1  Stolen cars, no plates, what's the risk?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 16:25 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
Study Reveals Nearly One Quarter of Dutch Millennials and Gen Z Believe the Holocaust Was a Myth or Exaggerated
[Claims Conference] NEW YORK, NEW YORK: January 25, 2023—The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) today released a Netherlands Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, including a breakdown of Millennial and Gen Z respondents, exposing a disturbing lack of awareness of key historical facts about the Holocaust and the Netherlands’ own connection to Holocaust history.

Dated article, but the bottom line points to Millennial and Gen z non-belief. Unfortunately, the 'disbelief' does not appear to be limited to Holland.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 05:55 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They don't teach real history anymore. For most youth history starts when they become sentient. Remember the Holocaust was only 78 years ago, but slavery, which was outlawed 150 years ago, is always with us.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2023 6:42 Comments || Top||

#2  ^On the other hand "Palestine" is real.
Posted by: Grom the reflective || 12/11/2023 6:48 Comments || Top||

#3  They don't believe in God or the Devil. They don't believe in good and evil. So, as has been said, "When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2023 6:49 Comments || Top||

#4  One-fifth of young Americans believe Holocaust is a myth - poll
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 6:53 Comments || Top||

#5  ...I have said for years that when the last of the men who liberated the camps and those who were liberated were gone, it would all come roaring back.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 12/11/2023 7:47 Comments || Top||


Elon Musk reactivates Alex Jones’ X account after a five-year ban
[CNBC] Elon Musk has reinstated the account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X, formerly Twitter.

Jones was banned from the platform in 2018 for violating Twitter’s “abusive behavior policy” as he was facing a lawsuit for spouting conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Musk had previously pledged not to allow Jones back onto the site.
Posted by: badanov || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Air Force offers up to $600K in bonuses to retain pilots
[FoxBusiness]
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 04:42 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Up to" - YMMV.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2023 6:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I've taken a look at this and come to the conclusion that the USAF will be greatly disturbed when they see how refusable this offer is.

My Beloved Service has zero intention of fixing any of the problems that have gotten them to this point; they are just desperately hoping that they can bribe enough people to put up with it a little longer.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 12/11/2023 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and ignore that the Army has had warrant officer pilots for as long as I've been on the planet.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2023 10:22 Comments || Top||

#4  It seems the Coast Guard is the only party school.

U.S. Coast Guard Accountability and Transparency Report
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 11:14 Comments || Top||

#5  #3 ...and ignore that the Army has had warrant officer pilots for as long as I've been on the planet.
Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-12-11 10:22


P2k,

During a particularly bad pilot retention crisis in the 80s, a commission suggested just that: bring back WOs (the USAF hasn't had them for decades, but the laws and regs still authorize them) for helicopters, transports, tankers, and instructors.

The response was almost violent, and comparable to what would have happened if you'd doused the Devil with Holy Water.

The sad part is and remains that had this been authorized, you'd have had people lined up around the block to apply for the program, and the pilot shortage would have disappeared almost immediately. But the USAF's leadership, I think, would rather lose a war than have non college-educated, non-commissioned officers in even one cockpit.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 12/11/2023 14:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Might as well stay if your flight surgeon is covering up your heart condition.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/11/2023 15:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
DR Congo's opposition leader Katumbi, promises to 'liberate the country'
[AFRICANEWS] Two weeks before the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
goes to the polls, the opposition leader Moise Katumbi has broadened his campaigns in a bid to win the country's top seat.

While campaigning in the capital Kinshasa, Katumbi promised to 'liberate the country' on Congolese election day.

In front of thousands of supporters, opposition presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi promised to liberate the country by giving jobs to young people and lowering the US dollar rate during his rally in the capital Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"I've come to change the country, I've come to liberate the country, sons of the Congo, what are we going to liberate together? (Audience response: The country), what's the date? (Audience response: the 20th). They say they don't have the money to rent planes, I said I'd give them the money to organize the elections, did I do wrong? (Audience response: No)," he said.

His opponents also raised the question of his nationality, at the heart of a controversy raised mid-week by Defense Minister and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, who insinuated that he was a Zambian.

"They say I'm a foreigner (Audience response: No). Who are the foreigners (Audience response: Them). Who have made over 666 trips abroad (Audience response: Them)," Katumbi said.

A wealthy businessman and owner of the famous "Tout Puissant Mazembe" soccer club, Moïse Katumbi is the former governor (2007-2015) of the mining province of Katanga, the country's economic powerhouse.

Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela and Guyana to hold talks over disputed Essequibo territory
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Guyanese leader Muhammad Irfaan Ali will hold talks to resolve the territorial conflict between the two countries, the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines announced on December 9.

The meeting is planned at the site of the Caribbean state on December 14, the government clarified. The negotiations will take place under the auspices of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries and the Caribbean Community.

The proposal for negotiations to Nicolas Maduro was made in a telephone conversation with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Goncalves.

As Regnum reported , on December 3, a referendum was held in Venezuela on the official inclusion of Essequibo into the country. More than half of the voters, over 10.43 million people, took part in the voting. All five questions regarding Venezuela's position in the territorial dispute received more than 95% approval. A few days later, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signed decrees to incorporate the Essequibo territory, disputed with Guyana, into his country.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said that the country's authorities intend to appeal to the UN Security Council, as they consider Venezuela's actions to integrate the disputed region, taken after the referendum, as a threat to national security.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called on Venezuela and Guyana to refrain from any actions that could unbalance the situation in the region and cause mutual damage to the two countries. Moscow opposed external pressure and interference in the affairs of the two South American countries, especially since in relations between them there are “sensitive issues that require caution from third countries,” the department emphasized.
Posted by: badanov || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Javier Milei took office as the new President of Argentina
Wishing him and Argentina all the best as they try to right the sinking ship of state.
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [25 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And Milei already said he's all for the Paris climate accords. That didn't take long.

Nice to see that Zelenskyy found some time to get away. Zaluzhny probably doesn't mind, hehe.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/11/2023 5:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Ukrainian President Zelensky attended the ceremony in Argentina.

Argentina had a history of turning down extradition requests for Nazi criminals
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 5:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Javier Milei: New president tells Argentina 'shock treatment' looms
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 6:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Argentina had a history...

What's your point?
Zelensky was seeking refuge, or Nazi gold?
Holocaust denial is now mainstream in Argentina?
Assimilation is now possible after 3 generations?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 6:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Ukraian nationalists are Nazis - look at their websites. And "jewish" Zelenski is their (figure)head.
Posted by: Grom the reflective || 12/11/2023 6:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Ukraian nationalists are Nazis

Russian white supremacists are no different, Grom. The Russians and Ukrainians used to party and train together, supported by the FSB because they were trustworthy nationalists, back before current events.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2023 14:49 Comments || Top||

#7  ^Yea, so?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 14:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Who causes poor Ivan such pain?
"девушка in basement, Ukraine!
She shames me at parties
And scratched my pet shmarties
And needs more protection, 'tis plain!"
Posted by: Maggie Lumumba9669 || 12/11/2023 18:12 Comments || Top||

#9  So why denigrate the Ukrainians for something the Russians are also guilty of?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2023 18:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
Alarm Grows Over Weakened Militaries and Empty Arsenals in Europe
[WSJ] The British military—the leading U.S. military ally and Europe’s biggest defense spender—has only around 150 deployable tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery pieces. So bare was the cupboard that last year the British military considered sourcing multiple rocket launchers from museums to upgrade and donate to Ukraine, an idea that was dropped.

France, the next biggest spender, has fewer than 90 heavy artillery pieces, equivalent to what Russia loses roughly every month on the Ukraine battlefield. Denmark has no heavy artillery, submarines or air-defense systems. Germany’s army has enough ammunition for two days of battle.

In the decades since the end of the Cold War, weakened European armies were tolerated by governments across the West because an engaged America, with its vast military muscle, underpinned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and defense policy in Europe.

The U.S. accounted for nearly 70% of NATO’s defense spending last year.

But alarm has grown as America has moved toward a more isolationist stance, and as the understanding of a potential threat to Europe from Russia re-emerges, after nearly two years of bloody fighting in Ukraine.

There is no immediate military danger to Europe from Russia, and Western military and political leaders think that Russia is for now contained by its war of attrition in Ukraine. But if Russia ultimately wins in Ukraine, few doubt Moscow’s capacity to rearm completely within three to four years and cause trouble elsewhere. Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years mourned the loss of a Russian empire that encompassed Ukraine and other Eastern European nations including the Baltics.

Much of Europe’s industrial capacity to make weapons has eroded over years of budget cuts, and turning that around is a challenge at a time when most governments face budget constraints amid slow economic growth and aging populations, as well as large political opposition to cutting back on welfare spending to fund defense.

Europe has "systematically demilitarized itself because it didn’t need to spend the money," thanks to the lack of an apparent threat and U.S. military dominance around the globe, said Anthony King, a professor of war studies at the University of Warwick. "They have basically gone to sleep."

The Ukraine war has made clear the depth of Europe’s problem.

"Although NATO countries’ combined economic and industrial might dwarfs that of Russia and its allies, we are allowing ourselves to be outproduced," said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary-General. "Ukraine is now in a war of attrition, if we do not get serious on ammunition production the threat of war will likely come closer to us."

AID FOR UKRAINE
President Biden has reaffirmed America’s steadfast support for NATO and said the alliance was stronger than ever. But former President Donald Trump, running again for the 2024 election, has repeatedly questioned NATO’s value. While he endorsed NATO’s clause of collective defense, he clashed with NATO leaders over funding and U.S. troop numbers. Leaders of both political parties have long urged Europe to pay more for its own defense.

Efforts to pass new U.S. aid for Ukraine have hit resistance from Republicans in Congress, and fighting in Gaza has pulled U.S. political focus away from Ukraine. The White House has said the U.S. will be unable to continue providing more weapons and equipment to Ukraine if Congress doesn’t approve additional funding by the end of the year.

European nations have pledged billions in aid to Kyiv but have said they face economic constraints and production limits on weapons. If the U.S. pulls back from providing the bulk of aid, Europe doesn’t have the stockpiles to make up the difference, nor can it resupply Ukraine and rebuild its own forces at the same time. The head of NATO’s military committee, Dutch Adm. Rob Bauer, said this year that Europe could now "see the bottom of the barrel" in terms of what it could offer Ukraine.

The European Union looks unlikely to keep a promise to supply a million desperately needed artillery shells to Kyiv by this spring, achieving only around a third of that so far. North Korea, an impoverished dictatorship with a population of 25 million, has shipped over a million shells to Russia in the same period, according to Western officials and Russian government statements.

Ukrainian officials have said that if aid dries up completely they will be unable to continue an already struggling military campaign to retake lost land and may be unable to hold back Russian units supported by a far larger country with superior reserves of manpower.

Gen. Patrick Sanders, the U.K. army’s most senior commander, compares this moment in European history to 1937, when the U.K. and its allies debated whether they would ultimately have to face down Hitler. "The lesson from the 1930s is that when the strategic context and the threats begin to increase, and I think that’s what we’ve seen, then you need to begin to prepare for it," he said, from his office in London’s Ministry of Defence.

Putin could pressure other non-NATO countries such as Moldova or Georgia, launch sabotage attacks in the Baltics or further bolster Russia’s military presence in Kaliningrad, a strategic Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, said Mark Sedwill, the U.K.’s former national security adviser.

Poland has raced to beef up its military and both Finland and Sweden joined NATO to get its security guarantees.

During the Cold War, Europe’s conventional forces were far smaller than the Soviet military, so deterrence relied on the threat of a nuclear response should the U.S.S.R. roll across the continent to expand the Iron Curtain. But none of the smaller actions by today’s Russia would likely be seen as worth risking nuclear war, so a bigger conventional military deterrence is vital, Sedwill said.

Military spending among NATO countries fell from about 3% of annual economic output during the Cold War to about 1.3% by 2014, according to NATO data. Things began to change after the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea, but only slowly. In the past decade, EU defense spending rose 20%, according to the European Parliament. Over the same period, Russia and China boosted their defense budgets by almost 300% and close to 600%, respectively.

A militarily weak Europe is a huge shift for a continent that boasted the world’s best armed forces from at least the early 1500s to the 1940s, a stretch of five centuries in which European armies and naval power carved up the world into global empires. That dominance ended during World War II, when the region’s armies pulverized each other for the second time in roughly two decades. After that, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. emerged as the bigger powers.

During the Cold War, European nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain maintained robust armies. The post Cold War peace dividend allowed governments to slash military spending in favor of everything from pensions to healthcare, raising wealth and standards of living across the continent but leaving their militaries hollowed out.

Germany’s army, which at the end of the Cold War had half a million men in West Germany and another 300,000 in East Germany, now has 180,000 personnel. West Germany alone had more than 7,000 battle tanks by the 1980s; reunified Germany now has 200, only half of which are likely operational, according to government officials. The country’s industry can make only about three tanks a month, these officials said.

"The armed forces are lacking in everything," Eva Högl, the parliamentary commissioner for Germany’s armed forces, said as she presented the findings of her report earlier this year. German military bases not only lack armaments and ammunition, but functioning toilets and internet, she said. One attack helicopter unit has been waiting a decade to be fitted with helmets, her findings show.

The Netherlands disbanded its last tank unit in 2011, folding the remaining few tanks into the German army. Conscription across most European countries was scrapped after the Cold War.

Today, Russia, China and India are all ranked as more potent military powers than the U.K., the highest rated European military, while South Korea, Pakistan and Japan are ranked above France, the second-highest rated European power, according to Global Firepower, a website that uses public data to publish an annual ranking of military strength.

South Korea, where the Cold War never ended given the threat from North Korea, now has a military of equal size—roughly half a million personnel—as the U.K., France and Germany put together. It also has a world-class military industry that is helping arm Poland.

COUNTERINSURGENCY FOCUS
American military officials and political leaders have long urged Europe to carry more of the military burden, including every American president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned Western European allies in 1959 that they risked "making a sucker out of Uncle Sam" by not spending more of their own money on defense.

In 2014, NATO allies agreed to move toward spending 2% of economic output on defense within a decade. This year, only 11 of NATO’s 31 members are expected to hit the target, according to the group.

Within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Germany pledged to spend 100 billion euros, or about $110 billion, on defense in a one-off surge in spending, but only about 60% of that amount is expected to be earmarked by the end of this year.

Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, combined with military budget cuts, left most European armies built for counterinsurgency operations in far-flung countries, and poorly equipped to fight a well-armed foe in a grinding land war, in the style of Ukraine.

Britain invested in lightly armored equipment, such as armored Land Rovers, rather than heavy artillery, as it took on less well-equipped enemies.

The thinking was "for us, all wars are optional," said Simon Anglim, a military historian at King’s College London.

Putin has changed that. Beginning around 2005, he has openly hinted at his aim of recapturing lost parts of the former Soviet Union, such as Armenia and Georgia.

That has ratcheted up tension with the West in a way that few expected just over a decade ago.

Poland, Finland and the Baltics—all sharing or near borders with Russia—have moved the fastest to build up their militaries. Poland said it wants to spend more than 4% of its annual economic output on defense next year, almost double what it did in 2022. Poland could have the strongest conventional forces in Europe in two or three years, said Bence Nemeth, the academic program director of the Advanced Command Staff course at the Defense Academy of the U.K., the country’s top postgraduate military program.

Russian spending on national defense will grow to 6% of its economic output next year, from around 3.9% this year, according to Russia’s finance ministry. That would be the highest level since the demise of the Soviet Union, economists who track the data said. If the Ukraine war stopped today, it would take Russia three to five years to rebuild enough capacity to attack another country, according to Estonia’s military intelligence.

"It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Russia will not rebuild, and by the late 2020s, it will be able to learn a lot of lessons of its own and field a formidable army which could pose a threat" to Europe, said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director at the Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank, in London.

While Russia doesn’t disclose data on its weapons manufacturing, statistical lines in its industrial production reports indicate significant growth. The output of finished metal goods—a line that analysts say includes weapons and ammunition—rose by 31% in the first 10 months of the year compared with the period last year. Other lines associated with military output also increased. Production of computers, electronic and optical products rose 34%, and so-called special clothing jumped by over 37%. In contrast, production of medicines was down around 2%.

Germany is currently unable to fight a war of defense and must rearm in light of Russia’s massive military buildup, the commander of Germany’s armed forces said. "We must get used to the idea that we will maybe have to fight a war of defense," Gen. Carsten Breuer told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Sunday. The reign of peace that society has become accustomed to "exists no more," he said.

’NOT FAST ENOUGH’
For European politicians, spending more on defense is a tough political sell, especially at a time of stagnant economic growth, soaring government borrowing costs and an aging population that will strain government budgets for years to come.

Once pooled, NATO forces are technologically superior to Russia, some European officials say, though NATO’s ability to fight jointly is untested. Ukraine is proof that a smaller but better managed force can challenge a juggernaut like Russia.

Still, military analysts say Ukraine’s forces are having trouble dislodging the Russians partly because Russia has advantages in numbers of soldiers and equipment, which could make a difference if the U.S. stalls its support and Europe runs out of military equipment to give.

"People may say the Russians have taken it on the chin, and we don’t need to worry. That’s a valid point, but it ignores residual Russian strength," said John Deni, a professor at the U.S. Army War College and an expert on European militaries. "If the Russians present us with a mass problem in Europe, the challenge is, can technology and advanced capabilities do it? And there we see some challenges."

Another major concern is the time needed to get the European defense industrial base to shift gears if the Russia threat grows. "Definitely more money is being spent, but the increased military capability could be years away," says Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, who tracks military global expenditure.

The British army is widely regarded as being run by highly capable soldiers and has among the best special forces in the world.

But defense spending as a share of U.K. GDP halved since the mid-1980s to around 2.2%, and the army is only now undergoing a modernization. A combination of underfunding and botched procurement deals for equipment upgrades weakened the service. "You need a super capable air force. You need a super capable navy. We’ve got them. But you’re incomplete if you don’t have an army," said Sanders, the U.K. army senior commander.

Britain hasn’t had a fully deployable armored division since the 1991 Gulf War, Ben Wallace, who was U.K. Secretary of State for Defence until the end of August, said recently to Parliament.

Sanders said the U.K. had taken a risk by allowing stockpiles to dwindle and its industrial base to atrophy. He said he has spent more time in the past year visiting factories than inspecting troops in the field.

Britain announced its biggest increase in defense spending since the Cold War in 2020. But the overall army size is still expected to shrink to 72,500 full-time troops from a previous target of 82,000. It is replacing its 227 tanks with 148 more-modern versions, but those won’t be deployed until 2027. Of its existing 227 tanks, only 157 can be deployed within 30 days and perhaps only 40 are fully functioning and ready to move, military analysts said, as many are in storage or being upgraded.

The U.K. has pledged to ramp up defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, but only when economic conditions allow.

Sanders declined to comment on how much equipment the army could currently deploy. He said the army will get an average of 200 new armored vehicles a year between 2024 and 2028. It will also address the shortfall in ammunition capacity, though he declined to give a timeline.

"As the bloke who is responsible, not fast enough," Sanders said.

The Ministry of Defence placed a £410 million, or about $515 million, order with BAE Systems this year for artillery shells and ammunition to bolster production eightfold. But that production capacity won’t be reached for another two years. It also bought 14 Archer artillery systems from Sweden to replace the 32 AS90 long range artillery pieces it handed over to Ukraine, plugging a gap until the U.K.’s own upgraded long range artillery systems arrive in the late 2020s. "We are on the right trajectory," said James Cartlidge, the British Minister for Defence Procurement.

The British army’s new armored reconnaissance vehicles, called Ajax, show just how long it can take to upgrade a fighting force. On a recent day this fall, a group of army officers stood in the pouring rain watching as two Ajax vehicles cruised over the muddy plains in southwest England. It was the first time the Ajax was used in a military exercise, 13 years after the army first announced it would purchase them.

Initially ordered at a cost of £5.5 billion to replace aging tracked reconnaissance vehicles used since the 1970s, Ajax, made by the U.K. subsidiary of General Dynamics, suffered numerous technical problems. During test runs hundreds of soldiers fell physically ill due to the vibration and noise when driving them. The delays were so long that the army had to extend the use of its ’70s-era vehicles.

Those problems are now fixed. But the nearly 600 new vehicles won’t be fully deployed until the end of 2028. Meanwhile the new high tech communications kit the Ajax is supposed to use is also delayed, perhaps by longer.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 09:56 || Comments || Link || [39 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anything really changed since the 80s, other than the Americans leaving (who should have been gone shortly after the Wall fell)?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2023 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember some eurine functionary smirking as Trump pointed all this out in broad terms a few years ago?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2023 10:38 Comments || Top||

#3  The allegory of the unicorns.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2023 11:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Remember the "Peace Dividend"?
Turns out there wasn't one.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/11/2023 14:24 Comments || Top||

#5  This was the plan of the Neocons. Encourage to donation of all dated or obsolete equipment into to Ukraine wood chipper, and then have the Military Industrial Complex keep the economy out of stagflation on the backside. Also, they all invested and/or take donations from those companies.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/11/2023 15:32 Comments || Top||

#6  That 2% year-over-year adds up doesn't it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 16:22 Comments || Top||


German billionaire meets with AfD party; left-wing interior minister calls for boycott on his dairy empire
[Remix] One of the richest men in Germany is now openly meeting with the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the move has led to calls for a boycott from left-wing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the country’s main establishment parties.

Theo Muller — who owns some of the most popular food brands in Germany, including Mulllermilch, Weihenstephan, and Landliebe — stated that he held talks with AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel several times. He is considered one of the first major business figures to openly make contact with the AfD, and Germany’s establishment parties, including the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Free Democrats (FDP), are backing calls for a boycott.

Muller is estimated to be worth over €4 billion, and his meeting could pave the way for other business leaders to openly back the AfD....

Faeser’s call for a boycott was backed by SPD leader Saskia Esken as well as the CDU, FDP, Greens, and CSU
[forget one?]
CDU’s General Secretary Martin Huber said: "It must be clear to every entrepreneur and every employee: The AfD is damaging Germany."
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/11/2023 05:20 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Strangely enough, they think you're damaging Germany.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/11/2023 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  ^Depends on your definition of Germany - to Huber it's German officials standing among fellow Globalists.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/11/2023 14:32 Comments || Top||

#3  They are boycotting food - do I understand right?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/11/2023 14:39 Comments || Top||

#4  I charge them with lactose intolerance.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/11/2023 15:33 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Overview of the US Special Collection Service (F6)
[GreyDynamics] 1.0 INTRODUCTION
The United States Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a joint NSA-CIA program that is referred to as the “mission impossible force.” The SCS’s existence is denied by the U.S. government, but its activities and capabilities have been revealed over the years. Edward Snowden’s leaks and individuals with inside knowledge have shed some light on the highly secretive unit.
"F6"... a rather humorous moniker.
The mission of the SCS is in signals intelligence (SIGINT). More specifically, they focus on “placing super-high-tech bugs in unbelievably hard-to-reach places” [source].

2.0 HISTORY
The SCS was founded in 1978 as a way for the NSA and CIA to cooperate on highly sensitive and important intelligence collection operations.

The creation of the Special Collection Service allowed for a much more efficient and coordinated approach to targets. Prior to its creation, there was increased competition between the NSA’s eavesdropping specialists and the CIA’s bugging specialists [source]. Before the SCS, the CIA and NSA would duplicate efforts and not coordinate effectively. Cooperation between the two agencies allowed them to combine their areas of expertise into one highly capable unit.

The SCS’ value in the Cold War was significant. In the Cold War, the SCS installed listening devices on pigeons perched atop of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Since the 1990s, the SCS has become increasingly daring and widespread. In the late 1990s, the SCS was one of the first units to set up operations in the Middle East. In 1999, the SCS was listening in on al-Qaeda training camps. Around the turn of the century, SCS operations were prevalent across Iraq and only increased with the U.S. invasion [source].

3.0 ORGANISATION
The Special Collection Service is organised to maximise the cooperation between experts in the field and SIGINT experts. To maintain strong cooperation, the leadership of the SCS alternates between the Director of the CIA and NSA. In order to accomplish synergy between the agencies, four units comprise the organisation: the Field Operations Office, Field Engineering Office, Mission Support Office, and Installation and Logistics Office.
Snipped sections:
3.1 Covert HQ
3.2 Worldwide Operations
4.0 Equipment
4.1 Innovative Technology
4.2 Operations Enabled by Technology
5.0 Notable Operations
5.1 Berlin Station

5.2 OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR
Operation Neptune Spear was the 2011 U.S. operation to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan. The Navy’s SEAL Team 6 and CIA Ground Branch received much of the attention, but the SCS played a critical role in the mission’s success.

The service’s signal interception capabilities allowed them to follow the trail of bin Laden’s courier to a compound outside of the city. They did this by closely monitoring his phone calls and listening for keywords while they tracked his location. [source].

As the intelligence community narrowed in on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, SCS operatives set up an operation in a safe house down the road from the target building. From this post, the operatives were able to measure vibrations and other signals to determine the number of individuals within the compound’s walls. This allowed them to determine there was one individual who never travelled outside of the home, a piece of evidence used to suggest it was in fact bin Laden’s compound [source].

6.0 SUMMARY
The United States Special Collection Service is at the tip of the spear for U.S. intelligence collection. The organisation offers the U.S. significant insight into potential threats and allows them to respond to them.

The SCS has operated in a grey area, at times violating laws and agreements of countries around the world, even allies. Despite this, the value provided by the organisation to the U.S. national security apparatus is enormous.
Posted by: Griter Slash1619 || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But somehow the Indications & Warnings of the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas attack went undetected.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 6:22 Comments || Top||

#2  #1 But somehow the Indications & Warnings of the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas attack went undetected.
Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-11 06:22


Beso,

I don't think it's so much that they went undetected, as they went unacknowledged.

Or willfully ignored.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 12/11/2023 9:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Attack 'may' have been much, much larger than anticipated.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 9:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Or willfully ignored.

Or proceeded as planned.
Hamas will be broken.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 11:19 Comments || Top||

#5  F6 - Someone Had A Sense Of Humor

Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/11/2023 12:17 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo Confirms Detection of DNA Fragments in COVID mRNA Vaccines
BLUF:
[Gateway] The Guidance for Industry discusses biodistribution of DNA vaccines and how such integration could affect unintended parts of the body including blood, heart, brain, liver, kidney, bone marrow, ovaries/testes, lung, draining lymph nodes, spleen, the site of administration and subcutis at injection site.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 05:13 || Comments || Link || [22 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "could affect unintended parts....ovaries/testes"

"Unintended" you say ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 5:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Unintended, but "safe and effective". They got the 'effective' part right. Dr. Joe Mengele would agree there.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/11/2023 5:29 Comments || Top||

#3  COVID Vax related complications and deaths in the US Congress appears to be miniscule or non-existent.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2023 5:43 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ You wouldn't expect human DNA to affect lizard people...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2023 5:45 Comments || Top||

#5  They didn't take that shit
Posted by: Chris || 12/11/2023 6:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Remember just 6 months ago those claiming this very fact, were called crack-pots and even locked up, or black-balled in their profession.

But once again, Messengers Of The Truth finally win out.

Maybe ?
Congress should hold hearings to expose the criminals behind the C-19 release.

But then again, many of the same once called crack pots also say parts of the DC Swamp were in on the C-19 & VAX ruse.

Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/11/2023 8:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Was it Fauci’s DNA? Maybe even Tony is not that arrogant.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/11/2023 9:12 Comments || Top||

#8  From The National library of Medicine:
The polyomavirus simian virus 40 (SV40) is a known oncogenic DNA virus which induces primary brain and bone cancers, malignant mesothelioma, and lymphomas in laboratory animals. Persuasive evidence now indicates that SV40 is causing infections in humans today and represents an emerging pathogen. A meta-analysis of molecular, pathological, and clinical data from 1,793 cancer patients indicates that there is a significant excess risk of SV40 associated with human primary brain cancers, primary bone cancers, malignant mesothelioma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Experimental data strongly suggest that SV40 may be functionally important in the development of some of those human malignancies. Therefore, the major types of tumors induced by SV40 in laboratory animals are the same as those human malignancies found to contain SV40 markers. The Institute of Medicine recently concluded that “the biological evidence is of moderate strength that SV40 exposure could lead to cancer in humans under natural conditions.” This review analyzes the accumulating data that indicate that SV40 is a pathogen which has a possible etiologic role in human malignancies. Future research directions are considered.

Now go read the PC version of Wiki.
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic || 12/11/2023 9:32 Comments || Top||


#10  #9 Dr. Anthony Fauci is under fire after telling the BBC that practicing the Catholic faith is a “thing that I don’t really need to do.”

For an individual who is worshipped in government circles as a deity, this statement on religion makes perfect sense.
Posted by: badanov || 12/11/2023 10:04 Comments || Top||

#11  The National Library of Medicine is really a thing!
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 11:11 Comments || Top||


SpaceX delays launch of secret Space Force mission
[FoxBusinessNews] SpaceX delayed the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the secretive X-37B spacecraft by at least one day due to weather.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
12Hamas
2Govt of Iran
1Commies
1Devout Moslems
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Antifa/BLM
1Houthis
1Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
1Mob Rule
1Pak Taliban (TTP)
1Palestinian Islamic Jihad
1Sublime Porte
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Arab Spring
1[untagged]

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2023-12-11
  Netenyahu to Hamas: It's over. Don't die for Sinwar. Surrender - now
Sun 2023-12-10
  Hamas leader Sinwar said to have fled north Gaza by hiding in humanitarian convoy
Sat 2023-12-09
  French court convicts six teens in teacher's beheading case
Fri 2023-12-08
  Peace in the South Caucasus?
Thu 2023-12-07
  Dozens of Hamas terrorists surrender to Israeli soldiers
Wed 2023-12-06
  Military drone strike accidentally kills 85 civilians celebrating a Muslim festival in Nigeria
Tue 2023-12-05
  All telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost
Mon 2023-12-04
  Al-Nujaba Movement Five members of the movement killed as a result of an American air strike in Kirkuk
Sun 2023-12-03
  Pentagon: US warship and several commercial ships under attack in Red Sea
Sat 2023-12-02
  Heavy fighting reported in southern Gaza overnight after truce breakdown
Fri 2023-12-01
  IDF pounds Gaza as ceasefire crumbles
Thu 2023-11-30
  Hamas supporters, one carrying swastika, swarm Midtown in bid to derail Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting
Wed 2023-11-29
  Heavy Rain in the Gaza Strip Brings Threat of Overwhelmed Sewage System
Tue 2023-11-28
  Pro-Palestine supporters have taken over downtown Seattle's annual Christmas tree lighting
Mon 2023-11-27
  Saturday: Tens of thousands march in pro-Palestinian London rally calling for Gaza ceasefire


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