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U.S. Army prepares to replace thousands of troops with military robots


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:38 UTC
army robots
© AFP Photo / HO

An all-out drone war seems inevitable given the rapid rate at which battlefield technology is advancing in this day and age, but a United States Army commander expects an arsenal of robotic warriors could be but a few years away.

Gen. Robert Cone, the chief of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, said during a recent symposium that he thinks there's a chance the size of the military's brigade combats teams will shrink by a quarter in the coming years from 4,000 total troops down to 3,000. Picking up the slack, he said, could be a fleet of robotic killing machines akin to the ground versions of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, increasingly used by the world's armies.

The Military Times' Paul McLeary was the first to report this week on remarks that Cone, a four-star general, made during the Army Aviation Symposium January 15 in Arilington, Virginia.

"I've got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of maneuverability, in terms of the future of the force," Cone told his crowd, according to McLeary, adding that he also has "clear guidance to rethink" the size of those infantry squads, which currently are manned by nine troops apiece.
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Chess

Propaganda Alert: Female terrorist may have already infiltrated Sochi Olympic security zone; U.S. warships on standby

Leada Gore
AL.com
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:07 UTC
Image
© Stefan Krasowski
Work being done on an Olympic venue site in Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. is assisting Russia in the search for a suspected terrorist who could already be inside the security zone set up for next month's winter Olympics in Sochi.

Fox News is reporting U.S. counterterrorism operatives are searching for Ruzanna Ibragimova, a "white widow," - the wife of a dead terrorist - who is believed to have traveled from Dagestan to Sochi and may have breached the 1,500-mile security area. Ibragimova's husband was killed during a previous terrorist attack on a Moscow theater.

Her photo was distributed to Russian and U.S. security officials last week. An accompanying memo said Ibragimova is believed to be associated with "illegal armed groups for the organization of terrorist acts in the zone of the 2014 Olympics."

A U.S. security forces memo said the notice "is the first sign that terrorists may have managed to penetrate the security cordon."

Russia has about 40,000 security and police personnel in the area to deter attacks.

The news of the possible terrorist breach is just the latest security threat to the Olympics which are set to begin next month. Terrorist groups have already made videotaped threats to disrupt the proceedings, prompting U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to offer security assistance to the Russians.
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Arrow Down

Corporate criminals, billionaires gather for World Economic Forum in Davos

Andre Damon
Global Research
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:59 UTC
World Economic Forum
© Global Research
The 44th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) began Wednesday, bringing over 2,000 corporate executives, major investors, government leaders, central bankers and celebrities to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

The annual celebration of wealth and avarice follows a bumper year for the world's super-rich. Stock prices and corporate profits surged to new record highs, swelling the bank accounts and portfolios of the financial elite, even as austerity measures, wage cutting and layoffs slashed living standards and threw tens of millions more people into poverty.

On the eve of the forum, the British charity Oxfam released a study documenting the staggering growth of social inequality. Oxfam reported that the richest 85 individuals possess more wealth than the poorest 50 percent of the world's population - 3.5 billion people!

The Davos conference embodies the emergence of a new global financial aristocracy. In attendance at this year's meeting are 80 billionaires and hundreds of millionaires.

The general tone on the opening day was one of "fragile optimism," according to a survey of attendees. There is a general expectation of more good fortune in 2014. But looming over the festivities there is also fear of the social and political consequences of the naked plundering of society by the elites represented in Davos.

The conference, which goes from January 22 through 25, has officially adopted the title "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business." It will draw 1,500 business executives, 48 prime ministers and presidents, and the heads of twenty central banks. US attendees include Secretary of State John Kerry, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy.
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Calendar

Queen Elizabeth hands over the reigns to Chuck, kind of

Andy Lines
Mirror News
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:04 UTC
Image

Passing the baton: The Queen
Her Majesty to hand duties over to Prince Charles in an historic job share which experts say marks a gentle succession

It is being dubbed the "gentle succession" - as the Queen gradually begins to relinquish some of her traditional duties as monarch.

As she approaches her 88th birthday in April after almost 62 years on the throne, she has agreed to hand over part of her workload in a historic "job-share" arrangement with Prince Charles.

In a royal first, he will be taking on more head of state-style responsibilities as the Palace starts to make tentative plans for his eventual succession.

Courtiers yesterday described the softly-softly move as "wise" - and "just plain common sense".

The first sign of the partial power transfer will be the merging this week of the Queen and Charles's press offices.

In future any announcements concerning the monarch and her 65-year-old eldest son will now come from the same source. Palace sources insist the switch will be entirely seamless.
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Rainbow

Spain's new cardinal says homosexuality a 'defect'


Yahoo! News
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© AFP/Curto de la Torre
An activist brandishes a rainbow-flag sticker as he protests against homophobia during a gay rights rally in Madrid.
Pope Francis' newly chosen Spanish cardinal, 84-year-old Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, has described homosexuality as a "defect" that can be corrected with treatment, sparking condemnation from gay rights groups.

"A lot of people complain and don't tolerate it but with all respect I say that homosexuality is a defective way of manifesting sexuality, because that has a structure and a purpose, which is procreation," Sebastian told Malaga newspaper Sur.

The interview was published Sunday, a week after the Spaniard was named as one of 19 new cardinals chosen by the pope, to be officially appointed February 22.

"We have a lot of defects in our bodies. I have high blood pressure. Am I going to get angry because they tell me that? It is a defect I have that I have to correct as far as I can," said Sebastian, who is the archbishop emeritus of the northern city of Pamplona.

"Pointing out a defect to a homosexual is not an offence, it is a help because many cases of homosexuality can be recovered and normalised with adequate treatment. It is not an offence, it is esteem. When someone has a defect, the good friend is the one who tells him."

The archbishop was asked in the interview if he shared the view of Pope Francis, who said in July last year: "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?"
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Propaganda

Propaganda Alert! Syria photos may prove torture by Assad regime

Mick Krever and Schams Elwazer
CNN
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:59 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A team of internationally renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts has found "direct evidence" of "systematic torture and killing" by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the lawyers on the team say in a new report.

Their report, based on thousands of photographs of dead bodies of alleged detainees killed in Syrian government custody, would stand up in an international criminal tribunal, the group says.

CNN's "Amanpour" was given the report in a joint exclusive with The Guardian newspaper.

"This is a smoking gun," said David Crane, one of the report's authors. "Any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence -- the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime's killing machine."

Crane, the first chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor went on to become the first former head of state convicted of war crimes since World War II. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photographs, documents and testimony referenced in the report, and is relying on the conclusions of the team behind it, which includes international criminal prosecutors, a forensic pathologist, an anthropologist and an expert in digital imaging.

The bodies in the photos showed signs of starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation, and other forms of torture and killing, according to the report.

Comment: Bashar Al-Assad is one of the few leaders in the world who actually cares for his people. This unconfirmed, seemingly manufactured torture business stinks to high heaven! To learn about the real Bashar Al-Assad, see:

The Real Bashar Al-Assad
Video: Charlie Rose interview with Bashar al-Assad (full interview and transcript)
Western journalists are just reporting lies about Syria: Assad has many sunny days ahead of him
Syria: Democracy vs. foreign invasion. Who is Bashar Al Assad?

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Arrow Down

Why is a gigantic war-blimp about to fly above the skies of suburban Baltimore?

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:11 UTC
Blimp
© Raytheon
One of the most disturbing and relentless trends over the past several years has been the redirection of war technology and equipment from the battlefield abroad toward domestic use in the USA.

This has resulted in a militarization of police across the nation and has encouraged small towns to use Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to purchase ridiculous items such as tanks.

Sadly, it appears this trend is only accelerating. With billions of dollars already spent, and failed wars abroad, the military-industrial complex needs to continue to generate cash flow. May as well just use it against the American people.

We find out from the Washington Post that:
They will look like two giant white blimps floating high above I-95 in Maryland, perhaps en route to a football game somewhere along the bustling Eastern Seaboard. But their mission will have nothing to do with sports and everything to do with war.

The aerostats - that is the term for lighter-than-air craft that are tethered to the ground - are to be set aloft on Army-owned land about 45 miles northeast of Washington, near Aberdeen Proving Ground, for a three-year test slated to start in October. From a vantage of 10,000 feet, they will cast a vast radar net from Raleigh, N.C., to Boston and out to Lake Erie, with the goal of detecting cruise missiles or enemy aircraft so they could be intercepted before reaching the capital.
Interesting, I didn't realize we were at war. When was the last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States?
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Eye 1

Japanese WWII torture document eerily reminiscent of U.S. torture program

Jeff Kaye
My FDL
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:01 UTC
Image

photo from war crimes book with Japanese text of torture instructions
The following is taken from a 63 year old book published in the early days of the Cold War. Titled Materials on the Trial of Former Serviceman of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons (Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1950), the book contains trial summaries and testimony from the Khabarovsk war crimes trial in December 1949.

Derided as just another Stalinist show trial at the time, historians have since confirmed the evidence regarding the crimes prosecuted, including deadly biological experiments on prisoners by special units of the Japanese Imperial Army, the most famous of which was Unit 731.

The selection below is one of the exhibits contained in the book, collected in a section labeled "Documentary Evidence." The book itself has been out of print for decades, and is generally unavailable, except via some few libraries and antiquarian bookstores.

The selection included here is on the Japanese Army use of torture. The reader will notice that the Japanese Army demonstrated many of the same techniques and concerns the U.S. showed when it was implementing its own torture program under the CIA and the Department of Defense.

Comment: Not only eerily reminiscent! See:

Testimony of Colonel Larry C. James
Corruption of Science: How psychologists became the Pentagon's bitches

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Megaphone

Testimony of Colonel Larry C. James


Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 08:44 UTC
Image
In January 2003, Colonel Larry James left his Chair of the Department of Psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to become the senior psychologist at Guantánamo. There he served until May of that year.

In 2008, Colonel James published Fixing Hell: An Army Psychologist Confronts Abu Ghraib, a book which details his experiences at Guantánamo and at Abu Ghraib, which was to be his next assignment. Fixing Hell chronicles the "culture of cruelty" he encountered at Guantánamo--a culture he credits himself with countering. CSHRA has lifted the testimony of prisoner abuse at Guantánamo found in his book and has posted it below.

(LJ1) Seeing little results from the inexperienced interrogators [at Guantanamo], the commanding general [...] brought a group of former CIA contract psychologists to Cuba--a few months before Major Leso's assignment--to teach the interrogators harsh and abusive interrogation tactics. The goal was to get detainees to talk--quickly. Results were marginal, but by the time Leso arrived [in June 2002] a culture of severe tactics had taken hold as the norm for much of the Joint Intelligence Group at Gitmo. The bar for what might be considered abusive was raised higher and higher, and the leaders at the base turned their backs on conduct that was, at a minimum, questionable. The interrogators learned that they could try pretty much whatever they wanted to get the prisoners to talk, and a lack of good information often just spurred them to attempt something more extreme (Fixing Hell, pp. 20-21).

Comment: Indeed, America is the Torture Nation. See also:

Corruption of Science: How psychologists became the Pentagon's bitches

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Bizarro Earth

Corruption of Science: How psychologists became the Pentagon's bitches

Dr. Trudy Bond
Counterpunch
Sat, 14 Apr 2007 08:19 UTC
But a few days later Muriel, reading over the Seven Commandments to herself, noticed that there was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong. They had thought the Fifth Commandment was "No animal shall drink alcohol," but there were two words that they had forgotten. Actually the Commandment read: "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess."

Animal Farm, George Orwell.

"When the system works correctly, psychologists assess 'the character, personality, social interactions and other behavioral characteristics of detainees.' The psychologists . . . do not conduct the interrogations themselves, but instead 'coach and counsel the interrogator in a way that allows him or her to build a relationship with the detainee.'"

So says the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, William Winkenwerder Jr., in an interview with Mark Benjamin last July.
Torture
© Unknown
Prisoner 063 was called "unclean" and "Mo"[for Mohammed]. . .He was not told, despite asking, that some of the interrogation took place during Ramadan, a time when Moslems have special obligations. He was not allowed to honor prayer times...Transgressions against Islamic and Arab mores for sexual modesty were employed. The prisoner was forced to wear photographs of "sexy females" and to study sets of such photographs to identify whether various pictures of bikini-clad women were of the same or a different person. He was told that his mother and sister were whores. He was forced to wear a bra, and a woman's thong was put on his head. He was dressed as a woman and compelled to dance with a male interrogator. He was told that he had homosexual tendencies and that other prisoners knew this. Although continuously monitored, interrogators repeatedly strip-searched him as a "control measure." On at least one occasion, he was forced to stand naked with women soldiers present. Female interrogators seductively touched the prisoner under the authorized use of approaches called "Invasion of Personal Space" and "Futility." On one occasion, a female interrogator straddled the prisoner as he was held down on the floor... He was leashed (a detail omitted in the log but recorded by investigators) and made to "stay, come, and bark to elevate his social status up to a dog." He was told to bark like a happy dog at photographs of 9/11 victims and growl at pictures of terrorists... He was shown pictures of the attacks, and photographs of victims were affixed to his body.
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