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Skull

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Killing Us All

Military-industrial-congressional complex
We need to talk about what bombs do in war. Bombs shred flesh. Bombs shatter bones. Bombs dismember. Bombs cause brains, lungs, and other organs to shake so violently they bleed, rupture, and cease functioning. Bombs injure. Bombs kill. Bombs destroy.

Bombs also make people rich.

When a bomb explodes, someone profits. And when someone profits, bombs claim more unseen victims. Every dollar spent on a bomb is a dollar not spent saving a life from a preventable death, a dollar not spent curing cancer, a dollar not spent educating children. That's why, so long ago, retired five-star general and President Dwight D. Eisenhower rightly called spending on bombs and all things military a "theft."

The perpetrator of that theft is perhaps the world's most overlooked destructive force. It looms unnoticed behind so many major problems in the United States and the world today. Eisenhower famously warned Americans about it in his 1961 farewell address, calling it for the first time "the military-industrial complex," or the MIC.

Start with the fact that, thanks to the MIC's ability to hijack the federal budget, total annual military spending is far larger than most people realize: around $1,500,000,000,000 ($1.5 trillion). Contrary to what the MIC scares us into believing, that incomprehensibly large figure is monstrously out of proportion to the few military threats facing the United States. One-and-a-half trillion dollars is about double what Congress spends annually on all non-military purposes combined.

Bad Guys

Now official: US lifts arms ban on Ukrainian neo-Nazi unit

Azov flag
The State Department has allowed the delivery of US weapons to Ukraine's Azov Brigade, whose members openly espouse ultranationalist and neo-Nazi views. The flow of arms had previously been restricted due to the unit's ties to hateful ideology.

"After thorough review, Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the US Department of State," the agency said in a statement to the Washington Post on Monday, referring to the legislation that bans military aid to units that were implicated in human rights violations.

The State Department added that it found "no evidence" of such violations committed by Azov.

Ukrainian officials treated the lifting of the ban as "a top priority" during their lobbying efforts, the Post said.

Azov was founded as a volunteer battalion in 2014 and participated in the war with the breakaway republics of Donbass after they chose to secede from Ukraine in the wake of the Western-backed coup in Kiev. The unit's core fighters were active and former members of ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups, as well as far-right football hooligans.

Comment: The US doesn't have a problem using and supporting Nazies or ISIS terrorists or any other terrorist outfit as long as they fight for the US hegemonic world. The only difference from before is that it is now official concerning the Azov Brigade.

See also:


Black Magic

FOUR high-profile resignations hit Israel's government, Ben-Gvir says there's now a 'big opportunity' to achieve 'victory' in Gaza

Itamar Ben Gvir
© Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via GettyItamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, during a news conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, on, 05 February , 2024
Israel's far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, on Monday considered the resignation of War Cabinet Minister, Benny Gantz, as a "very big opportunity" to achieve "victory" in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

"The people of Israel want victory in the south, the people of Israel want victory in the north, the people of Israel want to stop the fuel and humanitarian policy, most of which ultimately goes to Hamas. This is not how a country that wants to win behaves," Ben-Gvir told reporters.

He said his Jewish Power Party will request a seat in the War Cabinet.

Comment: As noted by X-user, Khalissee below, the other resignations were the IDF's Gaza chief, Avi Rosenfeld, who and Hili tropper.

Times of Israel reports on Rosenfeld, and two other high profile IDF resignations:
[...]
Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, the head of the Israel Defense Force's Gaza Division, said in a letter to his superiors that "on October 7, I failed in my life's mission to protect the [Gaza border communities]."

The officer was due to be replaced in "the coming period," the IDF said.

Rosenfeld is only the second senior officer in the IDF to resign over the October 7 attack, after the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate announced he was quitting in April. (Another top intelligence general who was planning to step down over the onslaught quit after being diagnosed with cancer.)
[...]

One suspects that a more 'decisive' Israeli war cabinet will involve an escalation in their crimes against humanity, however the rising number of resignations are notable considering the ICJ genocide case against Israel; the ICC warrant request against Netanyahu; the wave of resignations in the IDF; the conscription struggles; Israel's crumbling economy; alongside an evident attempt to expand the war of terror:


Broom

Belgian's liberal PM De Croo announces resignation after heavy election loss, right-wing party wins with 22% of votes

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo
FILE: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo
De Croo will now tend his resignation to King Philippe, who has the power to reject it at his discretion.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced his resignation after his Flemish Liberals and Democrats party (Open VLD) was defeated in the European elections.

"For us, it's a particularly difficult evening. We lost. As of tomorrow, I will resign as prime minister," a visibly emotional De Croo announced in a speech to his supporters on Sunday.

Comment: There are a number of elections due across the West this year and polling is showing that Europe's populist parties are rapidly increasing their share of votes. The media often labels them as 'far-right', and 'right-wing' which is not always an accurate description, because, for example, restricting and regulating migration after years of weaponised mass migration could be considered a necessary response rather than part of an ideological agenda: Footage:






Stop

Don't blame the Russians when Europe votes right

signage
© EP/CC-BY-4.0European Union message
An Afghan knifeman tried to assassinate a leading anti-Islamist campaigner at a rally in the German city of Mannheim on Friday, and murdered a young policeman in the attack. The stabbing, carried out by a failed asylum-seeker who had been living in Germany illegally for years, was a searing indictment of successive German governments' mass migration policies.

A week before the elections to the European Parliament, this attempted assassination of a critic of political Islam provided a graphic illustration of why support for the right-wing, anti-migration Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) has soared in recent times.

However, if you were to judge by European news media headlines, you might have thought that it was actually 'far-right' rally attendees who had stabbed the policeman. And if you believed the mainstream political reactions to the Islamist attack, you could have concluded that the 'divisive' AfD was really to blame for such political violence, so the party should be cordoned off, censored, or even banned to stop Germans choosing to vote for it.

This political inversion of reality is typical of what we have come to expect in a European Union dominated by the centre-left under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. We might call it the politics of 'Ursula Through the Looking Glass.'

X

French far right obliterates Macron's party in EU election

Le Pen/Bordella
© Chesnot/Getty ImagesMarine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella
Macron dissolved France's parliament following a crushing EU election defeat and called fresh legislative elections June 30.

The far-right National Rally is projected to win the European election in France with 31.5 percent of the vote — more than twice that of President Emmanuel Macron's party.

The shock result pushed Macron to call a snap election Sunday evening.

The National Rally, headed by Jordan Bardella, is set to achieve its highest-ever finish in a nationwide election.

"The president of the Republic cannot remain deaf to the message sent this evening by the people of France," Bardella told supporters at the Parc Floral in Paris.

The far-right leader demanded the president call early legislative elections, pointing to the "unprecedented gap" between the main opposition party and the party in power.
marineJordan
© Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty ImagesMarine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella celebrate
Macron announced the National Assembly would be dissolved this month, with new elections set to be held on June 30.

Comment: Macron responds calling a snap parliamentary election:
Macron's allies look certain to be roundly trounced by the right-wing National Rally (RN) party, which is associated with Marine Le Pen.

The president said he could not act as if "nothing happened," admitting that the projected election result did not bode well for his government. Macron also warned about the apparent rise of nationalist forces, calling it a danger both to France and the EU as a whole.
"This is a serious, difficult decision, but above all it is an act of trust. I trust the French people to make the best choice for themselves and for future generations."
Bardella, in a victory speech from campaign HQ:
"By according more than 30 percent of their votes to us, the French have delivered their verdict and marked the determination of our country to change the direction of the EU, the projected result as "only the beginning."
The former long-time leader of the National Rally party and incumbent head of its faction at the parliament, Marine Le Pen, welcomed Macron's decision to call a snap election. She also expressed readiness to become France's Prime Minister should the party emerge victorious in the upcoming national polls.

Raphael Glucksmann, the frontrunner for French socialist alliance, which is projected to come third in the EU polls, criticized Macron's move.
Given this twist to French politics, Le Pen claims she is more than ready to lead:
"We're ready to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these future legislative elections. We're ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority."
National Rally leader Bardella, who has consistently campaigned for limiting the free movement of migrants by implementing national border controls, and for relaxing EU climate rules, echoed Le Pen's remarks, saying:
"France has given its verdict and there is no appeal. The vote demonstrate the determination of our country for the European Union to change direction with the French people expressing a desire for change. Emmanuel Macron is tonight a weakened president."
Macron's office justified the decision to dissolve the National Assembly, citing "the historic score of the far-right" and the current "parliamentarian disorder."

The EU parliamentary election concluded on Sunday after four days of voting. Exit polls have indicated a shift towards support for far-right and conservative parties.

Macron, an ardent advocate of aiding and arming Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, has been accused by Le Pen of "playing politics with war" and "hijacking" the hostilities to achieve his electoral agenda. She slammed Macron's decision to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory, arguing it would create a "staggering danger" for France.

Le Pen, a former three-time presidential candidate, has also consistently opposed Ukraine's admission into NATO and the EU, as well as speaking out against economic sanctions on Russia.



Attention

Macron could cause WWIII - Italy's Salvini

Salvini
© Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesItalian Deputy PM Matteo Salvini at the polling station to vote for the 2024 EU Parliament election in Milan, Italy • June 8, 2024
Warmongers like the French president must be defeated in the EU Parliamentary election, the deputy prime minister has said.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has urged the citizens of EU countries to vote against "left-wing" parties in elections for the European Parliament, arguing they could ultimately spark a new world war.

Salvini made the remarks on Saturday as he cast his vote in Milan, while launching a new personal attack on French President Emmanuel Macron over his stance on the Ukraine conflict. The Italian government "is one of the few that holds firm" against participation, he claimed, adding that "if the left-wing parties allied with Macron win, the third world war is around the corner."

"I strongly ask for a vote against the war, to isolate dangerous bombers like Macron. Today and tomorrow Italians can stop the winds of war," he told reporters, dismissing concerns that his statements broke election-time silence. "On social media you can talk freely," he added.

Salvini has repeatedly attacked Macron over his suggestions that France and other NATO countries should ultimately deploy boots on the ground in Ukraine. Earlier this month, he urged the French president to put on a helmet and go to Ukraine to fight personally if he desired war.

Light Sabers

Tories to war over Farage; fears Reform will overtake party in polls; Rishi Sunak 'now seen as a drag on Tories' after D-Day shambles

FaraSunaBrave
© thepinknews.com/xpresschronicle.com/gbnews.com/KJNNigel Farage • Rishi Sunak • Suella Braverman PA
Rishi Sunak is scrambling to get the Tories' election campaign back on track today after the D-Day shambles and with infighting flaring over the Reform threat. The PM is visiting West Sussex, previously seen as among the party's most solid of strongholds, after an extraordinary weekend of recriminations.

Mr Sunak was accused of ducking interviews in the wake of his groveling apology for returning early from commemorations of the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy to carry out an election interview. Focus groups conducted by think-tank More in Common has laid bare the impact of the episode, with doubts about Mr Sunak 'turbocharged' and the premier now seen by voters as a drag on his party.

Meanwhile, Suella Braverman has sparked a fresh meltdown by suggesting that Nigel Farage should be 'welcomed' into the party. That triggered a blunt response from moderates, with former justice secretary Robert Buckland telling the BBC: 'We're a broad church, but not an Amazon warehouse.'

Alarm is rising in Tory circles about a 'crossover' moment in the polls, where Reform support leapfrogs the party.

Comment: On cue: The Brit-by-Brit soap opera.


Attention

The three key messages from St. Petersburg to the global majority

Luis, Putin and Emmerson
© Sputnik / Sergey BobylevBolivian President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa attend a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In the year of the Russian presidency of BRICS, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) had to deliver something special.

And deliver it did: over 21,000 people representing no less than 139 nations - a true microcosm of the Global Majority, discussing every facet of the drive towards a multipolar, multinodal (italics mine), polycentric world.

St. Petersburg, beyond all the networking and the frantic deal-making - $78 billion-worth clinched in only three days - crafted three intertwined key messages already resonating all across the Global Majority.
Putin's SPIEF speech a showcase of Russia's Economic strength and resilience - analyst

"In an extraordinarily confident, wide-ranging and detailed speech, President Putin set out the reality of a Russian economy which has defied sanctions, is growing faster than Western... pic.twitter.com/wbkMw84fEY

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) June 7, 2024

Piggy Bank

Ukrainian officials stole $490 million meant for military - MP

trench, military
© AP Photo/Evgeniy MaloletkaFILE PHOTO.
Nearly $500 million given to Kiev for the construction of defensive fortifications to repel Russia's advance has been embezzled or stolen, media reported on Sunday, citing Mikhail Bondar, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

Ukrainian law enforcement authorities have launched around 30 criminal proceedings linked to the embezzlement of 20 billion hryvnias ($491 million), Bondar told lawmakers at a closed-door session of the parliamentary investigative commission on fortifications, according to multiple media reports. In the absence of defensive fortifications, Russian forces have made rapid advances in the country.

"Members of the commission from Servants of the People [Ukraine's ruling party], when they heard such figures, immediately tried to defend the managers of the funds," Bondar said. However, he claimed that the "lion's share" of the funds had been disbursed through Ukraine's military and civil authorities, which the MP described as the "vertical of the president."

Ukrainian lawmakers have urged the defense ministry, as well as local military authorities, to provide information on the use of budget funds for the construction of defenses.

Last month, Ukrainian media reported that military and civilian authorities in Kharkov Region had paid millions of dollars to fake companies for the supply of non-existent construction materials to build fortifications.

Comment: This is why Kiev is so willing to sacrifice their own countrymen for a lost cause. It's all about the money.