by John Konrad (gCaptain) The Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest and most strategically vital waterways, has become so hazardous that even the German Navy is steering clear. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’s decision to redirect the frigate Baden-Württemberg and support vessel Frankfurt am Main around the Cape of Good Hope on their return from an Indo-Pacific deployment speaks volumes. The Red Sea is now deemed too perilous, underscoring just how ineffective current U.S. and EU naval protections are in this region.
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The broader question is even more stark: If NATO cannot send warships to face the Houthis, how will it possibly survive in a war against a larger adversary like China?
Red Sea Is Now So Dangerous Even NATO Warships Are Avoiding It
Category: Canada
The US Dollar Can No Longer Threaten China and Russia
In 2022, the US kicked Russia out of the SWIFT system, causing significant losses for Russian businesses and ordinary citizens. Even Switzerland’s traditionally neutral banks joined this looting. The monopoly over the financial system and global currency once gave the U.S. and EU such capability, but at the 2024 BRICS summit, Western countries permanently lost this advantage.
Previously:
Russia outlines proposal for BRICS DLT cross border payment system
Protected: Personal: What was that?
China Exposed America’s New PRISM Program
On October 14, China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center revealed that the U.S. has established seven monitoring stations across the country to intercept data transmitted through undersea cables in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
Related:
Inside the subsea cable firm secretly helping America take on China
Recruitment and far right: “I Love the Third Brigade”
Recruitment and far right: “I Love the Third Brigade”
The United States is putting pressure on Zelensky to lower the age of conscription again, but for the moment the Ukrainian president is rejecting this possibility. This is what Ukrainian media such as Ukrainska Pravda reported this week, referring to the mobilization of men between 18 and 25 years old, a very small population group in which the country’s future cannot afford to lose. Even before the law on mobilization was approved, which is very unpopular despite not being as harsh as foreign allies demanded, prominent figures and self-proclaimed friends of Ukraine such as US Senator Lindsey Graham have publicly encouraged Ukraine to recruit those over 18 years old despite the demographic risk that this implies for the country they claim to defend. These suggestions seem to have become a demand that is confirmed even by people who belong to the state apparatus. “If this information has come to light, it may confirm that American politicians from both parties are putting pressure on President Zelensky on the question of why there is no mobilisation for those aged 18-25 in Ukraine,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, one of Andriy Yermak’s advisers and a figure who has gone from representing the third sector, civil society in Maidan Ukraine to all kinds of well-paid positions in government or in the few state-owned companies that Kiev has not yet privatised. The past ten years show a double standard between those who have been privileged and those who have been impoverished and marginalised thanks to the European and liberal reforms of the peacetime years. However, Ukraine’s refusal to recruit its most vulnerable population group strictly responds to the future needs of the state, which, if it hopes to rebuild itself, must maintain minimum levels of youth population.
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Canada, Empire and the Khalistani Separatists
It should be obvious enough, though it doesn’t appear to be, that Canada is supporting Khalistani separatists in order to facilitate the destabilization of India. This is nothing new from the Pax Americana empire, in which Canada plays its role.
Previously:
Canada’s explosive claims against India put US in a pinch
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Khalistani terrorist at centre of India-Canada tussle?
11. Thus, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), all three Pakistan-based, have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-Al-Islami (HUJI), also Pakistan-based, figures in the list of other terrorist organisations not so designated, but indigenous Kashmiri terrorist organisations such as the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) etc have escaped action. Action has also been taken against the Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), apparently because of their past involvement in acts of terrorism outside Indian territory such as the explosion on board the Kanishka plane of Air India in June, 1985 and the attempt to kill Indian Ambassador Ribeiro in Bucharest in 1991, but the other Sikh terrorist organisations such as the Khalistan Commando Force have been excluded.
Army races to widen the bottlenecks of artillery shell production
Army races to widen the bottlenecks of artillery shell production
The U.S. Army has started diversifying its supplier base for 155mm artillery shells, moving away from the bottleneck of a single source that has endangered the flow of fresh ammo, according to a top service official.
The service is racing toward a goal of shoring up all major single sources that provide parts or materials for 155mm munitions by the end of 2025.
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The Pentagon is investing billions of dollars to increase the capacity of 155mm munition production as it races to replenish stock sent to support Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, which began in early 2022, and to ensure the U.S. has what it might need should conflict erupt across multiple theaters at once. The Army planned to spend $3.1 billion in FY24 supplemental funding alone to ramp up production.
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Prior to the war in Ukraine, the U.S. could build about 14,400 of the artillery shells per month. But as Ukrainian forces burn through the ammunition for howitzers sent to the country, the U.S. recognized quickly that replenishment could not be done with the current infrastructure.
The service has set a target of producing 100,000 artillery shells per month, but Army officials have shared it has fallen slightly behind schedule. Even so, the Army is now producing 40,000 shells a month, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said at the Defense News Conference last month, adding that the plan is to reach 55,000 shells a month by the end of the year.
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The Army had been making 155mm shells at a single plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a privately operated facility nearby. All of the shells were transported to one place – Iowa Army Ammunition Plant – where they are packed with explosives.
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The Army is planning to design and construct a domestic TNT production facility, which will likely be at Radford, Bush has said in the past. Once a contract is awarded, the plan is to build it in 48 months. Currently, the U.S. relies entirely on TNT from allies.
The only place that made combustible cartridge cases – Armtec Defense Technologies – was in Coachella, California, well-known for its music festival, but also for being located along the San Andreas Fault with a high risk of large earthquakes. Day & Zimmerman will produce the cases at another location in Texarkana, Texas.
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“There [is] still the occasional single point, if you go down far enough, I’m not sure we can ever eliminate them entirely,” Bush said. “But we can build in more redundancy than we had before, which was, frankly, a very fragile setup where I could give you grid coordinates for like, four buildings in America, and if one of those, something happened tomorrow, we weren’t making anything … it definitely isn’t acceptable now, and we’re trying to get away from it.”
*SMH*
Banning Chinese Cars Is Dangerous And Self-Defeating
Banning Chinese Cars Is Dangerous And Self-Defeating
Significantly, the administration is justifying the rule on national security grounds. As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens.”
Meanwhile:
Mozilla: Modern Cars Are A Privacy Shitshow
All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label — making cars the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed.
U.S. to Deploy Missile Defense System and About 100 Troops to Israel + More Updates
The Pentagon announced it would send the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and its crew as Israel considered retaliatory attacks against Iran.
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The United States sent a THAAD battery along with other air defense systems to the region weeks after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. It was not immediately clear how quickly the missile defense system and troops would arrive in Israel.
U.S. to Deploy Missile Defense System and About 100 Troops to Israel
Related:
How The US Navy, Coast Guard & USAF Work Together In A Theater Like Israel
The USAF provides ongoing ISR [Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] ops to help track rocket launches supporting missile defense. The Air Force also monitors militant activity in Gaza to assist with precision targeting to minimize collateral risk.
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Another strategic role of the US Navy and Coast Guard is protecting Israel’s offshore energy platforms.
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During conflicts, USAF aircraft often provide aerial refueling, logistical support, or electronic warfare capabilities in support of other US forces and any allied forces that may operating in the theater. Air Force bases are also frequently home to US pre-positioned military supplies or equipment, which other branches can quickly access if needed. USAF bases also provide airfield facilities used by all branches and allied forces. The hospitals on USAF bases are frequently the closest and best place for casualties or evacuees to be taken. This rapid deployment capability ensures that the US can provide timely support during a conflict.
Stock depletion, declining supply prompt ‘Israel’ to restrict arms use
The US is unprepared for the scale of war it is provoking around the globe
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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