Tag: Department Of Defense

Airman on hunger strike at White House over Gaza support

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Airman on hunger strike at White House over Gaza support

Herbert said that Bushnell’s message and actions resonated with him, but it was the silence from leadership that really propelled his desire to speak out.

“The response afterwards by the military, specifically my command and then our government – basically just not uttering a word, like not even saying his name or anything and just trying to sweep the whole situation under the rug – that’s what really infuriated me and gave me the resolve to come to DC,” he said.

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It + Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It

Rafah has been at the center of a growing rift between Israeli and U.S. political leaders. Those tensions boiled over on Monday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by top aides to discuss U.S. concerns over the planned offensive on Rafah, where Hamas fighters are making a final stand. The tit-for-tat move was in response to the U.S. abstaining from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire while also demanding the release of hostages.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, however, proceeded with his meetings at the White House and Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday, which had been previously scheduled. Gallant is part of Israel’s three-member war cabinet that includes Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the prime minister’s chief political rival.

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Both sides also agreed that the Hamas battalions in Rafah must be dislodged so that the militants cannot attempt a comeback or continue to smuggle weapons into the enclave, which are prerequisites for ending the war and paving the way for a new political authority in Gaza. And that means trying to find ways to work with Israel on its Rafah strategy, for lack of better options.

Related:

Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

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Philippines’ ‘assertive transparency’ strategy is causing them to miss out economically

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Philippines is going all in with the United States and bracing itself against lost Chinese largesse. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr will fly to Washington next month to attend the US-Japan-Philippines trilateral leaders’ summit. It will be his fourth visit to the US since taking office as president less than two years ago.

South China Sea: Philippines must softly manage disputes or miss out economically

Previously:

PH: Compared To China, US Trade, Investment Offers Laughable + More

SCS: The Office of Naval Research funded Stanford’s GKC

Lighting Up the Gray Zone: The Philippines-Taiwan Counter-Coercion Toolkit

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Perry World House’s Thomas Shattuck and Robin Garcia are out with an important new white paper which recommends the public release of visual information to counter China’s coercive activities, using the Philippines and Taiwan as examples. As the champions of “assertive transparency”, SeaLight enthusiastically welcomes this timely new scholarship!

Lighting Up the Gray Zone: The Philippines-Taiwan Counter-Coercion Toolkit

Perry World House is at the University of Pennsylvania, another university funded by the US government. I’ve updated my Project Myoushu document, to reflect the following:

The origin of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. It’s sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, an organization within the Department of Navy. I saw it over at the Asian Century Journal, yesterday.

From a previous post.

Related:

Documents

Japan, U.S. and Philippines to discuss stronger military ties & US, Philippines to expand strategic port

Quotes by Lenin to reflect on and some updates

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment
I needed some inspiration.

The more democratic the system of government is, the clearer it will be to the workers that the root of the evil is not the lack of rights, but capitalism.

Vladimir Lenin

Under capitalism democratism is restricted, cramped, curtailed, mutilated by all the conditions of wage slavery and of the poverty and misery of the masses.

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Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich: this is the democratism of capitalist society

Vladimir Lenin, The State and Revolution

Updates:

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BBC: Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

“The US presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people… to be consulted on the installation of a foreign army on its territory,” Niger’s military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane said in a damning statement on national television.

He also alleged that the US delegation had accused Niger of making a secret deal to supply uranium to Iran. Col Abdramane described the accusation as “cynical” and “reminiscent of the second Iraq war”.

And finally, he suggested that the US had raised objections about the allies that Niger had chosen. “The government of Niger therefore strongly denounces the condescending attitude combined with the threat of reprisals by the head of the American delegation against the government and the people of Niger,” Col Abdramane said.