The Kims Are Coming!

After a few cat and mouse days of Defense Secretary Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin’s denials, the Pentagon finally yesterday affirmed that there was evidence of a North Korean military presence in Russia. Asked what they were doing in Russia, Austin replied, “What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out.”

The Kims Are Coming!

Previously:

Kiev leaves out milk and cookies for Santa

Pentagon-Linked Think Tank Proposes Disinfo Campaign Against Russia, North Korea

Days before a flurry of evidence-free reports emerged that North Korea sent 10,000 soldiers to help Russia in Ukraine, a Pentagon-linked think tank proposed a disinfo campaign aimed at DPRK & Russia.

Pentagon-Linked Think Tank Proposes Disinfo Campaign Against Russia, North Korea

Related:

A Russia–North Korea Alliance in the Works? Don’t Be So Sure

What Should the United States Do?

Given the differences in the objectives of Russia, China, and North Korea, the United States should be mounting major information operations against these three countries to highlight their differences and fuel distrust among them. Doing so would increase the likelihood of decoupling at least some of their partnerships. Some examples of potential information operations seem obvious.

What are Information Operations

Claims about North Korean soldiers ‘a hoax’ – Kremlin

America Is Updating Its Nuclear Weapons. The Price: $1.7 Trillion.

To understand how America is preparing for its nuclear future, follow Melissa Durkee’s fifth-grade students as they shuffle into Room 38 at Preston Veterans’ Memorial School in Preston, Conn. One by one, the children settle in for a six-week course taught by an atypical educator, the defense contractor General Dynamics.

“Does anyone know why we’re here?” a company representative asks. Adalie, 10, shoots her hand into the air. “Um, because you’re building submarines and you, like, need people, and you’re teaching us about it in case we’re interested in working there when we get older,” she ventures.

Adalie is correct. The U.S. Navy has put in an order for General Dynamics to produce 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines by 2042 — a job that’s projected to cost $130 billion. The industry is struggling to find the tens of thousands of new workers it needs. For the past 18 months, the company has traveled to elementary schools across New England to educate children in the basics of submarine manufacturing and perhaps inspire a student or two to consider one day joining its shipyards.

Though the new Columbia-class subs are primarily being built in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Virginia, the Navy is going to tremendous lengths to recruit talent across the country. Over the past year, a blitz of ads has appeared at various sports events — including major league baseball games, WNBA games and even atop a NASCAR hood — steering fans to buildsubmarines.com. The website connects job seekers with hiring defense contractors as part of a nearly $1 billion campaign. Some of that money will go toward helping restore the network of companies that can supply the more than three million parts that go into a Columbia sub. Like so much of the nation’s nuclear infrastructure, those supplier numbers have plummeted since the 1990s.

America Is Updating Its Nuclear Weapons. The Price: $1.7 Trillion.

Now this is grooming!

Recommended Reading:

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

UAW Stellantis workers protest in the streets from coast to coast

WASHINGTON—Back in the days when Stellantis was Chrysler, there was a sense of camaraderie on the shop floor, veteran Auto Workers say. Not anymore. Not under Stellantis. All they perceive now is corporate greed, satisfying investors, and filling honchos’ pockets with workers’ dollars.

UAW Stellantis workers protest in the streets from coast to coast

02-2024: The UAW Strike Saved Their Shuttered Plant, But the Fight Is Just Beginning

Eight months ago, the idling of the Belvidere Assembly Plant had local United Auto Workers questioning their next steps.

2023: Stellantis commits nearly $5B to Belvidere with new UAW contract

The revival of the Stellantis plant is a stunning reversal of fortunes for Belvidere, Ill. But workers say they won’t rest until they see the concrete being poured.

2022: All Biden’s Green Job Losers

Climate industrial policy is costing 1,350 workers their jobs at a Stellantis plant in Illinois.

Claims about North Korean soldiers ‘a hoax’ – Kremlin

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun claimed during a parliamentary session earlier this week that Pyongyang could send its forces to fight for Russia after it signed a mutual security treaty with Moscow. He claimed such a deployment is “highly likely” and suggested that some North Korean soldiers may have already been killed in the Ukraine conflict. 

“This looks like another hoax,” Peskov replied when asked to comment on Seoul’s allegations during a press briefing.  

Claims about North Korean soldiers ‘a hoax’ – Kremlin

Previously:

Missile Strike Near Donetsk Eliminates 6 North Korean Officers?

Missile Strike Near Donetsk Eliminates 6 North Korean Officers?

Missile Strike Near Donetsk Eliminates 6 North Korean Officers – Intel

The Center for National Resistance (CNR) reported in September 2023 that Russia was planning to bring North Korean citizens to the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk for construction work.

The CNR assessed that the North Koreans were invited to ensure the supply of labor in these regions, as the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has resulted in a labor shortage throughout Russia and the occupied territories.

Kiev is claiming to have killed military officers from the DRPK, based on a Telegram post. I didn’t see it covered outside of Ukrainian media, but Kyiv Post admits that the DPRK sent workers to help with post-war reconstruction. I haven’t seen any confirmation from Russian or DPRK media, either. Most likely, they hit the workers.

North Korea Sends Workers to Russia-Occupied Territory in Eastern Ukraine

North Korea recently sent workers to the Russian-occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to help with reconstruction efforts, Daily NK has learned. Russia has set up and annexed two so-called republics on Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region: the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. Only a a few other governments in the world recognize the DPR and LPR, including North Korea as well as Syria.