#United States Department of Defense

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

A Beautiful Mind (2001, Ron Howard)

18/06/2024

[lonestarflight]

Concept art of Martin X-24A being launched into orbit by a Titan III launch vehicle.

Art by Fred Wolff for Popular Mechanics July 1968 issue.

Posted on Flickr by Ed Dempsey: link

[workersolidarity]

[ 📸 U.S. troops go on patrol at al-Tanf air base in eastern Syria. The Syrian government considers the United States presence in its eastern third as an illegal occupation, and wants U.S. soldiers out of the country.]

🇺🇲⚔️🇸🇾 🪖 🚨

US TO CONSIDER WITHDRAWAL FROM SYRIAN OCCUPATION

The United States is considering a withdrawal of its forces from Syria, according to an article published in Foreign Policy, an online news periodical with ties to the U.S. Defense establishment.

Citing four sources from within the U.S. departments of State and Defense, Foreign Policy claims active internal discussions are ongoing within the Biden administration on a troop withdrawal from Syria, a notoriously illegal occupation of nearly one-third of Syrian territory, which the United States has used to siphon tens of billions of dollars worth of oil out of the country.

The piece was written by senior fellow and director of the Syrian Counterterrorism and Extremism Programs at Middle East Institute, Charles Lister.

The organization itself, the Middle East Institute, is funded by a who's-who of U.S. proxy-governments, Intelligence sources, elite Universities, and giant corporations including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, ExxonMobil, George Soros's Open Societies Foundation, Morgan Stanley, and Princeton University.

The article itself presents the decision on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria as an impending disaster, warning that the Islamic State is waiting in the wings for an opportunity to take back control over the Levant, with the title of the published article "America is planning to withdraw from Syria- and create a disaster."

Lister warns that the withdrawal should be "cause for significant concern" and that, while no decision has yet been reached by the Biden administration, the White House is "no longer invested in sustaining a mission that it perceives as unnecessary."

"Notwithstanding the catastrophic effect that a withdrawal would have on U.S. and allied influence over the unresolved and acutely volatile crisis in Syria, it would also be a gift to the Islamic State. While significantly weakened, the group is in fact primed for a resurgence in Syria, if given the space to do so," Lister summerized.

Lister claims that the United States's "unprecedented intervention" launched in 2014 by the Obama administration, alongside "80 partner nations," was "remarkably successful," without ever mentioning Iran's intervention to organize a strong resistance to the Islamic State in Iraq, nor the Russian Intervention to strengthen and reinforce Syria's military and air defenses.

Lister claims the situation in Syria is "more complex" than that of Iraq's, adding that "with approximately 900 troops on the ground, the United States is playing an instrumental role in containing and degrading a persistent Islamic State insurgency in northeastern Syria, working alongside its local partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)."

Again, Lister ignores the role played by the Russian military in providing air cover and tactical strikes on behalf of the Syrian military, warning that the threat from IS remains a serious cause for concern.

Lister points to a rocket attack launched against a prison maintained by U.S. proxy-forces to warn of the dangers in Syria, elaborating on the heroic defense of the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces," comprised of a mix of jihadist groups, some with ties to al-Qaeda, that ran amok, sowing chaos and destabilizing Eastern Syria, until the Russian Intervention in September 2015, when U.S. proxy-forces were largely sequestered into the illegally U.S.-occupied territory in the eastern-most third of Syria.

Lister goes on to raise alarms over the security situation in western Syria too, where Syrian government forces, with the help of the Russian military, have since regained control of much of its territory formally under the control of jihadist groups.

"While U.S. troops and their SDF partners have managed to contain the Islamic State’s recovery in Syria’s northeast, the situation is far more concerning to the west—on the other side of the Euphrates River, where the Syrian regime is in control, at least on paper," Lister claims.

Lister, pushing for the U.S. to remain in Syria, says that "In this vast expanse of desert, the Islamic State has been engaged in a slow but methodical recovery, exploiting regime indifference and its inability to challenge a fluid desert-based insurgency."

Lister's alarmism goes on, describing the supposed regrouping of IS in various government-held regions of Syria, even going so far as to claim that the Islamic State has only been quiet in recent months due to employing a strategy of concealing its operations, never pointing to specific examples that might back those claims.

"For the past several years, the Islamic State has purposely concealed its level of operation in Syria, consistently choosing not to claim responsibility for attacks that it was conducting," the article claims, inversely suggesting the absence of activity by the extremist group is actually evidence of their malfeasance.

Lister also claims that the situation in the Gaza Strip is fueling the groups return, stating that the "war in Gaza and a spiraling regional crises are adding fuel to its fire and creating opportunities for the terror group to exploit the situation for its own advantage," without ever giving any concrete examples of how, where and in what way the group is returning, only citing research from his own shadily-funded organization's projects as evidence.

"According to the Counter Extremism Project, in 2023 alone, the Islamic State conducted at least 212 attacks in Syria’s central desert region, killing at least 502 people. As covert threats and overt attacks increase, reports are emerging with increasing frequency of desertions within regime ranks," Lister says.

Lister then claims that the United States is the only thing holding the region together even as he admits there's little the U.S. can do within territories controlled by the Syrian government.

That claim, that the U.S. is the glue holding Syria together, flies in the face of the countless warnings by both the Syrian and Russian governments that say the United States is in fact the source of instability in the region.

"While there is little that U.S. forces can do to alter Islamic State activities within the regime-controlled regions of Syria, U.S. troops are the glue holding together the only meaningful challenge to the Islamic State within a third of Syrian territory. Were that glue to disappear, a significant resurgence in Syria would be all but guaranteed, and a destabilizing spillover into Iraq a certainty."

Interestingly, Lister goes on to point to Iraq as an important player in the future of the Islamic State group, admitting that increased tensions created by the U.S. occupation in Iraq, along with the U.S support for Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, is creating a new push in the country to remove U.S. forces from Iraq by its parliament, creating a supposed opening for extremist groups in the region.

Lister puts the blame squarely on Iran for these openings, and for Iraq's growing impatience with Washington, adding that a troop withdrawal would be a bad idea, even invoking the collapse of U.S. proxy-forces in Afghanistan to warn of the dangers of a troop withdrawal from Syria.

"Ultimately, events since October have placed the U.S. deployment in northeast Syria on a fraying thread—hence recent internal consideration of a Syria withdrawal," Lister says, adding that "Given the disastrous consequences of the hurried exit from Afghanistan in 2021 and the impending U.S. election later this year, it is hard to grasp why the Biden administration would be considering a withdrawal from Syria."

Lister concludes that "no matter how such a withdrawal was conducted, it would trigger chaos and a swift surge in terror threats."

"There can be no denying the clear sense in policy circles that it is being actively considered—and that it has been accepted as an eventual inevitability," Lister claims.

Lister emphasized that anyone considering a collaborative approach with the Syrian government are making a big mistake, because "that would not only be a phenomenal boon to the Islamic State, but simply impossible on its own terms."

Lister explained that "part of the SDF may have periodic contact with Assad’s regime, but they are far from natural allies. The regime would never allow the SDF to sustain itself, and Turkey would do everything possible to kill what remained [of Washington's proxies]."

"The last time that the Islamic State surged in Syria, in 2014, it transformed international security in profoundly negative ways. Should a U.S. withdrawal precipitate a return to Islamic State chaos, we will be relegated to mere observers, unable to return to a region that we will have placed squarely under the control of a pariah regime and its Russian and Iranian allies."

#source

#OnListersOrganizationsFinances

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[saxafimedianetwork]

US Foreign Policy Blindspot: Ignoring Somaliland and South Yemen’s Case for Independence

@mrubin1971: Shouldn't the #USA reevaluate its #ForeignPolicy stance on #Somaliland & #SouthYemen's bid for #Independence? Ignoring their desire for self-governance may undermine US #NationalSecurity interests & #freedom. #USForeignPolicy

Continue reading US Foreign Policy Blindspot: Ignoring Somaliland and South Yemen’s Case for Independence

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Thursday, October 17, 2024 - Kamala Harris

Today the Vice President headed to two border cities, McAllen and Laredo, with two campaign surrogates—Beto O'Rourke and Stacey Plaskett—and the Senate Candidate for Texas, Colin Allred. The 'official' schedule is below.

McAllen, TX Event Location: McAllen Veteran Affairs Clinic Event Type: Facility Tour and Meet & Greet Event Time: 8:00 - 11:00 CT *The campaign took a facility tour of the VA Clinic in McAllen, TX, which has a high concentration of US Veterans. This is an important stop on the campaign trail because we want to hear directly from veterans that are experiencing subpar healthcare do to shortcomings of VA funding. The Harris-Walz administration is looking at ways to enhance the VA through additional funding, possibly coming from defenses spending.

Laredo, TX Event Location: Gateway to the Americas International Bridge and US Customs and Border Protection Facility Event Type: Facility Tour Event Time: 15:00 - 17:00 CT *The campaign took a facility tour of both the footbridge at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge and the nearby US Customs and Border Protection building. Securing the border and reforming the immigration system are peak priorities for the Harris-Walz Campaign. We look forward to working with congress to find a solution to a problem that has been continued due to President Donald Trump axing a bipartisan bill.

Laredo, TX Event Location: Eastern Division Neighborhood Event Type: Door Knocking Event Time: 18:00 - 21:00 CT *The campaign spent the evening door knocking on homes throughout the Eastern Division of Laredo. This was critical for our campaign as well as Colin Allred's as we believe that the region can help drive Texas towards the blue column. Dinner was eaten at Tacos Kiss with some local volunteers.

~BR~

[thenewdemocratus]

Donald J. Trump On Military Veterans

Source:The Independent talking about Donald J. Trump’s past comments on American military veterans. Source:The New Democrat “Donald Trump is again denying that he called American soldiers who died in World War I in France “suckers” and “losers,” as attention has returned to the alleged comments during Joe Biden’s recently concluded state visit to the country. During a rally Sunday in Las Vegas,…

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Every two years, the Department of Defense reviews its grand strategy in a report called the Defense Planning Guidance. The first draft of the report due in March 1992, just three months after the fall of the Soviet Union, laid out a bold new vision:

Our first objective is to prevent the reemergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This . . . requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[mariacallous]

 Our Nation has made tremendous progress in advancing the cause of equality for LGBTQI+ Americans, including in the military.  Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Many of these patriotic Americans were subject to a court-martial.  While my Administration has taken meaningful action to remedy these problems, the impact of that historical injustice remains.  As Commander in Chief, I am committed to maintaining the finest fighting force in the world.  That means making sure that every member of our military feels safe and respected.

     Accordingly, acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to persons convicted of unaggravated offenses based on consensual, private conduct with persons age 18 and older under former Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as previously codified at 10 U.S.C. 925, as well as attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations to commit such acts under Articles 80, 81, and 82, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. 880, 881, 882.  This proclamation applies to convictions during the period from Article 125’s effective date of May 31, 1951, through the December 26, 2013, enactment of section 1707 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66).

     The purpose of this proclamation is to pardon only offenses based on consensual, private conduct between individuals 18 and older that do not involve any aggravating factor, including:  

     (1)  conduct that would violate 10 U.S.C. 893a, prohibiting activities with military recruits or trainees by a person in a position of special trust;      (2)  conduct that was committed with an individual who was coerced or, because of status, might not have felt able to refuse consent;      (3)  conduct on the part of the applicant constituting fraternization under Article 134 of the UCMJ;      (4)  conduct committed with the spouse of another military member; or      (5)  any factors other than those listed above that were identified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in United States v. Marcum as being outside the scope of Lawrence v. Texas as applied in the military context, 60 M.J. 198, 207–08 (2004).

     The Military Departments (Army, Navy, or Air Force), or in the case of the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, shall provide information about and publicize application procedures for certificates of pardon.  An applicant for a certificate of pardon under this proclamation is to submit an application to the Military Department (Army, Navy, or Air Force) that conducted the court-martial or, in the case of a Coast Guard court-martial, to the Department of Homeland Security.  If the relevant Department determines that the applicant satisfies the criteria under this proclamation, following a review of relevant military justice records, the Department shall submit that determination to the Attorney General, acting through the Pardon Attorney, who shall then issue a certificate of pardon along with information on the process to apply for an upgrade of military discharge.  My Administration strongly encourages veterans who receive a certificate of pardon to apply for an upgrade of military discharge.  

     Although the pardon under this proclamation applies only to the convictions described above, there are other LGBTQI+ individuals who served our Nation and were convicted of other crimes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  It is the policy of my Administration to expeditiously consider and to make final pardon determinations with respect to such individuals.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

[rhk111sblog]

A Scenario which I think will happen if President Bong Bong Marcos (PBBM) doesn't change his current Foreign Policy towards the South China Sea (SCS) is the Philippines will eventually lose Ayungin Shoal in 2024, and the Philippines could retaliate by trying to cut off Economic Ties with China which will result in Hardships especially for the ordinary Filipino on the Street

[lonestarflight]

Concept art of Martin X-24A on the runway after re-entry.

Art by Fred Wolff for Popular Mechanics July 1968 issue.

Posted on Flickr by Ed Dempsey: link

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲 🪖🏦 🚨

UNITED STATES SENATE APPROVES $886 BILLION DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

The United States Senate overwhelmingly approved the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill funding the U.S. Defense Department to the tune of $886 Billion after abandoning some of the more controversial, hot-button social policies pushed by some Republican lawmakers on Wednesday.

The annual Defense Bill passed with 87 votes in favor and 13 against. A vote in the United States House could come as soon as Thursday morning, with the hope the President could have it signed soon after.

The Bill is the result of many months of negotiations between Democratic and Republican leadership, along with the White House, and remained deadlocked for some time over funding for the war in Ukraine, with the final bill approving the funding.

Earlier this summer, hard-line Republican lawmakers passed their own version of the NDAA including policies blocking medical treatment for transgender troops, the Pentagon's travel abortion policies, and programs to promote "diversity and inclusion". Democrats apposed this version of the NDAA, and the negotiations have been going on until now.

The Senate Bill however does not include the more contentious provisions, and has garnered strong bipartisan support. Language limiting funding for abortion services, transgender medical treatment and drag shows were not included in the final draft.

The final bill did include a pay cap and hiring freeze for defense programs related to "diversity and inclusion". The approved version of the bill also includes provisions supported by Republicans prohibiting the promotion of Critical Race Theory and the display of "unapproved" flags at military instillations, with an eye towards targeting the gay pride and transgender flags.

Another provision pushed by Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker forces the Pentagon to formulate a plan for the use of unused border wall materials.

With some Republican lawmakers balking at the lack of oversight for Ukraine aid, negotiators finally agreed to create a new Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve, the official name given to the operations responding to Russia's Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

Before the final vote, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul attempted a last minute meneuver to strip out the four-month extension of the sweeping surveillance powers given through the highly controversial Section 702 affording Intelligence Agencies the power to spy on American citizens who get caught up in the dragnet of foreign surveillance, however that move was voted down 65 to 35.

The final bill also includes provisions to implement the AUKUS submarine sharing pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia, including the delivery of Virginia-class subs.

Republican Senator Roger Wicker had initially blocked the sub deliveries, in order to secure an additional $3.4 Billion in Submarine Industrial base funding alongside Ukraine and Israel aid. The final deal delays the sub delivery until one year after the bill becomes Law.

The Bill also approves a 5.2% pay raise for troops.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[saxafimedianetwork]

America’s One Somalia Policy is a Gift to China

@mrubin1971: US '#OneSomalia' policy is unwittingly advancing #China's influence in #HornOfAfrica, undermining American interests, counterterrorism & democracy. It's time to reconsider & engage with #Somaliland as a natural ally & friend. #ChinaInAfrica #USPolicy

Continue reading America’s One Somalia Policy is a Gift to China