#militarism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #militarism, aggregated by home.social.
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"The White House originally signaled that it would need an extra $200 billion to prosecute the Iran war. More recently, the administration made a defense budget request of $1.5 trillion for fiscal 2027, a roughly 40 percent boost over this year. That’s a massive $600 billion increase, or roughly $4,000 per household.
That’s just additional spending for 2027. Defense budgets rarely go down, especially today, with a lobbying army fighting to keep spigots open and Mr. Hegseth more than willing to listen. Put these numbers together, and the bill is staggering but not surprising.
Economists have long known that only a small fraction of the costs of war show up immediately in government spending accounts. What the Pentagon is doing is cash flow accounting — keeping track of the dollars flowing out of the Treasury. The economists Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz argue that we get very different — and much more realistic — estimates with accrual accounting, when you add the cost of each future obligation as you create it.
They estimated that the Iraq war cost the U.S. around $3 trillion. A huge share of those expenses came after the conflict, including the expense of lifetime medical care and disability benefits for veterans, and the higher recruitment and retention costs that follow a bloody war — all compounded by a rising interest bill.
The Pentagon’s lowball $25 billion estimate gets a lot of attention, but it’s more of a headline than a real number. The best any economist can do right now is get the order of magnitude right, and my math suggests the Iran war will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and very possibly trillions.
War is hell. And hell comes with a hefty price tag."
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“We Are Being Driven To Our Doom By Mindless Machines Of Our Own Making”
by Caitlin Johnstone in Caitlin’s Newsletter on Substack
“#War. #Militarism. #Ecocide. #Exploitation. #Imperialist extraction. These things happen because they are profitable, and we are led by systems and institutions which consistently cause the most profitable thing to happen. They continually slant all movement toward the most profitable outcome, regardless of the negative impact it can have on human beings and the other organisms with whom we share this planet”
https://open.substack.com/pub/caitlinjohnstone/p/we-are-being-driven-to-our-doom-by
#Press #SocialMedia #Capitalism #Propaganda #Disinformation #DismantleCapitalism
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"Two years ago, Trump was campaigning on lowering prices at home and ending foreign wars; now his coalition is doing contortions to explain to its base why oil prices are up, more troops are overseas with hundreds killed or wounded, and billions of taxpayer dollars are being incinerated in a war of choice.
Speculation abounds. Did the shockingly smooth decapitation of Venezuela’s government convince Trump that the United States could do the same to Iran? Maybe it was Israel that conned, cajoled, or coerced the Trump administration into turning Israel’s strongest foe into a failed state. Perhaps the Saudis were in Trump’s other ear for the same reason. It could have been Trump’s hawkish advisors who, whether for power, machismo, or religious fanaticism, pushed the United States to war by filtering selective information to a mentally fading president.
Even to otherwise sober foreign policy experts, the Iran war seems irrational to the point of unexplainable madness, imposed on the world through some combination of American belligerence, hubris, and a “special relationship” with Israel. However, as tempting as it might be to ridicule the Trump regime’s stupidity — and there is no shortage of material for that — it is worth stepping back and asking: Who benefits from the madness?"
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No cannon fodder for war plans of the German ruling class! https://www.byteseu.com/2002996/ #AntiWarMovement #Conscription #Germany #militarism #WorldWarII
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No cannon fodder for war plans of the German ruling class!
“No to conscription!”: Protest against conscription outside the Ministry of Defence in Berlin, August 27, 2025 [Photo by…
#Germany #DE #Europe #EU #Europa #Anti-warmovement #Conscription #militarism #worldwarii
https://www.europesays.com/germany/11300/ -
https://www.europesays.com/uk/947039/ No cannon fodder for war plans of the German ruling class! #AntiWarMovement #conscription #EU #Europe #Germany #militarism #WorldWarII
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Good for the youth of #Germany to be agitating now in opposition to #Militarism and a return to military #conscription (aka a #Draft)
More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/germany-pupils-strike-rearmament-policy-protest-boycott -
Good for the youth of #Germany to be agitating now in opposition to #Militarism and a return to military #conscription (aka a #Draft)
More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/germany-pupils-strike-rearmament-policy-protest-boycott -
Good for the youth of #Germany to be agitating now in opposition to #Militarism and a return to military #conscription (aka a #Draft)
More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/germany-pupils-strike-rearmament-policy-protest-boycott -
Good for the youth of #Germany to be agitating now in opposition to #Militarism and a return to military #conscription (aka a #Draft)
More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/germany-pupils-strike-rearmament-policy-protest-boycott -
Good for the youth of #Germany to be agitating now in opposition to #Militarism and a return to military #conscription (aka a #Draft)
More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/germany-pupils-strike-rearmament-policy-protest-boycott -
ICYMI University of Michigan professor #DerekPeterson said one nice thing about peaceful protesters (at 4:30 in this clip) so of course the fashies shit their pants and UM President Demonico* Grasso did an apology tour and scrubbed the comments from the record but the prof said what he said and I'm proud of him and to hell with those who want him silenced. (* For real accidental typo, not fixing it LOL) #Michigan #Academia #UMich #Palestine #Gaza #Militarism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4
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ICYMI University of Michigan professor #DerekPeterson said one nice thing about peaceful protesters (at 4:30 in this clip) so of course the fashies shit their pants and UM President Demonico* Grasso did an apology tour and scrubbed the comments from the record but the prof said what he said and I'm proud of him and to hell with those who want him silenced. (* For real accidental typo, not fixing it LOL) #Michigan #Academia #UMich #Palestine #Gaza #Militarism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4
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ICYMI University of Michigan professor #DerekPeterson said one nice thing about peaceful protesters (at 4:30 in this clip) so of course the fashies shit their pants and UM President Demonico* Grasso did an apology tour and scrubbed the comments from the record but the prof said what he said and I'm proud of him and to hell with those who want him silenced. (* For real accidental typo, not fixing it LOL) #Michigan #Academia #UMich #Palestine #Gaza #Militarism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4
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ICYMI University of Michigan professor #DerekPeterson said one nice thing about peaceful protesters (at 4:30 in this clip) so of course the fashies shit their pants and UM President Demonico* Grasso did an apology tour and scrubbed the comments from the record but the prof said what he said and I'm proud of him and to hell with those who want him silenced. (* For real accidental typo, not fixing it LOL) #Michigan #Academia #UMich #Palestine #Gaza #Militarism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4
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ICYMI University of Michigan professor #DerekPeterson said one nice thing about peaceful protesters (at 4:30 in this clip) so of course the fashies shit their pants and UM President Demonico* Grasso did an apology tour and scrubbed the comments from the record but the prof said what he said and I'm proud of him and to hell with those who want him silenced. (* For real accidental typo, not fixing it LOL) #Michigan #Academia #UMich #Palestine #Gaza #Militarism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4
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Philly Anti-Capitalist: **An Illustrated Chronicle of Attack – Philadelphia, PA**
https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/an-illustrated-chronicle-of-attack-philadelphia-pa/
from Unravel Found on Social Media
#Analysis #Attack #Colonialism #Militarism #Technology -
"After more than five weeks of fighting, the 14 days of fragile ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran have given residents of Tehran the chance to take stock of the damage. The city of 9 million people is scarred by debris, rubble and bombed-out high-rises.
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was extending a ceasefire with Iran indefinitely a day before it was set to expire, even as plans for a fresh round of talks fell apart. The two sides remain far apart on key issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and support for militant groups in the Middle East.
Even if the peace holds and a lasting solution is found, at least 3,300 Iranians, including civilians and members of the military, have been killed across the country, and the damage that’s already been done is substantial.
Iranian curbs on photography and internet access as well as US restrictions on high resolution satellite imagery have hampered visual damage assessment. But a study by Conflict Ecology researchers at Oregon State University, which draws on radar imagery, estimates conservatively that at least 7,645 buildings were damaged or destroyed across the country — including 60 education and 12 health facilities — between the beginning of hostilities on Feb. 28 and the start of the truce on April 8.
Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society at the ruins of a building in Tehran on March 16.
A member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society at the ruins of a building in Tehran on March 16. Photographer: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesBloomberg News analyzed land use within damage clusters in Tehran, and found that 2,816 buildings were hit, around 32% of which were linked to the military, 25% to industry, 21% to civilians, while 19% were commercial and 2% governmental."
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-iran-tehran-strike-damage-satellite-images/
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"A crucial resource is being choked off from the world amid the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran — and it’s not oil. It’s helium.
The rare, nonrenewable gas is a key ingredient for more than just party balloons. It’s needed for lifesaving medical procedures, groundbreaking research, and the current tech boom underpinning much of the US economy. The gas was also vital in the recent Artemis II mission that sent four astronauts around the moon and back.
But the war in Iran has cut off a significant portion of global helium resources, leading to a 50 percent price increase and warnings of a debilitating supply shortage. And although the United States and Iran are working to open key shipping routes in the region, the arrangement is far from certain, and the monthlong closure that has already transpired will still lead to supply shocks.
The crisis could have been avoided — if the United States had kept its Federal Helium Reserve, a national stockpile that accounted for nearly 40 percent of the world’s supply in 2013 and helped stabilize supply and prices.
For nearly thirty years, scientists, medical experts, and researchers urged lawmakers to preserve the national stockpile. Lawmakers instead spent that time selling it off bit by bit.
The privatization effort started in 1996 with the backing of President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and the archconservative group that would go on to write Project 2025.
As the plan moved forward over the subsequent decades, federal agencies and congressional analysts failed to accurately forecast future helium demand, repeatedly promising that the private sector could meet industry needs — despite four global helium shortages that limited lifesaving procedures and forced universities to lay off researchers between 2006 and 2023."
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## WTAF
France and Poland plan to conduct air force exercises over the Baltics involving Rafale fighter jets "with nuclear warheads", they will practice strikes on targets in Russia, reported the Wirtualna Polska portal
Are these people insane?
#France #Poland #NuclearWeapon #Europe #FRpol #EUpol #Militarism #Idiocracy
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## WTAF
France and Poland plan to conduct air force exercises over the Baltics involving Rafale fighter jets "with nuclear warheads", they will practice strikes on targets in Russia, reported the Wirtualna Polska portal
Are these people insane?
#France #Poland #NuclearWeapon #Europe #FRpol #EUpol #Militarism #Idiocracy
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## WTAF
France and Poland plan to conduct air force exercises over the Baltics involving Rafale fighter jets "with nuclear warheads", they will practice strikes on targets in Russia, reported the Wirtualna Polska portal
Are these people insane?
#France #Poland #NuclearWeapon #Europe #FRpol #EUpol #Militarism #Idiocracy
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## WTAF
France and Poland plan to conduct air force exercises over the Baltics involving Rafale fighter jets "with nuclear warheads", they will practice strikes on targets in Russia, reported the Wirtualna Polska portal
Are these people insane?
#France #Poland #NuclearWeapon #Europe #FRpol #EUpol #Militarism #Idiocracy
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Trump Allies Use Faith to Justify War as Divine Mission Through Hegseth and Graham
Trump allies use religious rhetoric to justify war, framing violence as God’s will. This analysis exposes the danger of blending faith, power, and militarism.
#antiWar #democracy #evangelicalPolitics #faithAndPower #FranklinGraham #geopolitics #IranWar #MILITARISM #PeteHegseth #politicalRhetoric #progressiveAnalysis #religionAndPolitics #Trump #USForeignPolicy #WarPropaganda https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oRA -
Trump Allies Use Faith to Justify War as Divine Mission Through Hegseth and Graham
Trump allies use religious rhetoric to justify war, framing violence as God’s will. This analysis exposes the danger of blending faith, power, and militarism.
#antiWar #democracy #evangelicalPolitics #faithAndPower #FranklinGraham #geopolitics #IranWar #MILITARISM #PeteHegseth #politicalRhetoric #progressiveAnalysis #religionAndPolitics #Trump #USForeignPolicy #WarPropaganda https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oRA -
Trump Allies Use Faith to Justify War as Divine Mission Through Hegseth and Graham
Trump allies use religious rhetoric to justify war, framing violence as God’s will. This analysis exposes the danger of blending faith, power, and militarism.
#antiWar #democracy #evangelicalPolitics #faithAndPower #FranklinGraham #geopolitics #IranWar #MILITARISM #PeteHegseth #politicalRhetoric #progressiveAnalysis #religionAndPolitics #Trump #USForeignPolicy #WarPropaganda https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oRA -
Trump Allies Use Faith to Justify War as Divine Mission Through Hegseth and Graham
Trump allies use religious rhetoric to justify war, framing violence as God’s will. This analysis exposes the danger of blending faith, power, and militarism.
#antiWar #democracy #evangelicalPolitics #faithAndPower #FranklinGraham #geopolitics #IranWar #MILITARISM #PeteHegseth #politicalRhetoric #progressiveAnalysis #religionAndPolitics #Trump #USForeignPolicy #WarPropaganda https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oRA -
Trump Allies Use Faith to Justify War as Divine Mission Through Hegseth and Graham
Trump allies use religious rhetoric to justify war, framing violence as God’s will. This analysis exposes the danger of blending faith, power, and militarism.
#antiWar #democracy #evangelicalPolitics #faithAndPower #FranklinGraham #geopolitics #IranWar #MILITARISM #PeteHegseth #politicalRhetoric #progressiveAnalysis #religionAndPolitics #Trump #USForeignPolicy #WarPropaganda https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oRA -
"A new visual analysis by The New York Times and munitions experts has uncovered additional evidence showing that the weapons that struck a sports hall, a school and two residential areas in the Iranian city of Lamerd were U.S.-made Precision Strike Missiles, or PrSMs.
The U.S. military has rejected the conclusions of earlier investigations by The Times and other news organizations that found that PrSMs had hit civilian locations in Lamerd on Feb. 28. It has denied it was attacking there on the day in question, and claimed the incoming weapon captured on video more closely resembled an Iranian cruise missile called the Hoveyzeh, given its length.
The strikes killed 21 people, according to Iranian officials. The Times was able to independently verify the identities of the victims. At least five were children, the youngest being 2 years old. All told that would make it the second known attack by U.S. forces to result in large-scale civilian fatalities on the opening day of the war. About six hours earlier, a Tomahawk missile hit a school in Minab some 250 miles away, killing 175 people, an episode President Trump initially tried to pin on the Iranians. A military investigation’s preliminary findings later showed that the United States was responsible for the strike.
The latest analysis is based on new video footage of detonations, new photo evidence of the damage, a missile-trajectory assessment, and the perspectives of multiple experts, including three U.S. government officials."
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A new form Of Transnational European Elite #militarism?
She ist the president of the European Parliament from #Malta married to a Finn, who she knows from studying at College de Europe and most certainly they live in Brussels - but send their son to #Finland for his #conscript duty.
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#Militarism and The #Politics of #Education
Tue 26 May 2026 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM BST
Online, Zoom #free webinar with four guest speakers and time for discussion, hosted by #Scientists for #Global #Responsibility. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/scientistsforglobalresponsibility/2108871 -
"Americans are dying in droves. Deaths due to avoidable causes in the United States –which could be dealt with via prevention or proper healthcare – far outpace those in most of country’s peers in the industrialized world. Most notably, Americans die of treatable conditions at nearly twice the rate as Spaniards, French, Japanese and Australians.
They would most likely live longer if they enjoyed better access to healthcare. Americans are the most likely to skip a doctor’s appointment due to its cost, the most likely to skip a medical test and to skimp on prescription drugs. This is unsurprising, given the extraordinary lack of public health insurance in the United States. Americans face the highest out-of-pocket expenses for medical services in their peer group.
Donald Trump evidently does not believe this is an issue for the world’s richest nation.
If the budget for 2027 the White House proposed last week is anything to go by, healthcare is not the government’s problem: the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could see its budget cut by over $15bn, 12% less compared with this year.
The cut comes on top of the evisceration of the healthcare budget last year, when the president’s “big, beautiful bill” (BBB) cut more than $1tn over 10 years from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, largely by imposing onerous work requirements on Medicaid that will push 15 million Americans to lose health insurance, according to some analysts."
#USA #Trump #Healthcare #Militarism #Fascism #Authoritarianism
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"Bill Galvin has spent much of the past month answering the phone.
"It's been very, very busy," he says. Galvin is the counseling director at the Center on Conscience and War, which helps run the 24-hour GI Rights Hotline, set up to inform service members of their options for military discharge.
Most callers are asking how to apply to become a conscientious objector — a difficult, invasive and rarely used process. But they're also airing their concerns and frustrations, often anonymously, as the hotline allows them a space to do so without repercussions.
Military members are citing myriad reasons for wanting to leave, but the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has been a powerful motivator. In March alone, Galvin's center took on more than 80 new clients — almost twice as many as it takes on in an average year. The busiest single day saw 12 new clients join, with one person saying four other members of their platoon were also interested.
Those numbers are a drop in the bucket when compared with the more than 1.3 million people enlisted. But for outside observers and former military officials, those calls and conversations are an indication of a troubling disquiet within the ranks."
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5771612/military-iran-war-trump-conscientious-objector
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"Intense U.S. and Israeli bombardment has destroyed or damaged petrochemical plants, steel manufacturing plants, pharmaceutical factories, universities, schools, hospitals, banks, seaports, airports, parts of the power grid, bridges, railroads, shops, homes and more.
Iran is still assessing the cost of the calamity since the fragile cease-fire took hold on Tuesday, but early estimates are between $300 billion and $1 trillion, according to three Iranian officials who were not authorized to speak publicly, and two economists. Recovery will take years.
Economists said that attacks on Iran’s largest petrochemical complexes and steel plants, which according to Iranian media employed more than 200,000 people, were among the most damaging to the economy, with far-reaching consequences. The agricultural, manufacturing, textile and other industries that bought their products will have to import supplies instead, slowing production and driving up prices. Furloughed workers will provide less business to shopkeepers.
The three Iranian officials estimated that more than a million people have lost their jobs."
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"Colonel Dr. Talal Hussein Talal Dhiab, commander of the military hospital at Habaniya military base in Iraq’s Anbar province, feared the worst when he heard the sound of a low flying plane overhead at 5 a.m. on March 25. The U.S. A10 attack plane, which likely flew out of an American base in neighboring Jordan, ascended and descended repeatedly, Talal told Drop Site News.
Talal hurriedly woke up other medical officers, alerting them to go to the emergency room and prepare to receive new wounded.
Only the day before, the U.S. military had attacked a building at the base housing the province’s command for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraqi state security force reporting to the prime minister. He said 1st Lt. Abdallah al Zobai, also a doctor, was exhausted from treating the previous day’s wounded, so he let him sleep in the officer’s housing.
After circling the base, at about 9 a.m. the A10 attacked the same PMF building. Shrapnel from the explosion wounded Iraqi army soldiers nearby. Talal and his men rushed over to help the wounded, and the plane returned and struck the army officer’s housing, gravely wounding Zobai.
Medical staff climbed over debris searching for wounded, Talal said. As the first responders arrived, the A10 attacked them, firing its 30-mm Gatling-style rotary canon—typically armed with a mix of armor-piercing and high explosive incendiary rounds, fired at a rate of 4,000 rounds per minute—tearing bodies apart, cutting off heads and limbs. Talal himself was wounded and lost consciousness, bleeding heavily. Two other officers with him were badly wounded. The U.S. attacked the Habaniya base five times that day, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and officers and wounding 23. Most of the casualties were among the responders."
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/iraq-us-war-iran-israel-lebanon
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Drey v. Oracle: The Third Amendment Case Nobody's Filed Yet
https://youtube.com/watch?v=p8p_miYsYPU&si=oYnGU4uK73TYYls5
On March 31, Oracle unveiled an AI platform to unify civilian (medical) and military government data; while the same week they began laying off 30,000 workers.
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CENSORSHIP: "Satellite imaging firm Planet Labs said on Saturday it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from the U.S. government.
California-based Planet Labs announced the decision in an email to customers and said the U.S. government had asked all satellite imagery providers to indefinitely withhold images of the conflict region.
The restriction expands upon a 14-day delay on imagery of the Middle East that Planet Labs imposed last month, a move the firm said was meant to prevent adversaries from using it to attack the U.S. and its allies.
Planet Labs said it will withhold imagery dating back to March 9 and that it expects the policy to remain in effect until the conflict ends.
The war began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and the conflict spread in the region when Tehran responded by launching its own attacks on Israel and U.S. bases in Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain."
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"Trump’s “excursion,” as he calls the biggest U.S. military operation of his second term, has unleashed a parade of horribles. Iran now controls the strait, where it plans to charge vessels a toll and can govern global flows of oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and chemicals that are crucial for manufacturing. A regime that Trump claims to have replaced still remains in the hands of hard-liners, whose repression of the Iranian people will be strengthened for having survived a decapitation strike by the world’s only superpower. And neighboring countries in the Gulf, whose livelihoods depend on exporting energy and creating safe places for people to visit, live, and work, will amass new weapons and reconsider their strategic partnerships with the United States.
Two decades ago, a president embraced information that turned out to be wrong, and disaster followed. Today, a president disregards assessments that proved to be right, and the predictable comes to pass. There’s a failure of intelligence there too—just not the kind we’re used to seeing."
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/04/iran-war-intelligence-failure-trump/686694/
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"And what if the gravest costs are not borne by them at all? This question has become particularly urgent since the advent of armed drones, which, in their capacity to inflict death without risking it, have changed the elemental moral calculus assumed in warfare. A country that does not incur much human cost from its wars is a country that does not think much about them at all. “The absence of casualties isn’t a bad thing,” Kreps said, “but what it does is make Americans not think twice about how they are spending their resources.”
This became evident during Obama’s presidency, as his administration attempted to shift the war on terror away from the Bush-era counterinsurgencies and into a more amorphous, drone-centric program of counterterrorism. Critics have long contended that this was a perverse consequence of mounting concern over the civil liberties violations of the Bush years: a replacement of black sites and Guantánamo detentions with ghostly assassinations by increasingly autonomous airborne machines, the particulars of which would remain far from the view, and consciences, of the president’s supporters.
It was a bargain that many of those supporters were tacitly willing to accept. Polls during Obama’s presidency found that even as large majorities of Americans opposed staying in Afghanistan, most also approved of the administration’s drone strikes — even when a plurality of respondents couldn’t name the countries being targeted."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/magazine/iran-war-trump-drones-ai.html
#USA #Militarism #War #Warmongers #Imperialism #DroneStrikes
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"More than a month into the second U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, two facts have become clear.
First, the conflict is now fundamentally about the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Second, the dilemma of the Strait of Hormuz has no military solution. The risks of any operation to open the channel far exceed what American planners likely imagined, and the odds of a decisive success appear low. As French President Emmanuel Macron recently said, “This was never an option we supported, because it is unrealistic.”
Iranian officials have long warned that, in the event of an attack, the strait could be closed. Iran has now imposed significant restrictions on transit through Hormuz and even targeted several vessels attempting to pass through it. This effort has demonstrated Iran’s enormous leverage over the international economy. Iranian leaders are now looking to turn this tactical victory into long-term leverage.
Trump has miscalculated again. He is trying to win the battle; Iran is focused on winning the war. In Tehran’s plan, the strait is not a tool to end the war, but a permanent fixture for its aftermath."
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/strait-of-hormuz-and-iran/
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Freedom News: **Arrests at Lakenheath nuclear base blockade**
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2026/04/06/arrests-at-lakenheath-nuclear-base-blockade/
International Peace Camp protests British complicity in Iran and Gaza ~ punkacademic ~ Several protesters were arrested at RAF Lakenheath over the …
The post Arrests at Lakenheath nuclear base blockade appeared first on Freedom News.
#News #Lakenheath #Militarism #Peacecamp #Punkacademic -
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Jinjirrie/116348869768770324
The US Americans don't seem to care too much that their government is allied with an indicted war criminal, and is committing war crimes itself. This is like sleep-walking into a nightmare. #fascism #democracy #militarism #vampires.
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Iran Can’t Hit U.S. Directly—So It’s Hitting Everyone Around It
Iran strikes Gulf nations, oil hubs, and U.S. bases across the region. The result: rising oil prices, global instability, and a war spreading through allies.
#assassinationPolicy #CIAIntervention #Diplomacy #economicFallout #geopoliticalAnalysis #globalInstability #Hezbollah #Houthis #InternationalLaw #Iran #Israel #MiddleEastConflict #MILITARISM #MossadeghCoup #OilPrices #ProgressivePolitics #reserveCurrency #StraitOfHormuz #USForeignPolicy #warEconomy https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oMY -
Iran Can’t Hit U.S. Directly—So It’s Hitting Everyone Around It
Iran strikes Gulf nations, oil hubs, and U.S. bases across the region. The result: rising oil prices, global instability, and a war spreading through allies.
#assassinationPolicy #CIAIntervention #Diplomacy #economicFallout #geopoliticalAnalysis #globalInstability #Hezbollah #Houthis #InternationalLaw #Iran #Israel #MiddleEastConflict #MILITARISM #MohammadMossadegh #MossadeghCoup #OilPrices #ProgressivePolitics #reserveCurrency #StraitOfHormuz #USForeignPolicy #warEconomy https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oMY -
Iran Can’t Hit U.S. Directly—So It’s Hitting Everyone Around It
Iran strikes Gulf nations, oil hubs, and U.S. bases across the region. The result: rising oil prices, global instability, and a war spreading through allies.
#assassinationPolicy #CIAIntervention #Diplomacy #economicFallout #geopoliticalAnalysis #globalInstability #Hezbollah #Houthis #InternationalLaw #Iran #Israel #MiddleEastConflict #MILITARISM #MohammadMossadegh #MossadeghCoup #OilPrices #ProgressivePolitics #reserveCurrency #StraitOfHormuz #USForeignPolicy #warEconomy https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oMY -
Everyone thought George W Bush and his cabal of misfits and ideologues were idiots. There is always something, or someone, worse:
"Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.””
#religion #Trumpism #Iran #Easter #nihilism #militarism #ethics #morality #evil #idiots
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/world/middleeast/pope-iran-war.html -
"On the first day of the war with Iran, a weapon bearing the hallmarks of a newly developed U.S.-made ballistic missile was used in an attack that struck a sports hall and adjacent elementary school near a military facility in southern Iran, according to weapons experts and a visual analysis by The New York Times. Local officials cited in Iranian media said this strike and others nearby in the city of Lamerd killed at least 21 people.
The Feb. 28 attack occurred the same day as a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile struck a school in the city of Minab, several hundred miles away, killing 175 people. In the case of Lamerd, though, it involved a weapon that had been untested in combat.
The Times verified videos of two strikes in Lamerd, as well as aftermath footage from the attacks. Times reporters and munitions experts found that the weapon features, explosions and damage are consistent with a short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM (pronounced like “prism”), which is designed to detonate just above its target and blast small tungsten pellets outward.
Videos that capture one strike, in a residential area about 900 feet from the sports hall and school, show the weapon in flight, with a distinctive silhouette that matches the PrSM. The missile erupts in a large fireball midair.
Another video, filmed from a security camera directly across from the sports hall, shows the strike on the hall and adjacent school. While the video does not capture an incoming missile, it clearly shows an explosion just above the structure."
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"[T]he United States is now acting like a predatory hegemon, exploiting positions of leverage built up over decades to exploit allies and adversaries alike. This zero-sum approach to nearly all relations with others includes a deep hostility toward most international institutions and norms, deliberately erratic behavior, and a tendency to treat other foreign leaders with ill-disguised contempt while expecting demeaning acts of submission and fealty from most of them. As the fallout from the war in Iran spreads throughout the region and around the world, it underscores that the administration either didn’t understand how its actions would affect other states or simply didn’t care.
Which brings me to the third problem: U.S. foreign policy is now in the hands of a remarkably incompetent set of officials, from the president on down. International influence depends on many things, but one of the key ingredients is other states’ belief that the people they have to deal with are smart, well-informed, and generally know what they are doing. At this point, does anyone in the higher echelons of the Trump administration merit that description? Not that I can see. Conducting foreign policy is a difficult business, and no government gets everything right, but this administration commits own goals on a weekly basis while insisting that it is infallible.
(...)
The bottom line is that the rest of the world is going to be dealing with a powerful, probably predatory, and highly erratic United States for at least three more years and probably longer. If that is the case, then what should other countries do, bearing in mind that the United States is not the only dangerous predator out there (and for some states, more immediate dangers lie closer to home)."https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/26/united-states-trump-rogue-state-iran/
#USA #Trump #Militarism #Geopolitics #Hegemony #Imperalism #RogueState
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"Left unreported: According to a financial disclosure, Michael, a former Silicon Valley executive, holds millions in stock in an Anthropic competitor, Perplexity AI, as well as additional investments in other AI, cryptocurrency, and robotics companies with business before the Pentagon.
By designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” the Pentagon could damage its commercial business and government contracting prospects, benefitting rivals like Perplexity AI.
Michael pledged in his disclosure to not participate in any matters that have “a direct and predictable effect on my financial interests.”
A one-time Uber senior vice president, Michael also recently held investments in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, whose owner had his 2024 money-laundering conviction pardoned by President Donald Trump last October.
Michael currently holds stock in the prediction market platform Kalshi, which he received as compensation for his prior consulting work there. Both companies have grown massively over the past year after receiving regulatory reprieves from the Trump administration.
Prediction platforms like Kalshi collect revenue for hosting betting markets on US military actions like the Iran War and have been plagued by concerns of both White House conflicts of interest and potential insider trading.
In total, Michael’s disclosure form lists an extensive array of stock holdings and other assets totaling between $121 million and $277 million, though he’s been forced to divest from some of those holdings since entering the government last May.
His remaining financial positions could still pose conflicts of interest for his high-powered role at the Pentagon, despite receiving little media coverage during his confirmation process last year."
https://jacobin.com/2026/03/pentagon-anthropic-ai-surveillance-michael
#USA #Trump #Pentagon #DoD #Militarism #AI #Anthropic #PerplexityAI
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"Left unreported: According to a financial disclosure, Michael, a former Silicon Valley executive, holds millions in stock in an Anthropic competitor, Perplexity AI, as well as additional investments in other AI, cryptocurrency, and robotics companies with business before the Pentagon.
By designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” the Pentagon could damage its commercial business and government contracting prospects, benefitting rivals like Perplexity AI.
Michael pledged in his disclosure to not participate in any matters that have “a direct and predictable effect on my financial interests.”
A one-time Uber senior vice president, Michael also recently held investments in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, whose owner had his 2024 money-laundering conviction pardoned by President Donald Trump last October.
Michael currently holds stock in the prediction market platform Kalshi, which he received as compensation for his prior consulting work there. Both companies have grown massively over the past year after receiving regulatory reprieves from the Trump administration.
Prediction platforms like Kalshi collect revenue for hosting betting markets on US military actions like the Iran War and have been plagued by concerns of both White House conflicts of interest and potential insider trading.
In total, Michael’s disclosure form lists an extensive array of stock holdings and other assets totaling between $121 million and $277 million, though he’s been forced to divest from some of those holdings since entering the government last May.
His remaining financial positions could still pose conflicts of interest for his high-powered role at the Pentagon, despite receiving little media coverage during his confirmation process last year."
https://jacobin.com/2026/03/pentagon-anthropic-ai-surveillance-michael
#USA #Trump #Pentagon #DoD #Militarism #AI #Anthropic #PerplexityAI