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Europe
Bulgaria
28 June 2024 Bulgarian president won’t attend NATO summit, disagrees with support for Ukraine. Radev “does not accept some provisions of the framework positions adopted by the Council of Ministers regarding commitments that our country undertakes regarding the war in Ukraine,” his press office said. Due to the political crisis, Bulgaria is currently without a regular government, and the caretaker prime minister is Dimitar Glavchev, a former deputy from the largest GERB (EPP) party. This caretaker position is appointed by the president, who is given greater representative power. Radev was elected by the parliament (and by the government) to lead the delegation in Washington, but in light of his refusal, Glavchev, also foreign minister, will attend. He has long opposed sending military aid to Ukraine and often talks about how Western military support hinders the achievement of peace. Similarly, the president has opposed the decision to allow Western weapons to fire on Russian territory, repeatedly accusing NATO of fuelling the conflict and of crossing “red lines that would have kept the war from spiralling out of control'. (Source: euractiv)
France
28 June 2024 Nation-state or Islamic Republic of France, Houellebecq’s question. Nine years ago, Houellebecq wrote Submission, wich not only describes contemporary France in an eerily naturalistic and politically-incorrect manner, but also makes a dystopian prophecy: that the French progressive fixation in favour of Islam and against traditional and national values will one day lead to France becoming an Islamic republic. He even describes 'exactly' how such a thing will happen. In the fictional second round of the 2022 Presidential Elections, writes Houellebecq, le Pen faces a Muslim opponent. With the support of the socialists, the liberals and the Left, France’s Islamist Party sweeps to power. Islamic law is then enforced, women are side-lined from professional and public office posts, universities are shut down and conversion to Islam is encouraged. What the author is suggesting is that French ruling elites hate their nation’s conservative values and ethnic tradition so much that they would prefer to see their country embrace the Sharia, rather than re-establish itself as a European nation-state. Earlier this week Macron spoke of a “civil war' if the far Right wins. Muslim extremists recently warned that 'all hell will break loose' if the National Rally comes to govern France. Is France in danger of being politically taken over by Islamists? Houellebecq himself has often been accused of bigotry. In fact, he is one of France’s top “love to hate” figures. He is despised, mocked and ridiculed on a regular basis. In 2010, his earlier novel, La Carte et le Territoire, won the prestigious Prix Goncourt. On January 7 2015, the day when Submission was published in France, Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, came out with a front page caricature of the author, making fun of him and his predictions. On that same day the magazine’s offices were attacked by two French-born Algerian Muslim brothers, who murdered 12 people and injured 11 others. /photo/ (Source: brusselssignal)
European Commission
3:45 AM CEST, June 28, 2024 The 65-year-old German politician von der Leyen, the 62-year-old socialist, former prime minister of Portugal Costa and the 47-year-old lawyer, Estonian staunch supporter of Ukraine Kallas were endorsed by 'European Union leaders' for the EU’s top jobs the European Council with the final nominee. Von der Leyen's second term now needs to be approved by European lawmakers in a vote likely to take place in July. She has been 'praised' for her leading role during the COVID-19 crisis, when the EU bought vaccines collectively for its citizens, but she also found herself receiving sharp criticism for the opacity of the negotiations with vaccine makers. She has also embodied the EU’s plans to become climate neutral by 2050, but her commitment to the Green Deal policies has been questioned in the buildup to the European elections as the EU seemed cautious not to antagonize farmers who argued that EU environmental and climate laws were driving them toward bankruptcy. The Socialists came in second place and Costa’s choice was controversial because of his government’s involvement in a widespread corruption investigation that forced him to resign as prime minister last year. Costa denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. Kallas was chosen despite the liberal group she belongs to losing ground in the European elections, slipping to fourth place behind the 'far-right' ECR. Like von der Leyen, Kallas 'must' also be confirmed by the EU Parliament. (Source: apnews)
European Council
June 28, 2024 Yesterday, European Union signed security commitments with Ukraine and disburses new €1.9 billion under the Ukraine Facility. President of the European Council Michel, President of the European Commission von der Leyen, and President Zelensky signed the document on the margins of the European Council, which is taking place in Brussels on 27 and 28 June. The commitments include following chapters: long-term provision of military equipment; EU and Ukraine’s defence industries corporation; resilience, cyber and hybrid threats; military and civilian mine action; civilian security sector reform and support to law enforcement; preventing and countering the diversion of firearms and small arms and light weapons; support to energy security, energy transition, and nuclear safety and security; sharing intelligence and satellite imagery. Concerning the provision of the military equipment, the document says that with the creation of the Ukraine Assistance Fund within the European Peace Facility, the European Union will continue to support the provision of both lethal and non-lethal military equipment and training to Ukraine. 'Building on the EU and bilateral initiatives on ammunition, notably the 1 million rounds initiative, missiles and air defence, the European Union and Member States will speed up and intensify the delivery of all the necessary military assistance. The Ukraine Assistance Fund will have a budget of €5 billion for 2024,' as noted in the commitments. Von der Leyen also announced on X that the EU will disburse a new €1.9 billion to Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility, to keep the Ukrainian state running. (Source: euneighbourseast)
Asia
Iraq
Jun. 28 (2024) 'Yemen’s Armed Forces and Iraq’s anti-terror fighters - Iraq’s Islamic Resistance, which is an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters' - have carried out a fresh joint anti-Israeli operation, targeting the port of Haifa. The Armed Forces and the Iraqi fighters have been staging numerous anti-Israeli strikes, either separately or in cooperation with one another, 'since last October, when the Israeli regime began a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip'. It vowed that the forces would continue their operations in the Red and Arabian Seas as well as the Indian Ocean as long as the Israeli regime kept up the brutal military onslaught and a simultaneous siege that it has been enforcing against Gaza. (Source: mehrnews)
North America
United States
Jun. 28, 2024 6:43AM EDT For the sake of the United States, Dr. Jill must step up now to help oust her husband. 'The threat of a second Trump presidency is enormous, far bigger than most Americans seem to grasp - Trump is scheming on a radical executive power-grab which could put everything from the Fed to control of the media in his hands, while he also promises vast human rights abuses, an end to a freedom-and-democracy-pursuing liberal international order, and a series of economic plans that would radically drive up prices and plunge the nation into financial free-fall. It’s no exaggeration to say that a second Trump presidency could mean everything from the termination of abortion rights nationwide, to deportation camps for immigrants, to the end of America as a beacon of economic and political stability, to the rise of global autocratic and imperialist power from Russia, China, and other dangerous actors'. (Source: thedailybeast)
by 'Filipovic'
June 28, 2024 The US has refused to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, instead believing that strengthening sanctions and imposing export restrictions is a more effective way to slow down Moscow’s war machine, US State Department spokesman Miller told on June 24. This position contrasts sharply with the efforts of some US senators who have been advocating for Russia to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. In particular, on June 20, Senators Graham and Blumenthal introduced a bill to the Senate as a means. President Biden previously decided against designating Russia as a state sponsor of terror in September 2022, following a unanimous resolution passed by the US Senate in July 2022, which called for such a designation. (Source: intellinews)
June 28, 2024 Marine Corps Order 5231.4 outlines the service’s approach to AI. The Marine Corps has pursued a two-track model with innovation at the lowest levels and resources at the highest. Bridging the gap between these parallel efforts will be critical to meaningful progress. "Only incremental progress has been made'. "The service is slow in moving towards its goals because it has decided, de facto, to pursue a two-track development strategy". It has concentrated efforts and resources at the highest echelons of the institution while relying on the rare confluence of expertise and individual initiative for progress at the lowest levels. "Every day, thousands of marines perform routine data-collection tasks and make hundreds of data-based decisions. They compile manning data on whiteboards to decide to staff units, screenshot weather forecasts and paste them into weekly commander’s update briefings, and submit training entries by hand. But anyone who has used ChatGPT or other large-scale data analytic services in the last two years knows the immense power of generative AI to streamline these processes and improve the quality of these decisions by basing them on fresh and comprehensive data. The U.S. Marine Corps has finally caught wind. Gen. Smith’s new message calls for the service to recognize that '[t]echnology has exponentially increased information’s effects on the modern battlefield, making our need to exploit data more important than ever.” The service’s stand-in forces operating concept relies on marine operating forces to integrate into networks of sensors, using automation and machine learning to simplify decision processes and kill chains. Forces deployed forward in littoral environments will be sustained by a supply system that uses data analysis for predictive maintenance, identifying which repair parts the force will need in advance'. 'Beyond education and planning, AI and machine learning can transform how the Marine Corps fights. During an operation, AI could employ a networked collection of manned and unmanned systems to reconnoiter and attack an adversary. It could also synthesize and display data from sensor networks more quickly than human analysts or sift through thousands of images to identify particular scenes or locations of interest. Either algorithms can decide themselves or enable commanders to make data-informed decisions in previously unthinkable ways. From AI-enabled decision-making to enhanced situational awareness, this technology has the potential to revolutionize military operations. A team of think tank researchers even used AI recently to rethink the Unified Command Plan. But, achieving these futuristic visions will require the service to develop technical skills and familiarity with this technology before implementing it'. "Marines in the operating forces perform innumerable routine tasks that could be easily automated. For example, marines in staff sections grab data and format it into weekly command and staff briefings each week. Intelligence officers retrieve weather forecast data from their higher headquarters. Supply officers insert information supply levels into the brief. Medical and dental readiness numbers are usually displayed in a green/yellow/red stoplight chart. This data is compiled - by hand - in PowerPoint slide decks. These simple tasks could be automated, saving thousands of hours across an entire Marine expeditionary force. Commanders would benefit by making decisions based on the most up-to-date information rather than relying on stale data captured hours before'. "The Army’s use of the 18th Airborne Corps to bridge the gap between service-level programs and individual initiatives offers a clear example for how to do so. The 18th Airborne Corps fills a contingency-response role like the Marine Corps. Located at Fort Liberty, it is the headquarters element containing the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, along with the 10th Mountain and 3rd Infantry Divisions. As part of a broader modernization program, the 18th Airborne Corps has focused on creating a technology ecosystem to foster innovation. Individual soldiers across the corps can build personal applications that aggregate, analyze, and present information in customizable dashboards that streamline work processes and allow for data-informed decision-making". If the Marine Corps followed the 18th Airborne Corps model, it would designate one operating force unit as the service lead for data analysis and automation to link service headquarters with tactical units. Once designated, II Marine Expeditionary Force should establish an office, directorate, or company responsible for the entire force’s data literacy and automation effort. The Marine Corps should build the groundwork by training its workforce and building familiarity during garrison operations. Designating one major command to act as the service lead would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal. (Source: warontherocks)
by McGee, an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, currently serving with the Marine Innovation Unit.
NATO
28 June 2024 'If Russia is not punished for what they are doing, then there will be a pause of one, two years, and then everything will continue: the atrocities, the human suffering, everything.” Kallas adds that it will not just be Ukraine at risk of an emboldened Putin. 'I mean other countries around Russia. Moldova… The imperialistic dream has never died.' Few doubt that Estonia could be a prime target in such a situation. In 1949 her mother (then six months old), her grandmother and her great-grandmother were all sent to Siberia under Stalin’s mass deportations of Baltic citizens who were deemed “anti-Soviet”. “It was a stranger who gave my grandmother a jar of milk that kept my mother alive during this journey,” she told the European Parliament in a speech on 9 March. Her father, Siim, oversaw the country’s shift to democratic capitalism as president of the Bank of Estonia in the 1990s, and served as prime minister between 2002 and 2003 before becoming a European Commissioner. Baltic leader Kallas studied law and economics and worked as a lawyer before she was elected to the European Parliament for the liberal Estonian Reform Party in 2014. She returned to Tallinn to head the Reform Party, winning a leadership election in April 2018, and became Estonia’s female prime minister in January 2021, at the helm of a coalition with the centre-left Estonian Centre Party. Her government sent lethal weapons to Kyiv as early as December 2021. (After February 2022) her government accelerated its transfer of arms to Ukraine, sending FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles and artillery such as D-30 howitzers. She told European lawmakers: “We will, in the future, speak about ‘before times’ and ‘after times’.” The leader of a country with a population about the same size as Birmingham’s she has been cited 11,560 times in the international media in the two months from 1 March to 2 May. Kallas will be among the Nato leaders at the alliance’s landmark summit. What needs to happen there? 'We need the deterrence posture to turn into a defence posture,' she replies. This means a shift from warding Russia off an attack on Nato to being capable of preventing it from taking Nato territory at short notice. She specifies that this requires a division-level Nato presence in each Baltic state (a significant increase in troops from those already present, led by the UK in Estonia), more intelligence sharing and a shift from air policing to air defence. “Where now they just fly up and say ‘You can’t fly here’, air defence means that if someone comes into our airspace, we have a right to take them down as well.' She attributes to Putin the notion that 'if Russia can’t become the West, then the West must become Russia'. The Kremlin, argues Estonia’s prime minister, will continue trying to undermine Western unity through cyber threats and by promoting myths about morally corrupt and 'anti-family liberal' societies. (Source: newstatesman)
by 'Cliffe
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