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☆ North Korea claims it can unleash a 'super-scale radioactive tsunami' with an underwater drone that detonates near ships or ports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea claims it tested an underwater drone that can create a radioactive tsunami. It was designed to strike both naval assets and coastal targets, North Korean state media outlet KCNA reported. Friday's announcement was the first time that North Korea has publicly mentioned such a weapon. North Korea has in the last year aggressively ramped up its testing of long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles. These tests have often been framed as a response to the US and South Korea for North Korea says is unprovoked aggression.

☆ TikTok Stars Rally in Washington Against App’s Potential U.S. Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—TikTok launched a battalion of influencers in the nation’s capital Wednesday to send a message to Congress: Banning the app would be met with widespread popular opposition. “TikTok is not a children’s dancing app,” said Aidan Kohn-Murphy, a college freshman with close to 300,000 TikTok followers and founder of the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change. “It is one of the most powerful tools that young people have to engage each other and to get civically involved.”

☆ Ukraine war live updates: China's Xi leaves Moscow after mixed talks with Putin; drones target Kyiv and Crimea, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The original plan was to send Ukraine 31 of the newer M1A2 Abrams, which could have taken a year or two to build and ship. Officials said the M1A1 also will be easier for Ukrainian forces to learn to use and maintain as they fight Russia's invasion. The officials spoke on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been publicly announced. Pentagon officials are expected to make the announcement Tuesday. The Biden administration announced in January that it would send the tanks to Ukraine — after insisting for months that they were too complicated and too hard to maintain and repair.

☆ Russia can't match the US military's hardware, but it has other ways to keep it from working properly
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But Russian information operations could still affect US forces, a US government watchdog says. Once perceived as a conventional near-peer threat, the Russian military now appears to be more of a paper tiger. While Russia can't match the US military's hardware, it has other ways to keep it from working. Near-peer adversaries, such as China and Russia, know that and have sought ways to counter their more powerful adversary. Doing so could mean that Chinese or Russian intelligence services could not only to influence individual service members but also the performance of specific weapons.

☆ A US veteran joined Ukraine's International Legion, then made a shock defection to Russia. Ex-comrades say he was incompetent and left behind a trail of chaos.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Those who fought with him in Ukraine told Insider he was unstable and erratic on the battlefield. "Bama is a highly unstable character," Nance told Insider. The warning signs continued, as McIntyre told Smith that he was wanted by the FBI for threatening to kill personnel at the White House, Smith. "As time went on, he confided to me that he had converted to Islam and that he was planning to do a jihad," Smith told Insider. "When you screw up, a company gets rid of you, pulls you off the line, and sends you back to the battalion," Nance told Insider.

☆ 'We live in hell': Volunteer bus evacuates wounded Ukrainian troops
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/8] A wounded Ukrainian soldier is evacuated in a converted bus, operated by Ukrainian volunteer medics, from the eastern frontline near Bakhmut to hospitals in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in Ukraine March 15, 2023. Six medics move up and down the narrow corridor between two rows of three beds that run the length of the bus, which is part of Ukraine's Hospitallers Medical Battalion that evacuates troops across Ukraine. "We had no possibility before in Ukraine to deliver casualties in such numbers between hospitals," he told Reuters. The initiative involves teams of volunteers rotating and spending several weeks on call, ready for when soldiers need moving further from the fighting. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed and wounded on both sides of the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.

☆ North of Bakhmut, another key battle tests Ukraine's defences
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Mike Collett-White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

At the bottom of the attempted encirclement appears to be Soledar, meaning an area far larger than Bakhmut would be vulnerable. "The enemy would need a lot of forces to take this line (Sloviansk-Kramatorsk-Kostiantynivka) and therefore I think it is unlikely, given the losses the Russian troops are already suffering," he added. Russia has made only incremental gains around Bakhmut, which it has been trying to capture for eight months, and further north. He said he took part in both wars in the 1990s between Russian troops and separatists after the breakup of the Soviet Union. For now, artillery appears to hold the key to defending positions and pinning down the enemy for both sides.

☆ Iraq Veterans, 20 Years Later: George W. Bush ‘Owes Me a Beer, at the Least’ - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Petra Epperlein | Michael Tucker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Months after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, I began filming the U.S. Army’s 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (known as the Gunners) in Baghdad. They told the story of the war as only they could: They played guitar, spat out rhymes and played to the camera. But behind all their bravado and posturing, they were just kids who desperately wanted the world to understand the war through their eyes. In the last two months of 2003, the Gunners lost three men to I.E.D. In the short documentary above, the veterans grapple with a past that still reverberates powerfully through their lives.

Persons: Donald Rumsfeld, “, ” Organizations: Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Gunners Locations: United States, Iraq, Army’s, Baghdad

JERICHO, West Bank, March 14 (Reuters) - Before a group of young men from Aqabat Jabr refugee camp mounted a botched attack on a restaurant in Jericho popular with Israeli settlers in January, they declared allegiance to Hamas. Often with just a handful of fighters, the militant groups springing up across the West Bank over the past year have only loose ties to factions such as Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad. A few days after the attack, which failed when a gun jammed, the young men in the group were killed in an Israeli raid. "All the signs are that the intifada is coming," said the Hamas cadre, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals. The rally was a classic display of force, with some 250 fighters from various factions parading in a courtyard, its walls plastered with pictures of their dead, posing with guns and the cropped hairstyles popular among young West Bank men.

☆ ‘I Live in Hell’: The Psychic Wounds of Ukraine’s Soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Photographs Antoine D Agata | Text Ellen Barry | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

The soldier’s ward is a quiet place, high-ceilinged, with chess boards and a Ping-Pong table; you could mistake it for a rest home, except that the door handles have been removed. Tap Click to read their stories Oleksandr, 21 Occupation: Soldier, former student “I finished school and joined the army in 2021. Now I’m mostly sad; I’m better off alone.” Yulia, 47 Occupation: Soldier; combat medic, independent forensic expert I’m a combat medic. Stanislav, 29 Occupation: Soldier, former cook “I didn’t plan to end up here. I adjust to each person in this way.” Serhii, 42 Occupation: Soldier, former employee at a shipping company On April 28 2022, I joined the air assault forces.

☆ All 500 original members of a Ukrainian battalion were killed or wounded in fighting with Russia, commander says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

One commander said all 500 original members of his battalion had been killed or injured. Soldiers with significant combat experience "are all already dead or wounded," the commander said. "And there are only a few soldiers with combat experience," he told the Post. Off the 500 men he commanded last year, 400 have been wounded and another 100 killed, according to the Post. And for some reason, he has never thrown a grenade," he told the Post.

But an international war crimes prosecution could deepen Moscow's diplomatic isolation and make it difficult for those accused to travel abroad. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying its attacks are all intended to reduce Kyiv's ability to fight. Kyiv says thousands of deported Ukrainian children are being adopted into Russian families, housed in Russian camps and orphanages, given Russian passports and brought up to reject Ukrainian nationality. Asked if the ICC charges against the Russian officials could include genocide, the source said: "It looks that way." U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One that Ukraine had not confirmed a call between Xi and Zelenskiy.

☆ President Zelenskyy among large crowds mourning 'Da Vinci,' a celebrated 27-year-old battalion commander killed near Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy attended the funeral of a celebrated soldier who was killed earlier this week. Dmytro Kotsiubailo's call sign was "Da Vinci," and he was 27 years old when he died. Kotsiubailo's call sign was "Da Vinci" — as the soldier gave up on his dream of becoming an artist to fight for Ukraine, according to NPR. He led a battalion called the "Da Vinci Wolves." "I handed over to Oksana Kotsiubailo, Da Vinci's mother, the Cross of Military Merit, which her son was posthumously awarded.

☆ A dramatic helmet-cam video shows Ukrainian troops storming a Russian trench and capturing 2 prisoners of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A helmet-cam video shows Ukrainian troops storming a Russian trench. Soliders of the 108th Mountain Assault Battalion used grenades and machine guns capturing 2 POWs. The Ukrainian troops fired several shots toward the trench as the Russian defenders attempted to return fire. The video cuts to the Ukrainian troops surrounding the trench as two Russian soldiers crawl out and surrender to them. The helmet-cam video demonstrates how intimate frontline fighting can be in Ukraine, with troops from both sides coming in close contact.

Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene have both inadvertently slammed the Trump administration in recent weeks. Greene falsely blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl deaths that happened while Trump was in office. MAGA-faithful Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene have both inadvertently slammed the Trump administration in recent weeks while trying to take shots at President Joe Biden. Rep. Matt Gaetz, meanwhile, got schooled for unknowingly basing a critique of Biden's policies on a Communist newspaper. Gaetz tried to recover, pressing Kahl to "just tell me if the allegation is true or false."

☆ The biggest problem with Russia's tanks in Ukraine is the way Moscow tried to use them
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Alex Hollings | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

By September, the tally of lost and captured Russian tanks reached 1,000 — more than all the tanks in the British, French, German, and Finnish militaries combined. The first time these British tanks found a fight, only 25 of the 49 of them actually moved when ordered to commence the attack. Nonetheless, before the conflict was over, Churchill himself would decide tanks had, once again, run their course, declaring, "we have too much armor — tanks are finished." And that is the real lesson we can glean from the performance of Russian tanks in Ukraine over the past year. Maxim Shemetov/ReutersThis point becomes evident when you look at Russian tank losses recorded by the Oryx Blog between February and April 2022, when Russian tank losses were at their absolute worst.

The four members of the Brotherhood Battalion later buried in Kyiv were Yurii Horovets, 34, Taras Karpiuk, 38, Maksym Mykhailov, 32 and Bohdan Liagov, 19. Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the raid then, and have subsequently denied involvement in attacks claimed by Ukrainian-based groups on Russian soil. "Our aim is to bring the war over to Russian territory. "When we are on Russian territory, we act autonomously," he added. Ukraine's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its relationship with the Brotherhood Battalion, called "Bratstvo" in Ukrainian, and the armed forces.

☆ A regiment of drafted Russian soldiers who made video plea to Putin to stop them being 'slaughtered' are now mostly dead, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Drafted Russian soldiers made a video appeal to Vladimir Putin for help. Most of the soldiers in the regiment have died in Donetsk since recording the video, a report says. "Please help," the soldiers say in the video while in their uniforms with their faces covered. In the video, which was published by Telegram channel of the Siberian news outlet Lyudi Baikala on February 25, the soldiers directly ask Putin for help. The video was the soldiers' third such appeal, according to the Russian outlet The Insider.

☆ Russia repeated a battle tactic that failed miserably in Bucha and once again lost tanks critical to the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia lost 130 tanks during three weeks of fighting near Vuhledar, per Ukrainian officials. But long before the staggering losses in Vuhledar, Russia's tank failures were evident just weeks into the war. Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. Just like in Bucha, Russia failed to capture its intended target in Vuhledar, making the same mistake that already cost them scores of tanks a year ago. It's one of the more egregious errors in what Miles called the "half-baked" Russian offensive playing out in Vuhledar and Ukraine's east.

☆ Matt Gaetz unknowingly cites Chinese Communist newspaper during Ukraine military funding hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Matt Gaetz unknowingly cited from a Chinese propaganda outlet during a congressional hearing. Gaetz asked Colin Kahl, the US's undersecretary of defense for policy. Gaetz asked Kahl. "Is this the — I'm sorry, is this the Global Times from China?" Watch the exchange below:Asked for comment, a spokesman for Gaetz told Insider: "Congressman Gaetz wanted to ask if the report was true.

☆ Russia has been able to keep its most effective drone flying over Ukraine thanks to Western-made parts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ukraine and Russia have employed an array of drones since Moscow attacked in February 2022. Despite sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, Russia has been able to keep its most effective drone flying over Ukraine thanks to Western-made parts. The Orlan-10's specifications and characteristics in a graphic published by the Royal United Services Institute in December 2022. Russian intelligence services are likely involved in sourcing this technology through contacts and front companies around the world. Western-made components found in the Orlan-10, according to the Royal United Services Institute.

☆ Abrams Tanks May Never Reach Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Friday marks the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion, and one lesson of the past year is that Western weapons can be crucial on the battlefield at manageable risk and cost to the U.S. But the Biden Administration still lacks the speed befitting the stakes, and missing-in-action Abrams tanks are the latest example. The Administration said on Jan. 25 that the U.S. would furnish 31 Abrams tanks, the size of a Ukrainian tank battalion. Advanced Western equipment would help the Ukrainians narrow Russia’s tank advantage. Part of the U.S. calculus was to push Germany into providing its own Leopard tanks, which Berlin finally did after weeks of dithering.

☆ U.S. looks to expand Taiwan military training -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters reported in 2021 that a small number of U.S. special operations forces have been rotating into Taiwan on a temporary basis to train their forces. Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said he "didn't know" the source of the information about expanded training. He added Taiwan and the United States had a lot of military interaction, and declined further comment. Taiwan's official Central News Agency this week reported that a battalion of around 500 soldiers would go to the United States for training this year. Chu indirectly confirmed that some soldiers would head to the United States for training that would be more tactical than in the past, but did not provide details of numbers.

☆ The Ukraine war has killed hundreds of thousands of people. His job is to collect the bodies.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Katie Livingstone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

This could translate to tens of thousands of bodies left behind — and many years of work for the body collectors. In 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea and the Donbas region of Ukraine, Yukov helped start the Black Tulip mission. The retrieval process is identical for Ukrainian and Russian bodies, Yukov said. Ukrainian bodies are returned as quickly as possible to their grieving families, while Russian bodies are transferred to Ukrainian government hands so that they can be exchanged for Ukrainians in the possession of Russian forces. Denys Sosnenko, a former Ukrainian national kickboxing champion also from Sloviansk, was killed driving over a buried anti-tank mine while on a Black Tulip mission.

☆ Film offers close-up of Ukraine's bloody Eastern Front
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Directors Vitaly Mansky and Yehven Titarenko speak about the movie 'Eastern Front' during a Reuters interview during the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2023. "I think people usually get some romantic ideas about war from the books, from movies," Yevhen Titarenko, a Ukrainian filmmaker who co-directed the film, told Reuters. The film premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, celebrating the resilience of the Ukrainian people while providing a grisly portrait of the devastation of war. Lviv-born filmmaker Vitaly Mansky co-directed the film with Titarenko, providing additional scenes recorded in Western Ukraine. "The message is not to give anybody the chance to think they can hide from this war," Mansky said.

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