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☆ Elon Musk and Britain’s PM Rishi Sunak discuss AI’s risks and rewards
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“I’m glad to see at this point that people are taking AI seriously,” Musk said to Sunak on Thursday. Musk and world leadersMusk’s conversation with Sunak is one of numerous chats with world leaders the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has joined in the past few months. Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September, weeks before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Other big names that recently made time for Musk in their schedule include Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in June, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September. Sunak and Musk discussed how digital super-intelligence could affect the public and require regulation the same way industries such as aviation and cars require regulation.

Persons: CNN — Elon, Rishi Sunak, ” Musk, Musk, Kamala Harris, Sam Altman, “ I’m, Sunak, Goldman Sachs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni, Narendra Modi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “, Communications Shlomo Karhi, ”, ” Karhi, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Walter Isaacson’s, Elon Musk, Isaacson, , Luke McGee, Ivana Kottasová, Sean Lyngaas Organizations: CNN, British, Safety, Lancaster House, Allied Forces codebreaking, US, Winchester College , Oxford, Stanford, European Union, SpaceX, Tesla, Israeli, Twitter, Defamation League, Italian, Indian, Communications, Hamas, US Democratic Rep, Russian Locations: London, Bletchley, Israel, United States, China, Gaza, Alexandria, Cortez, Crimean, Ukrainian, Sevastopol, Russia, Crimea, Korea, France

☆ ‘AI’ is Collins Dictionary’s word of the year
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Collins Dictionary has named “AI” as its word of the year, defining it as an “abbreviation for artificial intelligence: the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs.”“Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023,” the UK-based dictionary publisher said in a statement announcing its decision. While AI’s capabilities in mimicking human speech fascinated people at first, they were also the source of some anxiety, according to Collins. “If computers were suddenly experts in that most human of domains, language, what next? Cue an explosion of debate, scrutiny, and prediction, and more than enough justification for Collins’ 2023 Word of the Year: AI,” the statement continues. The inaugural Global AI Summit on AI Safety got underway in the United Kingdom Wednesday.

Persons: London CNN —, ” “, Collins, Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, “, ”, “ semaglutide Organizations: London CNN, London CNN — Collins, Global, Safety, UK, Allied Forces codebreaking, US Locations: United, Bletchley, “

☆ Investing in Space: How the Pentagon sizes up China’s military strength in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Coming in at a whopping 212 pages, the document represents the latest in-depth, albeit unclassified, view of China's military ambitions. The Pentagon highlighted that the space capabilities of the Chinese military, or PLA, are continuing to "mature rapidly" thanks to "significant economic and political resources to growing all aspects of its space program." China's PLA has a "Strategic Support Force," or SSF, under which is the "Space Systems Department", or SSD, that leads its military space operations. The Pentagon emphasized that most of those Chinese satellites can "support monitoring, tracking, and targeting of U.S. and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific region."

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, landers, it's, Richard DalBello, China isn't Organizations: Taiyuan Satellite, CNBC's, Pentagon, PLA, Force, Systems Department, U.S, China, GPS, NASA Locations: Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, United States, Xi's, China, Namibia, Pakistan, Argentina, Kenya, U.S, Baku

☆ Israel dropped more bombs on Gaza in 6 days than the US-led coalition dropped in any month fighting ISIS
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Jake Epstein | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Israel said it dropped 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip during the first six days of war with Hamas. That's more bombs than the US-led coalition dropped in any month during the fight against ISIS. Allied forces dropped 5,000 bombs in August 2017 — at the peak of their air campaign. But that August saw a record 5,075 bombs dropped, marking the only time that figure ever surpassed 5,000. AP Photo/Asmaa WaguihAveraged out, Israel's 6,000 bombs dropped on Gaza between October 7 and October 12 comes out to 1,000 per day — smashing the average of 164 bombs dropped per day by the US-led coalition in August 2017.

Persons: Israel, —, Ahmad Hasaballah, Raqqa —, Waguih, Joe Biden —, deescalation Organizations: ISIS, Allied, Service, Islamic, Israeli Air Force, IAF, US Air Forces Central Command, RAND Corporation, AP, US, Israel Defense Forces, United Nations, UN Locations: Gaza, Islamic State, Gaza City, Iraq, Syria, Raqqa, Syrian, California, Afghanistan

☆ What is the Syrian Kurdish YPG?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 5 (Reuters) - U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish forces said on Thursday that Turkish attacks had killed eight people in an escalation prompted by a bomb attack in Ankara claimed by Kurdish militants. A Turkish defence ministry official said a ground operation into Syria was one option for Turkey, which has previously mounted several incursions into northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. BORN IN SYRIAN WARThe YPG, or the People's Protection Units, emerged as a powerful armed group during the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. It is affiliated to the main Syrian Kurdish faction, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and has a female counterpart, the YPJ. YPG control was initially concentrated in three predominantly Kurdish regions of northern Syria - known in Kurdish as Rojava.

Persons: Khalil Ashawi, Bashar al, Assad, Abdullah Ocalan, Tom Perry, Jon Boyle Organizations: REUTERS, Kurdish, Syrian Kurdish, Islamic State, Kurdistan Workers Party, Democratic Union Party, U.S, Syrian Democratic Forces, Islamic, AS, European Union, NATO, DAMASCUS, Kurdish Regional Government, Thomson Locations: Tal Abyad, Syria, Syrian Kurdish, Ankara, Turkey, Syrian, United States, France, Kurdish, U.S, TURKEY, Damascus, Qamishli, Iraq

☆ Eighty years on, Italian victims of Nazi crimes finally to get compensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

A study funded by the German government and published in 2016 estimated that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes, including up to 8,000 Jews deported to death camps. However, it did not offer reparations for war crimes. "They didn't look at war crimes and this was a mistake. In 1994, a cupboard was found in the offices of Rome's military prosecutors packed with files documenting hundreds of war crimes that had never been prosecuted. In 2012, the International Court of Justice backed Berlin, but Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, saying no limit could be imposed on war crimes.

Persons: Crispian Balmer, Mauro Petrarca, Domenico Lancellotta, Giulio Disegni, Lucio Olivieri, Petrarca, Mario Draghi, Disegni, Fornelli, Giovanni Tedeschi, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Nazis, International Court of Justice, Union of Italian Jewish, Allied, Rome, Nazi, Berlin, PRIDE, Italian Treasury, Reuters, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Fornelli, Molise, Italy, Germany, Berlin, Rome

☆ Searching for the ‘People’s Spelling Alphabet’
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Sam Corbin | More About Sam Corbin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Phonetic alphabets, also known as spelling alphabets, came to prominence on the global stage in the mid-20th century, as world wars made urgent the need for clear, quick and secretive communication among Allied forces. The NATO Alphabet we know today (which begins with Alfa, Bravo, Charlie) was adopted officially in 1956 by the International Civil Aviation Organization, after earlier iterations such as the Able Baker alphabet proved inadequate. In a version used briefly by the British Royal Army, the spelling alphabet begins with Ack, Beer, which is what I say when I realize I’ve shown up empty-handed to a party. The NATO alphabet remains ubiquitous in ceremony — it comes up often in The New York Times’s crossword entries — but in practice, it’s somewhat niche. When was the last time you clarified the letter “Y” by saying “Yankee” instead of something like “yellow” or “yes”?

Persons: “, Charlie, Able Baker Organizations: Allied, NATO, Alfa, Bravo, International Civil Aviation Organization, British Royal Army Locations: Babel, Beer, New

☆ Missiles aren't the only threat from North Korea. Its conventional arms are just as deadly
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Lim Hui Jie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A fire assault drill by North Korean rocket artillery units at an undisclosed location in North Korea in March 2023 in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In late 2022, CFR estimated North Korea had 1.3 million active military personnel, in addition to a 600,000 strong reserve force. Pinkston pointed out that North Korea is not the only one that can launch an attack at short notice. Holistic perspectiveWhy would North Korea need to develop missiles if it holds such a potent threat over South Korea — even if short-lived? However, Cha pointed out that there have also been studies that have shown the damage inflicted by North Korean artillery is "not that effective."

Persons: that's, Naoko Aoki, Victor Cha, Rand, Daniel Pinkston, Pinkston, Cha Organizations: North Korean, North, Korean Central News Agency, Reuters, Korea's, Rand Corporation ., of Foreign Relations, CFR, Korean, Artillery, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Rand Corp, Samsung Electronics, Rand, . Rand Corporation, LG, South Korean, Troy University, CNBC, Korea People's Army, CSIS Locations: North Korea, Korean, Korea, South Korea, Seoul, Pyongyang, U.S, Paju, counterfire, Washington, United States, Victor, Victor Cha Korea

☆ The West is slow-rolling the process of giving Ukraine F-16s because it is scared of antagonizing Putin, former NATO commander says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine's Western allies are wary of antagonizing Vladimir Putin, an ex-NATO commander said. The West is delaying the delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine as a result. Ukraine says the fighter planes are crucial if its counteroffensive is to succeed. Philip Breedlove, former Supreme Commander of the NATO Allied Forces in Europe, told Voice of America that Putin had succeeded in intimidating the West and delaying delivery of the fighter planes. "There is restraint regarding quick action due to fears that Mr. Putin may cause certain important events.

Persons: antagonizing Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putin, Philip Breedlove, Putin, Mr, Breedlove Organizations: NATO, Service, NATO Allied Forces Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Europe, America, Ukrainian

☆ Poland-Belarus: Tensions high on NATO's border with Belarus after Wagner troops move closer
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Sana Noor Haq Josh Pennington Niamh Kennedy Darya Tarasova Jessie Gretener Yulia Kesaieva | Sana Noor Haq | Josh Pennington | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Belarusian soldiers and Wagner troops attend joint training exercises near the border city of Brest, in Belarus on July 20, 2023 amid increased border tensions between Warsaw and Minsk. Belarus' Defense Ministry/Handout/AP/FileMinsk had informed Warsaw about the exercise, but a border crossing took place in the eastern Bialowieza region at a “very low altitude, making detection by radar systems difficult,” the Polish defense ministry said in a statement. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak subsequently ordered that more troops and combat helicopters be deployed along the border, the ministry added. “By deploying troops from both the west (Kaliningrad) and the east (Belarus), Russia would be able to effectively cut off the Baltic States from its NATO allies in central and western Europe. Five EU countries, four of whom border Ukraine – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria – lifted sanctions on the import of Ukrainian grain, which they had installed to protect their own agricultural industries.

Persons: Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Wagner’s, Mariusz Blaszczak, Mateusz Morawiecki, Paweł Jabłoński, Barbara Yoxon, Putin, “, ” Yoxon, ”, Yoxon, Bulgaria –, Marcin Przydacz, Poland Organizations: CNN, NATO, EU, Belarus ' Defense Ministry, Polish, Belarusian Air Force, Air Defense Forces, Lancaster University, “, Presidential, International, Ukraine, ” Locations: Poland, Belarus, Minsk, Europe, Warsaw, Belarusian, Lithuania, Russian, Moscow, Brest, Polish, EU, Russia, Kaliningrad, Baltic, Grodno, England, Ukraine, Baltic States, Latvia, Estonia, Western, Ukrainian, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Kyiv, Republic of Poland

☆ Inside Myanmar’s Escalating Assault on Civilians
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Haley Willis | Weiyi Cai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +16 min

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Persons: Anthony Davis, “, Mr, Davis, ”, Maung, “ It’s, you’ve, Nyaung Kone, Maung Maung, Ngun Hoi, Hram Ling “, Ngun, Daw Thein Htay, Thein Htay, Htoke, Ma Gyi Sauk, Paung Hle Kone, Hle Kone, ” Mr, Tun Sein, Tragically Organizations: New York Times, Rohingya, National Unity Government, The Times, United Nations, Human Rights, “, Janes, Amnesty, Amnesty International, Education, Facebook, Myanmar, Myanmar Witness, Times Locations: Myanmar, trickling, Myanmar’s, Rakhine State, Rakhine, China, Russia, Sagaing, Kachin State, Pazigyi, Naypyidaw, Yangon Yangon, Yangon, Nyaung, Khuafo, Thantlang Township, Ngun, Thantlang, Salai, Ma Gyi, Paung, Sagaing’s Son, “

Thousands of Wagner troops are reportedly in Belarus following a failed military uprising in Russia. What exactly Wagner troops are doing in Grodno is unclear, as Wagner has not commented on the reports. It is not clear exacttly how many Wagner troops are in Belarus. They were invited to the country as part of a deal negotiated by the Belarus president to end the mercenary group’s armed insurrection against the Kremlin last month. The two plan to hold joint military exercises near the border with Poland, a move likely to further raise tensions.

Persons: Wagner, Mateusz Morawiecki, Morawiecki, ”, “, Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko, Putin Organizations: CNN, Poland ”, EU, NATO, Analysts, Kremlin Locations: Russian, Poland, Lithuania, Polish, Grodno, Belarus, Russia, Belarusian, EU, Kaliningrad, Baltic, Ukraine, Russia’s, “, ” Poland

Sydney CNN —Four Australian defense personnel are missing in the water off the east coast of Australia after they were forced to ditch their Taipan helicopter in the sea during joint wargame drills with the United States late Friday. Speaking at a press conference in Brisbane on Saturday, Defense Minister Richard Marles said the search was ongoing for the four crew of the Australian Army helicopter. Last night, just after 10.30, an Australian Army helicopter, an MRH-90, ditched in waters close to Hamilton Island. Because there was another helicopter present, a search and rescue was able to commence immediately. A search operation involving both search and rescue aircraft and sea vessels is under way, according to the Australian Defense Ministry.

Persons: Richard Marles, ” Marles, Anthony Albanese, Antony Blinken, Defense Lloyd Austin, ” Blinken, they’ve, ”, Austin, it’s “, Damien Hill, Marles Organizations: Sydney CNN —, Australian Army, Australian Defense Ministry, Defense, Brisbane, Airbus Locations: Australia, United States, Brisbane, Hamilton, Queensland

☆ South Korea Unveils Truman Statue on Armistice Anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Choe Sang-Hun | More About Choe Sang-Hun | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted the Korean War, one American received a special honor in South Korea: former President Harry S. Truman, in whose memory a new, nearly 14-foot-tall statue was unveiled on Thursday. Although not all South Koreans were happy to see another monument for the war or a new edifice to an American leader built on their soil, conservatives wanted to celebrate Truman, who perhaps affected the fate of South Korea more than any other U.S. president. When North Korea invaded the South in 1950, Truman sent American troops and engineered a United Nations resolution to support the South with Allied forces. South Korea celebrates the armistice anniversary as a victory for the free world that helped the nation become one of Asia’s richest economies, while North Korea remains a hunger-stricken, nuclear-armed international pariah. “The Americans’ choice to have such a decisive leader as President Truman in the White House when North Korea invaded saved South Korea and the free world,” said Cho Gab-je, a prominent conservative journalist and publisher who led the campaign to build a Truman statue.

Persons: Harry S, Truman, ”, Cho Organizations: Allied, Truman Locations: South Korea, North Korea, Nations

☆ North Korea to welcome China and Russia with military display after pandemic isolation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Josh Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

MILITARY DISPLAYSImages from Russia's defence ministry and North Korean media showed Shoigu being greeted by North Korean defence minister Kang Sun Nam and Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora at the airport, and rows of North Korean and Russia troops. The only defence treaty China and North Korea have is with each other. Amid international sanctions over North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes - which both Moscow and Beijing voted to impose - China has become by far North Korea's largest trading partner. Russia and China have rebuffed recent attempts by the United States and some European countries to impose new sanctions on North Korea. "If North Korea also sends a high-level delegation to China for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, it means the resumption of high-level 'shuttle diplomacy' between North Korea and China since the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Persons: Sergei Shoigu, Li Hongzhong, Anthony Rinna, Travis King, Rinna, Shoigu, Kang Sun Nam, Alexander Matsegora, Wagner, Kim, Yang Moo, Dave Schmerler, James Martin, Schmerler, Kim Jong Un, KCNA, denuclearisation, Yang, Josh Smith, Michael Perry Organizations: Korean People's Army, North, Korean Central News Agency, KCNA, Russian, Communist Party, United Nations Security Council, Washington, U.S, Sino, NK, United, University of North Korean Studies, James, James Martin Center, Nonproliferation Studies, Reuters, Fatherland, Thomson Locations: Pyongyang, North Korea, China, U.S, SEOUL, United States, Russia, Beijing, Moscow, Korea, North Korean, Washington, Russian, Korean, Ukraine, Seoul, North, Hangzhou

☆ The remarkable story of the world's first atomic bomb and how Oppenheimer reacted to the historic moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Amanda Macias | Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The world's first atomic bomb was detonated in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. But in a later interview about the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer said that at the moment of the explosion he thought of a line from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Norris Bradbury stands next to the partially assembled Gadget atop the test tower. WikipediaLess than a month later, on August 6, 1945, the US dropped a five-ton atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Oppenheimer later told the American Philosophical Society: "We have made a thing, a most terrible weapon, that has altered abruptly and profoundly the nature of the world."

Persons: Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Leslie Groves, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer's, John Donne, Einstein, Gadget, Amanda Macias, Norris Bradbury Organizations: Manhattan, Service, Department of Energy, YouTube, US, Japan's, Getty, American Philosophical Locations: New Mexico, Wall, Silicon, —, Alamogordo , New Mexico, American, Germany, America, Hiroshima, Japan's Nagasaki, Japan, New York

☆ F-22 stealth fighter jets are back in the Middle East as a US commander warns of 'buffoonery' by Russian pilots
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Paul Iddon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter jets were redeployed to the Middle East in mid-JuneTheir redeployment comes amid repeated cases of aggressive flying by Russian air force pilots. Grynkewich spoke shortly after the US Air Force redeployed F-22s to the Middle East. The US planned to compensate by deploying A-10 attack planes, which are designed to strike ground targets, to the Middle East. A US Air Force A-10C refuels from a KC-135 over the Middle East in April. Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist and columnist who writes about Middle East developments, military affairs, politics, and history.

Persons: —, Alexus Grynkewich, Äzzeddin Kasim, Grynkewich, you've, Devin Boyer, Ryan Bohl, RANE, Al, DELIL SOULEIMAN, There's, Bohl, Nicholas Heras, Christopher Ruano, Heras, Su, Paul Iddon Organizations: US Air Force, Russian, Service, Air Force's, US Air Forces Central Command, Wagner Group, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images, Pacific, KC, Tech, East, Getty, New Lines Institute, UAE, Russia, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Syria, Russian, Ukraine, Idlib, East, Europe, North Africa, Al Tanf, AFP, United States, Moscow

☆ Albert Einstein wrote to the US pleading with the government to build an atomic bomb 80 years ago. Here's what he said.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Albert Einstein was famously a pacifist, but he urged the US to develop the atomic bomb. Szilard and two other Hungarian physicists, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner, who were both refugees, told Einstein of their grave concerns. Einstein and Leo Szilard reenacting the signing of their letter to Roosevelt warning that Germany may be building an atomic bomb. Einstein later said, "Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing for the bomb." UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Roosevelt in the meeting where they finalized plans for an atomic bomb.

Persons: Albert Einstein, —, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Einstein, Alexander Sachs, Alex, Sachs, Leo Szilard, Szilard, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner, Leo Szilard reenacting, Cynthia Kelly, Winston Churchill, Warren Buffett Organizations: Manhattan, Service, Atomic Heritage Foundation, New York Times, Jewish, Getty, Geographic, Uranium, Manhattan Project, AP, Gamma, Columbia University Locations: Japan, Nazi Germany, Germany, Hungarian, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, AP Nazi Germany, Keystone, France, United States

"It's all about containing those kinds of capabilities from the north," retired U.S. Major General Gordon B. Davis Jr. told Reuters. "With five submarines we can close the Baltic Sea," Linden told Reuters. The region from the Baltic in the south to the high north may become almost an integrated operating area for NATO. It was first shipped from Germany across the Baltic Sea, then trucked nearly 900 km to the north. "It would make it very difficult for the Russian Baltic Sea fleet to operate in a free way," he said.

Persons: Mika Hakkarainen, Finland –, Major General Gordon B, Davis Jr, Fredrik Linden, Sweden's, Linden, Samu Paukkunen, Paukkunen, Sebastian Bruns, Michael Maus, Kurt Rossi, Rossi, Tuomo Lamberg, Bruns, Nick Childs, Anne Kauranen, Johan Ahlander, Jacob Gronholt, Sabine Siebold, Sara Ledwith Organizations: NATO, Reuters, Fleet, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Major, Analysts, Northern Fleet, Kiel University's Institute for Security, NATO's, Transformation, Field Artillery, U.S . Army, Baltic, Commission, Security, Cooperation, Naval Forces and Maritime Security, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Fouche, Pedersen, Thomson Locations: TORNIO, Finland, KARLSKRONA, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Stockholm, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, RUSSIA, Russian, Murmansk, Kola, Barents, North America, Greenland, Iceland, Helsinki, Baltic, Nord, Russia's, Denmark, Kiel, Rovaniemi, Santa Claus, United States, Britain, Germany, –, St, Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Sweco, Swedish, Gotland, Karlskrona, Oeland, London, Birmingham, Tornio, Oslo, Copenhagen, Brussels

☆ How a record-setting 'Ugly Baby' mission allowed US special operators to outmaneuver Iraqi forces
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

US special-operations forces wanted to infiltrate northern Iraq to tied down Iraqi forces there. Operation Ugly BabyA map of the Ugly Baby mission route along Iraq's western border on March 22, 2003. US Green Berets in an MC-130H heading to Iraq during Operation Ugly Baby on March 22, 2003. A US special-operations aircraft that was forced land by enemy fire during Operation Ugly Baby in March 2003. In all, Task Force Viking numbered about 400 special operators, including elite Delta Force commandos, Green Berets from the 10th Special Forces Group, and frogmen from the UK's Special Boat Service.

Persons: —, Saddam Hussein, Elwell, JOSEPH BARRAK, Baby, Stavros Atlamazoglou Organizations: Service, Operation, US, Allies, US Army, Operation Iraqi, NATO, Turkish, Special Forces, Green Berets, Air, Special Operations Squadron, Detachment Alpha, Air Force, Task Force, US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade, Getty, Delta Force, 10th Special Forces Group, CIA, Republication Guard, Hellenic Army, 575th Marine Battalion, Army, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins, School, International Locations: Iraq, Operation Iraqi, Baghdad, reorienting, Turkey, Kurdish, Turkish, Romania, Jordan, Syria, Erbil, AFP, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Johns

☆ US special operators are tinkering with a low-tech kind of aircraft to overcome high-tech threats in future wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For US special operators, who may have to operate far from friendly forces in those wars, one new effort is the use of a low-tech kind of aircraft to overcome high-tech threats. A special-operations gliderUS Army special operations soldiers load a GD-2000 glider into a C-27J airplane at Yuma Proving Grounds in February. Thoman JohnsonIn February, a US Army Special Forces team tested a prototype aircraft that could ease the logistical challenges faced by special-operations units in contested areas. That long glide distance is equal to what special operators can cover during a High Altitude, High Opening free-fall jump. David Bathgate/Corbis via Getty ImagesDuring the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the US military's resupply operations have been largely uncontested.

Persons: —, Thoman Johnson, Yates Electrospace, David Bathgate, Stavros Atlamazoglou Organizations: Special Forces, Service, US Army, US Army Special Forces, Troops, Green Beret, Getty, Hellenic Army, 575th Marine Battalion, Army, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins, School, International Locations: China, Ukraine, Russian, Yuma, Arizona, Afghanistan, Corbis, Iraq, Syria, Russia, Johns

☆ Opinion: In Ukraine, the Russian military response to the counteroffensive shows how it’s improved – and how it hasn’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Opinion Sébastien Roblin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The beginning of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia seems not to have been a resounding success for Kyiv. But they don’t mean that all is lost for Ukraine – or even that Ukraine is now losing. Russia’s artillery ammunition, missile stockpiles and most-modern ground combat vehicles were gravely depleted, so 60-year-old tanks have been withdrawn from storage. It was while attempting to breach a path through one such fortified minefield that the 47th Brigade’s vehicles bogged down last week. Notably, a parallel drive toward Mariupol at the same time as the 47th’s failed attack last week has made fast gains, compelling Russian forces to withdraw from several settlements.

Persons: Sébastien Roblin, Bradley, ” Sebastien Roblin, Sebastien Roblin, Putin, Biden, —, Jens Stoltenberg, ” Organizations: Popular Mechanics, NBC, Forbes.com, Georgetown University, Peace Corps, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine’s 47th Brigade, Ukraine, Red Army, 47th Brigade, NATO, Twitter, Facebook Locations: China, Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Kursk, Kherson, Normandy, Berdyansk, Crimea

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday recent dangerous encounters between U.S. and Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea reflect a growing aggressiveness by Beijing's military that raises the risk of an error in which "somebody gets hurt." It also follows a May 26 incident in which a Chinese fighter jet carried out what the United States called an "unnecessarily aggressive" maneuver near an American military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace. "Sadly, this is just part of, again, a growing aggressiveness by the PRC (People's Republic of China) that we're dealing with, and we're prepared to address it," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters amid deteriorating ties between Washington and Beijing. In Beijing, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said that "the measures taken by the Chinese military are completely reasonable, legitimate, and professional and safe." Kirby said the United States would continue to stand up for the freedom of navigation in the air and sea.

Persons: we're, John Kirby, Kirby, Wang Wenbin, Heck, it's, Vedant Patel, Joe Biden's, Biden, Patel, Chung, Hoon, Wang, Derek Grossman, Andrea Shalal, Daphne Psaledakis, Matt Spetalnick, Jasper Ward, Will Dunham Organizations: PRC, People's, American, U.S . State Department, Montreal, U.S . Navy, RAND Corporation, Thomson Locations: Taiwan Strait, South China, U.S, Taiwan, Ukraine, United States, American, South, People's Republic of China, Washington, Beijing, China, Canadian, Hainan, Jasper

☆ Opinion | A Peek Behind the MAGA Curtain
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is President Biden, not Trump, who mishandles classified documents. False narratives are often sustained by a few kernels of truth, and so it is in MAGA America. Moreover, not all of Trump’s opponents possess the cleanest of hands. Given these facts — and Thursday night’s peek at MAGA America — my colleague Frank Bruni’s warning to Democrats yesterday was timely and important: Democrats should not hope to face Trump in 2024. All too many Trump opponents — in both parties — have spent so long building their voluminous cases against him that they’ve forgotten how he looks to the other side.

Persons: Biden, Trump, he’s, Trump’s, isn’t, Hunter Biden, MAGA, MAGA America —, Frank Bruni’s, — Organizations: Trump, MAGA America, — Locations: Ukraine, Afghanistan, United States, MAGA America, Russia

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defense plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer listens during an interview in Tallinn, Estonia September 16, 2022. By outlining what it calls its regional plans, NATO will also give nations guidance on how to upgrade their forces and logistics. Finland's accession last month has alone doubled NATO's border with Russia to some 2,500 km, forcing a more flexible approach to deployments than in the past, when Germany was seen as the main battlezone. "We don't envision the type of war that the Cold War was, where allied forces ... would be hit simultaneous with large-scale Warsaw Pact attacks," he said, pointing rather to regionalised conflicts that needed to be contained by quick force deployments. NATO agreed in 2022 to put 300,000 troops on high alert, up from 40,000 in the past.

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