Archive for the 'War' Category
Let’s Be Clear: Establishing a ‘No-Fly Zone’ Is an Act of War
May 29th, 2013Via: The Atlantic: Kudos to Josh Rogin for breaking the news that “the White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria.” But wouldn’t it be a more powerful story without the euphemism? Relying on the term “no-fly-zone” is typical in journalism. But that is a mistake. It […]
Pentagon’s Latest Weapon in Colombian Drug War? Soap Operas
May 29th, 2013Via: Wired: The U.S. Army is introducing a new weapon in its fight to get Colombia’s guerrillas to put down their guns: the soap opera. That’s the gist of a recent Army request for proposals, which describes the building blocks of an anti-guerrilla propaganda campaign in Colombia. According to the request, the Army wants a […]
U.S. Weapons System Designs Compromised by Chinese Cyberspies
May 28th, 2013Related, From Australia: ASIO Blueprints Stolen in Major Cyber Attack on Canberra HQ: Classified blueprints of the new ASIO headquarters in Canberra have been stolen in a cyber hit believed to have been mounted by hackers in China. The ABC’s Four Corners program has discovered the plans were taken in an operation targeting a contractor […]
Knife Attack on Soldier in Paris Treated as Terrorism
May 26th, 2013Via: BBC: French anti-terrorist investigators are handling the case of a soldier stabbed while on duty near Paris on Saturday evening, prosecutors have confirmed. The soldier was wounded while on patrol in La Defense, a business district west of the French capital. Private First Class Cedric Cordier was approached from behind and stabbed in the […]
U.S. Acknowledges Killing of Four U.S. Citizens in Counterterrorism Operations
May 23rd, 2013More transparent and accountable now, promise. *wink* Via: Washington Post: The Obama administration acknowledged Wednesday that it has killed four Americans in overseas counterterrorism operations since 2009, the first time it has publicly taken responsibility for the deaths. Although the acknowledgment, contained in a letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to Congress, does […]
‘Man Killed in Deadly Terror Attack in London Street’
May 23rd, 2013Friend of Adebolajo’s Arrested Via: AP: Nusaybah said Adebolajo became withdrawn after returning last year from a visit to Kenya, where he claimed he had been arrested and then abused both physically and sexually while in jail. Nusaybah claimed that Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, approached Adebolajo to recruit him upon his return to Britain […]
U.S. Special Forces Getting Constellation of Mini Satellites To ‘Hunt Down People Considered To Be Dangerous To The United States And Its Interests’
May 22nd, 2013Those birds should be busy when they fly over Washington, D.C. Oh. Wait. Via: Wired: In September, the U.S. government will fire into orbit a two-stage rocket from a Virginia launchpad. Officially, the mission is a scientific one, designed to improve America’s ability to send small satellites into space quickly and cheaply. But the launch […]
DARPA: Robotic Hand Strong Enough to Hold 50lb Weight, Dexterous Enough to Use Tweezers
May 22nd, 2013Via: DARPA: The ARM-H track of DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program focuses on development of robust, low-cost and dexterous robotic hand hardware. DARPA funded performers to design and build hand mechanisms that could replace the claw-like hands currently used on robots with hands incorporating 3-4 fingers and useable palms. The teams successfully produced hands […]
‘War on Terror’ Is Permanent
May 19th, 2013Via: Guardian: That the Obama administration is now repeatedly declaring that the “war on terror” will last at least another decade (or two) is vastly more significant than all three of this week’s big media controversies (Benghazi, IRS, and AP/DOJ) combined. The military historian Andrew Bacevich has spent years warning that US policy planners have […]
U.S. Congress Restricts Government Purchase of Chinese Computer Equipment, Citing Cyber-Espionage Concerns
May 17th, 2013haha. Good luck with that. Via: The Verge: The latest US appropriations bill, signed into law just this week, includes a provision that is likely to further raise tensions between the country and China. The provision requires the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, NASA, and the NSF to perform a formal assessment of risk […]
