Russia and the US are engaging in tit-for-tat hacking of each others’ power grid, the New York Times is reporting, in what is really a kind of cyber “cold war” where the hackers from each country’s military and intelligence services load electronic “explosives” in the computer systems of critical infrastructure of the other, that in a crisis or war could be “detonated” to create chaos or bring down electric grids.
It finally happened, even after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis urged Congress not to bar Turkey from purchasing the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, arguing in a letter sent to lawmakers as they deliberated the move that such a drastic action would trigger an international “supply chain disruption” that would push costs for the already exorbitant $100 million aircraft higher.
Danny Sjursen is a fellow at Defense Priorities. He served combat tours with U.S. Army reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at his alma mater, West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet.
Zerohedge reports that NATO defense ministers got together in Brussels yesterday (and today) for a two day meeting to discuss Washington’s concerns over the European Union’s new plans to deepen defense ties between its members, and increasingly strained US-Turkey relations; and they will also discuss the ever present topic of defense spending.
AFP reports…
(MEMO) — US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis dismissed concerns on Thursday that the United States was being dragged into a broader conflict in Syria, after a major clash with pro-Syrian government forces overnight that may have left 100 or more of them dead. The US-led coalition said it repelled an unprovoked attack near the Euphrates River by […]
Defending Australian Values in Iraq By David Macilwain | American Herald tribune | February 8, 2018 Ross Caputi, a former Marine who was “witness and accomplice to the atrocities” committed in Fallujah in November 2004 during “Operation Phantom Fury”, wrote this about his unit’s entry into the city: Perhaps it was just too painful of […]
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and discussed NATO’s “democracy spreading wars” and of course “Russian aggression” with Russian President Putin’s fantasy plan to take over the tiny NATO Baltic nations, that no one wants or cares about.
Jim Mattis did note…
President-elect Donald Trump, center, listens to a member of the military in the stands as he watches an Army-Navy NCAA college football game at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Baltimore. (AP/Andrew Harnik)
