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#militarization

2 posts2 participants0 posts today
Public
Kim Perales

Any guy on the street could turn out to be part of an #ICE or HS sting op, such impersonations become trivially easy.
Even if this weren’t a C flooded w guns & a history of vigilantism, unidentified fed agents: a problem bc THEY'RE LESS LIKELY TO FACE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS.

"I think there’s a strong correlation b/w cops who think they’re above the law +cops who shield their faces -refuse to give names -badge numbers...”
-R Balco
#Fascism #Militarization #USPol
washingtonpost.com/opinions/20

The Washington Post · Is that guy with a gun an ICE officer — or just a guy with a gun?By Philip Bump
Public
Kim Perales

An angular, armored MIL vehicle: the Casspir, a ubiquitous sight in the nation’s townships during the final decades of apartheid. The apartheid state deployed the Casspir to patrol & terrorize Black African communities in the name of keeping “peace.”

The Tesla Cybertruck -prime target for protesters demonstrating their dislike of #Musk, blurs the boundaries b/w: battlefield & the public street.

#Racism is systemic in the #TrumpMusk regime.

#Militarization #Tesla #USPol
slate.com/news-and-politics/20

Slate · We’re Scholars Who Study Africa. The Cybertruck Looks Kind of Familiar.By Vivian Chenxue Lu
Public
AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

For a while now I've been writing about the fact that you can't separate the problems of rapidly escalating military conflicts and a world speeding towards climate catastrophe, even if most observers do just that on a semi regular basis. Part of this is because many of the wars we're watching break out are primarily about fossil fuel resources and who has the right to sell energy to whom, and part of it is because rather than doing anything about climate crisis and the capitalism that's causing it, most Pig Empire nations and many of their geopolitical rivals are spending billions on increasing their stock of weapons and the size of their militaries; and much like Chekov's gun, if you're buying bombs in act one, there's a pretty good chance you intend to use them in act three. One less discussed reason why climate crisis and militarization are link however, comes from the fact that dropping bombs, transporting weapons, and engaging in modern warfare itself simply produces a metric fuck ton of carbon emissions all on its own, at a time when our planet simply cannot absorb the impact of everyday carbon releases that aren't caused by folks trying to bomb their way to wealth and power. I've talked about this quite a few times, but until recently I've had to keep these arguments in the realm of "well obviously all that smoke you see on your TV every time someone drops a bomb is going somewhere and having some effect." Now however, someone has taken the time to crunch the numbers and the discussion has moved beyond the realm of speculation and obvious consequences.

oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gen

The Climate Cost of War

"The first major attempt to understand the emissions impact of conflict was seen following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. New methodologies were established by researchers trying to map the emissions released in direct relation to the conflict. Calculations and a third version of the methodology from the New Initiative on GHG Accounting of War - an association of climate experts - are expected to be published at the COP28 climate summit in November. Researchers currently believe that the emissions released from the Russia-Ukraine war could equate to the annual emissions of a small country, such as Belgium. It is important to note that this is just one conflict, and similarly high levels of emissions may be being produced from other wars around the globe.

While the climate impact of war cannot supersede the humanitarian costs, it is important to understand just how much GHG emissions are being produced by war to help achieve international climate pledges. Military activities are often viewed as exempt from emissions restrictions, as they are necessary for national security. Few countries report their military-produced emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), meaning there is a lack of vital information to understand the environmental impact of these emissions. At present, researchers suggest that militaries worldwide could be responsible for around 5.5 percent of global GHG emissions."

I think anyone who reads my work is already well aware of the fact that I'm very much against imperialism, militarization, and war; primarily because I have no emotional attachment to states being run by and for rich people, and it's my people, the global labor class, who bear the cost of these conflicts that serve only the rich. As this piece points out however, the militaries of these various states have no obligations whatsoever to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions that are killing us all and the world we live in. These two things are treated as separate problems when, as I've noted on many occasions, they aren't separate at all - carbon emissions from fighter jets count against a biosphere that can't handle any more of that all the same. Keep that in mind the next time some lanyard who happily supports the national security state starts telling you climate crisis is happening because of your carbon footprint, because I guarantee you that your yearly contribution doesn't even compare to the impact of one 2,000lb bomb and the machinery used to produce it and deliver it to its target.

OilPrice.com · The Climate Cost of WarBy Felicity Bradstock
#ClimateCrisis#FossilFuels#Imperialism
Public
LM Little

"Any excessive #military build-up in the North only serves to divide the #Arctic, perpetuate East-West tensions and the arms race, and put our people on opposing sides. For these and other reasons, Arctic #militarization is not in the interests of the #Inuit in #Canada, the Soviet Union [Russia], #Alaska and #Greenland. Nor do such military preparations further security or world peace." canadiandimension.com/articles

canadiandimension.comCanada’s militarization of the Arctic threatens Indigenous communities and the climateDefence Minister Bill Blair and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly were recently in Nunavut to promote Canada’s new defence policy update. The policy change will expand the military presence of NORAD and NATO in the Arctic. This costly, carbon-intensive plan to militarize the region poses a grave threat both to Inuit communities and to the climate.
Continued thread
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Norobiik @Norobiik@noc.social

“In this regard, we reaffirm that there is no legal basis for #China’s expansive #MaritimeClaims in the South China Sea, and we oppose China’s #militarization, and coercive and #IntimidationActivities in the #SouthChinaSea,” they said. #EastChinaSea #Japan #Philippines

#G7 leaders express serious concern over situation in East and SouthChinaSeas.
rappler.com/philippines/g7-lea

WATER CANNONS IN AYUNGIN. Two China Coast Guard ships train their water cannons onto the Unaizah May 4 (between the two Chinese ships), a wooden boat used to bring supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre. Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos was on board the Unaizah May during this mission. SCREENSHOT FROM PCG VIDEO
Public
Chuck Darwin

Two decades before the war against Ukraine, a “special operation” was launched against #Russian #historical #memory,
aggressively reshaping the nation’s understanding of its history and identity.

The Kremlin’s #militarization of Russia through World War II propaganda is well documented, but the #glorification of Russian #medieval society and its #warlords as a source of support for Putinism has yet to be explored.
This book offers the first comparison of Putin’s political #neomedievalism and re-#Stalinization and introduces the concept of #mobmemory to the study of right-wing populism.

routledge.com/Putins-Dark-Ages

Routledge & CRC PressPutin’s Dark Ages: Political Neomedievalism and Re-Stalinization in RussiaTwo decades before the war against Ukraine, a “special operation” was launched against Russian historical memory, aggressively reshaping the nation’s understanding of its history and identity. The Kremlin’s militarization of Russia through World War II propaganda is well documented, but the glorification of Russian medieval society and its warlords as a source of support for Putinism has yet to be explored. This book offers the first comparison of Putin’s political neomedieva
Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Protest outside & inside of #MaineSpaceConference

By Bruce Gagnon,
Published on Organising Notes, 7 November 2023

"About 200 people attended the conference which was intended to ramp up the establishment of Maine’s campaign to enter ‘the space race’.

"The event began with Dr. Terry Shehata, Executive Director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium, introducing a NASA headquarters speaker who was described as ‘Our sugar daddy, we need to keep him happy’. The NASA representative talked alot about reaching students across Maine and beyond in order to build their support for everything space. After all, in just a few years these students will be taxpayers and the aerospace industry wants to ensure that their generation supports massive federal spending for Moon and Mars missions and the #militarization and #nuclearization of space.

"The aerospace industry calls it an investment. I learned this years ago at a similar conference at the #KennedySpaceCenter in Florida. In a workshop on ‘updating the center’s museum’, the director told the assembled they were retro-fitting the museum on a Mars theme. He bragged that they brought in thousands of Florida students each year that ‘would soon be taxpayers’. That is now a national NASA organizing strategy to keep the aerospace funding pipeline humming for years to come. Get to the students and sell them on the ‘wonders of space’. Let’s all be astronauts!

"Maine State Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) led a plenary panel discussion that promoted the joys of the space gold rush by promising loads of good paying jobs, little-to-no #environmental impacts from launching rockets, and heavy emphasis on teacher and student recruitment. Daughtry was the prime sponsor of the bill in the state legislature to create the Maine Space Corporation with its 17-member board that heavily represents the aerospace industry.

"Almost all the plenary speakers talked about the wonders of #MaineWilderness that enables us to see the starry #NightSky. Sadly none of the speakers noted the irony that due to the space gold rush, launching thousands of #satellites is ruining the dark view. #Astronomers complain that it is becoming near impossible to do astronomical research because of long-strings of blinking #satellites in the night sky.

[...]

"While many of the speakers made grand claims about jobs to come from #Maine’s participation in the space gold rush, the evidence is otherwise. One of the other speakers at the conference talked about space manufacturing becoming increasingly done via robotic and computerized operations. This would increase ‘productivity’ and increase profit but reduce the need for so many workers.

"Other places where #RocketLaunch sites have been created like #KodiakIsland, #Alaska and #RocketLab in #NewZealand promised lots of jobs (which never materialized) and only civilian launches. In both those cases virtually all launches so far have been for the US Pentagon. In the case of Rocket Lab it has been taken over by #LockheedMartin.

"Many of the people attending the Maine Space Conference were investors who are eager to ride the space rocket to grab profit and notoriety. Like any gold rush the long-term truth turns out to be quite different than the original sales pitch promises.

"It is incumbent upon Maine citizens to pay attention to this issue before taxpayers in the state get handed a huge bill for costs that were never made clear during this early round of pie-in-the-sky promotion."

Read more:
space4peace.org/protest-outsid

space4peace.orgProtest outside & inside of Maine Space Conference
#DarkSkies#SpaceIndustry#ToxicRockets
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