dailybeast | As families in this rural town prepare to bury the 19 children and two adults gunned down
in a brutal school massacre this week, they are left shell-shocked by
not only the devastation the gunman wrought, but by the revelation that,
as they see it, those who were sworn to protect and serve them did just
the opposite.
“While those babies were in there dying, they stood
there with their thumbs in their asses trying to figure out what to
do,” said Roger Garza, a friend of the family of teacher Irma Garcia, who was killed by the gunman as she tried to shield her fourth-grade students.
“I
mean don’t we pay them to rush in and protect people? Somebody needs to
be held accountable for this,” Garza told The Daily Beast.
“We were waiting outside and yelling about how we wanted to go in and
storm the classroom,” said Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter,
Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack. “I came running and the
police were in a panic trying to figure out what to do. Now we know
children, including my daughter, were dying in there. That is what
hurts. Knowing they could have maybe protected her and those other
kids.”
Cazares wants to know why they didn’t do anything; it is a question that everyone here is asking.
“While
those children sat in there with this madman, as many as 19 officers
had to think about what to do,” said Ignacio Perez, who was doing his
best to comfort Cazares. “I promise you these parents had a plan and
were ready to act on it. Where was the bravery? In those kids. That is
where it was.”
Amid the growing outrage over the botched police response,
authorities in Uvalde have reportedly called in reinforcements from
around the state to protect the local officers from potential threats.
The
additional cops, from various agencies in other jurisdictions, will
supplement Uvalde’s ranks for an unspecified period, and will also
provide security for the mayor, officials with the Texas Police Chiefs Association told CBS DFW.
In
the immediate aftermath of the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary, Gov.
Greg Abbott lauded the police response, insisting that officers had
acted heroically and saved numerous lives. But he lashed out angrily
when a different narrative later emerged, saying he was “livid” over
having been “misled.” Federal agents on the scene said no one seemed to be in charge, and at one point, agonized parents waiting outside considered rushing the school themselves.
One Uvalde cop claimed there “was almost a mutiny,” telling People magazine that he and his colleagues “felt like cowards” for not storming the building earlier.
usnews | The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to make breaking European
Union sanctions against Russia a crime, a move that would allow EU
governments to confiscate assets of companies and individuals that evade
EU restrictions against Moscow.
Breaking EU sanctions on Russia is
now a criminal offence in 12 EU countries. It is either an
administrative or a criminal offence in 13 and two treat it only as an
administrative offence, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said.
Penalties for sanction breaking across the EU vary accordingly.
The
Commission proposal aims to unify that approach to make sanctions
evasion a serious crime in all members of the 27-nation bloc, he told a
news conference.
"Today's
proposals aim to ensure that the assets of individuals and entities that
violate the restrictive measures can be effectively confiscated in the
future," the Commission said in a statement.
The EU has so far frozen 10 billion
euros in physical assets and more than 20 billion euros in bank accounts
of Russian oligarchs helping the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine.
But
before these assets could be confiscated and sold off, the oligarchs
would first have to be convicted of either trying to evade sanctions or
of other crimes and the assets seized would have to be linked to that
crime only.
The new EU law,
which has to be unanimously approved by all EU governments and get a
majority in the European Parliament, would also penalise those who help
break sanctions, like lawyers or bankers working with those who
circumvent restrictions.
The
Commission also proposed to make it generally easier to confiscate
assets of criminals in the EU, making it possible to impose an immediate
freezing order to prevent the assets from being moved, before a proper
court order confirms it.
The
Commission estimates annual revenues of criminal gangs in the EU at 139
billion euros, only 2% of which become frozen by the authorities. Only
half of the frozen assets are later confiscated.
americansforprosperity | What happens when the federal government blatantly violates a court
order and takes the property of citizens who are not under criminal
suspicion?
Why should innocent property owners have to prove their innocence in order to get their property back from the government?
These
are a few of the questions that have come into play when law
enforcement agencies seized private property through the most recent
horror story involving civil asset forfeiture.
In
this ongoing case in California, federal agents exceeded their
authority, took property from citizens not even under criminal
suspicion, and are refusing to give it back unless they can successfully
navigate the government’s demands.
The stories of these
people are unfortunately not the first example of the government
violating our rights in this manner, but they are certainly not any less
shocking.
The raid on U.S. Private Vaults
On March 22,
2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency
acted under a warrant to shut down a Beverly Hills, California business
called U.S. Private Vaults.
USPV provided bank-style safety deposit boxes to customers who wanted anonymity.
Through biometric identifiers, or a nondescript key, boxholders could
store valuables without ever having to identify themselves by name.
Prosecutors say it was a criminal business however, and a grand jury indicted the company on charges of conspiracies to launder money, distribute controlled substances, and structure transactions.
The
warrant authorizing the raid allowed investigators to seize a list of
items, including deposit box keys, money counters, biometric scanners,
security cameras, and computers.
There’s no public
indication however, that law enforcement had specific information about
criminal suspects with boxes there or had identified boxes that held
ill-gotten gains from specific crimes. And the warrant specifically prohibited law enforcement from seizing the contents of the more than 800 privately held safe deposit boxes at the business:
This
warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents
of safety deposit boxes … in accordance with their written policies,
agents shall inspect the contents of the boxes in an effort to identify
their owners in order to notify them so that they can claim their
property.
That restriction was ignored. Prosecutors seized the contents of the boxes, intentionally casting a wide net that took in all customers, innocent or otherwise. The FBI now says it intends to hold onto $85 million in cash, and an unspecified haul of gold, silver, and precious metals.
On
June 22, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner found that the FBI “provides
no factual basis for the seizure of Plaintiffs’ property,” and issued a temporary injunction against the seizures.
treasury.gov | The
Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF) administers the
Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF). The TFF is the receipt account for
deposit of non-tax forfeitures made pursuant to laws enforced or
administered by Treasury and Department of Homeland Security agencies.
About
Established in 1992, the Treasury Executive Office for Asset
Forfeiture (TEOAF) was established to affirmatively influence the
consistent and strategic use of asset forfeiture to disrupt and
dismantle criminal enterprises. Asset forfeiture is a vital legal tool
that serves a number of compelling law enforcement purposes and is
designed to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes, to break
the financial backbone of organized criminal syndicates and drug
cartels, and to recover property that may be used to compensate victims
and deter crime.
TEOAF administers the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF), which is the
receipt account for the deposit of non-tax forfeitures made pursuant to
laws enforced or administered by Treasury and Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) law enforcement agencies:
Other statutory member agencies include the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network (FinCEN), and the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
The TFF is a special fund, i.e. a federal fund collection earmarked
by law for a specific purpose. The enabling legislation for TFF (Title
31 U.S.C. § 9705) defines those purposes for which Treasury forfeiture
revenue may be used. The funds can be allocated and used without the
enactment of an annual appropriation by the Congress.
TEOAF’s priorities in administering the Treasury forfeiture program are to:
Administer and manage the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF) program
in a fiscally responsible manner that seeks to minimize administrative
costs and maximize the benefits for law enforcement and the compensation
of eligible victims.
Ensure program policies protect due process rights of individuals.
Focus resources on strategic cases and investigations that
result in actions against high profile criminals and criminal
enterprises to affect the greatest financial damage to criminal
organizations.
Foster a strong working relationship between federal and state or local law enforcement agencies.
Additional information about the TFF is included in the following Treasury orders and Directives:
We are
marking Africa Day today, a holiday that symbolises the African peoples’
unbending will and uncompromising struggle in the name of freedom and
independence.
Russia
has played a leading role in decolonisation and in consolidating
decolonisation processes, as well as drafting UN resolutions.
Unfortunately, some of them have been sabotaged by former metropolises
to this day. We stand in solidarity with your demands for the complete
liberation of Africa from the last vestiges of colonial legacy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to read out President Vladimir Putin’s message to heads of state and government of African countries.
Please accept
my warmest wishes on Africa Day, a holiday symbolising the aspirations
of the countries on your continent for freedom, independence, peace
and prosperity.
This year
marks 20 years since the Organisation of African Unity was transformed
into the African Union. That change marked the emergence
of a multilateral pan-African platform on a qualitatively higher level
of interaction in the political, socioeconomic and other spheres.
African
states have achieved a great deal together over the past two decades.
They have developed mechanisms for a collective response to local
conflicts and crises, and are consistently promoting regional
integration processes in various formats. Africa
enjoys growing prestige on the global stage and plays an increasingly
important role in resolving important issues on the international
agenda.
Our country
has always placed particular emphasis on expanding friendly relations
with our African partners. The Russia-Africa Summit held in Sochi
in 2019 paved the way for expanding fruitful cooperation, both
bilaterally and multilaterally. I am confident that by rallying
together, we will be able to ensure the development and implementation
of many useful and innovative projects and initiatives in various fields
for the benefit of our countries and peoples, in the interests
of strengthening security and stability in Africa and around the world.
I wish you
good health and every success in your public endeavours , as well as
peace, well-being and prosperity to your fellow citizens.
Vladimir Putin.
There is no
doubt that we can do more above and beyond the existing level of
political and economic integration within the African Union. I am
confident that our friends will continue to move forward and fulfill
their goals in the interest of ensuring the well-being and prosperity of
their respective countries.
We will
continue to provide comprehensive support and to expand mutually
beneficial cooperation. Russian-African relations are traditionally
friendly and are making good progress.
Russia has always been and will remain a reliable partner and friend to the countries of Africa. Today, we are confronted with certain Western countries’ unscrupulous attempts to constrain our engagement with Africa. I’m referring to the all-out hybrid war against Russia declared by Washington
and its European satellites in connection with the special military
operation in Ukraine, the reasons for which you are well aware of.
It is not so much about Ukraine,
which is used as a bargaining chip in the global anti-Russian game. The
main problem is that a small group of US-led Western countries keeps
trying to impose the concept of a rules-based world order on the
international community. They use this banner to promote, without any
hesitation, a unipolar model of the world order where there are
“exceptional” countries and everyone else who must obey the “club of the
chosen.”
The
US congressmen who are busy drafting a law on countering “malign
Russian activities in Africa” are an integral part of this neo-colonial
policy. The United States and its allies are pursuing a similar policy
regarding Africa's cooperation with the People's Republic of China.
The attempts
to reverse history and to subjugate the peoples of the continent once
again grossly violate the sovereignty and independence of the countries
of that region. They jeopardise the entire international relations
system that relies on the UN Charter and the principle of respect for
the sovereign equality of states.
It pleases me
to state that African countries have adopted a balanced and objective
stance with regard to the developments in Ukraine. We know that the
African countries openly oppose the Western countries’ unceremonious
behaviour. I’m confident that our friends will not succumb to
Washington's discriminatory pressure. We highly appreciate your
willingness to further expand the political dialogue with our country
and to build up cooperation in the economy, culture and other spheres.
In the
interests of our peoples, it is important to work together to maintain
and expand mutually beneficial trade and investment ties in the new
circumstances in order to be able to rely on dependable supply and
finance mechanisms that are protected against external interference. It
is important to facilitate the mutual access of Russian and African
economic operators to each other's markets and to encourage their
engagement in major infrastructure projects.
These tasks
are central to preparations for the second Russia-Africa summit. In
conjunction with our African friends, we hope to agree on the variables
for holding the summit and its content soon.
We know that
African countries are among the most vulnerable in terms of food
security. Some of them are critically dependent on agricultural imports
from Russia. We are aware that these supplies are of great importance
for maintaining social stability and achieving the benchmarks stipulated
by the UN-approved Sustainable Development Goals.
I would like
to reassure everyone that Russia is fulfilling and will continue to
honestly fulfil its obligations under international contracts in terms
of export supplies of food, fertilisers, energy and other commodities
that Africa needs.
At the same
time, we call on our friends, the African Union, to strongly demand that
the West lift illegal unilateral sanctions that undermine the transport
and supply infrastructure that international trade depend on, which
creates risks for vulnerable groups of the population. Africa’s voice
must be heard. The UN Secretary General must adopt a more principled
stance on this matter.
I’d be remiss
not to mention professional training which is a traditional sphere of
our partnership. About 27,000 African students are studying in our
country. The Government has decided to gradually increase the annual
quota of students admitted from Africa. In addition to student
exchanges, we will continue to focus on expanding and deepening social,
scientific, youth and sports contacts.
Colleagues, friends,
I would like
once again to wish us all a happy holiday and peace and prosperity to
our countries and peoples. I wish you personally and your loved ones
good health, successes, prosperity and all the best.
NakedCapitalism | As even legacy media outlets in the West (including El País, the Financial Times and Foreign Policy)
are conceding, the US is fast losing influence not only globally but
also within its own neighborhood. And it needs to change tack, fast.
While China was able to pull off a smoothly run virtual summit with
Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers in December, culminating
in a unanimously agreed three-year action plan, the Biden Administration
has managed to antagonize many of the region’s leaders even before
sending out invites to the Summit.
This is after failing to give Latin America and the Caribbean the
attention it deserves, even as Washington hopes to reassert influence in
the region. The Biden Administration has not even sent
ambassadors to many of the region’s nations, including Brazil, Chile,
Panama, Haiti, Salvador, Panama, Bolivia and Cuba. Even more incredible,
it has not even nominated an ambassador to the Organization of American
States (OAS), the organization that organizes the Americas Summit.
As Anguilar notes, Washington will need to buck its ideas up if it
wants to maintain a leadership role in the region. That will mean
changing the way it treats many of its neighbors:
In Washington’s list of priorities should be, without a
doubt, not taking for granted that these Latin American countries will
be aligned with the United States.
This is especially true given the recent election of left-of-center
governments in Bolivia, Honduras, Argentina, Peru, Chile and the likely
electoral triumphs of Gustavo Petro in Colombia this coming weekend and
Lula in Brazil in October. Many countries in the region are no longer
willing to accept Washington’s insistence on democratic credentials,
particularly given Washington’s own predilection for supporting brutal
autocracies in other parts of the world as well as its long history of
toppling democratically elected nations in Latin America (and beyond).
The irony has not been lost on the US’ biggest geostrategic rival,
Beijing, which is determined to take advantage of perceived US weakness
in the Americas. “Instead of benefiting Latin America . . . the US has
brought Latin America wanton exploitation, wilful sanctions, inflation,
political interference, regime change, assassination of politicians and
even armed aggression,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week.
Unlike the US, China generally does not try to dictate how its
trading partners should behave and what sorts of rules, norms,
principles and ideology they should adhere to. What China does — or at
least has by and large done over the past few decades until now — is to
trade with and invest in countries that have goods — particularly
commodities — it covets. As Anguilar notes, it has worked a treat in
Latin America and the Caribbean:
What China is doing in Latin America is what it is doing
in other regions, through its infrastructure initiatives, generating a
tremendous volume of trade. In the last 20 years, China has gone from
investing $18 billion to $450 billion, with projects ranging from
nuclear power plants in Argentina, the Bogotá Metro, not to mention the
[$64 billion of] trade generated with Venezuela, which allows Venezuela
to subsist.
China is very important, because for the United States it really is
the new adversary… I believe that this has them very concerned — as it
well should… If [Latin American countries] only think in the short term,
[they] can also commit the enormous error of ceding sovereignty to a
superpower like China. If China buys up ports in Chile, what
implications does it have for geopolitics, sovereignty and security?
In an urgent effort at damage control, Washington dispatched a team
to bend AMLO’s ear last week. Since then US Ambassador to Mexico Ken
Salazar has called in on Mexico’s National Palace so many times that
some pundits have quipped that he may as well install an office next to
AMLO’s. Washington has also pledged a partial relaxation of restrictions
on Cuba. But it could all be too little, too late.
AMLO has said he will confirm his attendance definitively today
(Friday, May 27). Personally speaking, I think it is unlikely that
Washington’s paltry concessions will be enough to twist AMLO’s arm,
though I could be wrong. The decision to invite Spain to the conference
is unlikely to help matters either given AMLO’s recent clashes with
Madrid, particularly over his proposed energy reforms.
Even if the Biden Administration wanted to make bigger concessions,
its hands are most likely tied by electoral considerations, particularly
in Florida. Once the perennial swing state, Florida has been taking on a
deep shade of red of late, but is still considered key to the
Democrat’s electoral ambitions for this November’s mid-terms. Any
significant concessions given by Biden to Latin America’s “axis of evil”
(Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua) will be seized upon by Republicans as a
gesture of appeasement. And that sort of messaging is likely to be
lapped up by many within the Latin American diaspora in Florida.
Even more concerning is the fact that Washington does not seem to be
able or willing to change its ways when it comes to regional relations.
Margaret Thatcher’s classic dictum “there is no alternative” (Aka TINA)
appears to be the name of the game.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations last week put forward
the “Upholding the Inter-American Democratic Charter Act of 2022.” The
proposed “bipartisan” legislation includes initiatives aimed at
“strengthening” US cooperation with the OAS, which AMLO himself has
talked about replacing with a “body that is truly autonomous and not
anybody’s lackey,” as well as addressing “ongoing and emerging threats
to democratic governance in the hemisphere, including on issues related
to election interference, dis/misinformation, and corruption.”
Same Old, Same Old
If passed, the legislation will attempt (and most likely fail) to
reinstall the US as the dominant force in the region, with zero
tolerance for governments that do not meet its high standards of
democratic governance.
“While important progress has been made to advance good governance
and the rule of law since the signing of the Inter-American Democratic
Charter, we must recognize the fact that the Western Hemisphere is not
immune to the current wave of democratic decline and creeping
authoritarianism facing the world. From Havana to Caracas, Managua to
San Salvador, now is the time to bolster the United States’ diplomatic
strategy to help confront challenges that are threatening the
underpinnings of the Charter’s norms and principles,” said Chairman
Menendez.
Washington still appears to be blind to the actual aspirations, needs
and interests of the countries south of the Rio Grande. It is also
apparently blind to its own democratic decline and creeping
authoritarianism. It seems to be incapable of thinking in anything but
neo-colonial terms. It does not want to listen to its counterparts or
treat them as equals; instead it will continue to impose — or at least
try to impose — its own political system and values on others while
ensuring they continue to adhere to US economic and geo-strategic
interests.
sputnik | "Mexican President López Obrador has increased the risk of embarrassing Biden,
who will be the host of the meeting in Los Angeles, as he has already
announced that his country will not participate in the summit with the
absence of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua," says Gustavo Guerreiro,
executive editor of the journal World Tensions and a member of the
Brazilian Centre for Solidarity with Peoples and Struggle for Peace
(CEBRAPAZ). "The likely boycott of the summit denotes the collapse of US
hegemony over Latin America."
The
ninth Summit of the Americas (SOA) is due to take place on 6-10 June
2022 in Los Angeles, California. It will be convened in the US for the
first time since its 1994 inaugural session in Miami. However, after it
became clear that leftist states Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not
be included, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signaled
that he would skip the summit. Bolivian President Luis Arce followed in
Obrador's footsteps, saying that he may also boycott the event if the
heads of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were not invited.
Honduran
President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya stated on Twitter that "if not all
nations are present, it's not a Summit of the Americas." For his part,
Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez said that he would participate
in the meeting but cited deep concerns about excluding nations.
Meanwhile,
Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei said last Tuesday that he
would not attend after Washington barred Maria Consuelo Porras, the
country's top prosecutor, and her family.
"Giammattei said he would not participate in the Americas summit after
the US criticized the appointment of Guatemala Attorney General,
Consuelo Porras, for another four years," says Guerreiro. "This is yet
another case of the US interference in the internal affairs of another
country. President Giammattei said that although his country is small,
his sovereignty must be respected."
US Lost Control in Latin America
Meanwhile,
the US is scrambling to avoid a boycott. On 19 May, US special adviser,
former Senator Chris Dodd, tried to persuade the Mexican president to
visit the SOA summit. The same day, the Biden administration pointed the
finger of blame at Cuba for "fuelling controversy over its possible
exclusion" from the summit to portray the US as a "bad guy."
"It
is not justified at all," Guerreiro highlights. "On the contrary,
Washington insists on maintaining a criminal embargo, which imposes
seemingly endless draconian economic and political sanctions, which
mainly penalise the population of Cuba. Cuba has every right to manifest
against any form of isolation that hegemonic power imposes on him."
On
23 May, the US signaled that it was looking for ways to represent the
people of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the upcoming SOA: "We are
still evaluating options on how to best incorporate the voices of the
Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan people into the summit process," a US
state department official said.
However,
Guerreiro forecasts that these attempts are likely to be opposed by a
bipartisan coalition of American politicians: "One of those in the
campaign against Cuba's participation is Senator Robert Menendez, a New
Jersey Cuban-American Democrat who heads the Senate Foreign Affairs
Committee," he says.
The
scholar notes that the controversy surrounding the summit shows deep
changes in Washington's traditional perception of Latin America as its
backyard. "The US no longer governs the region," he says.
At
the same time, the US is at pains to maintain the crumbling status quo
and has difficulties in establishing working relations with left-wing
democratic governments of Latin America, according to the scholar.
"The
US remains a great world power and will probably continue to be,"
Guerreiro says. "However, they can no longer command Latin America as
before. Of course, there are differences between some leaders, this is
natural. However, the US command is no longer accepted and there is
awareness that Latin American countries are capable of forming a bloc of
common interests."
stalkerzone | On May 18, Deputy Prime Minister of the government and curator of the Russian defence industry, Yury Borisov, said that the “Peresvet”
combat laser system has already been serially supplied to the Russian
troops. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the laser can disable
satellites in orbits up to 1,500 kilometres high. Such technologies were
previously considered impossible. A significant number of experiments
in this area were conducted by two superpowers of the world.
Several similar programs have been active in the US for some time.
One of the most promising was considered to be the development work on
the topic of the YAL-1 “flying laser” based on the Boeing 747 aircraft.
As a result, $12 billion was spent on a high-energy weapons program to
intercept ballistic missile warheads, but the work was completed to no
avail.
In the USSR, they went the other way. Few people know, but it was the
mock-up of the “Skif-DM” combat laser complex, or “Index 17F19DM”,
better known as “Polyus”, that was the first “passenger” of the
superheavy “Energiya” rocket back in 1987. As with modern anti-satellite
weapons, its principle was based on the defeat of the optical elements
of enemy satellites – visors and lenses. The second, cheaper and simpler
project in this direction is the A-60 chemical laser based on the Il-76
transport aircraft.
“Peresvet” laser and secret “Zadira”
Work on the “Peresvet” combat laser complex was first announced by
Russian President Vladimir Putin. The exact composition of the equipment
inside the complex is not disclosed, however, it is known that
“Peresvet” is a high-energy laser in a mobile version: a generator and a
combat readiness maintenance system, a radiator and a surveillance
system are located in several sections. According to some reports, the
complex is effective against all surveillance means, including RQ-4
Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned vehicles, as well as most spacecraft
of the American IMINT species reconnaissance system. According to some
reports, commercial structures are also periodically connected to it.
The most famous example is MAXAR, which provides high-resolution
intelligence to the US military. The other two participants in this
program are slightly less well known, but Planet Labs and SkyBox have
the most high-tech devices.
Back in 2014, with the help of a complex optical circuit,
ultra-sensitive matrices and software processing, Skybox was able to
achieve outstanding performance. From a height of 600 km, their devices
can film the surface of the planet with a detail of about 1 meter, while
it’s not only about photos, but also about video. The project turned
out to be so impressive that the entire company was bought out by the IT
giant Google, and the satellites formed the basis of the Terra Bella
surveillance system. Another company, Planet Labs, received the first
“spy grant” back in 2016, and since then it has been commercial
structures that have been spying on the most important objects of a
likely enemy, including in Russia.
The capabilities of the “Peresvet” laser are designed just for such
means of reconnaissance. The principle of operation of the weapon is not
disclosed, however, it is known that the previous complexes, designed
in the USSR and Russia, could operate in several modes. The two most
important ones are the “local impact” mode on a specific vehicle flying
over a restricted zone, as well as the “continuous defeat” mode, when
over a certain zone (a square of several hundred kilometres) a so-called
laser curtain is being put up.
here is no detailed data on the combat deployment of the “Peresvet”
complexes during the special military operation in Ukraine, however, in
early March, Wired reported that American satellites were “experiencing
difficulties” in working when flying over the border areas of Russia and
Ukraine. According to Wired, the intelligence department of the US
Department of Defence could not get any pictures of the desired area at
all before the start of hostilities, and the advanced units of Russian
troops on the territory of Ukraine were noticed from space only a few
hours after the start of “Operation Z”. Neither civilian analysts nor
representatives of the Pentagon specify why this happened.
And on February 28, 4 days after the start of the special military
operation in Ukraine, Google satellites “fell off”. The company even had
to issue a statement informing users about the “temporary shutdown” of
updates for images in areas of concentration and movement of Russian
troops. In total, according to Professor Todd Humphreys of the
University of Texas, at least 50 different synthetic-aperture radar
(SAR) satellites were deployed over Ukraine after the start of its
military operation by the Russian Army.
It is curious that the combat protection of such objects as the
“Peresvet” laser is carried out not only by electronic warfare troops
and air defence units, but also by fully-fledged “Zadira” combat lasers.
This complex was developed at the Russian Federal Nuclear Center
(Russian Federal Nuclear Center — All-Russian Research Institute of
Experimental Physics) in Sarov. The power of the weapon is not
disclosed, however, according to some reports, a few seconds of
radiation is enough to “cut” a small reconnaissance drone into two
parts.
Starlink to Ukraine
According to some reports, the American and Ukrainian military had several simultaneous serious problems.
Firstly, a significant part of the equipment of the US surveillance
satellites “failed” in the first few days of the special operation in
Ukraine. The reasons why this happened are not disclosed in the United
States, just as in Russia they do not make statements on the combat use
of “Peresvet” lasers capable of burning out the powerful optics of
satellites in orbits up to 1,500 kilometres high.
Secondly, the transmission of data from Maxar Technologies’
WorldView-2 satellites to Ukrainian spacecraft was difficult, since the
latter, as it turned out, were not designed for such a volume of
information. Data overload has led to the fact that a significant part
of telecommunications satellites simply failed. It is not possible to
restore their functionality at the moment, so the spacecraft are just
hanging out in orbit like garbage.
It
is for this reason that Elon Musk was urgently brought into the arena.
Starlink communications satellites, previously tested at military
exercises of the US Army and the Strategic Command, turned out to be the
most convenient channel for data transmission. If it were not for the
data transmission network that SpaceX deployed in orbit, the UAF would
have lost all intelligence — both its own and those transmitted to them
by American intelligence.
RT | Russia has developed its own anti-drone laser capability and is
already using it in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov claimed
in an interview on Wednesday. It has a range of 5km and was nicknamed
Zadira, or ‘troublemaker’ in Russian, he said. He didn’t disclose any
other details about the new device.
The revelation came as
Borisov was discussing the advanced weapons being developed in Russia.
He compared the new tool to Peresvet, a laser system first unveiled by
President Vladimir Putin in 2018, the exact purpose of which was not
explained at the time.
The official confirmed that the Peresvet
was designed to disable optic sensors, including on spy satellites
orbiting the earth as high as 1,500 km.
“While Peresvet blinds, the new generation of laser weapons causes physical damage to the target, burning it through,” he said.
When asked about the timeline for the Russian military to receive
such systems, Borisov said they were already being supplied. When asked
further whether the anti-drone laser was deployed in Russia’s military
campaign in Ukraine, the minister acknowledged that the “first samples were used” there.
According
to military experts, lasers have several drawbacks as weapons,
including massive power requirements and the deterioration of the beam
caused by dust and water vapor in the air cause, among others.
However,
they have a major advantage in terms of cost-per-shot compared to
traditional anti-aircraft missiles. The advancement in drone technology,
which has made the deployment of air assets more financially
accessible, has compelled military planners worldwide to look for
various ways to counter this threat without depleting their war chests.
globalsecurity | During his address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin
startled some observers when he said that Russia's progress in laser
weaponry was "not just a concept or a plan," and that the army was
already being equipped with combat lasers. Speaking to the nation on
March 1, President Putin revealed that Russia had "achieved significant
progress in laser weapons," and that "combat laser systems" began to be
delivered into the military last year. Putin's remarks were complimented
by a video showing off what appears to be a heavy, truck-mounted laser
platform, whose name and intended purpose remain classified. "I do not
want to reveal more details. It is not the time yet. But experts will
understand that with such weaponry, Russia's defense capacity has
multiplied," Putin added.
But what is these Combat Laser Complex [Voevoi Lazernoy Kompleks]
actually for? Veteran military analyst Viktor Murakhovsky may have the
answer. "Most likely, this system solves air defense and missile defense
tasks," Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland, a
Russian military publication, explained. "The use of a laser beam is far
more economical than the use of standard anti-missile missiles. At the
same time, its accuracy is far greater," he added.
Alexander Khramchikhin, director of the Moscow-based Institute of
Political & Military Analysis, suggested that based on current
global trends, Russia's new battle lasers are most likely designed with
close-range air defense in mind, and specifically for the destruction of
drones and cruise missiles.
Dmitry Kornev wrote about this "... unusual system, first shown in March
2018 ... the Peresvet laser complex. Then many experts wondered what it
was intended for. It is already known that its main task is to ensure
the deployment of mobile strategic missile systems in a threatened
period of time due to illumination and disruption of the operation of
space and aviation reconnaissance means of a potential enemy. The
complex has already been created, and in addition, its deployment has
been completed at several bases of the Strategic Missile Forces in the
order of trial operation. If the effectiveness of Peresvet's work is
confirmed, it is likely that it will be deployed wherever it is
necessary to "close" space reconnaissance and surveillance equipment."
Laser beam control systems have many disparate applications, such as
directed energy weapons, both lethal and non-lethal, LIDAR and beacons,
countermeasures, remote chemical sensing, target illumination, and
micromachining. Among these applications, the high energy laser (HEL)
beam control systems are used mainly in directed energy weapons. Beam
control in HEL systems is rendered more challenging since such systems
are often required to direct the HEL to a target across large distances,
thus requiring adaptive optics to correct for atmospheric turbulence
and aerosol effects.
High-energy laser weapon systems normally need to compensate for
atmospheric fluctuations using adaptive optics. The atmospheric
compensation is usually done using a separate beacon illuminator laser
to create a pseudo star on the target and sense the return in a
wavefront sensor to drive the adaptive optics. In the present invention
the high-energy laser itself is used as a beacon illuminator by turning
it off periodically for a very short period giving the wavefront sensor
and aim point sensor an opportunity to measure the return from the
high-energy laser. In addition, the high-energy laser weapon can be
snapped ahead of the path of the target to avoid anisoplanatism.
In a high-energy laser weapon system, the laser needs to be maintained
on a specific area of the target for a period of time to be effective.
Atmospheric compensation using adaptive optics significantly reduces the
time the high-energy laser must be maintained on the target. A tracker
illuminator (TIL) is employed to measure the angle and range of the
target relative to the ground based or airborne HEL weapon system. A
beacon illuminator (BIL) is used to create a pseudo star on the target.
The BIL return signal is measured by a wavefront sensor to determine
atmospheric turbulence between the weapon system and the target. This
information is then used to drive adaptive optics (deformable mirrors)
to vary the HEL beam to compensate for atmospheric disturbances. This
reduces the time on target required for the HEL beam to destroy the
target.
For size, weight, and complexity limitations, the HEL and BIL systems
are usually shared aperture designs that both transmit the high-energy
laser and sense the target through the same telescope since building a
second separate telescope and referencing the two to each other tends to
be prohibitive. The high-energy laser is often pointed open loop with
no feedback as to where it is on the target. The HEL can also be pointed
with respect to the BIL, but with no direct feedback if it is hitting
the aim point. However, direct feedback can be obtained by looking at
the HEL scatter (in band) or heated spot (black body heating or hot
spot). The beacon illuminator laser operates at a different frequency
than the HEL and could need to be hundreds of watts of power to get
enough return signal above the background and electronic noise depending
on the range to the target.
HEL beam control systems typically use two illuminators, one to track
the hard body of the target (called the "target illuminator") and the
other for wavefront sensing (called the "beacon illuminator"). The
target illuminator is usually a broader beam, and it is usually directed
to a large portion of the target, or sometimes the entire target, to
track features of the target, locate and select an aimpoint on the
target, and maintain a stable line of sight to the target. The beacon
illuminator is a beam directed toward the aimpoint, or alternatively
ahead of the aimpoint to correct for distances and target velocity. The
beacon illuminator is usually a beam at a wavelength different from the
HEL in order to enable distinguishing the two beams. The return from the
beacon illuminator is sent to an adaptive optics system to measure the
wavefront error resulting from the flow field and atmospheric turbulence
between the HEL source and the target. Such two illuminator systems,
while functional, are costly, heavy, and complex.
A laser beam return, which includes scatter from the laser beam, is
received through the output aperture and detected by a sensor. An optics
controller is operationally coupled to the deformable mirror and is
adapted to adjust the deformable mirror in response to a wavefront of
the laser beam return detected by the sensor. The scatter may result
from the laser beam incident upon the target, or it may result from the
laser beam passing through a medium between the output aperture and the
target.
The method of controlling the laser beam includes directing the laser
beam along an optical path through the output aperture and toward a
target using at least one of a steering mirror and a deformable mirror. A
laser beam return, which includes scatter from the laser beam, is
detected, and the detected beam is used to adjust at least one of the
steering mirror and the deformable mirror. The scatter may be generated
by the laser beam incident upon the target, or it may be generated as
the laser beam passes through the medium between the target and the
output aperture. Scatter from the two different sources may be
differentiated using speckle statistics. As an option, the wavefront of
the laser beam return may be detected, in which case the deformable
mirror is adjusted in response to the detected wavefront. As another
option, a relative position of the laser beam return is detected on a
sensor, and the angular position of at least one of the steering mirror
and the deformable mirror is adjusted in response to the detected
relative position.
themoscowtimes | Russia has unveiled the names for a new generation of
nuclear-powered missiles touted by President Vladimir Putin as
invincible after more than seven million people took part in a quirky
public vote organized by the Russian military.
The names chosen
include "Peresvet," after a medieval warrior monk, for a laser and
"Burevestnik," after a seabird, for a cruise missile.
The arms
systems, which Putin revealed in a bellicose state-of-the-nation speech
this month, include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, an underwater
nuclear-powered drone, and a laser weapon.
Putin has often used
militaristic rhetoric to mobilize support and buttress his narrative
that Russia is under siege from the West, and some critics complain that
public discourse increasingly resembles that of a country at war.
The culmination of the "name that weapon" vote comes
amid fears in both Russia and the West about a new arms race, something
Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have said they don't want, and
after Putin won a landslide re-election victory.
Russia's Ministry
of Defense asked the public to name the weapons systems in an online
vote, something it has never done before, and unveiled the results late
on Thursday on state TV.
After the results were announced, Deputy
Defense Minister Yuri Borisov explained on state TV, to ripples of
applause, what the new weapons were capable of.
Warrior monk, Greek god and seabird
The
Defense Ministry said Russians had voted to name the new military laser
"Peresvet" after a medieval warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who took
part in a 14th century battle against the Mongols. Peresvet is revered
by some clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church, whose influence has
grown under Putin.
WaPo | A
senior Russian official told state media on Wednesday that a
state-of-the-art laser weapons system has been deployed for active use
in Ukraine, a claim that U.S. defense authorities and military experts
say has not been substantiated and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky has mocked.
In
an interview with the state-controlled Channel One, Russian Deputy
Prime Minister Yury Borisov said the country’s latest laser weapon,
dubbed “Zadira,” is now used by military units fighting in Ukraine. The
equipment is capable of incinerating targets up to three miles away
within five seconds, he added, and is more advanced than the Peresvet,
another laser system unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in
2018.
“If
Peresvet blinds an object, the new generation of laser weapons
physically destroys the target. It is burned up,” Borisov said in the
interview.
A senior Pentagon official told reporters during a news briefing on Wednesday that the United States has not seen any evidence to corroborate Borisov’s claim.
In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky mocked
the notion of Zadira’s use and compared it to “wunderwaffe,” or wonder
weapons. The term was coined during World War II by Nazi war
propagandists who boasted the lethality of modern military equipment
such as cruise missiles, even though historians now say these weapons were far less effective than advertised.
“All
this clearly indicates the complete failure of the invasion,” Zelensky
said Wednesday evening. “But again, this also shows that they are afraid
to admit that catastrophic mistakes have been made at the highest state
and military levels in Russia.”
Mick
Ryan, a retired Australian army major general, who has been studying
the Russian invasion, told The Washington Post that weapons like Zadira
could take down reconnaissance drones or Ukrainian artillery. It could
also be used to blind Ukrainian soldiers, a tactic that is banned under international convention, he added.
Ryan
cautioned against taking Russia’s words at face value in the absence of
evidence to support Moscow’s assertions. Since the start of the war,
Russia has repeatedly tried to “awe the Ukrainians and the West with
their supposed superiority,” Ryan said. “It hasn’t been working until
now. It’s probably unlikely to work with an experimental laser system
that’s yet to be proven to work.”
asiatimes | Hyten noted
at the time that the first US Joint Warfare Concept (JWC) simply
improved on the long-standing US strategy of gathering and using
ubiquitous information to coordinate forces and structure battles.
However, the JWC “failed miserably” in the October 2020 simulation,
since it presumed information dominance in a simulation wherein US
forces had to act without that advantage.
In response, Hyten espoused a new concept he termed “expanded
maneuver”, which entails aggregating capabilities to provide significant
effect, and disaggregating to survive any kind of threat.
This is enabled by AI, cloud computing and machine learning, and
could take place in multiple domains under a single command structure, a
concept known as Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), which is the US’ concept to connect sensors from all branches of the US military into a single network.
Former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work has stated publicly
that in the most realistic Taiwan invasion simulations that the US can
come up the US has lost to China with a score of 18-0. These defeats
have shown that China’s A2/AD capabilities have evolved to the point
that the US can no longer expect to quickly achieve air, space or
maritime superiority.
China is not far behind in deploying autonomous drone swarms against
US, Taiwanese and allied forces. Following missile strikes to destroy
Taiwan’s command and control nodes and offensive cyber operations to
degrade Taiwan’s space-based systems, China may launch its own drone
swarms to knock out Taiwan’s air defenses, going against the latter’s
air defense radars and missile batteries.
The potential use of drone swarms may fuel an AI arms race between
major military powers. Russia, China and the US are already seeking to
outdo each other in creating new algorithms and gaining access to
critical technologies for autonomous AI, such as high-end microchips.
Increasingly capable AI coupled with the proliferation of drone swarms may thus lead to “flash wars,” wherein autonomous weapons systems react against each other in an uncontrolled chain reaction of escalation.
thedrive | Wargames
that the U.S. Air Force has conducted itself and in conjunction with
independent organizations continue to show the immense value offered by swarms of relatively low-cost networked drones with high degrees of autonomy.
In particular, simulations have shown them to be decisive factors in
the scenarios regarding the defense of the island of Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.
Last
week, David Ochmanek, a senior international affairs and defense
researcher at the RAND Corporation and a former Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Force Development during President Barack
Obama's administration, discussed the importance of unmanned platforms
in Taiwan Strait crisis-related wargaming that the think tank has done
in recent years. Ochmanek offered his insight during an online chat,
which you can watch in full below, hosted by the Air & Space Forces
Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
"I’m
sure most everybody on this line has thought extensively about what
conflict with China might look like. We think that, as force planners,
we think that an invasion of Taiwan is the most appropriate scenario to
use because of China’s repeatedly expressed desire to forcibly reincorporate Taiwan
into the mainland if necessary and because of the severe time crunch
that would be associated with defeating an invasion of Taiwan," Ochmanek
offered as an introduction to RAND's modeling. "U.S. and allied forces
may have as few as a week to 10 days to either defeat this invasion or
accept the fait accompli. And the Chinese understand that if
they’re to succeed in this, they either have to deter the United States
from intervening or radically suppress our combat operations in the
theater."
Ochmanek
explained that the Chinese military has amassed a wide array of capable
anti-access and area denial capabilities in the past two decades or so
that would be brought to bear either to deter or engage any American
forces, and their allies and partners, that might seek to respond to an
invasion of Taiwan. This includes a diverse arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles that could be used to neutralize U.S. bases across the Pacific region, anti-satellite weapons to destroy or degrade various American space-based assets, and dense integrated air defense networks bolstered by capable combat aircraft, among other things.
"With all of this, our forces are going to be confronted with the need
to not just gain air superiority, which is always a priority for the
commander, but to actually reach into this contested battlespace, ...and
find the enemy and engage the enemy’s operational center of gravity –
those hundreds of ships carrying the amphibious forces across Strait,
the airborne air assault aircraft carrying light infantry across the
Strait," he continued. There will be a need to "do that even in the
absence of air superiority, which is a very different concept of
operations from what our forces have operated with in the post-Cold War
era."
covertactionmagazine | April 1st was a good news/bad news kind of day for U.S. military drone-maker General Atomics. First, it was reported
that the government of Australia had revealed that they were canceling
the planned purchase of 12 MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones, made by General
Atomics (GA). Since the deal would have been worth a cool one billion dollars to GA, this was definitely the bad news.
Back in January, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handed GA
$1.5 million to fly the 79-ft. 12,000 lbs SkyGuardian over North Dakota
for 10 hours. (GA apparently didn’t feel the need for a press release
and the resulting news article until the day before some bad news from down under was in the pipeline.)
The stated purpose of the FAA grant to GA was “to research Detect and
Avoid (DAA) capabilities.” (DAA, the ability for an unmanned aircraft
to ‘detect’ another aircraft, and ‘avoid’ it, is the Holy Grail of drone
integration. “Integration” is the process of removing restrictions
against drones operating in domestic U.S. airspace.)
That’s right—the FAA was PAYING a U.S. arms manufacturer $1.5 million
in public monies to demonstrate their newest military surveillance
drone over domestic U.S. territory.
If this is all a surprise to you, you’re not alone. The program to
integrate military drones into U.S. domestic airspace has been operating
for 10 years. It involves various federal agencies—DoD, FAA, NASA,
Commerce, Energy, DHS, etc. But it hasn’t been reported on in any major
news venue since the day before the bill creating it was signed into law in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.
sciencealert | In theory, there are myriad real-world applications, including aerial
mapping for conservation and disaster relief work. But the technology
has needed to mature so that flying robots can adapt to new environments
without crashing into one another or objects, thus endangering public
safety.
Drone swarms have been tested in the past, but either in
open environments without obstacles, or with the location of those
obstacles programmed in, Enrica Soria, a roboticist at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology Lausanne, who was not involved in the research,
told AFP.
"This is the first time there's a swarm of drones
successfully flying outside in an unstructured environment, in the
wild," she said, adding the experiment was "impressive".
The
palm-sized robots were purpose-built, with depth cameras, altitude
sensors, and an on-board computer. The biggest advance was a clever
algorithm that incorporates collision avoidance, flight efficiency, and
coordination within the swarm.
Since these drones do not rely on any outside infrastructure, such as GPS, swarms could be used during natural disasters.
For
example, they could be sent into earthquake-hit areas to survey damage
and identify where to send help, or into buildings where it's unsafe to
send people.
It's certainly possible to use single drones in such
scenarios, but a swarm approach would be far more efficient, especially
given limited flight times.
Another possible use is having the swarm collectively lift and deliver heavy objects.
There's
also a darker side: swarms could be weaponized by militaries, just as
remote-piloted single drones are today. The Pentagon has repeatedly
expressed interest and is carrying out its own tests.
"Military
research is not shared with the rest of the world just openly, and so
it's difficult to imagine at what stage they are with their
development," said Soria.
But advances shared in scientific journals could certainly be put to military use.
Coming soon?
The
Chinese team tested their drones in different scenarios – swarming
through the bamboo forest, avoiding other drones in a high-traffic
experiment, and having the robots follow a person's lead.
"Our work was inspired by birds that fly smoothly in a free swarm through even very dense woods," wrote Zhou in a blog post.
The challenge, he said, was balancing competing demands: the
need for small, lightweight machines, but with high-computational power,
and plotting safe trajectories without greatly prolonging flight time.
thedrive | China
looks to have launched an odd mini-aircraft carrier of sorts that is
intended to launch and recover small aerial drones earlier this year. A
model of this catamaran vessel appeared at this year's Zhuhai Airshow,
where it was ostensibly described as a platform for mimicking enemy
"electronic" systems during training exercises. This ship will be able
to simulate hostile drone swarms, along with other kinds of threats,
such as high-volume anti-ship missile strikes and distributed electronic warfare attacks. It also reflects the Chinese military's interest in operational swarming capabilities, and especially in the maritime domain.
Earlier this week, Twitter user @HenriKenhmann, who runs the website East Pendulum, was able to find a picture online
of the ship during an apparent launch ceremony in May. The photograph
shows an unusual cartoon shark motif painted on the outside of one of
the ship's twin hulls, very similar to what was seen on the model at
Zhuhai. This model has received more recent attention as it was
displayed alongside one depicting a rail-based training aid that has
also turned out to be in operational use, as you can read more about here.
There was a small sign next to the model at Zhuhai with descriptions of
the ship in Chinese and English. Available pictures of the sign do not
provide a clear view of all of the English text, but part of it reads
"Multifunctional Integrated Electronic Blue Army System." In Chinese
military parlance, mock opponents in training exercises are referred to
as the "Blue Army."
This is in direct contrast to how the U.S. military and other western
armed forces describe generic simulated enemies as the "Red Force."
Based
on this description, and from what we can see of the ship's design and
that of the drones on its deck, it's not hard to imagine how it might be
employed in maritime exercises both far out to sea and in littoral
areas. For realistic training against swarms, it would be necessary to
sortie lots of drones at once.
Beyond that, the unmanned helicopters could pump out signals
reflecting the signatures of various kinds of missiles, or even just
waves of manned or unmanned aircraft. The rotary-wing drones would be
fitted with electronic warfare systems to carry out electronic attacks,
as well. All of this would provide a relatively low-cost way to
simulate swarms, along with other kinds of aerial threats during drills,
and do so across a broad area.
The
large open decks on the ship in front of and behind the superstructure
might provide room for the addition of other capabilities. Catapults or
static launchers for fixed-wing drones, including those designed specifically as targets,
as well as recovery systems, could be installed in those spaces to
expand the kinds of threats the vessel would be to simulate.
A Foundation of Joy
-
Two years and I've lost count of how many times my eye has been operated
on, either beating the fuck out of the tumor, or reattaching that slippery
eel ...
April Three
-
4/3
43
When 1 = A and 26 = Z
March = 43
What day?
4 to the power of 3 is 64
64th day is March 5
My birthday
March also has 5 letters.
4 x 3 = 12
...
Return of the Magi
-
Lately, the Holy Spirit is in the air. Emotional energy is swirling out of
the earth.I can feel it bubbling up, effervescing and evaporating around
us, s...
New Travels
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Haven’t published on the Blog in quite a while. I at least part have been
immersed in the area of writing books. My focus is on Science Fiction an
Historic...
Covid-19 Preys Upon The Elderly And The Obese
-
sciencemag | This spring, after days of flulike symptoms and fever, a man
arrived at the emergency room at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
He ...
