Kim Jong Un Drives Tank in Live-Fire ‘Preparations For War’ Drill
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has staged some interesting military theatrics ahead of next week’s expected visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to South Korea for the third Summit for Democracy.
The recent renewal of ongoing major US live-fire exercises on the peninsula has also triggered sharp denunciations from Pyongyang. On Thursday Kim oversaw his own live-fire exercises, while riding in the north’s newest battle tank.
The North Korean leader wore a black leather jacket and mounted a new tank, supposedly driving it himself, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
State media ominously described the exercise as part of “preparations for war”:
Kim expressed “great satisfaction” that the tank – first unveiled during a 2020 military parade – demonstrated its striking power in its inaugural performance display and told his troops to bolster their “fighting spirits” and complete “preparations for war”, KCNA said.
Kim hailed the newly deployed North Korean-made battle tank as “the world’s most powerful” – and state media published a photograph that featured his head sticking out of the tank while in operation.
Notably the exercises were said to have involved military units stationed close to the border wand within striking distance of the “enemy’s capital” – according to KCNA.
Kim has meanwhile denounced the latest joint Washington-Seoul war exercises, which recently even included strategic assets, as a “rehearsal” for invasion of the north.
The past month had already seen Kim reportedly oversee two prior drills, but this new live-fire “training march” appears the most impressive given the number of tanks and maneuvers, and Kim’s apparent direct participation.
The New York Times recently wrote that the Kim Jong-un government has plans for escalation, saying that it will soon launch some kind of lethal military action against the south, but will still seek to avoid a full-scale war.
US officials indicated the recent spate of more aggressive statements from Kim should be taken seriously. “While the officials added that they did not see an imminent risk of a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Kim could carry out strikes in a way that he thinks would avoid rapid escalation,” the report predicted.
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Avangard: Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Putin Credits With ‘Nullifying’ US Missile Defenses
In an interview with Russian media on Wednesday, the Russian president assured that Russia’s nuclear triad is “more modern” than that of any other country, and reiterated that Moscow would never use such fearsome arms unless its statehood is threatened.
Russia’s nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles have rendered massive US investments into the creation of a missile defense system useless, Vladimir Putin has announced.
Watch the full video of President Putin’s interview with Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev here.
“If you calculate how much [the US’] well-known missile defenses cost them, one of the main components for overcoming these missile defenses that we have is the Avangard, an intercontinental missile with an intercontinental-range glide unit. So you cannot compare budgets. We’ve basically nullified everything they’ve done, everything they’ve invested in this missile defense system,” Putin told Dmitry Kiselev, director of Sputnik parent media group Rossiaya Segodnya, remarking on the immense largesse and waste in the US defense industry.
The experience of the developing the Avangard demonstrates the course Russia should continue to stick to in the field of strategic armaments, Putin said.
What is the Avangard?
First unveiled by Putin in a speech to Russian lawmakers in 2018 and introduced into service in late 2019, the Avangard (lit. “Vanguard”) is a maneuverable, blazing fast, nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle designed to penetrate all existing and future missile defense systems.
Boosted into orbit on board R-36 and RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles and deployed as part of the missiles’ multiple reentry vehicle (MIRV) payloads, Avangards can accelerate to speeds of up to Mach 27 (32,200 km) in near-space conditions, dropping to an estimated Mach 15-20 (18,500-23,000 km) by atmospheric drag during descent.
The glide vehicles have a reported independent range of more than 6,000 km, and an explosive power of between 0.8 and two megatons. They’re also available in conventional mode, using the immense kinetic force generated by the high speed at which they hit their targets to destroy an array of strategic objectives.
Along with maneuverability and speed, the characteristics of their flight, and specifically the weapons’ ability to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius are another factor making defense against the Avangard essentially impossible.
“The Avangard is practically covered with plasma [during flight, ed.] and the plasma absorbs electromagnetic rays, thus making the hypersonic vehicle invisible to radar. As a result of high kinetic energy, the Avangard can destroy targets without the use of nuclear weapons. This is a unique tool, and to date no other country in the world has created anything like it,” military historian, defense commentator, and missile and air defense specialist Yuri Knutov recently told Sputnik.
With their carrier rockets having a flight range between 15,200 and 18,000 km, the Avangard can strike any point on Earth.Up to two dozen Avangards can be packed into a single Sarmat missile, with the rocket also capable of carrying other MIRVs, as well as dummy warheads designed to fool and disperse enemy missile defenses.
The Avangard is one of half-a-dozen new strategic-class weapons in Russia’s arsenal, with these armaments designed to ensure that even if an adversary were to manage to catch Russia off-guard in a nuclear or conventional first strike, the guaranteed response would nevertheless be severe enough to force enemy planners to think twice before launching aggression.
Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia rocket design bureau led the development of the Avangard. Lauding legendary Honorary General Director and designer Gerbert Efremov on his birthday in 2020, Putin comparedMashinostroyenia’s success in creating the Avangard with the USSR’s creation of its first nuclear bomb in 1949.
Under Efremov’s leadership, NPO Mashinostroyenia created the predecessor to the Avangard program in the 1980s, with the top secret project, known as “Project 4202” and later codenamed “Albatross,” approved for development in 1987 as a direct response to Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense concept. The project was put on hold in the early 1990s due to then warming relations with Washington, and later, due to financial difficulties associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia resumed work on its unique anti-missile defense projects in the early 2000s, after the US unilaterally walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and began to deploy a missile defense shield in Europe.
“America’s withdrawal from the ABM Treaty in 2002 forced Russia to start developing hypersonic weapons,” Putin recalled in his conversation with Efremov. “We had to create these weapons in response to the deployment of the US strategic missile defense system, which would have been able to neutralize and render obsolete our entire nuclear potential […] For the first time in modern Russia’s history, the country possesses the most modern types of weapons, which are far superior in terms of their force, power, speed and, very importantly, in terms of accuracy compared to all which existed before them and exist today,” Putin said.
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Germany Prepares to Bring Back The Draft: Catastrophic Report Describes Lack of Weapons, Ammo, And A Rapidly Aging Armed Forces
Germany’s own military and government are painting such a dire picture of the armed forces that there are now calls from some of the most powerful politicians in the country to reinstate mandatory military service.
A video produced by Remix News details testimony provided by Eva Högl, German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, who provided catastrophic details about the state of the German military.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that the Bundeswehr still has too little of everything. There is a lack of ammunition, spare parts, radio equipment, tanks, ships and aircraft. But, ladies and gentlemen, progress is being made,” said Eva Högl.
NEW: ?? Germany may bring back the DRAFT.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) March 13, 2024
The country’s army is falling apart, and the government now openly admits it. pic.twitter.com/KxwKPwDdSd
Regarding the composition of troops, she provided the following dire assessment: “On the subject of personnel, I have no good news and no good messages, because the Bundeswehr is aging and shrinking.”
Her description sets the stage for what could be a monumental change to German society: a reinstatement of mandatory military service.
“Yes, I am pleased that the debate on compulsory military service is picking up speed. The federal president is persistently calling for a ‘yes’ from society. The federal minister is looking at Scandinavia and is also in favor of compulsory military service based on the Swedish model, for example. And I think I am also known for thinking that this is a very good idea,” she said.
The problems plaguing Germany’s military are well known, and in 2023 not much has changed: The Bundeswehr is understaffed and under-equipped, and the infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. These findings come from a reportby the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces.
The report, which is 171 pages long, makes for dour reading. It covers three perennial problems: personnel, equipment and infrastructure. The last is visibly deteriorating, precisely because of a lack of personnel and equipment.
According to the report, drawn up by Högl, the troops are at the limits of their capacity. The vacancy rate has risen to just 18 percent. The goal of increasing the number of troops from 181,000 today to 203,000 by 2031 will be difficult to achieve.
The barracks are in a state of disrepair. Högl describes moldy showers and clogged toilets and says that troops have no lockers to store their equipment.
Of course, money is a huge factor. Högl again points out that by the end of 2027 at the latest, Germany will need to increase its defense budget by billions of euros to meet the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.
In view of the shortfall, the president of the German Armed Forces Association, André Wüstner, has called for extensive investment in troops.
“We have massive problems in all branches of the armed forces,” he described the situation in a television program. Not a single brigade in the army was ready for deployment.
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Kremlin Slams US ‘Distortion’ of Putin’s Words on Nuclear Weapons
Washington “deliberately distorted” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words about the conditions under which Moscow would use nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
He was referring to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s remarks about an interview Putin gave that aired on Wednesday.
While answering a reporter’s question on whether US President Joe Biden had been briefed about Putin’s comments, Jean-Pierre responded that the Russian leader was “restating Russia’s nuclear doctrine” but went on to claim that “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict.”
Peskov described the White House’s reaction to Putin’s interview as an “absolutely deliberate distortion of the context,” adding that “no threats to use nuclear weapons were made by Putin in this interview.”
He indicated that the president was answering the journalist’s questions rather than making official statements and explained that Putin “was just talking about the reasons that could make the use of nuclear weapons inevitable.”
The Kremlin spokesperson also drew attention to the fact that Jean-Pierre had omitted the president’s remark where he stressed that “it has never come into his mind to use tactical nuclear weapons” despite the “various situations” that had emerged on the battlefield.
READ MORE: Putin outlines conditions for Russian nuclear test
While answering a question about tactical nuclear arms in the interview, Putin stressed that weapons of mass destruction have never been used by Russia in Ukraine.
“Weapons exist to be used. We have our own principles and they imply that we are ready to use any weapons, including the ones you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, in case of a threat to our sovereignty and independence. Everything is written in our Strategy, we haven’t changed it.”
In June 2020, Putin signed a decree on Russia’s nuclear deterrence policy. The document provides for the use of nuclear weapons in a number of cases, one of which is aggression against Russia using conventional weapons that puts the existence of the state at risk.
Putin warned that Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons and considers its arsenal “more advanced than anyone else’s.”
Meanwhile, the Russian leader suggested that Washington has enough experts in strategic deterrence, including President Joe Biden himself, to avoid a nuclear conflagration. But he added that if the US abandons its de facto moratorium on nuclear tests, Moscow will do the same.
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US Imposes 2nd Sanctions Round on Israeli Settlers, Same Day Schumer Attacks “Pariah” Netanyahu
The United States slapped a second round of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and ‘illegal outposts’ in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The sanctions mark somewhat of an unprecedented escalation of tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv, given this newest round focuses not just on individual settlers, but entire settlements too.
The Dept. of Treasury’s new action sanctions Moshe’s farm and Zvi’s farm, both described as being used as outposts from which settlers routinely launch attacks on Palestinian civilians.
The two leaders of the settlements – Moshe Sharvit and Zvi Bar Yosef – are also targeted in the new Treasury action. Axios writes that “The sanctions freeze assets the three settlers and two outposts might have in the U.S., ban them from getting a visa to enter the U.S. and block them from using the U.S. financial system.”
Likely the Biden administration took into consideration a recent report by the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), which documented nearly 500 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians between Oct. 7 and Jan. 31 of this year.
A prior initial round of rare sanctions targeting Israelis only dealt with individuals accused of committing acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and not whole communities.
Some of the same settlers were already under sanctions by the United Kingdom, as The Associated Press details:
Moshe Sharvit, a settler also already sanctioned in the U.K., allegedly attacked Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists in the vicinity of his outpost, which is also now sanctioned by the U.S.
British officials in February stated that Sharvit and another settler threatened Palestinian families at gunpoint and destroyed property as part of a “ targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities.”
Additionally, sanctions were imposed on Neriya Ben Pazi, who attacked and expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land as recently as August 2023.
Israeli government officials have been angered by these US sanctions, which are small and targeted enough to perhaps be merely symbolic. Yet it adds to the growing distance between the Biden and Netanyahu governments over Gaza and West Bank policy.
And Thursday’s scathing attack on Prime Minister Netanyahu ratchets tensions further, at a moment President Biden has still refused to attach any conditions to Israel’s use of American weaponry:
Schumer delivered what he deemed a “major address” on the escalating situation in the region, headlined by his comments directed at Netanyahu, the polarizing Israeli leader. He pressed that Netanyahu has “lost his way,” pointing to the political and legal battles he has faced recently while also allowing that the off-and-on prime minister’s “highest priority is the security of Israel.”
The Senate majority leader further blasted Netanyahu’s “far-right extremists” and has been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
Israeli settlers provoked Palestinian citizen by giving him milk that was in his refrigerator… pic.twitter.com/4GEt1Yw6Pd
— Southland Post (@SouthlandPost) July 27, 2023
“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” Schumer underscored. “The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”
Schumer went so far as to call Netanyahu a “pariah”–but still critics have pointed out that even those US politicians leading the charge against Bibi are by and large unwilling to cut off the arms supplies and billions in funding to Israel…
Schumer to call for ‘new election’ in Israel in scathing speech
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) March 14, 2024
What’s the strategy here?
First, you arm Israel to the teeth, protect it when it commits war crimes, shield it from all international pressure, and NOW you worry it has become a pariah?https://t.co/DhrC14fzup
A big question that remains is whether Israel will launch a full ground invasion of Rafah, despite Biden warnings not to. Israel is pledging to facilitate the safe exit of civilians before the operation, but there’s been little sign of this happening on a large scale.
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Polls Open in Russian Presidential Election
Polling stations in Russia’s Far East have opened, kickstarting the 2024 presidential election, in which president Vladimir Putin faces three opponents. Voting centers are set to open gradually throughout the country at 8AM local time. The voting is set to take place for three days through Sunday.
This year, four candidates are vying for the top job, which comes with a six-year term. Incumbent Vladimir Putin, who is running as an independent candidate, is up against the head of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Leonid Slutsky, Communist candidate Nikolay Kharitonov, and Vladislav Davankov, representing the liberal centrist New People.
This will be the first presidential election in Russia following a 2020 constitutional reform, which established a limit of two six-year terms for any one person serving as head of state. However, the change also resulted in Putin’s terms being “nullified,” enabling him to run for office again.
READ MORE: Russians warned of attempts to disrupt presidential election
Apart from voting at polling stations in person, residents of some 28 regions are able to cast their ballots online through the country’s electronic voting system. To take part in the online poll, the voters had to file special requests through the digital platform of the Russian government, Gosuslugi, before Monday. Voters from Moscow, however, are spared this prerequisite and are able to vote online freely.
The election is projected to have a high turnout of some 71% according to estimates by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM) pollster. Early voting has already taken place in several remote regions of Russia, with around two million people having already cast ballots, official figures show.
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