All posts tagged: bombs

Government Fires Specialists Without Realizing They Were in Charge of Nuclear Bombs, Then Panics and Tries to Rehire Them

Government Fires Specialists Without Realizing They Were in Charge of Nuclear Bombs, Then Panics and Tries to Rehire Them

Published by José

Paging Dr. Strangelove We’ve all made mistakes before. Maybe we did something in the heat of the moment, or said something we couldn’t take back. Point is, it happens, and that’s okay — because however bad our mistakes were, at least they didn’t risk spelling doom for the entire human race. Elon Musk, the richest man in the history of currency, is in the news yet again — is he ever not now? — for spearheading a massive round of government layoffs. This wave, carried out over Thursday and Friday, targeted recent hires across the CDC, Small Business Administration, Homeland Security, Veteran’s Affairs, Department of Education, and crucially, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The NNSA is a little-known group charged with building, designing, and organizing the US Nuclear arsenal — at one time the largest in the world, now said to be a close second to Russia. It’s the kind of agency you hope not to read about in the news. The whole “nuclear” part evidently wasn’t enough to deter Musk and his DOGE boys from sending between 300 …

Flash bombs fired at Netanyahu home land without injury, damage

Flash bombs fired at Netanyahu home land without injury, damage

Published by Sam

CAIRO —  Two flash bombs were fired toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the northern Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday and fell into the garden, police said. Neither Netanyahu nor his family were present and there was no damage reported, it added in a statement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the incident crossed “all red lines” in a post on X early on Sunday. “It is not possible for the Prime Minister of Israel, who is threatened by Iran and its proxies who are trying to assassinate him, to be subject to the same threats from home,” Katz said. He also called on security and judicial agencies to take the necessary steps. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident in a post on X and said an investigation was under way. “The incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crosses all boundaries. Throwing a flash bomb into his house tonight is crossing another red line,” Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also said on X. In October, a drone was launched toward the premier’s …

‘I felt the water tremble’: Ukraine’s Olympic swimmers train as bombs fall | Paris Olympic Games 2024

‘I felt the water tremble’: Ukraine’s Olympic swimmers train as bombs fall | Paris Olympic Games 2024

Published by skeptic

Oleksandr Zheltyakov gazes across the pool and points towards the hundreds of yellow seats that run along its flank. He has cast his mind back to December 2019, when he was 14 and won his first Ukrainian championship in front of a delighted home town crowd at Dnipro’s Meteor facility. “Just thinking about it fires me up,” he says. “It was before the war, a full stand, supporters cheering, adults, children, in a place I know so well. When you win here, it feels like you’re at a Taylor Swift concert.” There is a different soundtrack nowadays. A few minutes later, the air raid siren sounds and an employee at this famous venue, one of the main training bases for Ukraine’s Olympic swimmers, walks over to suggest we continue our conversation on that opposite side. We have been sitting beneath the row of huge windows that usually give a humid arena its sense of light and space. The panes are already in a bad way: some cracked, some taped over, others replaced by material of …

‘All day you hear bombs’: on Israel’s northern border as war with Hezbollah looms | Israel

‘All day you hear bombs’: on Israel’s northern border as war with Hezbollah looms | Israel

Published by skeptic

Beneath the 800-bed Galilee medical centre in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, treatment is being conducted in an underground complex beneath the hospital. About 7km from the border with Lebanon, a frontier visible from the hospital’s car park and already under threat from Hezbollah’s missiles and explosive drones, the doctors are aware that in the event of an escalating war their facility will be on the frontline. Beneath exposed pipe work, on bare concrete floors with little in the way of comfort or privacy, a warren of busy wards and surgical units has been established. Boxes of supplies are piled head high in gloomy corridors lit by artificial light. A suite equipped with monitors and screens will act as the nerve centre in the event of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah, a prospect that looms ever larger amid rising hostilities and exchanges of fire across the border. On the backs of chairs are hi-vis jackets, describing the roles that will be required, including “mass casualty coordinator”. In charge of the emergency preparations …

Biden admin pauses shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel amid assault on Rafah: report

Biden admin pauses shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel amid assault on Rafah: report

Published by skeptic

Anti-war voices on Tuesday welcomed Politico‘s reporting that U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is delaying “shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel,” which on Monday launched a long-awaited invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. “The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions—both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons—and Small Diameter Bombs,” according to Politico, which cited unnamed congressional and industry sources. “While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction—holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process.” The piece followed Axios reporting Sunday that Israeli officials said the administration “last week put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition” and The Wall Street Journal‘s Monday revelation that it “has held up delivery of Joint Direct Attack Munitions.” The White House has neither confirmed nor denied Politico‘s report, which came as Biden again conflated campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza with antisemitism. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the U.S.-backed offensive …

US pauses shipment of bombs to Israel over Rafah invasion

US pauses shipment of bombs to Israel over Rafah invasion

Published by skeptic

A poster is displayed during an “All out for Rafah” protest in support of Palestinians in front of City Hall in Houston, Texas, on May 7, 2024. CECILE CLOCHERET / AFP The United States paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the US, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, May 7. The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of US concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The US has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid …

Biden Withholds Shipment Of Boeing-Made Precision Bombs From Israel Over Rafah Offensive

Biden Withholds Shipment Of Boeing-Made Precision Bombs From Israel Over Rafah Offensive

Published by skeptic

Update(1212ET): We noted earlier that Israel’s Rafah ground offensive currently in progress constitutes a glaring instance of Netanyahu’s willingness to blow past Biden’s ‘red line’ which was repeatedly verbalized in the last weeks and months. It now appears that Biden is ready to belatedly get ‘tough’ (or at least keep up the appearance of getting tough on Israel for the sake of US Progressives who have been revoking their support in droves). The below major headline just hit via Politico: Biden administration is holding shipments of Boeing manufactured precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to Politico. https://t.co/2vgsTYZxYg pic.twitter.com/IH1EiQifAj — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 7, 2024 This follows on the heels of Axios’ Sunday reporting which said an initial ammo shipment has been held up. Israeli officials are said to be seething. Anyway… The US is only paying for Israel’s war and providing the weapons they use in Gaza. No need to pay attention to any “red lines” that doddering old man in the WH issued.https://t.co/yOIQOiwZk9 pic.twitter.com/ueUw4sSSlU — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) …

Russia Bombs Power Plants and Ukraine Targets Refineries in Dueling Attacks

Russia Bombs Power Plants and Ukraine Targets Refineries in Dueling Attacks

Published by Sam

As Russian missiles streaked through the skies above Ukraine before dawn on Saturday, once again targeting the nation’s already battered energy grid in a broad and complex bombardment, Ukrainian drones were flying in the other direction, taking aim at vital oil and gas refineries and other targets inside Russia. The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defense teams had intercepted 21 of the 34 Russian cruise and ballistic missiles fired from land, air and sea-based systems, but the attack caused extensive damage to four thermal power plants and other critical parts of the power grid in three regions. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 66 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region, which is just across the Kerch Strait in southern Russia, east of the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Veniamin Kondratyev, the head of the regional government, said the Ukrainian drones had targeted two oil refineries, a bitumen plant, and a military airfield in Kuban. The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the S.B.U., said the Ukrainian military operation had targeted the Kushchevsk airfield …

100-mile US glide bombs fail in Ukraine

100-mile US glide bombs fail in Ukraine

Published by skeptic

Modern battle tanks are weapons of shock and awe. They are best used manoeuvring around the battlefield at speeds of up to 50mph and delivering devastatingly accurate strikes with their 120mm cannons. But in Ukraine they have been deployed on the frontline more as mobile pillboxes or as 60-ton sniper rifles. This is why it should come as no real surprise that Ukrainian tank crews are pulling their American-made Abrams from frontline action. Five of the 31 donated to Kyiv by Washington have been damaged, largely by Russian drones that hover over the battlefield seeking prized targets to strike. There is no greater prize for Moscow than an American, British or German-made tank. These Nato-standard tanks are no more susceptible to drones than their Soviet-era counterparts. The Western models in fact offer better all-round protection. However, they were designed in an era when drone warfare, especially first-person view systems that are used to dive-bomb RPG munitions into targets. It is therefore likely that Ukraine has opted to withdraw what is remaining of its fleet of …

Britain to send Ukraine laser-guided Paveway bombs

Britain to send Ukraine laser-guided Paveway bombs

Published by skeptic

24 April 2024 • 10:33am 10:33AM Russian priest presiding over Navalny’s memorial suspended from duties The Russian Orthodox Church has imposed a three-year suspension on a priest who presided over the memorial service for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny last month, according to a church statement. The Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church did not give a reason for the discipline, which has forbidden Dmitry Safronov from giving blessings, wearing the frock or bearing the church’s priestly cross until 2027. “At the end of the period of penance, based on feedback from the place of obedience, a decision will be made on the possibility of his further priestly service,” said the diocese in a statement on Tuesday. Russians lay flowers at a makeshift memorial for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny following his funeral ceremony in Moscow. Credit: Shutterstock Mr Safronov will also be transferred to another church in Moscow to act as a psalm-reader. On 26 March, Mr Safronov led the memorial service attended by thousands for Mr Navalny, who was Vladimir …