Latest news with #MilitaryIndustrialComplex
Russia Today
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia strikes Ukraine's defense industrial base
Russian forces have carried out a coordinated overnight strike on Ukraine's military-industrial complex and airfield infrastructure, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. DETAILS TO FOLLOW
The Sun
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Dramatic moment Russians run for their lives from fireballs as Ukrainian kamikaze drone wave blitzes Putin's ‘gun city'
THIS is the dramatic moment Russians sprinted in terror as Ukrainian kamikaze drones blitzed one of Vladimir Putin's weapons strongholds. Explosive footage showed the Lyutyi drones striking the Kupol Electromechanical Plant in Izhevsk, sparking a deafening blast and towering flames. 8 8 8 8 The plant was known to be one of the crown jewels in Russia's military-industrial complex before it was engulfed by a fireball. Residents can be seen fleeing for their lives, their shouts echoing through the city, as gunfire rang out in a futile attempt to repel the incoming strike. In a flash, the skyline of Russia's so-called 'City of Gunsmiths' was blackened by choking smoke as fire engulfed the key arms facility. The plant, located more than 750 miles from the Ukrainian border, produces the deadly Tor-M2E surface-to-air missile systems and Harpiya-A1 attack drones - critical weapons in Putin's arsenal. Two Lyutyi drones smashed into the facility in a five-minute window with devastating accuracy. Incredibly, there was no air raid warning — a factor officials say contributed to the high number of casualties. Russian officials said three people were killed and at least 31 others injured in the attack. 'There are explosions in Izhevsk, Russia,' said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Centre for Counteracting Disinformation. 'The Kupol Electromechanical Plant is located there. It is one of the main producers of the Tor missile systems and Harpiya-A1 attack drones for the Russian army.' Ukraine blasts Putin's troops with 'UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles' in MASSIVE overnight attack The head of Udmurtia, Igor Brechalov, confirmed the strike had left victims and chaos in its wake. 'All the emergency services are working. Medical services, psychologists. There are casualties. The firemen are putting out the fires,' he said. The strike targeted not just Kupol — located in the heart of Izhevsk, also home to the iconic Kalashnikov arms conglomerate — but the very symbol of Russia's war machine. The powerful drone blitz came as Ukraine unleashed a new wave of vengeance across occupied regions - including a British-made Storm Shadow missile strike that reportedly killed Russian officers "in droves". Dramatic footage from Donetsk showed the aftermath of the strike, which Ukrainian sources say devastated the headquarters of Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army, killing scores of military personnel. 'The building is penetrated to the basement. [The dead] are being taken out in batches,' reported Ukrainian channel Supernova+. If confirmed, it marks the first Storm Shadow strike in months, reigniting fears among Putin's inner circle. Journalist Ivan Yakovina said: 'Clear results of the recent NATO summit — cruise missiles supplied by the UK and France today destroyed the headquarters of the 8th Combined Arms Army in Donetsk and a massive depot with an oil terminal in Luhansk. 8 8 8 'There were massive casualties among Russian officers at the HQ. 'They were confident that Ukraine no longer had the means to strike at such depth, so they didn't even bother to go down to the shelter during the alert. Dozens killed and wounded — an entire army has been crippled.' Both Russian and Ukrainian sources confirmed the use of Britain's bunker-busting Storm Shadow missiles in the strike. The £800,000, GPS-guided missiles can travel at 600mph and evade air defences. Russian officials, red-faced, admitted only that one woman had died and three others were injured. But the real toll is believed to be far higher. Major fires were also reported in Russian-occupied Luhansk, where an oil terminal was hit, and in Rostov and near the Crimean Bridge, which was briefly closed. Elsewhere, explosions rocked Saratov and Engels, key strategic sites including Russia's strategic bomber bases, while Russia retaliated with attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region, hitting homes and businesses.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Banishes GOP Rep From MAGA as Civil War Gets Ugly
President Donald Trump excommunicated Congressman Thomas Massie from MAGA after he dared criticize the president's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Massie, a Kentucky Republican, told CBS' Face the Nation Sunday that Trump's decision to bomb the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan facilities made it 'a good week for the neocons and the military industrial complex who want war all the time.' 'We are exhausted,' he said. 'We are tired from all of these wars, and we're non-interventionists. I mean, this was one of the promises. I mean, are you going to call President Trump's campaign an isolationist campaign? What he promised us was, we would put America first.' Massie further claimed there was 'no imminent threat' to the United States and that Congress should not have ceded its authority. In response to the interview, Trump went on a lengthy Truth Social rant against Massie on Sunday, calling him 'weak, ineffective, and votes 'NO' on virtually everything put before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be.' 'Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him,' Trump wrote. 'He is a negative force who almost always Votes 'NO,' no matter how good something may be. He's a simple minded 'grandstander' who thinks it's good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling 'DEATH TO AMERICA' at every chance they get.' 'MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!' he added. In a separate interview with Fox News Digital published after Trump's post, Massie said he felt 'misled' by the president's actions, and was not alone in the MAGA camp. 'I didn't think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war.' Massie continued, 'Other people feel the same way, who supported Trump—I think the political danger to him is he induces a degree of apathy in the Republican base, and they fail to show up to keep us in the majority in the midterms.' Massie also labelled JD Vance's statement that the U.S. is only at war with Iran's nuclear program as 'ludicrous.' 'He's engaged in war,' Massie said. 'We are now a co-belligerent in a hot war between two countries. You can't say this isn't an act of war, that it's a strike outside of a war. This is inside, geographically and temporally, of a war.' Massie then took to his X account to reply, tagging Trump and stating the president 'declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress. #sassywithmassie.' On Sunday, Trump's political operation, backed by a war chest of $500 million, launched Kentucky MAGA, a super PAC dedicated to defeating Massie in a May 2026 primary, Axios first reported. Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio and aide Chris LaCivita will run the PAC, which LaCivita said will do 'whatever it takes' to oust Massie. In his earlier remarks to CBS, Massie questioned the president's authority to conduct a war without Congress' approval. 'Congress was on vacation last week when all this was happening,' Massie said. 'We haven't been briefed. They should have called us all back and, frankly, we should have debated this war powers resolution that [Representative] Ro Khanna and I offered instead of staying on vacation and doing fundraisers and saying, 'Oh, well, the president's got this under control. We're going to cede our constitutional authority.'' Massie and Khanna, a Democrat, proposed a War Powers Resolution last week that was meant to reassert Congress' sole authority under the Constitution to declare war. 'The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war,' Massie said in a statement. 'Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended on Sunday the administration's actions in Iran, saying it complied with the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The act says the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and cannot deploy troops for longer than 90 days without a formal declaration of war. Massie also defended MAGA supporters like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who've opposed the intervention, saying they were simply 'exhausted' from Americans fighting abroad. Massie's remarks came a day after he slammed the strikes as 'not constitutional' in an X post and slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson for not demanding the president ask for congressional authorization. 'Why didn't you call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country?' Massie replied to Johnson's post praising Trump's actions. 'I introduced a War Powers Resolution on Tuesday, while Congress was on vacation. We would have had plenty of time to debate and vote on this.' He also said Trump's decision constituted an 'act of war.' 'When two countries are bombing each other daily in a hot war, and a third country joins the bombing, that's an act of war,' he wrote. 'I'm amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren't at war… so they can make war." The Daily Beast has reached out to Massie and the White House for further comment.
IOL News
17-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Does India have a right to selfe-defence against cross-border terrorism?
A navy miniature is seen in front of Chinese and Taiwanese flags in this illustration. Although China has not engaged in any major war in the past 40 years, Beijing has astutely capitalised on the Military Industrial Complex. Image: Dado Ruvic/Reuters ON May 7, US Congressman Shri Thanedar supported India's right to defend itself against terrorist attacks allegedly by Pakistan-backed militant groups targeting Hindu communities. This highlights the ongoing geopolitical tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, tied to historical issues and current security concerns. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China is the largest supplier of military weapons to Pakistan, having supplied over 81% of Pakistan's arms imports in the past five years, which accounts for more than 63% of China's total arms exports. A litany of Chinese media houses views the sales of armaments to Pakistan as a huge push by China to improve self-reliance in its defence industry. Although China has not engaged in any major war in the past 40 years, Beijing has astutely capitalised on the Military Industrial Complex. As confirmed by Arab News Japan, citing that China's defence shares and arms exports to Pakistan have soared precisely as civilian casualties mount in the India/Pakistan cross-border conflict. The report outlines how China emerged as the 'real winner' in the recent India-Pakistan conflict after AVIC Chengdu Aircraft shares Pakistan brought from China rose 40% this week, while AVIC Aerospace shares increased by 6% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The report also elucidates in an interview with Nikkei Asia how China's military technology is being tested in 'actual conflict scenarios'. This testing is enhancing the credibility of Chinese equipment, improving China's psychological and strategic position, and demonstrating that its military equipment can compete with Western standards. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ As reported by Arab News in Islamabad: 'The market capitalisation of China's premier jet manufacturer, Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, surged by more than $7.6 billion following the recent India-Pakistan conflict last week.' The People's Liberation Army (PLA), which is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), military-industrial complex now profits from: $5 billion annual arms trade to Pakistan (SIPRI 2024) 81% of Pakistan's weapons imports being Chinese-origin Joint development of fighter jets (JF-17) deployed in Kashmir operations This commercial militarisation of colonial wounds has transformed the Indo-Pacific plain, once a unified civilizational zone, into a perpetual theatre of conflict where external powers extract strategic and economic value from brotherly strife. This exploitation of Colonial legacies between India and Pakistan by China and the Chinese Military Industrial Complex is no different to the United States is very disturbing. This arms trade as political and economic leverage and the weakening of diplomatic solutions are nothing but proxy wars, which are damaging to emerging nations such as India and Pakistan, with multiple implications to the Global South. India, with a population six times larger than Pakistan's and the world's second-largest military, holds conventional superiority but also exposes unresolved territorial disputes, which are weaponised by the largest superpowers. The ongoing India/Pakistan situation also serves as a critical case study in postcolonial state formation. The conflict involves not just territorial disputes but also issues of identity, sovereignty, and historical memory. While some groups may present the struggle in religious terms, the underlying tensions relate to the borders and policies established during British rule. As proponents of decolonial discourse, it is essential to examine how imperial legacies influence current conflicts. Of course, International law recognises the right of nations to self-defence; however, addressing historical injustices that contribute to such conflicts remains a critical task. India, similar to many postcolonial states, contends with the impact of a colonial history that prioritised administrative efficiency over organic nation-building. The world-renowned African literary giant, Wole Soyinka, in his fascinating clash with the late Professor Ali Mazrui on 'imperialism' teaches us that all forms of imperialism (Arab or European) must be contested and not whitewashed. The overlooked history of India includes the creation of two nation-states by Britain, which ultimately resulted in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The establishment of Pakistan in 1947 and the creation of Israel in 1948 were instances of British colonial boundary-making that transformed religious demographics into political territories. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict receives considerable historical scrutiny, fewer recognise the similar historical process that divided the Indian subcontinent. This observation is intended to highlight how colonial-era decisions continue to influence modern geopolitical conflicts in both regions. Historically, the Indian subcontinent maintained a Hindu-Buddhist civilizational core for millennia prior to Arab incursions into Sindh in the 8th century. This period of transformation mirrored similar Arabic expansions into North Africa, leading to significant migration of Arabs to the African continent, where they now preside over countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The 1947 partition orchestrated by the Muslim League in India marked a significant disruption of the region's historical continuum. Comparable to the establishment of Israel in the same year, the British agreed to the demand for separate Muslim-majority states, leading to the creation of Pakistan (which initially included East Bengal) and subsequently Bangladesh in 1971. This division formalised previously fluid cultural boundaries, transforming shared civilizational spaces into contested religious territories almost overnight with the introduction of the Radcliffe Line. The partition resulted in the displacement of 15 million people and caused up to 1 million deaths due to sectarian violence, consequences that continue to affect the region today. India's right to self-defence against terrorism is well-established under international norms. However, achieving long-term stability requires addressing historical context. It is unfortunate that, while India and Pakistan grapple with their shared history, external powers exploit these divisions for strategic and economic advantages, aiming to dominate the Indo-Pacific Region. True decolonial justice necessitates acknowledging and confronting such exploitative interventions, whether they originate from Western or Eastern blocs. Enduring peace is achievable not merely through military deterrence but also by addressing the colonial-era decisions that disrupted shared histories and identities, whilst taking into context the nationhood of these new states, no matter their origins. Viewing South Asia's challenges through this perspective allows for progress beyond recurring violence towards true reconciliation. * Phapano Phasha is the chairperson of the Centre for Alternative Political and Economic Thought, whose focus is on the Global South and BRICS Plus countries. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I'm a Medicaid recipient. Cuts will make health care inaccessible.
I am writing this letter to protest against plans by the U.S. Congress to cut federal funding for Medicaid. As a Medicaid recipient myself for the past several years, I find this totally unacceptable. People like me who aren't rich depend on Medicaid to pay for our medical care. Cutting this program would be a great disadvantage to us. It would make it harder, if not impossible, for us to see our doctors regularly, to afford medications or to receive hospital treatments. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who should never have been our president for one term, let alone two, is giving tax cuts to the rich and the big business corporations, even though they're rich enough without them. Not only that, he's planning more defense spending, even though we're not at war. And how does he expect to pay for all this? By cutting Medicaid and other vital government programs designed to help those in need! That is so par for the course. There's never enough money for the sick or the needy, but there's always enough cash for the billionaires and the "Military Industrial Complex" — which President Dwight D. Eisenhower (a Republican and a former general, mind you) warned us about more than 50 years ago. Opinion: Federal Medicaid proposals are a devastating blow to health care in Florida I ask members of Congress to please not cut off our necessary Medicaid benefits. They would be putting our health, and perhaps our lives, in danger if they do. If they want to cut government spending, they should cut the corporate welfare and the Pentagon spending. Michael Palmieri, Boca Raton This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tax cuts for rich mean Medicaid cuts for poor, disadvantaged | Letter
