Important Takeaways:
- Long-range missiles strike civilian targets across Europe. Baltic States are invaded. AI-controlled tanks rule the battlefield. As NATO warns of Russian attack in 20 years, a terrifying prediction of how it will unfold
- The year 2024 is off to an alarming start.
- Almost two full years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and with the Middle East teetering on the brink of disaster following Hamas’ October 7th attacks on Israel, the threat of a wider war looms large on the horizon.
- Prime ministers, defense secretaries and military chiefs have claimed that the threat of a major conflict is greater now than at any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Phase One: Cyber warfare and missile strikes
- ‘Cyber-attacks have real battlefield applications – the Russians used these in the prelude to the invasion to Ukraine to take down the Viasat communications network, among other things,’ RUSI associate fellow and defense analyst Sam Cranny-Evans said.
- But technological advancement in the coming years means Russia’s capacity to employ cyber warfare to sew chaos in NATO’s ranks could be orders of magnitude greater when the time comes to attack.
- Phase Two: Invasion – by land, sea and air
- Hodges said Russia will have learned from the mistakes made in Ukraine
- In one scenario, Gen. Hodges said Moscow could use this renewed military strength to first attack the narrow strip of land known as Suwalki Gap, sandwiched between Poland, Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
- This second phase would involve sending thousands of Russian soldiers, AI-controlled tanks and Special Forces, to attack one of the Baltic states on NATO’s eastern flank – most likely either Lithuania, Poland or Estonia.
- And Gen. Hodges says that after Putin had attacked a nation on NATO’s eastern flank, Russia would wait to see how the military alliance would respond.
- And if NATO did hesitate, Putin would not stop, Gen. Hodges predicts.
- ‘If we hesitated, that failure to live up to our obligations under Article 5 to protect member states… it would break the alliance. It would be a staggering blow to NATO if we didn’t live up to what we said we were going to do,’ Gen. Hodges said.
- Russia’s allies could join the fight
- In recent years Russia has been forging closer ties with other powers, each of whom has their own deep-rooted grievances with what they see as a hegemonic world order led by the US and its Western allies.
- Iran, for example, represents a grave threat in the Middle East, with a fearsome military and the resources to develop nuclear weapons – something Gen. Hodges said would likely happen in years to come.
- With this in mind, it’s less likely Beijing would wade into a European theatre to back up Russia in a conflict with NATO forces.
- But a scenario in which the Chinese Communist Party seizes such an opportunity to launch an invasion of Taiwan in an effort to bring the sovereign, self-governed island back under control – while NATO is focused on the threat from Moscow – is certainly a plausible one.
- So how can the West stop this from happening?
- According to experts, deterrence is the key.
- This requires NATO and its member states to have a military that is not only ready to repel any invading Russian force, but strong enough to outmatch Moscow’s armies to the point that the Kremlin will be unwilling to launch an attack in the first place.
- ‘Deterrence is both having the military capability and signaling to your foe your willingness to use that capability – and your resolve to see it through to the end,’ Sam Cranny-Evans says.
- Gen. Ryan said: ‘Getting ready could be enough to avert a wider war. Not getting ready could invite one.’
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Important Takeaways:
- A 4.5 magnitude earthquake hit southern California on Wednesday night, originating in San Bernardino and generating a shockwave that could be felt between Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
- No current damage has been reported out of the San Bernardino epicenter, which serves as home to Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear…
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Important Takeaways:
- Childless Future? Birth Rate Plunging as Millennials Decide Against Being Parents
- Less than a fifth of millennials, specifically those between 26 and 35, are certain that they want to become parents one day. This inclination further diminishes among individuals with pronounced environmental concerns. Simply put, four in five young millennials want to remain childless, especially if they dwell on climate change concerns.
- The study, conducted by the University of Southampton and the Generations and Gender Program, gathered insights on attitudes toward children, family, and various political issues. It involved a sample of 7,000 individuals ranging from 18 to 59 years-old in the U.K.
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Important Takeaways:
- Countdown to conflict with Putin: Norway’s defense chief becomes latest military figure to warn Europe has three years to prepare for war with Russia
- Norway’s defense chief has become the latest senior military figure to warn that Europe has a matter of years to prepare for war against Russia.
- In his dire warning, Eirik Kristoffersen said NATO countries have ‘two, maybe three’ years to get ready for an assault by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
- Last week, the NATO defense chiefs met in Brussels where several emphasized the importance of countries in Europe increasing their readiness for an attack.
- This came as secret plans were leaked revealing that Germany is preparing for Putin’s forces to attack NATO as early as 2025, and after a senior NATO general said the alliance was preparing for such a scenario to happen within 20 years.
- Speaking to NTB, Norway’s press agency, Kristoffersen pointed out that Moscow has built up its military stockpiles far quicker than expected.
- With his invasion in Ukraine at a stalemate, Putin has also switched his economy on to a war footing, meaning weapons factories are producing arms around the clock.
- What’s more, Putin’s allies in Iran and North Korea are also propping his forces up with arms, meaning Russia can build up its defense’s faster than previously thought.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.N. Chief Guterres Warns Israel: Rejection of a Two-State Solution Threatens World Peace
- Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a two-state solution indefinitely prolongs a conflict that threatens world peace and emboldens extremists everywhere, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday.
- AP reports Guterres told a ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council “the right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognized by all, and a refusal to accept the two-state solution by any party must be firmly rejected.”
- The alternative of a one-state solution “with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity … will be inconceivable,” he further warned, adding to his previous comments on the matter.
- On Sunday the European Union’s top diplomat claimed a two-state solution for Israel-Gaza has “the whole international community” behind it, as Breitbart News reported.
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Important Takeaways:
- The 41 million Gen Z voters who will decide the 2024 election are by far the most LGBTQ cohort to date, and they’re ditching Christianity, conservatism and the GOP: survey
- Gen Zers are by far the most LGBTQ generation in US history, and they are turning away from religion and the Republican Party in droves, says a survey with big implications for this year’s presidential election.
- A Public Religion Research Institute survey shows that Gen Zers, who were born between 1997 and 2012, are the most racially, ethnically and sexually diverse and progressive generation to date.
- Alejandra Caraballo, a Harvard academic and male-to-female trans- influencer, said the survey results showed that: ‘It’s over for white Christian male hegemony in the United States.’
- Only 27 percent of gen Z adults say they’re white Christians, compared to 54 percent of baby boomers. A third of them describe themselves as not affiliated to any religion, a bigger share than in any cohort except millennials.
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Important Takeaways:
- Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen: The LA Times Appears to Be in a State of Imminent Collapse
- The Los Angeles Times has been around since 1881 and has survived enormous ups and downs over the past 142 years. But one thing remained constant: the LA Times could be depended on for trustworthy and timely reporting of the news
- …until now. Impending doom seems to have struck the Times, with new reports of “brutal” layoffs and exodus of senior editors
- Tuesday’s big news was that the paper will be shedding a large percentage of the newsroom staff and editors (115 people to be laid off), and two of the four remaining senior editors (ironically they came from BuzzFeed) have called it quits. This comes just a few weeks after Executive Editor Kevin Merida abruptly left, citing differences with the paper’s owner.
- No one seems to truly know what is going on, or what will come, as several employees are pointing their fingers or at the very least offering criticism at the owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. An anonymous employee stated:
- “We have a billionaire who doesn’t understand media and thinks he can cut his way to success…”
- The critique of the leadership does not come without merit. The Times has lost roughly $30 million annually since he took over with his activist daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong. The Times is shedding editorial staff and general newsroom staff at an extremely concerning rate, whether by being laid off or outright quitting; the media giant has a historic attrition rate.
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Important Takeaways:
- Terrifying video shows volcano sending hot ash thousands of feet in air over Indonesian villages
- Hot ash rained down on villages southeast of Mount Merapi after several eruptions just in the last month.
- A resident captured a massive volcanic ash cloud shooting 7,800 feet into the air for almost four minutes on Sunday afternoon, according to the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency.
- The photographer was upwind of the prevailing winds and escaped the falling hot ash. Officials have reported no fatalities so far.
- There were four separate lava flows that traveled a little more than a mile down the slope, according to an Indonesian news agency.
- The ash mixed with heavy rain and fog and soaked two villages with muddy, gritty rain.
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Important Takeaways:
- Donald Trump Moves in for the Kill in New Hampshire Primary as Nikki Haley Gets Desperate to Stay Alive
- Former President Donald Trump seeks to end it on Tuesday and formally become the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee for the third straight election as New Hampshire primary voters decide between Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
- With 81 percent reporting now according to the New York Times, Trump is maintaining his double-digit lead over Haley. Trump is at 54.8 percent and Haley is down at 43.6 percent.
- So the next major contest beyond New Hampshire is the first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina, where Haley faces perhaps even longer odds if she stays in the race after Tuesday, as Trump has the support of both U.S. senators and the sitting governor of South Carolina, among many others.
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Important Takeaways:
- CBO: Biden Admin Has Released 6.2 Million Illegal Migrants into U.S. in 3 Years, Often Through ‘Parole’ Loophole
- President Joe Biden’s deputies have let 6.2 million illegal migrants into the United States, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
- Biden’s southern inflow is more than one migrant for every two American births since January 2021.
- “More of those people are also being released into the United States than previously, generally through the use of parole authority or with a notice to appear before an immigration judge,” said the report, titled “The Demographic Outlook: 2014 to 2054.”
- The 2023 inflow includes 900,000 migrants who were released after they walked up to official border gates plus 1.1 million migrants who were released after they crossed through gaps in the border wall, said the CBO agency, which acts as an advisor to Capitol Hill legislators.
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