CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Pfizer agrees to pay $345m to resolve EpiPen pricing lawsuit


16 July 2021 - BY REUTERS

Paul Geller, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were "pleased that Pfizer resolved its part of this class action lawsuit over the pricing of EpiPens."
Image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Pfizer Inc has agreed to pay $345 million to resolve claims by consumers who claim they overpaid for EpiPens due to anticompetitive and unfair practices by the drugmaker and the company that markets the emergency allergy treatment, Mylan.

The proposed class action settlement was disclosed in a filing in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. The deal, which requires a judge's approval, would not resolve claims against Mylan, which is scheduled to face trial in January.

Paul Geller, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were “pleased that Pfizer resolved its part of this class action lawsuit over the pricing of EpiPens.”

Pfizer, which did not admit wrongdoing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EpiPen is a hand-held device that treats life-threatening allergic reactions by automatically injecting a dose of epinephrine.

The litigation followed a public outcry in 2016 after Mylan, which owns the rights to market and distribute the devices, raised the price of a pair of EpiPens to $600, from $100 in 2008, putting it in the centre of an ongoing US debate over the high cost of medicines.

The lawsuit accused Mylan and Pfizer, which manufactured the EpiPen for Mylan, of engaging in anticompetitive conduct that allowed them maintain a monopoly over the market for the devices and their profitable revenues.

The settlement came after US District Judge Daniel Crabtree last month dismissed much of but not all of the claims against Mylan.

The remaining antitrust claims concern a patent settlement the plaintiffs say delayed the launch of a generic epinephrine auto-injector. Mylan has said it “firmly believes that Mylan's conduct was lawful and pro-competitive.”

Mylan in 2017 agreed to pay $465 million to resolve US Justice Department claims it overcharged the government for the EpiPen.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Australian organisations are quietly paying hackers millions in a 'tsunami of cyber crime'

ABC Science /
By technology reporter James Purtill
Posted 13h ago

Two-thirds of Australian organisations have suffered a ransomware attack, a recent survey found.(Getty: HomePixel)

It's an open secret within the tight-lipped world of cybersecurity.

For years, Australian organisations have been quietly paying millions in ransoms to hackers who have stolen or encrypted their data.

Key points:

One-third of Australian organisations hit by ransomware attacks paid the ransom

These payments, which encourage further attacks, are typically kept secret

Experts are calling for mandatory reporting of ransom payments

This money has gone to criminal organisations and encouraged further attacks, creating a vicious cycle.

Now experts say Australia and the rest of the world is facing a "tsunami of cyber crime".

There has been a 60 per cent increase in ransomware attacks against Australian entities in the past year, according to the government's cyber security agency, the ACSC.

An attack against the UK's National Health Service in 2017.(@fendifille via AP)

Just in the past six months alone, the frequency of attacks and the size of ransoms being demanded has increased significantly, said Michael Sentonas, chief technology officer of Crowdstrike, one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world.

But this message is not being heard by Australian organisations, many of which remain complacent about the threat, he said.

"I still speak to a lot of Australian organisations that say, 'Why would somebody attack us?'" Mr Sentonas said.

"There's a little bit of that mentality in Australia."

So how many organisations have been hit by ransomware, and why is the problem getting worse?
Millions paid to ransomware gangs every year

In ransomware attacks, criminals infiltrate an organisation's computer systems with the aim of stealing, encrypting or otherwise locking up data.

The attackers then demand a ransom payment in return for the stolen data or a copy of the decryption keys.

If your company is held hostage, should you pay the ransom?

Security experts warn Australia is a soft target amid a "tsunami of cyber crime" which is costing the global economy about $1 trillion.Read more

Because it looks bad and harms their reputation, most organisations do not say when they've been hacked and had to pay a ransom.

As a result, there's often little detail around both the frequency of attacks, the size of the ransom being demanded, and whether it was paid.

A report published this week by the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC ) estimated that "cyber crime" has cost the global economy US$1 trillion.

In Australia, this includes a string of ransomware attacks affecting Australian companies in 2020 and 2021, including :
February and May 2020 – Two attacks in a few months against logistics company Toll Holdings
March 2021 – An attack against Nine Entertainment that left the company struggling to televise news bulletins and produce newspapers
June 2021– An attack against JBS Foods, the world's largest meat supplier, which affected 47 facilities in Australia

The impact of these attacks on JBS, Nine or Toll Group has been "in the realm of catastrophic" for these businesses, Australian Signals Directors (ASD) director-general Rachel Noble told a Senate committee in June.

But they're relatively small with what the ASD fears may be on the horizon.

Ms Noble quoted a study that estimated a single significant cyber attack against Australia could cost $30 billion and 160,000 or more jobs.

"The threat environment is definitely deteriorating," she said.
'It's a perfect business model'

To get a picture of unpublicised cyber crime in Australia, Crowdstrike surveyed 200 senior IT decision-makers and security professionals across Australia's major industry sectors.

They found that two thirds of the Australian organisations surveyed had suffered a ransomware attack in the 12-month period to November 2020.

Of those that had been attacked, one-third — or 44 Australian organisations — had paid the ransom.

The average ransom amount was $1.25 million, the survey found.

That's a rough total of at least $55 million in ransom payments.

If the survey was repeated for the past 12 months, Mr Sentonas said it would show a sizable increase in the proportion of Australian organisations that have suffered attacks.

"It would be a healthy amount larger than what we reported last time," he said.

The increase in ransomware attacks globally over the past six months has been well documented.

But an attack this month eclipsed them all: hackers infiltrated the global IT-management and security company Kaseya, encrypted sensitive data, and demanded US$70 million.

A ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline led to petrol shortages in the US.

(AP: Robert Willett)

More than 1500 companies around the world using Kaseya services were affected, including at least five IT services companies in Australia.

Kaseya hasn't yet paid the ransom and the hackers are now asking for a measly US$50 million.

These successes have encouraged more criminal gangs to mount attacks of their own, Mr Sentonas said.

"There's so much money being made. That's the reality of it."

"And at the end of the day we're not seeing the adversaries get caught and get prosecuted. For them, it's a perfect business model," he said.
Ransomware industry growing specialised, sophisticated

In fact, the ransomware business model has become so sophisticated that some hacking groups are specialising in developing and selling the technology that other groups use to mount attacks.

In other words, hacking groups have their own IT services industry.

"You don't need to be an expert in creating and developing ransomware anymore, you just need to have the appetite to carry out a crime and a little bit of money," Mr Sentonas said.

'Cozy Bears' and "Hidden Cobras'


These are the hacking groups targeting a honeypot of COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property.Read more

The recent hack of the US division of the chemical distribution company Brenntag and the US fuel supplier Colonial Pipeline were both widely reported as the work of a hacking group called DarkSide.

But Mr Sentonas said DarkSide actually made the the platform used to mount the attack and was not necessarily the attacker.

"It may not be the creators of a particular platform that are the ones behind the attack," he said.

"A lot of the people that are behind the attacks could be anywhere.


"The way that the infrastructure is built, it could be someone down the road from your house."

Many of the prominent hacking groups, however, are based in either Russia or Eastern Europe, where it is harder for them to be prosecuted.

On Friday last week, US President Joe Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action against the ransomware group REvil, responsible for the Kaseya and the JBS Foods hacks.

When asked by a reporter later if he would take down the group's servers if Mr Putin did not, the president replied "yes".

Days later, REvil's sites on the dark web suddenly disappeared. It's unclear who made that happen.
An epidemic of connectivity and standardisation

But the proliferation of hacking groups is not the only reason for the increase in ransomware attacks, says Sergei Shevchenko, chief technical officer of the cybersecurity company Prevasio.

It's also due to long-term trends within the IT industry itself, he says.

Companies have gone from managing IT in-house to outsourcing this to IT specialists, who may themselves outsource other aspects of their business to specialist companies.

As a result, when a company far up this chain of outsourcing is compromised, hundreds or even thousands of companies "down the chain" are affected too.

This is exactly what happened with the Kaseya hack; an attack against a company in Dublin led to the closure of kindergartens in New Zealand and grocery stores in Sweden.

Hundreds of Coop grocery stores were shut after the attack.(Reuters: Supantha Mukherjee)

When everything is connected and standardised, everything is vulnerable.

Mr Schevchenko compares the situation to disease tearing through a monoculture crop.

"In my personal view, the biggest problem is that most victims are using the Windows operating system," he said.

"So long as there's a culture of using one operating system, an epidemic will create havoc across that monoculture."

"The solution to that is a cultural shift into multiple operating systems."
'Naming and shaming' businesses who pay ransoms won't work

Despite the string of high-profile ransomware attacks, attitudes to cyber security in Australia are "not changing fast enough", Mr Sentonas said.

Organisations regularly ask him why they would be attacked. He typically responds: "If you don't have anything of value, why are you in business?""

"It's very common when you see an organisation that's been breached, when they make their first public statement that will say that it was a highly sophisticated attack by a very sophisticated adversary.

"And in most cases, it's not a sophisticated adversary. And it's not a sophisticated attack.


"They found it very, very easy to get in. That's the reality of what we see."

The JBS hack affected meatworks facilities around the world, including several in Australia.(Getty: Luke Sharrett)

Rachael Falk from the Cyber Security CRC (CSCRC) agreed, saying many Australian businesses are still "woefully under prepared".

Her organisation is urging the federal government to develop a mandatory reporting regime for cyber attacks. Labor has also called for such a regime.

Mr Shevchenko said mandatory reporting was "absolutely vital".


"We will definitely lose this game with the attackers if we don’t enforce reporting."

But reporting should not be to "name and shame" companies that pay ransoms, as those that do often have little other choice, he said.

Mr Sentonas said organisations that find themselves the victims of ransomware attacks are under "an amazing amount of pressure" to resume operations as quickly as possible.

"Sit in the shoes of the customer that's trying to work out how to how to get their network up and running.

"The pressure that they're under is immense. And unfortunately, sometimes they do have to make that decision to say this outage is going to cost me 'x' and I can recover by paying 'y'.

"And then they make that decision. They know full well what they're doing. They know that they're fuelling crime, but it's a simple business decision."

The ACSC advises against paying a ransom request.

"Paying a ransom may embolden actors to target additional individuals and organisations, encourage other criminal actors to engage in distribution of ransomware, and/or fund illicit activities," a spokesperson said.

Controversial Arab-Israeli woman appointed to Knesset security panel
Labor party legislator Ibtisam Mara’ana, lambasted over allegedly supporting Palestinian assailants, was appointed this week as member of the Knesset’s prestigious foreign and security affairs committee.

Campaign poster for new Israeli Knesset member Ibtisam Mara'ana 

- Ibtisam Mara'ana

Mazal Mualem
@mazalm3
July 15, 2021


Ibtisam Mara’ana of the Labor Party was a controversial figure even before she was sworn into the Knesset. Parties on the right wanted to disqualify her, claiming that she supports terrorism, citing comments she once made on social media. The matter was brought before the Supreme Court, which ruled that Mara’ana was eligible to serve in the parliament.

Mara’ana remained the target of right-wing attacks on the “post-Zionist” left. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned her frequently by name during his last election campaign, using her as an example of how the parties on the left pose a risk to national security.

Since Netanyahu was defeated and became leader of the opposition, leftist parties are now an integral part of the coalition and this week, Mara’ana became a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the most prestigious of all the Knesset committees.

This committee has always been considered a stronghold of the country’s security hawks. Traditionally, its members include former defense ministers and chiefs of staff. It was only in the last few years that women and Arabs were even appointed to the committee. The only Arab who ever served on the committee was current Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Freij, who was chosen by Meretz to be its representative on the committee back in 2007.

Inevitably, Mara’ana's appointment to the committee has raised controversy, particularly among the Israeli right.

Mara’ana, 45, is a highly regarded screenwriter and filmmaker. She is a feminist who grew up in a devout Muslim family from the village of Fureidis near Zichron Yaakov and made a name for herself with her activism on behalf of gender and national equality. Much of her work focused on the struggles of Arab-Israelis and Palestinians. She actively participated in demonstrations against Israeli military activity in the Gaza Strip.

In her personal life, Mara’ana is married to a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors and they have a daughter.

Mara’ana's past social media posts have evoked impassioned responses among Israelis. They began to made headlines when the Labor Party put her on its Knesset list before the last election.

In November 2020, for example, she posted in support of Maher al-Akhras, a member of Islamic Jihad, who was protesting his administrative detention with a hunger strike. Then, in July 2020, she wrote, “Another young man from the Gaza ghetto committed suicide last night. There is no hope for the sense of desperation, the brutal occupation and the oppressive Hamas regime.”

In December 2016, Mara’ana posted a photo of Netanyahu and a noose on Facebook. The photo was of a poster that appeared in an exhibit at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem that earned its student designer an interrogate by the police.

Mara’ana’s most problematic post for Jewish Israelis was her reaction to Holocaust Memorial Day, one of the most sacred days on the Israeli calendar. Memorial sirens go off across the country and millions of people stand at attention for a minute in memory of the 6 million Jews killed in Europe. Traditionally, the media is inundated with photos of Israelis pulling over to the side of the country’s busiest highways and stopping everything they are doing, no matter where they are — including supermarkets and gyms — to show their respect for the victims. It is one of the most solemn moments of the year, reflecting a shared legacy. In her post, Mara’ana wrote, “I did not stand during the siren; I was driving while the whole country was almost silent. I decided to keep going and there were two wonderful minutes during the siren. The road was empty, I kept thinking about what really interested me at that moment.”

In another post from April 2013, she asked, “How did the Holocaust impact the sex lives of the women who survived?”

Mara’ana apologized as soon as these posts were shared by the press. She even shed tears during interviews about them. Nevertheless, her harsh, defiant comments about her own attitude toward the Holocaust continue to haunt her.

Knesset members on the right were quick to lash out over Mara’ana’s appointment. Former minister Miri Regev released an especially scathing comment: “This is actually a very successful appointment to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee by [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar. Credit for this should be given to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.” Far-right Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir of the Religious Zionist party reacted snidely, “The next step will be the appointment of [Raam leader] Mansour Abbas as defense minister.”

Mara’ana didn’t seem bothered, tweeting, “The foreign affairs and defense of Israel are relevant to me as well. I have the right and responsibility as an elected official to have a say on them.” She also tweeted, “Arab women can also serve on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. My role there, first and foremost, is to be vigilant and prevent unnecessary wars. Enough with all the violence. Enough with all the losses.”

Mara’ana clearly understands the power she wields as a trailblazing lawmaker. As a successful screenwriter, she also has the rhetorical skills needed to relay her messages to the people of Israel and the world at large.

While it is easy to understand why she is so controversial, it is important to remember that she was democratically elected to the Knesset and that she has a right to serve on committees. The way she is being treated by the right may serve its electorate, but it serves her interests, too.

Mara’ana is providing an important service to democratic Israel, and she is doing a great job at presenting Israel to the world. She is a perfect example of how the country is inclusive of different opinions and world views, including the most controversial. It will even allow a Muslim Arab woman to be part of the forum that oversees the country’s military and defense activities.

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/07/controversial-arab-israeli-woman-appointed-knesset-security-panel#ixzz70rNoeea4

Indian Defense Industry Plans to Manufacture Own Missiles, Radars and Armaments

By TOC On Nov 18, 2019

NEW DELHI, (BM) – We will offer technologies to private sector for early realisation of products and to support R&D works. The private industry is vital for self-reliance, says DRDO chief G Sateesh Reddy while inviting companies as development and production partners, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

In an interview to Manu Pubby, the missile scientist says the next generation AMCA (advanced multi-role combat aircraft) can fly within five years of approval and shares his formula for roping in industry for import substitution.

How does DRDO see the push for the private sector?

DRDO is a technology development organisation and all our technologies have been realised into products by various PSUs and industry. DRDO has set a target to achieve self-reliance in missiles, radars, sonars, torpedoes, armaments and EW (early warning) systems. We intend to have no import for these systems in five years. We will offer our technologies to industries for early realisation of products and to support R&D facilities. Our focus will also be to support start-ups through the Technology Development Fund (TDF). Time and cost management of projects involving industry is another priority area. We have come up with a policy for identification of a Development Cum Production Partner (DcPP) in which the industry will be involved in all stages of system development.

How is the progress of the Light Combat Aircraft and AMCA projects?

An advanced version, the LCA MK II, is the next aero platform. LCA MK II configuration is frozen and qualitative requirements are finalised. It is our endeavor to develop the fifth-generation advanced multi-role combat aircraft (AMCA) as per the project schedule to meet the Air Force’s requirements.

We should be in a position to roll out the first AMCA within five years of project approval. We are not comparing AMCA with other aircraft, but are trying to meet the specifications given to us by IAF.

Is development of an indigenous fighter jet engine a priority?

Yes, it’s a priority for strategic autonomy. The development of an indigenous jet engine through the Kaveri programme has boosted the know-how and industrial ecosystem in the country. Presently, we are working on the flagship programme to develop an Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft.


It requires an advanced 110kN thrust class engine. We will involve academia, industry and defence PSUs to develop this high-thrust engine. We are open to international collaboration.

What’s you plan on outsourcing further to private industry?

The private sector has been playing a great role in the production of DRDO products. When Dr (former President APJ Abdul) Kalam started work, there were barely 30 partner companies, but now we have more than 1,800. A number of industries started as fabricators for us and have now become established aerospace manufacturers with our technology, handholding and quality practices.

Actually, the aerospace industry developed by us is our strength. The Akash air defence system, for example, is built 87% by the industry. We have thrown open our test facilities to the industry. We will help with technology for development of products. We are identifying companies in the private sector that can take on the role of lead system integrator for major systems.

Can you share updates on systems like the BMD, Astra and others ?

We have developed a number of variants of anti-tank missiles. User trials of NAG ATGM have been successfully conducted and development trials of Helina, the airborne anti-tank missile, are under progress. We are currently working on MPATGM (man-portable anti-tank guided missile) programme.

Five demonstration trials have already been completed and we would be able to offer it for user trials soon. India is one of the few countries that has an active and successful BMD (Ballistic Missile Defence) programme. We have demonstrated our BMD capability through both simulation as well as live target engagements in both endo and exo regions. All essential technologies have been proven through tests.

BulgarianMilitary.com
Editorial team
Source: The Economic Times

$ 4.8 million in British taxes goes to smarter missiles

By Boyko Nikolov 

On Jul 2, 2021

LONDON, BM – In the next two years, Britain will develop a new, smarter, and next-generation missile system, BulgarianMilitary.com has learned, citing a press release from the British Ministry of Defense. $ 4.8 million (£ 3.5 million) of British taxes will be invested in developing the systems.
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The design and development were assigned to the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The project is part of a massive increase in the Kingdom’s defense budget over the next four years by nearly $ 33 billion (£ 24 billion). Nearly $ 10 billion (£ 6.6 billion) has been earmarked from this increase in R&D.

The new missile system, which is expected to be developed, known as the Cooperative Demonstration Technological Weapon Demonstrator (CSWTD), must operate autonomously, allowing it to be coded and electronically communicating with other weapon systems. The British Ministry of Defense expects the new system to give greater flexibility to the missiles, more precise and timely response to the detection of a specific threat, and work in all weather conditions.

“Drawing on the vital expertise of our Dstl scientists, innovative new missile systems will enhance our current capabilities as Defense adapts to meet future threats,” said Jeremy Quinn, the Kingdom’s Minister of State (Minister for Defence Procurement). “With an investment into research and development, this project highlights the central role of science and technology playing in informing how our assets operate,” he added.

The CSWTD project will upgrade existing software and hardware, both with the launch platform and the communication between the missiles themselves, to conduct hundreds of studies on communication between the missiles themselves.

The stabbing technology is new and the United States is the first in this field. As we wrote recently, Washington has begun to develop flocks of missiles to communicate during flight and before striking a target. This program in the United States is called the Golden Horde Vanguard and began two years ago in the United States.

The principle of operation is as follows – a group or swarm of bombs perform coordinated actions by sharing measurements of the location of the target and combine the information of each bomb into one, which reduces the possibility of error for the exact location of the enemy target.

With this program, the US Air Force is trying to change the rules of the game. Assuming that at the time of battle all weapon systems are pre-programmed, the risk of unforeseen action by the enemy to destroy these systems is high. However, the use of network weapons implies that they do not have a pre-drawn plan, but prepare it during the battle in real-time, thus overcoming the surprising actions of the enemy.


The US Air Force recently tested a similar interaction between small-diameter bombs. The lab says the tests were successful, but there is still no complete picture of the program’s capabilities to say it will be launched or integrated into the US Air Force.

***

New US nuclear missile ‘eats’ $2B without a guarantee of success

By Boyko Nikolov On Jul 3, 2021

WASHINGTON, BM – Late this week on July 1 (Thursday), the US government launched a phase of engineering and development of a new Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) Weapon System better known as the new nuclear cruise missile. Raytheon will be the contractor for this phase of the project and received $ 2 billion for it.
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Top 5 most powerful nuclear bombs in the world

At his traditional briefing on Friday, July 2, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said the LRSO was key to the American nuclear triad (water, air, land). He reminded accredited journalists that the nuclear triad is the basis of national security.


A nuclear triad is a collection of nuclear weapons, including air-to-air nuclear missiles, ground-to-air nuclear missiles, and nuclear-launched nuclear missiles or submarines.

According to Kirby, the contract awarded to Raytheon is a continuation of a long process in the engineering business and the development of a new nuclear cruise missile for the United States and the defense budget ensures that this phase receives its funding. Kirby recalled that the United States needs to modernize its nuclear missiles.

However, he did not give a clear answer as to what the United States would do if the ongoing review of the need for such nuclear weapons concluded that the missile was not needed. Ie will this contract with Raytheon be terminated and what happens to the money set aside for this development.

“I don’t want to get ahead of the review process, Tony (the journalist who asks the question), but as I said we’re going to be informed by both the nuclear posture review and the budget process. The budget process also has to be respected, and I think we want to – we want to make sure that as we move forward it’s moving forward in both lanes. And again, I don’t know that it would be helpful to speculate about the outcome there, but it’s being reviewed and looked at in the context of both of those processes in parallel,” was the answer to the question asked.
Is there a need?

There is a deadline by 2027 for Raytheon to complete this phase, as stated in the press release announcing the contract. The question that was asked of Kirby is important, as there is currently a debate in the United States and a review of the need for new nuclear weapons, or their modernization.


The United States has prepared approximately $ 270 billion for the development of new nuclear weapons, according to Defense One. The authors of this publication conclude why it is not necessary to spend billions on new nuclear weapons. They think:

First, the United States does not need localized nuclear missiles (the silos we mentioned above) because they become an easy target for the enemy.

Second, the chance of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile due to human error, involuntary “push” of the button, and weak nerves is very high. Just the day before, on May 6, it was a computer problem that failed the launch of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.

Third, intercontinental ballistic missiles are difficult to sell. These are not ships, submarines, planes – this is an entirely different technology that requires high costs, maintenance, and annual testing.

Fourth, the United States has hundreds of missiles with nuclear warheads in its submarines. It’s much harder to find a sub to destroy than a missile silo. For God’s sake, we know where the US silos are.

The presence of hundreds of nuclear missiles in the Pentagon submarines gives the United States a better advantage over Russia. With these missiles, the authors of the proposal believe that the United States can hit Russia’s 50 largest cities at any time.

Investments continue

What will happen to the new nuclear cruise missile is not clear. Even if at some point the United States decides it doesn’t need it, that doesn’t mean it will stop investing in nuclear weapons.

For example, it was announced in early June that Washington intended to develop mobile mini-nuclear reactors to power weapons systems on the battlefield. Funds ($ 60 million) have already been provided for this idea, and they will be included in the 2022 budget.

Funds are being set aside for new bombers, some of which are nuclear. The United States will also provide hundreds of millions of dollars to optimize software, improve communications and autonomous nuclear depots around the country.

But Kirby never gave a clear answer to the American taxpayer – will the contract with Raytheon be terminated if the United States abandons this development? The issue is important because other weapon systems are beginning to suffer serious negatives. One such is the F-35 with its multibillion-dollar costs and nearly 800 problems discovered during its operation.

Dutch F-16s were sold to a private military company in Florida, USA

By TOC On Jul 5, 2021

AMSTERDAM, BM,  – The Dutch Ministry of Defense has announced the sale of twelve Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons to Draken International LLC., a US company headquartered at Lakeland Linder International Airport, Florida.

Draken, with a fleet of used military aircraft, offers air support, flight training, air threat simulation, electronic warfare, and air refueling. Draken employees also conduct research and testing for the US Department of Defense, defense contractors, and aerospace companies.

It is noted that the delivery of F-16 fighters and related equipment to Draken International will begin in 2022. The agreement includes an option to resell an additional 28 F-16s. The second group of fighters is expected to be phased out of the Netherlands by May 2024.

As we reported in May, the American private company Top Aces, a private Air Force company, has acquired a 4th generation F-16 fighter and will be the new strike force of the private military. Top Aces and F-16 go down in history as the first private army to acquire this type of fighter.

The delivery of the four second-hand F-16A / B ‘Netz’ fighters, which belonged to the Israeli Air Force, took place earlier this year, and the first test flight took place this month.

Top Aces is a private US air force operating various warplanes. The Pentagon often hires this company to support the regular US Air Force in different parts of the world. Top Aces is expecting to continue to support the Pentagon’s ground, air, and naval operations with the new acquisition.

There are many private armies in the world. The most famous Russian private army, for example, is Wagner. Unlike his American counterparts, however, Wagner operated primarily on third-generation fighters, such as improved versions of the MiG-29.
The private air force receives large contracts with the Pentagon

In the United States and the production of weapons technology, private companies are another profitable business. The Pentagon has never hidden the use of such services. In 2020, for example, it became clear which private sector companies will provide support to US troops around the world.

Draken International, Airborn Tactical Adventure Company, and Tactical Air Support were funded for the next five years by nearly $ 430 million, each with a specific mission. The funds will go mainly to train new personnel enlisted in the US Army, and for this purpose, the companies will use five air bases selected by the Pentagon.

Separately, the United States is providing about $ 6.4 billion to other private companies with more specific and dangerous missions around the world. Analysts at The Drive say the business is starting to multiply. It is only a matter of time before seeing the first fifth-generation fighter in the private air force. Will it be an F-22 or an F-35? Time will tell.

JERUSALEM IS SHARED TERRITORY

Likud's Barkat heads to Washington to stop Palestinian consulate opening

The Likud MK argues that opening a consulate to a foreign entity – the Palestinian Authority – on Israeli territory undermines its sovereignty in Jerusalem and is a move towards dividing the capital.

By LAHAV HARKOV
JULY 15, 2021 18:21

NIR BARKAT at a rally supporting him on Thursday night, June 10 2021
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/ MAARIV)
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Likud MK Nir Barkat is on a mission: To stop the US from opening a mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The former mayor of Israel’s capital flew to the US on Thursday to advance that cause, for meetings in New York and Washington with members of both houses of the US Congress and to appear in US media.

US President Joe Biden has said he plans to keep his predecessor’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital intact. However, the Biden administration has also said it seeks to reopen the US Consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which former US president Donald Trump ordered closed in 2018, after moving the US Embassy to Israel to the capital.

The Likud MK argues that opening a consulate to a foreign entity – the Palestinian Authority – on Israel’s territory undermines its sovereignty in Jerusalem, and is a move towards dividing the capital.

Barkat plans “to present his stance against opening the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem and the ramifications of such a move on Jerusalem’s unity,” his spokeswoman said.

The Likud MK, the wealthiest politician in Israel, paid for the trip himself.

The visit to the US comes after a report in Palestinian news outlet Al Quds on Thursday that the American Consulate to the Palestinians will be reopened in September, at its former location on Agron Street in central Jerusalem, which is currently the ambassador’s residence.

“Just as I warned, the Lapid-Bennett government plans to allow a Palestinian consulate to be opened in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” Barkat said on twitter. “After the first is opened, European countries will open more Palestinian consulates in Jerusalem, one after one, and Lapid and Bennett will allow the de facto division of Jerusalem.”

There already are several European missions to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, such as from France, Italy, Sweden and the Vatican, but they were opened before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Israeli and American sources indicated that Barkat need not have rushed to Washington, denying the Al Quds report that the opening will be in September.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would have to authorize the opening of any diplomatic mission on sovereignty Israeli territory.

Not only did Lapid not receive any requests from the US to open a consulate in Jerusalem, but the Biden administration did not raise the topic at all recently, an Israeli diplomatic source said.

The US Embassy in Israel said that “as Secretary Blinken said when he was here and many other US officials have said since then, we are moving forward with the process to reopen our Consulate General in Jerusalem. We are in the process of determining when and where to open it. We cannot give you a timeline on how long that will take.”

The American source said that the consulate is the Palestinian Authority’s top request from Washington, but “there is nothing imminent.”

Earlier this week, Barkat proposed a bill to amend Basic Law: Jerusalem Capital of Israel, which would make it illegal for the Israeli government to allow a diplomatic mission serving a foreign entity in Jerusalem.

The explanatory portion of the bill argues that opening diplomatic missions to foreign entities has “the legal or practical meaning of blurring Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.

“As is practiced in the world and international law, including and especially the Vienna Consular Convention, no sovereign state allows a foreign country to open a diplomatic mission on its territory that is meant to serve residents of a third state or entity, certainly not to a hostile entity,” the bill reads.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr was in the region this week, for meetings with government officials and civil society groups in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem.

On Thursday, the US Palestinian Affairs Unit tweeted that Amr “heard from civil society in Ramallah re: need for a political horizon for Palestinians, met UN and PA officials and visited a summer camp for girls. Visit continues to advance equal measures of freedom, security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.”

By The Mid-2030s Even The Moon Won’t Save Us From Regular Floods As Sea Levels Rise, Says NASA

Jamie Carter
Senior Contributo
Science
I inspire people to go stargazing, watch the Moon, enjoy the night sky

By the mid-2030s sea levels will have risen so much that the Moon’s regular, predictable cycles will ... [+]

 GETTY

By the mid-2030s sea levels will have risen so much that the Moon’s regular, predictable cycles will be the catalyst for rapidly increasing high-tide floods on almost all U.S. mainland coastlines, Hawaii and Guam. 

That’s the stark conclusion of research published in Nature Climate Change from NASA’s Sea Level Change Science Team from the University of Hawaii.

It states that the increase would be mostly along the continental Pacific, Pacific Island and Gulf of Mexico coastlines.

By the mid-2030s high-tide floods will switch from being a regional problem to a major national issue, it concludes, though with the caveat that fluctuations in local sea levels may affect the exact timing on the onslaught.

How does the Moon’s cycle affect flooding?

The Moon’s gravitational pull causes the low and high tides each day here on Earth because the oceans bulge on the moon-side.

However, the Moon has an 18.6-year cycle during which its “wobbling” position suppresses high tides for one half and amplifies them for the other half. It’s doing the former right now, but climate change-induced sea levels haven’t risen enough for their to be a sharp increase in high-tide floods just yet—also called nuisance floods or sunny day floods. That’s going to change.

People walk through a flooded street that was caused by the combination of the lunar orbit which ... [+]

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Why flooding will worsen in the mid-2030s

When we get to a similar point in the Moon’s cycle in the mid-2030s, climate change will have worsened and sea levels will have risen. That’s because rising sea levels will suddenly be in alignment with the lunar cycle and cause a decade of dramatic increases in flood numbers. 

It’s pretty bad already in many cities on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which reported over 600 high-tide floods in 2019. 

The coming ‘cluster’ problem of high-tide floods

In the mid-2030s there will be high tides that exceed known flooding thresholds around the country more often—and for weeks on end.

This first study to take into account all known oceanic and astronomical causes for floods predict that the floods will sometimes occur in seasonal clusters lasting a month or longer. 

“Understanding that all your events are clustered in a particular month, or you might have more severe flooding in the second half of a year than the first—that’s useful information,” said Ben Hamlington of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, co-author of the paper and the leader of NASA’s Sea Level Change Team. 

The researchers studied 89 tide gauge locations in every coastal U.S. state and territory but Alaska, projecting results to 2080. 

MIAMI BEACH, FL - SEPTEMBER 29: Yana Kibyakova walks through a flooded street that was caused by the ... [+]

 GETTY IMAGES

Why we should be worried about high-tide floods

After all, we’re not talking here about hurricane storm surges and physical damage of property and infrastructure. It’s the accumulated effect over time of things like road and business closures that could be devastating.

“If it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can’t keep operating with its parking lot under water,” said Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii and the lead author of the study. “People lose their jobs because they can’t get to work [and] seeping cesspools become a public health issue.”

How fast are sea levels rising?

Meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets as well as the thermal expansion of seawater as it warms has caused global mean sea level to rise about 8–9 inches/21–24 centimeters since 1880, with about a third of that coming in just the last 25 years, according to NOAA. 

“The combination of the Moon’s gravitational pull, rising sea levels and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world,” said Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator. “NASA’s Sea Level Change Team is providing crucial information so that we can plan, protect and prevent damage to the environment—and people’s livelihoods affected by flooding.” 

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here. 

Jamie Carter

I'm an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer writing about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. I'm the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and the author of "A Stargazing Program for Beginners: A Pocket Field Guide" (Springer, 2015), as well as many eclipse-chasing guides. 

Dogecoin creator says crypto industry financially exploits the vulnerable

Sowmya Ramasubramanian
JULY 16, 2021 




Palmer noted the industry’s practices no longer align with his politics or belief system, and hence will keep out of engaging with the industry and its people. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Jackson Palmer took to Twitter to explain why he would not return to the cryptocurrency industry, stating it is built to amplify the wealth of the rich by exploiting the poor.

Jackson Palmer, co-founder of meme-inspired Dogecoin, has called the cryptocurrency industry a “right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology” built primarily to amplify the wealth of the rich by extracting money from “the financially desperate and naive”.

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Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created the meme-based token Dogecoin in 2013 as a joke, with no intention of making it one of the top cryptocurrencies.

The co-founders quit the project few years later, and sold their holdings before the cryptocurrency's sudden rise earlier this year.


“I’m no longer part of the Dogecoin project, I left around 2015 as the community started to strongly shift from one that I was comfortable with. I don't currently own any Dogecoin except what has been tipped to me recently, I gave away and/or sold all the crypto I had back in 2015 after being laid off and scared about my dwindling savings at the time, for about enough in total to buy a used Honda Civic,” Markus wrote in a Reddit post earlier this year.


Palmer took to Twitter on Wednesday and explained why he would not return to the cryptocurrency industry in a series of tweets.

Also Read | SpaceX accepts dogecoin as payment to launch lunar mission next year

The industry is built to amplify wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity, he noted.

“Despite claims of 'decentralisation', the cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures who, with time, have evolved to incorporate many of the same institutions tied to the existing centralised financial system they supposedly set out to replace,” he added.

Palmer described cryptocurrency as taking the worst parts of today’s capitalist system like fraud, corruption and inequality and using software to technically limit the use of interventions including audits, regulations and taxation which serve as protections or safety nets for the average person.

The dogecoin co-creator also pointed at the inherent lack of accountability in the industry, stating that it will always be the crypto owner’s fault if they lose their savings account password or fall victim to scam. “This is the type of dangerous “free for all” capitalism cryptocurrency was unfortunately architected to facilitate since its inception,” he noted.

Also Read | Musk, crypto miners to set up council to promote sustainable bitcoin mining

Palmer noted the industry’s practices no longer align with his politics or belief system, and hence will keep out of engaging with the industry and its people.

“There’s a lot of terrible people who are involved in the crypto space, and I completely understand why he (Palmer) would feel negatively about it,” Dogecoin co-creator Markus noted in a separate tweet.