US-India: It’s A Chicken And Egg Situation – OpEd

M.K. Bhadrakumar

Source Link

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office is a legacy term marked by his ‘coming of age’ — taking bold decisions in foreign policies. Hardly has the dust settled down on Modi’s controversial decision to visit Kiev as peacemaker even as the Ukraine war is only accelerating, Modi took the decision in the solitude of his mind apparently to call on Donald Trump during his brief 3-day visit to the US starting Saturday.

That, at least, is the signal from the silence of the lambs in the US State Department and our Mission in DC. Actually, the ‘breaking news’ came from the great man himself . The US media promptly flashed it.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, spin masters in Delhi are playing up PM’s meeting with Trump. The ANI took an interview with the prominent New York-based entrepreneur and Trump’s close aide Al Mason (who figures in Trump’s inner circle) and Doordarshan promptly carried the news agency’s entire 760-word report on its website, titled PM Modi, Trump Are Strong Leaders Who Respect Each Other, Says Former US President’s Close Aide.

Despite the orchestrated campaign against Trump by mainstream US media, Delhi apparently keeps an open mind. Modi is on the same page as Hungarian PM Viktor Orban and Polish President Andrzej Duda, the flag carriers of right-wing conservative-nationalist ideology in European politics, who reject the neoconservative-globalist outlook that President Biden represents.

Satellite Photos Show Chinese Heliport In Tibet Near Disputed Border With India

Tashi Wangchuk and Tenzin Dickyi

Source Link

China has built a new heliport in Tibet near the Indian border, satellite photos show, a move that experts say would allow Beijing to rapidly deploy troops to remote areas during an armed clash with India.

According to satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence experts, China has quickly constructed a heliport that features a 600-meter runway and multiple hangars in Nyingchi, just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the disputed border with India.

It is in Tibet’s Zayul county near the strategically sensitive “fishtail sector” of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

“This facility will likely enhance China’s ability to swiftly mobilize troops to forward positions and would improve its border patrols,” said geospatial intelligence expert Damien Symon who earlier this week highlighted the existence of the heliport on X.

The heliport is the latest addition to China’s extensive network of military installations in the southern part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, underscoring Beijing’s concerns over security along the border area. It follows Beijing’s practice of building model villages near contested areas, which then double as surveillance outposts.

Hard, fast, and where it hurts: Lessons from Ukraine-related sanctions for a Taiwan conflict scenario

Agathe Demarais

Source Link

Introduction

The year is 2028, and Western intelligence services have reached an alarming conclusion. Credible sources suggest that China is about to impose a maritime blockade around Taiwan – a step that intelligence officers believe will precede a full-scale invasion of the territory.

Western leaders can hardly claim that they were blindsided. Ever since Xi Jinping had become China’s leader in 2012, he had repeatedly stressed that “reunification” between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland was “inevitable”. He had gone on to affirm that such a “reunification” was an integral part of his plans for the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. Xi’s threats had crystallised in 2023, when American intelligence services believe he had ordered Chinese military forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.

As the world braces for impact, the European Union and its 27 member states scramble to assess their economic statecraft options. They know that the EU is not prepared for a Taiwan conflict scenario; the bloc has a longstanding tendency to hope for the best and ignore the worst until it happens. But all is not lost. The EU and its member states have plenty of experience pursuing their foreign policy aims through economic statecraft tools, including financial sanctions, trade restrictions, and export controls. Crucially, they can derive insights from the extensive sanctions that they have been imposing on Russia since Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

How China Is Preparing for America’s Next President

YU JIE

Source Link

While the rest of the world weighs the impact of a Donald Trump or a Kamala Harris victory in November’s US presidential election, both candidates present serious challenges for China. To be sure, neither seems to want open conflict between the two powers, which could precipitate a nightmarish descent into global chaos. But Chinese decision-makers expect bitter disputes over trade, technology, and Taiwan regardless of who wins.

China is preparing for more turbulence by taking a whole-country approach to its relations with the US. That means moving beyond the realm of foreign affairs and coordinating with economic policymakers, military personnel, and technology leaders, as well as mobilizing resources across the country. Such an approach is informed by the US strategy of containment, which in recent years has included relentless efforts to maintain America’s technological supremacy, curb China’s access to the global market, and build a coalition of allies, both in Asia and elsewhere, to tackle the “China challenge.” Feeling under siege, China is girding itself for long-term enmity with the world’s largest economy.

As part of this process, China has shifted its economic paradigm away from chasing growth at any cost to building a resilient economy that is driven by innovation and can cope with protracted geopolitical tensions. By accelerating domestic innovation, Chinese President Xi Jinping also aims to restructure the economy and help reduce its overreliance on the property sector. The recently concluded third plenum of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee gave the final stamp of approval for this massive overhaul.

Israel’s Attacks on Hezbollah Intensify but Stop Short of All-Out War

Patrick Kingsley

Source Link

Exploding pagers on Tuesday. Detonating walkie-talkies on Wednesday. An unusually intense barrage of bombs on Thursday. And a huge strike on southern Beirut on Friday.

Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, this week constitute a significant escalation in the 11-month war between the two sides. For nearly a year, Israel and Hezbollah have fought a low-level conflict, mostly along the Israeli-Lebanese border, that has gradually gathered force without ever exploding into an all-out war.

Now, Israel is attempting a riskier playbook. It has markedly increased the intensity of its attacks in an attempt to force Hezbollah to back down, while raising the chances of the opposite outcome: a more aggressive response from Hezbollah that devolves into an unbridled land war.

Israel has sabotaged Hezbollah’s communications devices, blowing up hundreds, if not thousands, of them in a widespread cyberattack. Its fighter jets have pounded southern Lebanon with rare intensity. And on Friday afternoon, they struck Beirut, the Lebanese capital, for the first time since July — killing a senior Hezbollah military commander, according to Israeli officials, and collapsing two buildings, according to Lebanese officials.

Ex-top cyber official: It won’t be easy for Hezbollah to get new comms system in place

Lazar Berman

Source Link

There has never been a targeted killing operation comparable to the pager attack in Lebanon earlier this week, a former senior Israeli cyber defense official told The Times of Israel.

“It was precise while widespread,” said Refael Franco, former Deputy General Director of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate and head of its defensive measures, referring to the coordinated attack on Hezbollah pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, in which at least 12 people were killed and 2,800 wounded.

Israel is widely believed to have been behind the attack, but has not taken responsibility. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday acknowledged the “unprecedented” strike on his forces, blamed Israel and vowed vengeance.

Franco declined to comment when asked whether Israel was responsible.

“Several months ago, Hezbollah decided to equip itself with pagers,” he said.

“That decision is, in my eyes, the real turning point… Nasrallah understood that he couldn’t use cellphones anymore,” said Franco cryptically.

Israel's historic, deadly cyber attack in Lebanon - Transcript

Allie Jaynes

Source Link

ALLIE JAYNES: Hi, I'm Allie Jaynes, in for Jayme Poisson. So what you're hearing is the leader of the political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, speaking in Lebanon on Thursday. It was his first public speech following a series of historic attacks in the country earlier this week, reportedly by Israel.

AJ: Between Tuesday and Wednesday, hundreds or possibly thousands of pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded. At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured. While the attacks targeted Hezbollah, the victims also included civilians. At least two children were killed. Hezbollah's leader called the attacks an act of war and a major terrorist operation. As he spoke on Thursday, Israeli warplanes flew low in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

AJ: As of Thursday evening when I'm recording this, the Israeli government has not directly commented on the attacks. But on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel has entered a new phase of the war aimed at the North, widely interpreted to mean Lebanon.

AJ: A little later on, I'm going to speak to an Israeli intelligence expert about what we know about how this would have been carried out and why. But first, we want to get a picture from the ground in Lebanon. For that, I'm joined by Edmund Bower. He's a journalist based in Beirut who has reported for The Guardian, The Times of London, The Atlantic and others. Edmund, hi. Thank you so much for speaking to us.

The War Israel Wants but Hezbollah Rejects

Imad K. Harb

Source Link

The Israeli war on Hezbollah has just entered another deadly phase characterized by the sophisticated, but criminally minded, use of cyber warfare to detonate communication devices all around Lebanon in the hope of killing or maiming as many party fighters as possible. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies over two days on September 17 and 18 has killed 37 people (including two children) and injured almost 3,000 others. In a speech on September 19, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah declared the attacks an act of terrorism and a declaration of war by Israel, and vowed to continue the party’s operations in the south against Israeli forces.

Israel indeed seems to be on its way to war against Hezbollah and Lebanon after it devastated Gaza and killed more than 41,000 Palestinians there. Israeli leaders have vowed that they will not allow the situation on the border with Lebanon to continue as it has been since October 2023. Some 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their towns because of Hezbollah attacks. (More than 100,000 Lebanese have also been displaced from their villages following Israeli attacks on their communities.) While meeting with American envoy Amos Hochstein on September 16, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is seeking “a fundamental change in the security situation” in the north. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told air force personnel on September 18 that Israeli forces are being deployed in the north for a “new phase” of the war. While it is not known whether the pager and walkie-talkie attacks were a prelude to an all-out Israeli assault on Hezbollah, Israeli warplanes struck the party’s positions on September 19 following the death of two Israeli soldiers in Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Israel Kills Top Hezbollah Commander In Beirut Attack

Najia Houssari

Source Link

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

The target was Hezbollah’s operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who served on the group’s top military body.

Aqil was killed alongside members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit as they were holding a meeting in a 10-story building in the area of Al-Jamous, sources said.

The strike killed 16 people and wounded 66 others.

A number of people went missing following the strike, and families were searching for their children and relatives.

Sources told Arab News that Aqil and his colleagues were holding the meeting in an underground room, and therefore rescue workers were not able to retrieve their bodies four hours after the explosion.

An eyewitness told Arab News: “The strike leveled the building, which was residential, and it is difficult to determine the number of victims inside.”

After Devices Explode, Hezbollah Vows Revenge: What Comes Next?

Glenn Corn

Source Link

Corn: Obviously, everyone’s watching what’s going on very closely. We’ve been doing that for a long time now. We’ve spoken about the fact that the Israelis are under increasing pressure to get their settlers back to the north. We’re going on a year now that they’ve been evacuated, about 60,000-65,000 Israelis, and they’ve been warning for a while that they are going to do something.

It’s a brilliant operation in many ways, technically. Politically, it remains to be seen what the fallout is going to be. But what are Hezbollah’s options? One, when Hassan Nasrallah says it’s a terrorist act and a declaration of war, Israel and Hezbollah have been at war already for years. Hezbollah has been targeting Jewish targets and Israeli targets and U.S. targets for years. They have blood on their hands. So I’m not sure for the Israelis it makes a huge difference.

Hezbollah has a large arsenal of weaponry that they could launch at Israel. They could probably inflict a good deal of pain and damage on Israel. My suspicion is they’ll look for a target to go after so that they can send a message to the Israelis that they’re striking back. But we shouldn’t forget also, to my understanding, that the Israelis thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli official just before this happened.

This war has been going on for a long time. And my own sense is the Israelis are just getting very tired of it. And there are a lot of people pushing in Tel Aviv to bring it to a head, to an end, if that’s possible.

Israeli Forces Kick Off 'New Era' In Fight Against Hezbollah, Eliminating 20 of Terror Group's Senior Commanders

Adam Kredo

Source Link

Explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday as Israeli forces kicked off "a new era" in their fight against Hezbollah by eliminating at least 20 of the terror group’s senior commanders in an airstrike.

Israeli warplanes conducted precision strikes across Beirut’s suburbs, targeting Hezbollah strongholds as part of an operation that signaled the Jewish state is prepared for some of the most intense fighting on its northern front in years. The Friday strikes marked the deadliest single-day attack on Beirut since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. They also confirmed that Israel is in full war swing against Hezbollah after spending nearly a year engaged in smaller, tit-for-tat exchanges with the terror group in the wake of Oct. 7.

Senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil—who had a $7 million U.S. bounty on his head for his role in terror attacks dating back to the 1980s—was reportedly killed during the airstrikes, dealing a major blow to the terror group as it grapples with the fallout of this week’s mass pager and radio attacks. Israel said it completely annihilated the command force behind Hezbollah’s Radwan group, a special operations unit run by Aqil.

Wider war closer after Israel's attack on Lebanon

Paul R. Pillar

Source Link

The remotely triggered bombings in Lebanon using rigged pagers and walkie-talkies are a more clandestine version of what Israel has been doing with deadly force for some time and especially during the past year. One feature of Israel’s lethal campaigns is low regard for the lives of innocent civilians. Putting explosives in thousands of innocuous looking communication devices was certain, when detonated, to maim many people throughout Lebanon who never have fought against Israel, including people who are not even members of Hezbollah.

The pager bombings, besides killing a dozen people, overwhelmed health care facilities with 2,800 wounded, many of whom lost eyes or fingers or suffered other grievous wounds. Among the dead were an 8-year-old girl, and 11-year-old boy, and four health care workers. Exploding walkie-talkies the next day killed an additional 20 people and wounded 450.

The indiscriminate nature of the suffering mirrors what Israel has done in the Gaza Strip during the past 11 months, where it so far has killed more than 40,000 residents, including more than 11,000 children, and wounded nearly 100,000 more, in addition to turning into rubble most infrastructure needed for daily living.

The Brilliance of “Operation Grim Beeper”

Michael Doran

Source Link

On September 17, thousands of Hezbollah operatives’ pagers exploded, killing at least 10 and injuring many more. Below is Senior Fellow Michael Doran’s analysis of this unprecedented attack, which he named Operation Grim Beeper.

Operational Complexity

This is one of the most astonishing intelligence operations in history. It is a reworking of the story of the Trojan Horse for the digital age, and it deserves to become nearly as legendary as its iconic predecessor. If we are not utterly astounded, it is because we have seen too many James Bond and Black Mirror movies for our own good. In real life, operations like this just don’t happen. It is at least four operations in one.

First, the Israelis thoroughly mapped Hezbollah’s supply chain.

Second, they invented a special explosive charge small enough to be inserted inside a handheld device, sophisticated enough to be remotely activated, big enough to do real harm, and yet not so prominent, physically or electronically, to call attention to itself.

Experts debate the urgency of striking Iran: Is time running out for Israel?

NATAN GALULA

Source Link

Since October 7, Israeli citizens have been holding their collective breath, knowing that the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and incessant fire exchanges on the northern border could escalate into a full-scale regional war at any moment.

The mysterious attack in Lebanon on Tuesday, in which thousands of pagers in the use of Hezbollah operatives exploded, apparently killing at least 11 and wounding thousands more, has made that possibility more likely than ever.

A war with the Iranian-backed militia to Israel’s north could quickly expand into war with Iran, which has yet to avenge the assassination of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July, despite Islamic Republic leaders vowing a response.

Israel, in turn, stated it would exact a heavy price from the Iranian regime were it to carry out a significant attack against the Jewish state.

Maj-Gen. (res.) Itzhak Brik is adamant that war with Iran now would lead to Israel’s destruction.

Security expert Yair Ansbacher is convinced that war with Iran at this point is a must – to avoid Israel’s destruction.

Hezbollah device attacks: Is this a prelude to war, or an alternative?

Max Boot

Source Link

People have been waging organized warfare ever since the dawn of civilization in ancient Mesopotamia — mostly modern-day Iraq — more than 6,000 years ago. Never in that time, however, has any military force experienced what Hezbollah has seen during the past few days. On Tuesday, thousands of pagers used by the Lebanese terrorist organization exploded, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 3,000. On Wednesday, more electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah — this time, reportedly, including handheld radios, a.k.a. walkie-talkies — also exploded, killing at least nine people and injuring at least 300 others.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for this innovative and sophisticated attack but was widely reported to be behind the explosions. Israeli operatives, apparently, managed to pack small amounts of explosives into the pagers and walkie-talkies before they reached Hezbollah and were then able to detonate them remotely via radio signal. It was a masterstroke of clandestine warfare that hit Hezbollah in one of the key vulnerabilities of any modern fighting force: its communications networks.

Before the 19th century, armies tended to be limited in size and concentrated in battle because the only way to spread commands was by yelling or employing couriers — usually on horseback. The advent of, first, the telegraph, then field telephones, and then, in the 20th century, two-way radios, made it possible for armies to expand in size and maneuver over vast distances while remaining in contact with their commanders.

The US Election and Its Impact on the Middle East

Hilal Khashan

Source Link

As the U.S. presidential election draws near, the United States faces several economic, social and political challenges that will play a decisive role in determining whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. Inflation remains high, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing, and views on immigration and the border continue to polarize the public. But the election’s outcome will also have implications beyond U.S. domestic policy.

The overriding foreign policy matter at issue in this election concerns economic competition with China and the associated tensions in the South China Sea, through which one-third of global trade passes. Other foreign policy priorities include the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict and its regional repercussions. Though the divide between the Republicans and the Democrats on the Ukraine war might be irreconcilable, their differences on the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, are mostly minor. Apart from safeguarding the vital interests of the U.S., both presidential contenders will eschew deep involvement in Middle East affairs.

Army to close active information operations command as it moves those ops to smaller specialized units

Patty Nieberg

Source Link

The Army is closing its last standing active-duty information operations command as part of the military’s shift to joint operations and a broader realization that information warfare is and will be significant in future wars.

With that in mind, the Army wants soldiers conducting information operations closer to the future fight and integrated into the different geographic regions.

In July, U.S. Army Cyber Command’s 1st Information Operations Command held its last change of command ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The command was the Army’s only active-duty command focused on civil affairs, cyber warfare and psychological operations, also known colloquially as a PSYOP which aim to influence the beliefs and actions of other countries’ populations. The command will be inactivated in fiscal year 2025, according to Maj. Lindsay Roman, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Cyber Command.

“There was a little bit of a mismatch between what the functions were in [1st Information Operations Command] which had kind of accreted a variety of jobs over the years that weren’t all really truly related,” said Aaron Pearce, U.S. Army Cyber Command’s director for information warfare. “They were a parking space for cyber red teaming before cyber red teaming really became a common thing within the military.”

Was Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion A Risk Worth Taking? – Analysis

Luke Coffey

Source Link

It has now been several weeks since Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. This move caught many by surprise, including Russia and Ukraine’s allies in the West. It marked the first time in more than 80 years that Russian territory had fallen under the control of an outside power. After initially allocating about 1,000 troops and dozens of armored vehicles for the operation, it is estimated that Ukraine now has several thousand troops and hundreds of armored vehicles operating in Kursk.

This is not the first time that forces aligned with Ukraine have entered the territory of the Russian Federation. In May 2023 and again earlier this year, anti-Putin Russian forces from the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps entered Russia’s Belgorod Oblast and captured a few border towns. However, it is now clear that Ukraine’s current operation in neighboring Kursk Oblast is different.

Earlier incursions into Russian territory relied on ethnic Russian units and, if Ukrainian military units played a role, it was not made public and was likely minimal. This time, the operation in Kursk Oblast is predominantly being carried out by regular Ukrainian units. Ukrainian flags are being hoisted over municipal buildings and videos on social media show Ukrainian troops engaging with the local population and providing humanitarian support. Many videos show troops speaking in Ukrainian to the local Russian inhabitants, as this region has close cultural ties to Ukraine. Interestingly, the current front lines in Kursk are approximately in the same location as the border between the short-lived Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Zelenskyy was urged not to invade Kursk. He did it anyway.

Jamie Dettmer

Source Link

His severe wounds will no doubt alter the course of his life, but the 19-year-old Ukrainian paratrooper has no regrets about the part he played in the surprise and dramatic cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region launched in mid-August.

Like his brothers in arms, he felt exhilarated when the order to attack came crackling along the radio airwaves as the sun rose. Here was the chance to hit back at Russia. “I felt myself a part of history, because it was the first time since the Second World War Russia’s been invaded,” Sergei, the flaxen-haired trooper, told POLITICO, who granted him permission to use a pseudonym as he is not allowed to speak to media.

“I had the most powerful feeling,” he said.

“And another important thing, we didn't feel the pain we do when fighting inside Ukraine and destroying buildings; then we feel we are damaging part of ourselves, but in Kursk we aren’t burdened with the weight of that sadness,” he said, wrestling to sip coffee with heavily bandaged hands.

Sergei also harbors no doubts about the logic and importance of the offensive, which remains ongoing with Russia mounting a counteroffensive to try to expel Ukrainian forces.

The Armenian catastrophe The small nation chose war, not compromise

Grigor Atanesian

Source Link

For the first time in over a millennium, there are no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh. They survived the Mongol and Arab invasions and the age of empires, when tsars, shahs and sultans fought for this strategic intersection of trade routes and military roads between the Black and the Caspian Seas. But they failed to find their place in the brutal geopolitics of the 21st century, following Azerbaijan’s blitzkrieg a year ago.

Armenia’s leaders believed it was their special connection to the land that secured their 1994 victory in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War against Azerbaijan. They thought they could win another one too, in 2020, pushing for maximalist demands while failing to obtain a reliable ally in either Russia or the West. They substituted diplomacy and military strategy with dreams of romantic nationalism.

In the Eighties, as the Soviet empire entered its death spiral, a movement for the rights of the majoritarian Armenians in autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh within Soviet Azerbaijan was gaining momentum. The Karabakh movement believed ethnic Armenians had a right to live on their ancestral land after years of harassment and discrimination. But the Soviet Azerbaijanis saw it as separatism, and a crackdown followed.

How Hamas Uses Brutality to Maintain Power

Julian E. Barnes, Adam Rasgon, Adam Goldman and Ronen Bergman

Source Link

Early this summer, Amin Abed, a Palestinian activist who has spoken out publicly about Hamas, twice found bullets on his doorstep in northern Gaza.

Then in July, he said he was attacked by Hamas security operatives, who covered his head and dragged him away before repeatedly striking him with hammers and metal bars.

“At any moment, I can be killed by the Israeli occupation, but I can face the same fate at the hands of those who’ve been ruling us for 17 years,” he said in a phone interview from his hospital bed, referring to Hamas. “They almost killed me, those killers and criminals.”

Mr. Abed, who remains hospitalized, was rescued by bystanders who witnessed the attack, but what happened to him has happened to others throughout Gaza.

The bodies of six Israeli hostages recovered last month provided a visceral reminder of Hamas’s brutality. Each had been shot in the head. Some had other bullet wounds, suggesting they were shot while trying to escape, according to Israeli officials who reviewed the autopsy results.

Big Tech’s New Adversaries in Europe

Morgan Meaker

Source Link

If the past five years of EU tech rules could take human form, they would embody Thierry Breton. The bombastic commissioner, with his swoop of white hair, became the public face of Brussels’ irritation with American tech giants, touring Silicon Valley last summer to personally remind the industry of looming regulatory deadlines.

Combative and outspoken, Breton warned that Apple had spent too long “squeezing” other companies out of the market. In a case against TikTok, he emphasized, “our children are not guinea pigs for social media.”

His confrontational attitude to the CEOs themselves was visible in his posts on X. In the lead-up to Musk’s interview with Donald Trump, Breton posted a vague but threatening letter on his account reminding Musk there would be consequences if he used his platform to amplify “harmful content.” Last year, he published a photo with Mark Zuckerberg, declaring a new EU motto of “move fast to fix things”—a jibe at the notorious early Facebook slogan. And in a 2023 meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Breton reportedly got him to agree to an “AI pact” on the spot, before tweeting the agreement, making it difficult for Pichai to back out.

Billionaires Must Help Fix the Planet

Ban Ki-moon

Source Link

The climate crisis is a ticking time bomb, and those with the greatest power, wealth, and influence must take responsibility for their role in it. While millions of the world’s most marginalized people are paying the ultimate price with their lives, their homes, or their livelihoods, billionaires and fossil fuel giants continue to profit. The time has come to hold decision-makers and the wealthiest accountable.

How U.S. Cyber Adversaries Are Trying to Undermine the Election

Rishi Iyengar

Source Link

The U.S. presidential election is less than 50 days away, and this week served up some grim reminders of how high the stakes are—and how intent Washington’s adversaries are on swaying or disrupting the vote.

Your Phone Won’t Be the Next Exploding Pager

Lily Hay Newman & Matt Burgess

Source Link

For two days this week, Hezbollah has been rocked by a series of small explosions across Lebanon, injuring thousands and killing at least 25. But these attacks haven’t come from rockets or drones. Instead, they’ve resulted from boobytrapped electronics—including pagers, walkie-talkies, and even, reportedly, solar equipment—detonating in coordinated waves. As details come into view of the elaborate supply chain attack that compromised these devices, citizens on the ground in Lebanon and people around the world are questioning whether such attacks could target any device in your pocket.

The campaign to compromise key Hezbollah communication infrastructure with explosives was clearly elaborate and involved. The operation, which is widely believed to have been perpetrated by Israel, goes far beyond past examples of hardware supply chain attacks and may be a source of inspiration for future spycraft around the world. But sources tell WIRED that the specific scale and scope of the effort would not be easily replicated in other contexts. And, more broadly, the resources and precision involved in carrying out such an attack would be prohibitively difficult to maintain over time for key consumer devices like smartphones—which are used so widely and regularly scrutinized by researchers, product testers, and repair technicians.

“I do think there is absolutely potential to see more of this in the longer term, not targeting civilians, but generally targeting other military actors,” says Zachary Kallenborn, an adjunct nonresident fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Kallenborn says militaries are increasingly relying on commercial technology—from drones to communications devices—all of which could be compromised if supply chains can be exploited by adversaries. “These systems are being sourced from all over the globe,” he says. “What that means, then, is that you also have these global supply chains supporting them.”