The Free

Without asking! US sends First Strike Nukes to Europe and UK – for wonky F35 jets-max 83 Hiroshimas each—

US ships powerful new B61-12 nuclear bombs are arriving in Europe, smashing all Treaties and heightening tensions with max 83 Hiroshima power each — Beyond Nuclear International– Without asking permission the United States is making us the target of nukes on their jets menacing Russia

from thefreeonline on 24th April 2023 by ICAN and Tica Font at Pressenza.

US ships powerful new nuke to Europe, heightening tensions–83 Hiroshimas —

83 Hiroshimas — New nuclear bombs coming to Europe and UK

Since last December, the United States has begun to replace its nuclear weapons on European soil with more modern ones. It is replacing the B61-3, B61-4 and B61-7 thermonuclear bombs with the B61-12, which has become the main US and NATO air-launched nuclear weapon.

Boeing designed the bomb’s new guided-tailkit, giving it additional maneuverability and the appearance of more precision. But, it’s a nuclear weapon, and has different yields, from 0.3kt to 50kt.

These bombs can detonate beneath the Earth’s surface, increasing their destructiveness against underground targets to the equivalent of a surface-burst weapon with a yield of 1,250 kilotons––the equivalent of 83 Hiroshima bombs.

These nuclear weapons are coming to Europe in a time of heightened nuclear tension on the continent, and even as the majority of people in European host countries want to remove nuclear weapons and join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

American B61-12 nuclear bombs head to Europe

Combined with the lack of transparency around nuclear sharing, this moment raises questions about whether citizens in the host states would agree to be complicit if these weapons are ever used.

Even if the bombs are American and the US retains launch authority, they would most likely be dropped by Europeans. If the US decides to use its nuclear weapons located in Germany, the warheads are loaded onto German planes and a German pilot drops them.

ICAN is a broad, inclusive campaign, focused on mobilizing civil society around the world to support the specific objective of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons.

Share the video to spread the word about these new nuclear weapons and join the movement to eliminate them.

And from: Tica Font, member of Centre Delàs and WILPF Spain, published by Pressenza

It is a free-fall bomb equipped with state-of-the-art navigation systems and a versatile warhead that can be configured in four strengths, 0.3 kiloton (kt), 1.5 kt, 10 kt and 50 kt depending on the target, making it a low to medium-yield weapon. This type of weapon is referred to as a ‘first-strike’ weapon.

Gender more complex than genitals, India’s top judge says

The country’s Supreme Court is hearing petitions on the recognition of same-sex marriage

A five-member constitutional bench of India’s Supreme Court began hearing arguments on several petitions that sought legal validation of same-sex marriages on Tuesday.

The hearing comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in September, 2018, which had decriminalized gay sex.

Objections were overruled as the chief justice stated he considered the matter of “seminal importance” and said he would “not allow anyone to dictate how proceedings will happen in this court.”

The judges limited the scope of the petitioners’ submissions to recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act of 1954, instead of religious-based personal laws, in the absence of a uniform civil code (UCC).

“There is no absolute concept of a man or an absolute concept of a woman at all,” Chandrachud remarked after Solicitor General Mehta submitted that the Special Marriage Act’s intent is to cover the relationship between a biological male and biological female.

“It’s not the question of what your genitals are. It’s far more complex, that’s the point. So even when the Special Marriage Act says man and woman, the very notion of a man and a woman is not an absolute based on genitals,” Chandrachud said.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the petitioners, sought their legal recognition as spouses

. “We cherish and desire the same institution of marriage as it is respected in the society. Now under the Domestic Violence Act, even live-in relationships are allowed,” he said.

The senior counsel also cited the social stigma that LGBTQ individuals face in all walks of life. “If you do not have full enjoyment of life, you will not have dignity. We are facing the disdain of the majority… what about the stigma in place?” he asked.

He also argued that transgender individuals were already recognized in India under the 2019 Transgender Persons Act.

Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, also arguing on behalf the petitioners, pointed out the individual rights inaccessible to same-sex couples.

“Marriage is a question of rights. I am not able to notify my partner for life insurance. I cannot buy insurance from the Supreme Court Bar Association for my family.”

The Supreme Court has urged both the defendant and the petitioners to finish their arguments .

Though there is no official data available about India’s LGBTQ population, the government estimates the figure at around 2.5 million.

However, activists claim a much higher number of over 135 million, or about 10% of the country’s population.

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Capitalism is Ecoterrorism -not Climate Direct Action!-

from thefreeonline 0n 24th April 2023 by Anarchist Rising

I don’t live in the US, but perhaps I should have a disclaimer on the off chance any 3 or 4 letter agencies come snooping for keywords: I have written previously about my anarchic approach to violence as a pacifist, and that piece was even cited by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism as a point of opposition to violence. Leave me alone.

So, with that noted, bouncing off a conversation that took place in a university seminar I was at today, let’s talk about ecoterrorism.

There was quite the amusing ripple of tension in the room when some people, myself included, touched on some more “extreme” measures with regards to climate action.

My contribution to the discussion was more a critique of the media focus on groups like Extinction Rebellion or Stop Oil – groups, granted, whose purpose is to generate controversy and agitate for action through keeping issues in the public eye.

Support Marius Mason Marius Mason is a transgender anarchist, environmentalist, and animal rights prisoner. Marius was convicted of sabotage and arson as part of the struggle against environmental destruction and all forms of domination in 2009. Marius was arrested during a period of targeted repression known as the Green Scare and is serving a 22 year sentence.

But while these acts of, as the power point slides put it, “benign lawbreaking” certainly achieve that, it was clear many in the room disagreed with those tactics as inconvenient.

Putting aside the inconvenience of catastrophic global climate change now and in the future, this did raise the poignant question of who should be disrupted.

And there I agree – there are a number of ways direct action can be more beneficial. Unfortunately, such action does not generate as much national or international discussion.

Photo report: How a key Lugansk region city, devastated by retreating Ukrainians, is springing back to life

Severodonetsk was Kiev’s biggest fortress in the region, but when its troops realized the game was up they took revenge on the city

from thefreeonline on 23rd April 2023 by Arseniy Kotov, independent photojournalist for Western Censored News Site

A man cycling near the ‘Azot’ chemical plant. Severodonetsk, Lugansk People’s Republic, March 2023. © RT / Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Severodonetsk is perhaps not as well known as other Donbass cities such as Mariupol, Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), Donetsk, or Lugansk. However, the battles waged there in the spring of last year were significant for both Russia and Ukraine.

For over eight years, this industrial hub with a population of around 100,000 – in the western part of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) – was a stronghold of Kiev’s military. This happened despite the feelings of its residents – in fact, back in 2014, it was in Severodonetsk and nearby Lisichansk that the Lugansk militia was formed under the leadership of field commanders Pavel Dremov and Aleksey Mozgovoy.

At that time, local forces could not retain control of the city, whose residents voted for independence from Ukraine in a 2014 referendum. On July 22, that year, Kiev’s forces captured Severodonetsk, and for almost eight years it was under Ukrainian control. But on June 25, 2022, the situation changed.

This time, President Vladimir Zelensky’s troops were forced to beat a hasty retreat while Russian soldiers and the People’s Militia of the LPR took advantage. A week later, LPR authorities announced the complete liberation of the republic.

However, for Severodonetsk, that wasn’t the end of the story. Over the past ten months, aided by Russia’s central and regional authorities, the city has been recovering from the scars left by fierce battles.

A view of Severodonetsk in the evening, with the “Azot” chemical plant pipes visible in the background. March 2023. © RT / Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

How Ukrainian forces destroyed the city

Although Severodonetsk was spared from battles as bloody as the ones that shook the likes of Mariupol, destruction is visible throughout the city. The Azot chemical plant – often compared to Mariupol’s Azovstal because Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries similarly went into hiding there – was practically unharmed.

The damaged cooling tower of the Azot plant, visible in the background. March 2023. © RT / Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Azot did not suffer the same fate as Azovstal because to avoid being surrounded by Russian troops, Ukrainian forces were forced to retreat. On their way out, they intentionally left the city in ruins. Locals told me how a Ukrainian tank stood at an intersection and fired in all directions at the surrounding houses.

Whenever possible, Ukrainians use a scorched-earth policy, destroying towns and villages during their retreat. As a result, the economy and infrastructure are completely destroyed and restoration requires huge investment.

A burnt-out Ukrainian tank near Severodonetsk. December 2022. © RT / Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

In addition to the plant and residential areas, Ukrainian troops also used social facilities, including educational institutions, as places of deployment.

One of them was School No.4, located in the city’s 79th Microdistrict. The presence of Ukrainian troops was evident from the improvised pillboxes in the basements, reinforced with sandbags.

Crazy Western Warmongers Coerce ‘allies’ into Genocidal War Drills against both Russia and China

The World is Not BIG Enough for Crazy Western Warmongers… NATO Launches Biggest-Ever War Drills in Atlantic AND Pacific

from thefreeonline on 22nd April 2023 by Lyumon1834 and Dave DeCamp at News.Antiwar

The manic Western warmongering instinct is still viral and a potentially catastrophic danger.

In line with its fateful imperial implosion, the United States-led military machine known as NATO is desperately cranking up on all cylinders – in order to incite war tensions in both of the world’s hemispheres.

The global picture is at once condemnable and outrageous, and yet consumers of Western corporate media are numbed with lies, sophistry, distractions and blandishments.

In the coming weeks and months, the Cold War-era North Atlantic Treaty Organization is conducting its biggest-ever war maneuvers not only in its usual transatlantic domain but also in the Asia-Pacific.

The war maneuvers in Europe are reportedly the biggest ever since NATO was formed in 1949 following the defeat of Nazi Germany. So too are the war drills in Asia-Pacific. Together, they confirm that China is in NATO’s cross-hairs along with Russia.

But this provocative maneuvering – let’s just call it what is: aggression – is somehow normalized by Western corporate media.

At a time too when the Western public is being brutally crushed by dictatorial economic austerity, as our interview discusses this week.

Indeed, Western news media have become an utter embarrassment and affront to ordinary public intelligence and decency. Self-proclaimed bastions of journalism and public information, such as the New York Times and the BBC, are masters in the use of syrupy syntax to cover up the U.S.-led global war mobilization as “defensive exercises” when in reality it should be plain for most people to see that the nefarious purpose is to inflame tensions and assault global peace and security.

It is criminally reckless for Washington and its allies to militarize the world’s hemispheres simultaneously at a time of already fraught tensions with nuclear powers Russia and China.

And, it should be reiterated, those relations have been made fraught by relentless demonization of Russia and China as aggressive, expansionist powers when in reality it is the U.S.-led Western imperialist axis that is guilty of projecting its own depredations.

Take the Genocidal toys from the Corrupt Political Boys!

Russia sought a political security arrangement before the conflict erupted in Ukraine last year. Moscow was ignored by the West. China has repeatedly advocated for an end to Cold War mentality and for multipolar dialogue and cooperation. Beijing is wantonly disparaged and caricatured by Washington and Europe as “autocratic” and a “security threat”.

The Americans and their vassals use narcissistic self-regarding rhetoric about rules-based order and world democracy while in practice they exploit every opportunity to ratchet up conflict. That’s because militarism, war, conflict, division and tensions – death and destruction – are the lifeblood of American-led capitalism.

NATO’s so-called Defender war drills start this month in Europe and will cascade into multiple other large-scale maneuvers bearing similarly corny names such as Noble Jump and Dynamic Guard (George Orwell eat your heart out!).

It was the BALTOPS war games last June that provided the cover for the eventual blowing up of the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines in September by U.S. navy divers, under the personal orders of President Joe Biden, according to Seymour Hersh.

Why should US warmongers decide whether or not Kiev can negotiate a ceasefire??!

This year sees the biggest deployment of United States troops and aircraft to the European continent since 1949. The New York Times hails the “U.S. is back at the heart of European defense”. The sheer idiocy and gullibility of the New York Times and other Western media are staggering.

The forthcoming NATO operations will stretch from Iceland in the North Sea to Germany and the Baltic Sea, all the way down to Romania and the Black Sea. The massive mobilization involves all members of the 30-nation NATO bloc plus partner countries.

Report Ties Real Life Mass Killings With Video Game Violence/ Men who have fought their way to the top of Capitalist Nation States based on a monopoly of violence are delighted to join the US World War Team

The purpose is declared by military commanders to be “offensive simulation” and forming a “war-fighting alliance”. And yet the Western media keep telling us it’s all about “defenses”. Such media are thus complicit in normalizing aggression.