U.S. now directly involved in Israel’s military operations
Wall Street Journal, 4/21–Biden…ordered the Pentagon to step up its efforts to protect Israel, and the U.S. military activated highly classified plans for assisting Israel in a crisis…A team of U.S. military personnel secretly went to Tel Aviv to work out of a missile defense operations center with their Israeli counterparts…bulked-up force of F-15E fighter jets… F-16s based in the region…Plans were made for Saudi and Jordanian planes to defend their airspace.
…The more than 150 attack drones that Iran launched first…would take five to seven hours to reach Israel. Then…30 land-attack cruise missiles with flight times of two to three hours. Last were ballistic missiles that would reach Israel in just a dozen minutes. Israel’s Arrow system intercepted most of the ballistic missiles, while the two American destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean downed several others. An American Patriot anti missile battery in Erbil, Iraq, intercepted another one…drones, in the meantime, were shot down by a combination of American, British, French and Israeli aircraft…The White House had, at least for a time, avoided a wider war. …
U.S. bosses use Israel as a forward operating base
Haaretz, 4/20–The U.S. House resoundingly voted to provide Israel with $26 billion in emergency assistance on Saturday, including nearly $14 billion in unconditional military aid…The bill's provisions include $4 billion earmarked to replenish Iron Dome and David's Sling missile defense systems and $1.2 billion for the Iron Beam defense system, designed to counter short-range rockets and mortar threats…$3.5 billion for the procurement of advanced weapons systems…$1 billion to "enhanc[ing] the production and development of artillery and critical munitions"... $4.4 billion will replenish military supplies and defense services…and $2.4 billion for current U.S. military operations in the region…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the U.S. Congress…saying it "demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization"...
The battle between imperialists for West Africa continues
Al Jazeera, 4/20–The United States will withdraw its soldiers from Niger as the West African nation is increasingly turning to Russia and away from Western powers. The US Department of State agreed to pull out about 1,000 troops from the country that has been under military rule since July 2023…The US built a military base in Niger to combat armed groups that pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS)...Like the military rulers in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, the West African nation had kicked out French and European troops following the military takeover. All three countries have now turned to Russia for support, with Moscow confirming earlier this month that it has sent military trainers and an air defense system and other military equipment to Niger as it deepens its security ties.
Ukrainian workers pay the price in inter-imperialist conflict
Foreign Affairs, 4/19–After more than two years fighting one of the world’s most powerful armies, Ukraine has enacted a new mobilization law…army commanders demanded 500,000 new soldiers…“Even the most determined [soldier] will consider this to be an eternal contract”...the original draft mobilization bill…proposed to mandate demobilization after 36 months of active duty. But that provision was dropped because of pressure from military leaders, who feared they would lose their most experienced troops…
…In early April, the president also signed into law a bill lowering the military mobilization age by two years, from 27 to 25…the military understands that soldiers in their 20s are fitter and recover faster, allowing them to bounce back from injuries and return to the front…a young person who has experienced a concussion from an explosion may be able to recover from temporary hearing loss, whereas someone over 40 faces a higher risk of permanent deafness…
The war is already estimated to have caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage…Entire industrial regions and large corporations have been destroyed…Millions of professionals have left the country, and multiple economic sectors have simply disappeared…
