War

In a widely anticipated national address, President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he will not pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying he’s committed to a new strategy aimed at winning the nation’s longest war, now in its 17th year. Admitting that his "original instinct was to pull out" of Afghanistan - which in retrospect had been a mistake - Trump said he’s arrived at three "fundamental conclusions" about America’s core interests in Afghanistan:

As we detailed last night, President Trump will unveil his long-awaited new strategy for Afghanistan tonight. Will he, as Ron Paul suggests, do the sensible thing and end the failed longest war in history? Or will he continue doing the same thing and expect that somehow he will "win" the war? Does America even know what "winning" looks like in Afghanistan?

Here's Ron Paul's preview (which may be a post-mortem)...

As the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills begin near the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's Kim has threatened "merciless revenge" against the "US Imperialists and South Korean war maniacs" for ignoring his warnings. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reports that:

The US imperialists and the South Korean war maniacs launched the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills aimed at a preemptive attack on the DPRK.

 

Building on his apocalyptic vision of the future (as writ by Terminator-style Skynet domination or Robocops walking the streets), Tesla CEO Elon Musk (and 115 other like-minded 'experts') have penned an open letter to The United Nations urging the outright ban of the development and use of killer robots.

As a reminder, Musk previously called on the government to proactively regulate artificial intelligence before things advance too far.

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

There is always common ground for those who dare to seek it.

Remember the "Russians hacked our election!" hysteria - or have you already forgotten? That entire narrative collapsed under a deluge of factual evidence that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) data release was an insider job, and a compelling lack of evidence of any other Russian hacking.