war industry

Gaza Genocide Profiteers Doing Business In Maine

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The Navy destroyer Carney fires missiles to counter drone and missile fire by Houthi rebels in Yemen on Oct. 19, 2023, in the Red Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Lau/Navy)

Folks are looking for facts about genocide profiteering in our state (Maine) that they can identify sources for so I made a one-pager that’s more like two.  I relied on AFSC’s fairly current research published here and also Christian Sorensen’s deep research into military contracts available via his substack The Business of War. 

I tried to arrange things so that you can tell which sources apply to which info. Note that within AFSC’s section there are many more links to sources for claims.

General Dynamics (source: https://afsc.org/companies-2023-attack-gaza)

  • The world’s sixth largest weapons manufacturer, General Dynamics, supplies Israel with artillery ammunition and bombs for attack jets used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.
  • General Dynamics is the only company in the U.S. that makes the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series, the primary weapon type Israel uses to bomb Gaza. The bodies of the bombs are filled with explosives by the U.S. military, and then can be made into a guided bomb using Boeing‘s JDAM kits.
  • It is also the only company in the U.S. that makes 155mm caliber artillery shells, which have been used extensively to attack Gaza. One source reported that, by Nov. 25, one Israeli brigade fired some 10,000 such shells using BAE’s M109 howitzer.
  • 155mm shells have been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel. The U.S. is planning to send “tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells that had been destined for Ukraine” to Israel. Their use by Israel, according to Oxfam, is “virtually assured to be indiscriminate, unlawful, and devastating to civilians in Gaza.” On Nov. 13, more than 30 organizations issued a letter opposing the transfer.
  • General Dynamics also partnered with Flyer Defense to develop an armored patrol vehicle that Israel is testing.
  • On an Oct. 25 call with investors, General Dynamics CFO, Jason Aiken, said, “I think if you look at the incremental demand potential coming out of [the attacks on Gaza], the biggest one to highlight and that really sticks out is probably on the artillery side.”

Evidence of carpet bombing in Gaza

source: https://thebusinessofwar.substack.com/p/mapping-the-business-of-war)

General Dynamics OTS –  Saco, ME

Aircraft and crew-served weapons (e.g., Gatling guns, 40 mm grenade weapon system, .50 caliber machine gun); guided missile director (MK 82).

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) – Bath, ME

Many supporting facilities in neighboring towns, particularly Brunswick. For full list, see: www.gdbiw.com/contact-us/directions

War ship (destroyer) production. 

Examples of BIW-built ships in action supporting Israel:

sources: CNN https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/politics/us-warship-close-call-houthi-missile/index.html 

CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houthis-target-u-s-destroyer-carney-british-merchant-ship-missile-attacks-red-sea-gulf-of-aden/)

Future plans

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uss-zumwalt-pioneering-hypersonic-might-for-the-us-navy-amidst-fleet-modernization/ar-BB1iEb9R

excerpt: 

The Zumwalt, initially conceived as a littoral combat ship, has seen its mission evolve significantly. Initially, it was to support ground forces with precision-guided naval artillery shells. However, exorbitant costs and technical setbacks saw the ambitious program for 32 vessels slashed to a trio of ships, compelling the Navy to pivot towards the hypersonic upgrade. The Zumwalt, alongside its sister ships, the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) and the Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), are the beneficiaries of this redirected focus, with all three poised to receive the CPS systems.

Destroyers built in Maine are deployed in both the Mediterranean and Red Sea to support Israel.

RTX/Raytheon subsidiary Pratt & Whitney – North Berwick Aero Systems​​​​​​​,     North Berwick, ME

source: https://afsc.org/companies-2023-attack-gaza

The world’s second largest weapons manufacturer and largest producer of guided missiles, RTX supplies the Israeli Air Force with guided air-to-surface missiles for its F-16 fighter jets, as well as cluster bombs and bunker busters, which have consistently been used against Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure.

  • Pratt & Whitney manufactures engines for F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
  • On an Oct. 24 call with investors, RTX CEO, Greg Hayes, said, “I think really across the entire Raytheon portfolio, you’re going to see a benefit of this restocking.”

source: MaineBiz https://www.mainebiz.biz/sponsored/article/pratt-whitney-north-berwick-aero-systems-nbas

Pratt & Whitney’s North Berwick Aero Systems facility produces world-class modules, components, and parts for commercial and military engines. The plant is more than 1 million square feet, and is the largest manufacturing facility under one roof in Maine. This site supports the full life cycle of its products from design and development to production, assembly, overhaul and repair.

Holiday From History Over For Australia?

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See if you can make sense of this empire-speak:

Urgency must replace complacency. The recent decades of tranquillity were not the norm in human affairs, but an aberration. 

Australia’s holiday from history is over.

Holiday from history. That is quite a concept. Who the f ever gets a holiday from history? In this instance, I believe the phrase is supposed to mean war is on the horizon and soon. Because history is only a series of wars, and wars are normal, and your complacency is slack.

Pax Australia as enjoyed under the soft authority of Pax Americana is about to come to an end if these authors get their way. 

Here’s context for the quote from Caitlin Johnstone: 

The report by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age — which former Prime Minister Paul Keating just called “the most egregious and provocative news presentation of any newspaper I have witnessed in over 50 years of active public life” —  actually comes close to actually admitting that there’s a concerted propaganda campaign designed to increase hysteria about China and manufacture consent for war. The “expert” panel asserts that there needs to be a “psychological shift” in the public toward this direction which they must be actively persuaded to accept.

“Most important of all is a psychological shift,” the report says. “Urgency must replace complacency. The recent decades of tranquillity were not the norm in human affairs, but an aberration. Australia’s holiday from history is over.”

Plenty of fearful reasons for Australian taxpayers to enrich those guys behind Uncle Sam in the cartoon above.

Some have suggested that Australia, not Taiwan, is slated to be the next Ukraine. Others have suggested it could be Japan. 

I haven’t seen any polls but I’m going out on a limb and say that the vast majority of people living in these places which are likely candidates to be selected for a proxy war on China do not want that to happen.

But it’s clear that the empire thinks it can act with impunity at this point in history. 

Impunity supported by the profound lack of curiosity about whodunit on Nord Stream evident throughout western media. Imperial control 0f that sector is working well with independent media covertly choked by lawfare, financial attacks, shadow banning, and cancellation. I’ve come to feel that getting authentic information is akin to getting nutritious food — it’s possible, but you have to work at it.

Who else is curious about NATO nuclear weapons and related systems being moved around? I know I am.

Imperial plotters fancy themselves eagles (dark eagles in the service of Dark Brandon, apparently) but the whole world knows they’re really more like pigeons.

(The rest of this insightful post may be found at GlobalSouth.Co.)