Former spy-chief-turned-arms-firm-adviser says military AI can be moral in shock to nobody

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:4 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

Ex-spy chief David Omand has decided military AI can be taught to be moral. Which is nice for him. And probably nice for the various private defence interests he advises too. The Guardian published an extended interview with Omand. He told the paper he used to think AI drones were a bad thing. But changed his mind: My call is to really get some work done on this, so that we’re not left in a situation where there isn’t a moral component built into future AI-powered weapon systems. Omand is an advisor to Paladin Capital Group. Paladin has major AI and cybersecurity…

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UK ‘special operations’ soldier died at base Iran attacked in March

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:4 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

The UK military has named the soldier killed in Erbil, Iraq. An American soldier also died in what the allied nations say was a “training accident”. Lance Corporal James Freeman was a member of the Royal Anglian regiment. Iranian drones hit the base in March 2026. Freeman was a member of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment. The battalion is part of the new army Special Operations Brigade. The British Army website describes the unit as: the fighting formation of the Land Special Operations Force (LSOF) and is equipped with Robotics and Autonomous Systems. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) posted on…

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List of disgrace: Over 50 countries armed Israel since plausible genocide ruling

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:3 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

51 nations armed Israel during the settler-colonial state’s genocide against Palestinians. Some states gave the regime hundreds of millions of dollars in arms. Others just a few hundred dollars worth of equipment. All bear the mark of shame. Al Jazeera reported on 24 May: military-related goods originating from at least 51 countries and self-governing territories continued entering Israel after the ICJ’s warning of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza. The outlet used Israel tax authority data, customs records and freedom of information requests from “between 2022 and 2025” to trace: military supply chains linked to countries across Europe, Asia, North…

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Australia: Public inquiry overdue for secretive, expensive AUKUS pact

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:2 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

The AUKUS war pact between the US, UK and Australia is expensive, secretive, and the “worst defence decision” since WWII. That’s according to a respected Australian expert, who says a proper inquiry is long overdue. Ian Lowe, an emeritus professor at Griffith University, Queensland, published a recent critique of the deal, saying it was: Negotiated rapidly and in secret [and that] the AUKUS pact to produce new nuclear-powered submarines is among the most expensive, consequential and opaque deals in British and Australian military history. Australia probes shadowy defence deal Australians are holding a public inquiry, a move that Lowe welcomes. The scholar…

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Palantir gets to decide what weapons Britain should buy

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:2 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

UK ministers and generals are using Palantir software to decide which Palantir products to buy. By modelling battles through the far-right tech firm’s Foundry software, officials hope to outsource thinking … then again, thinking has rarely been our governments’ strong suit. Anyway, the Murdoch-owned Times reported on 1 June:  The US tech firm Palantir is helping ministers and military chiefs decide what weapons to invest in so they can win a war against the likes of Russia, it is understood. A senior military source told the paper: The CIA-backed firm evaluates force mixes — such as the balance of drones versus…

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Israel shakes fragile Iran-US peace talks with Lebanon assault

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:2 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

Israel’s continuing attack on Lebanon has shaken the fragile peace talks between the US and Iran. The settler colonial state has also forced thousands to flee the southern suburbs of Beirut as it pushes into the capital. Drop Site News shared this week how: Hezbollah has framed its operations as retaliation for Israel’s own daily strikes on civilian areas across southern Lebanon, which have killed hundreds of civilians and demolished entire towns and neighborhoods since Israel escalated war on March 2. At the start of the latest Israeli invasion in March, the Canary reported: Israel violated the US-brokered Lebanon 2024 ‘ceasefire’ more…

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Palantir deal could hand your personal data to Trump administration

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:1 June 2026
• Post last modified:9 June 2026

A scandalous deal between hard-right AI war firm Palantir and the UK’s financial authority could hand the Trump administration your personal data. Meanwhile, campaigners and MPs say that the deal with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must prove that sensitive information will not fall into Trump’s hands. On 1 June, the Guardian reported: A US law that can oblige tech companies to disclose information to American authorities may apply to Palantir’s deal to help the Financial Conduct Authority detect crime. House of Commons science and technology select committee Martin Wrigley MP delivered the warning. He was quoted by the Guardian saying that…

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SAS didn’t refer Afghanistan atrocity allegations to police in case it upset soldiers

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:30 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Commanders of the UK military’s most elite special forces didn’t refer war crimes allegations to police, an inquiry has heard. The reasons they decided not to may astound our readers: an anonymous senior officer said that there were fears doing so might upset SAS troops. The inquiry has been going on for several years. Current and former Special Air Service (SAS) personnel have been granted anonymity to give evidence. The inquiry concerns allegations that innocent Afghan civilians were murdered in 2011. Some allegations suggest detainees were handcuffed before being executed. And that weapons seized elsewhere were placed on their bodies to…

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Trump’s American empire: US operations are firing up across the continent

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:30 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

President Donald Trump’s failing war in Iran is grabbing most of the headlines. But Latin America is still central to current US colonial ambitions. American shadow war operations are popping up left, right and centre as the US seeks to dominate. Trump’s 2025 national security strategy said as much. The US wants to ensure: the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States. And that those pliable governments: cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations. Trump and his cronies want: a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile…

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Prosecutor denies case against Trump rape accuser being pursued

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:29 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Content warning: this article features graphic discussion of rape and sexual abuse.  A US federal prosecutor has denied opening a case against a woman who claims Donald Trump raped her. But a source had told the legacy press that such a case is being pursued. It would be the latest of many sexual abuse scandals centering on the US president. Writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of “raping her in the mid-1990s”. Trump and Carroll have already contested two cases heard in court. Carrol is a former columnist for Elle Magazine. CBC reported: The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied on…

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Africa Corps: Russian cluster munitions found in Malian village despite national ban

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:29 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Russian cluster munitions have been found in a Malian village. Mali is a signatory to the cluster bomb convention, though Russia is not. Russia’s mercenary group Africa Corps is currently operating in the west African state where a civil war is taking place. Investigative group Bellingcat identified the munitions in a 26 May report: Unexploded Russian-made cluster munition bomblets, as well as damage consistent with bomblet impacts, have been found in a village in northern Mali – despite the West African country being a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) which prohibits their use. Radio France International first…

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Humiliated Trump threatens to bomb Oman — a US ally — in latest bizarre rant

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:29 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

US president Donald Trump just threatened to bomb Oman, a US ally. Increasingly humiliated by his failing war against Iran, Trump has become more and more erratic. Oman was mediating the last US-Iran deal which Trump broke in February under pressure from Israel. Trump was waffling about a potential Pakistan-brokered peace deal with Iran when he made the bizarre threat. Tehran has said it wants Oman to help impose tolls on a re-opened Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy corridor. Trump, whose attack predictably led to the strait being closed in the first place, had a little tantrum about the idea:…

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Israel’s far-right defence minister openly pledges to ethnically cleanse Gaza

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:29 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

The settler-colonial state’s far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, has openly stated Israel’s intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Genocidal intentions have being central to Israeli state ideology. Lawyers and human rights groups attacked Katz. The Guardian reported on 29 May: Katz said the mass departure of Palestinians from Gaza would go hand in hand with the exclusion of Hamas from power. Katz himself said: We committed that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily, and so it shall be, and also the voluntary emigration plan from Gaza will be implemented. Everything at the right timing and in the right manner. Yet…

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Cost of Iran war forces US military to cut training budgets at home

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:28 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

The cost of the unprovoked US war on Iran is limiting routine training and maintenance at home. The military’s usual practice flights, training exercises, and the upkeep of equipment have all been affected as the American empire strains under the demands of the failing war. CNN reported: The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, told House Armed Services Committee lawmakers earlier this month that his 2026 budget “didn’t bake in [Operation] Epic Fury” and that the Navy faces impacts on “routine operations” as a result. That includes having to limit training exercises, flight training hours and training for new recruits, he…

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Sudan: UAE-linked Colombian mercenaries operating amid genocide

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:27 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Colombian mercenaries are being hired, trained and moved into Sudan by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a new report warns. The east African nation is locked into a civil war between the Sudanese government and the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported this week: Colombian private military contractors, apparently hired by a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company, transited through UAE military bases before being deployed to Sudan to support the abusive Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This is further evidence indicating that the UAE is assisting or otherwise substantially contributing to the Rapid Support Forces’ capacity to commit war…

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IDF issues ANOTHER displacement order in south Lebanon

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:27 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

The settler-colonial state of Israel has issued a new displacement order in south Lebanon, following a day of heavy airstrikes and artillery. IDF Arabic spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee posted on X: In light of the terrorist Hezbollah party’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Defense Army is compelled to act against it forcefully, The Defense Army does not intend to harm you. The Lebanese citizens under bombardment might beg to differ. Adraae added: To ensure your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by a distance of at least 1000 meters to open areas.…

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Eid assault: Israel batters southern Lebanon with airstrikes and artillery

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:26 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Israel launched an intense bombardment across southern Lebanon on the eve of Eid. Over 100 airstrikes were accompanied by ferocious artillery bombardments across the south and in Bekaa. Targets included a Palestinian refugee camp. Multiple people were killed. Middle East Eye reported: Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting that the Israeli army has begun a ground operation in Lebanon, crossing the “Yellow Line” demarcation stipulated by the ceasefire deal. According to Israeli Channel 14, Tel Aviv is expanding its military operation beyond the line in the Nabatieh area. Journalist Hala Jaber described horrific scenes: In just hours, Israel has unleashed more than…

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Iran condemns new wave of US strikes as peace talks hang in balance

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:26 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Iran has slammed a new wave of US strikes in the besieged nation’s south. Meanwhile Donald Trump has demanded various countries normalise relations with Israel as a condition of ending his failed war. Yet several expert voices have said that the US has already lost the war, with Trump in no position to make demands. Middle East Eye reported: Iran’s foreign ministry accused the US of violating ceasefire agreement after Washington carried out strikes south of the country. The ministry said: Undoubtedly, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave any act of mischief unanswered and will not hesitate in defending…

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UK government throws another £65m at war satellite upgrade

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:23 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

The UK has earmarked £65m to upgrade Skynet (actual name), a war satellite system once used to fly drones over Afghanistan. The system contains software run by yet another global military firm with interests in AI war systems. That is the second one this week. A government press release once again conflated business and public safety with lucrative defence interests: Vital emergency services, military operations and British businesses will be better protected through a new system to protect UK satellites and the services they provide from space. Adding: 20% of UK economy reliant on satellite services which are essential for military…

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Legitimise and reintegrate: Syria’s ex-Al Qaeda president to attend G7 conference

• Post author:Joe Glenton
• Post published:22 May 2026
• Post last modified:8 June 2026

Former Al Qaeda member and US-backed Syrian president Ahmed Al-Sharaa will be a guest at the influential G7 forum. Al-Sharaa’s presence is about Syria’s reintegration into the global capitalist economy. Syria’s use by Western powers as a “potential strategic hub for supply chains” will also be discussed given the Strait of Hormuz is blocked. The G7 is a multinational economic and political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The EU is a non-enumerated member. It meets annually: to coordinate policy on global economic, security, and other critical issues, acting as a platform for…

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