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Drones

Drone Attack On Syrian Military College Leaves Dozens Of Casualties

October 6, 2023 News Desk, The Cradle. , , ,
Dozens of casualties have been reported in Syria's central Homs governorate following a deadly drone attack that hit a military college after the end of an officers’ graduation ceremony on 5 October. In a statement released by the armed forces, authorities said the attack was conducted by “armed terrorist organizations supported by well-known international parties." The statement highlights that women and children are among those critically injured. No official death toll has been released as of press time, however, local reports say the number of dead could surpass 50, with over 150 injured.

Palestine Action Crash Europe’s Largest Business Event On Drones

September 27, 2023 Palestine Action. , , , , ,
Today, Palestine Action crashed the DroneX Trade Show & Conference at ExCel London, advertised as ‘Europe’s Largest Business Event Dedicated to the UAV industry’. During a keynote speech by Dave Drewitt (Head of Sales and Business Development at Thales’ ‘Flight Avionics’) on ‘Sharing Skies – Enabling Safe & Secure Drone Operations’, activists took to the stage to highlight the hypocrisy of the talk and raise the Palestinian flag. Exposing Thales’ role in facilitating crimes against the Palestinian people through their manufacture of Israeli drones, activists made clear that no apartheid-supplying business has the right to lecture on safe & secure drone operations.

22 Years Of Drone Warfare And No End In Sight

September 8, 2023 Maha Hilal, Scheer Post. , , , , ,
That’s what a young Pakistani boy named Zubair told members of Congress at a hearing on drones in October 2013. That hearing was during the Obama years at a time when the government had barely even acknowledged that an American drone warfare program existed. Two years earlier, however, a Muslim cleric, Anwar Al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, both American citizens, were killed by U.S. drone strikes in Yemen just weeks apart. Asked to comment on Abdulrahman’s killing, Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs said: “I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they are truly concerned about the well-being of their children.

NYC Police Plan To Use Drones To Surveil Labor Day Parties

September 2, 2023 Zane McNeill, Truthout. , , , ,
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is planning to use surveillance drones to patrol large gatherings, including private parties and barbecues, this Labor Day weekend. “If a caller states there’s a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we’re going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party,” Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner, said at a press conference. Civil liberties groups and privacy advocates have said that such drone use may violate existing laws that regulate police surveillance in the city. One such law is the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, which requires that the NYPD disclose its surveillance tactics at least 90 days prior to implementation.

With Drone Strike, The West Bank Could Turn Into War-Ravaged Gaza

July 3, 2023 Jessica Buxbaum, MintPress News. , , ,
Last week, the Israeli military killed three Palestinians in its first aerial drone strike in the occupied West Bank in nearly 20 years — marking a grave escalation in state violence against the territory. Using an Elbit Systems Hermes 450 drone, the military struck a vehicle in Jenin carrying Palestinians suspected of fatally shooting four Israelis the day before. According to the Israeli military, this was the first drone strike since 2006 during the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. Drones have been mainly used in the West Bank for intelligence and surveillance purposes.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Last Warning Was To Stop Nuclear War, Here’s How

June 26, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
Daniel Ellsberg died on June 16, 2023 at the age of 92. In his final months of life, he spoke out about the importance of whistleblowing and the risk of nuclear war resulting from US aggression against Russia and China. Ellsberg urged people not to wait to take action. Clearing the FOG spoke with Jack Cohen-Joppa, co-coordinator of the Nuclear Resister and steering committee member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, about the long history of and ongoing resistance to nuclear weapons. Cohen-Joppa also talks about actions targeting Raytheon and depleted uranium use in Ukraine. He provides information about actions people can take to create a nuclear-free world.

Why There Should Be A Treaty Against The Use Of Weaponized Drones

June 1, 2023 Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Citizen activism to bring about changes in how brutal wars are conducted is extremely difficult, but not impossible.  Citizens have successfully pushed through the United Nations General Assembly treaties to abolish nuclear weapons and to ban the use of landmines and cluster munitions.  Of course, countries that want to continue to use these weapons will not follow the lead of the vast majority of countries in the world and sign those treaties.  The United States and the other eight nuclear armed countries have refused to sign the treaty to abolish nuclear weapons. 

Open Mic Protests Plan For AI-Powered Taser Drones In Schools

April 11, 2023 Open Mic, Popular Resistance. , , ,
In May 2022, the company’s own AI Ethics Board voted against a pilot program with law enforcement due to concerns over surveillance and abuse, particularly against people of color. However, weeks later, in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy, Axon announced its intention to embed Taser-equipped drones in schools to stop mass shootings, using AI surveillance and virtual reality simulations. Nine of the thirteen members of the AI Ethics Board resigned, stating they had "lost faith in Axon's ability to be a responsible partner." Axon shareholders are now requesting that the company discontinue the development and plans for sale of a remotely-operated Taser drone system, which poses serious risks to privacy, racial equity, and physical safety.

Leicester’s Israeli Weapons Factory Issued With Eviction Notice

April 10, 2023 Palestine Action. , , , ,
Activists protesting outside of the UAV Tactical Systems factory in Leicester have issued Elbit with an eviction notice [1] – giving them one month to vacate the drone factory before the Palestine Action ‘siege’ commences on May 1st. The notice, handed to Elbit Systems under the authority of The Court (of Public Opinion), provides 30 days notice before the site will be met by a mass action, as the people of Leicester and groups and individuals from across Britain convene to force the Israeli weapons factory to close. At the same time, protestors gathered in Leicester city centre, publicly exposing Elbit and their activities a few miles away at the UAV Tactical Systems factory, holding banners, flares, flags and leaflets outlining their criminal actions

Three Women Arrested At Creech Drone Base

October 21, 2022 Shut Down Creech, Nuke Resister. , , ,
Las Vegas, Nevada - Anti-drone activists, in Nevada for a week-long protest at a U.S. assassin drone base north of Las Vegas, continued their resistance on Wednesday morning, October 19 with a nonviolent blockade of the entrance road into Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs. After nearly two hours, three protesters were arrested. Dozens – maybe hundreds – of vehicles were stalled on the highway trying to enter the base. Protesters hope to motivate Air Force personnel involved in the U.S. drone program to follow their conscience and no longer participate. Protesters held life-sized cardboard cut-outs of four of the seven children from the Ahmadi family who were killed by a U.S. drone attack in Kabul in August 2021, and held two signs that read:  “A Call To Conscience” and “Can You See, You Are Murdering Me.”

Israel Authorizes Military To Kill Palestinians With Drones In West Bank

October 15, 2022 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. , , ,
Commanders of the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have been authorized to use armed drones to kill Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with the approval of Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi. Hamas called the order “a dangerous step” and urged Palestinians “to continue resisting the Israeli occupation with all means possible until they regain their legitimate rights.” The authorization to expand the use of killer drones coincides with “a significant rise in shooting attacks and massive gunfire during arrest raids, specifically in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus,” according to The Jerusalem Post. On September 28, the IOF killed four Palestinians and injured dozens more during protests in Jenin. Since as early as 2008, the Israeli Air Force has been killing Palestinians in Gaza with drones.

Drone Resisters’ Charges Dismissed ‘In The Interest Of Justice’

May 2, 2022 Upstate Drone Action Coalition, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On April 28, 2022, in DeWitt, NY night court, Judge David Gideon presiding, pro se defendants Mark Scibilia-Carver and Tom Joyce of the Ithaca Catholic Worker and the Upstate Drone Action Coalition, had their 2019 violation charges for blocking, with several others, the main entrance of Hancock drone base, home of the 174th Attack Wing of the NYS Air National Guard. dismissed “in the interests of justice.” According to Sujata Gibson, stand-by counsel and Cornell Law School faculty, the dismissal “was significant, not just to this movement but to our collective conversation about the role of non-violent peaceful action in our democracy.” Gibson continued, “It was an honor to witness the thought that Judge Gideon put into his decision and deeply moving to hear the words of those who put themselves on the line to bring attention to these issues.”

Experts Detail Deadly Consequences Of US Drone Strikes To Senate

February 11, 2022 Brett Wilkins, Commondreams. , , ,
Experts on the conduct and consequences of U.S. drone strikes delivered harrowing testimony Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on two decades of aerial bombardment during the so-called War on Terror.  "Our nation is at a turning point," Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said upon opening the hearing. "In the months after 9/11 we strayed from our values, engaging in torture and indefinite detention at Guantánamo, which continues." "We also began conducting lethal strikes in unprecedented ways," he continued, later acknowledging the tens of thousands of men, women, and children killed U.S. airstrikes in at least half a dozen nations over the past 20-plus years. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the committee, was dismissive of the proceeding, instead expressing concern for "the growing spike in violent crime, including murders and attacks on police" in the United States.

Drone Warfare: The World Needs To End US Impunity

December 30, 2021 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , ,
A report by The New York Times (NYT) earlier this month revealed that at least 1,400 innocent civilians were killed in numerous airstrikes, mostly drones strikes, carried out by the US forces since 2014 in Afghanistan and some countries in West Asia. The civilian toll of the US drone strikes has already been widely reported, with several other sources such as Airwars citing a larger number of civilian casualties. The NYT report also revealed the extent of the failure of the international community to ensure accountability and justice for the victims of these war crimes. The impunity enjoyed by the US is a key factor in such atrocities continuing to take place.

NYT Reporting On Airstrikes Should Give Daniel Hale More Credit

December 21, 2021 Sam Carliner, Common Dreams. , , ,
The New York Times recently came through with a display of reporting that should be commended. On December 18, the paper announced its release of hundreds of the Pentagon's confidential reports of civilian casualties caused by U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East. This follows its high profile investigations into the U.S. drone murder of the Ahmadi family during the Afghanistan withdrawal, and an American strike cell in Syria that killed dozens of civilians with airstrikes. Many journalists will, rightfully, praise the New York Times for its reporting on U.S. airstrikes and the civilian cost. Far fewer will point out how the inhumanity of U.S. airstrikes were first revealed in 2013 by whistleblower Daniel Hale.
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