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Iran has for some two years inundated the West Bank with arms, employing a covert, multinational network of intelligence operatives, terror groups and criminal gangs as part of its multi-pronged strategy against Israel, The New York Times reported on Tuesday According to the report, citing three unnamed officials each from Iran, Israel and the United States, much of the contraband travels along one of two routes that pass through Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. The operation hinges on Bedouins who smuggle the weapons from Jordan across the border into the West Bank, Iranian officials were cited as saying....

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed Monday that the Biden Administration would consider cutting off arms sales to Israel if it did not submit a report explaining how its use of the weapons complies with international law. Sullivan added that he expected Israel to provide such a report, but did not rule out ending U.S. supplies to Israel. From the White House briefing transcript: Q Thank you, Jake. The deadline for Israel to comply with the National Security Memorandum … is coming up on Sunday. Has Israel responded in writing? MR. SULLIVAN: So, first, when you say “to comply,” what...

For decades, the USSR and then the Russian Federation competed with the US to dominate the global arms market. In 2023, according to SIPRI, Russia didn't even make the top five list of exporters. In this episode, I look at the evolution of Russian arms exports in 2022 and 2023, examine the drivers, and look at some of the nations (like France) that have taken market share as Russia drops.

The Washington Post published a report Wednesday that the Biden Administration may limit arms transfers to Israel if it attacks the remaining four Hamas battalions in Rafah, a city on the Egyptian border in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel must enter Rafah to destroy Hamas and win the war. His war cabinet is considering a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians north of the city before a military operation. David Ignatius, a columnist known for his sources in government, published the story, likely leaked from the White House: The Biden administration, worried about...

A joint statement by the United States and its partners on Tuesday condemned arms transfers between North Korea and Russia, including what it termed as Russia's procurement of North Korean ballistic missiles and Moscow's use of those against Ukraine on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2. WHY IT IS IMPORTANTBoth Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, though they deny making any arms deals. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met President Vladimir Putin in Russia's Far East region last September and senior Russian officials have made several visits to Pyongyang. Last week the White...

Under the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration (MMPA), our military is prepared to fight the trans/pronoun wars, not the real thing. But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting ready to go to actual war. It appears the environment needed more protection than anyone could have imagined:A resurfaced report that initially flew under the radar claims that President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has spent millions of dollars in taxpayer funding to stockpile military-grade equipment and weaponry. In a letter sent to the EPA in September, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, wrote, “As...

..... Speaking during a visit to the Ramat David Airbase, Gallant said, "The action of the Air Force in all sectors is very impressive, and it is appropriate that the roar of the jets drown out the unnecessary chatter and allow the IDF soldiers to carry out their mission quietly and safely." Bennett, in his op-ed, mentioned that during his term as Prime Minister, Israel destroyed a UAV base on Iranian soil, thwarted an attempted Iranian terror attack on Israeli tourists in Turkey, and shortly afterwards "the commander of that very unit was assassinated in the center of Tehran." Responding...

Newly elected President Javier Milei of Argentina is an admirer of the right to keep and bear arms, similar to the Second Amendment enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America. Argentina has a vibrant gun culture nurtured by strong rural farming and cattle ranching roots.According to csmonitor.com, sales of small-caliber weapons (probably .22 caliber) were not regulated until the early 1990’s. As Argentina has descended into worse and worse poverty from inept socialist policies, more and more regulatory burdens were placed on the acquisition and carrying of firearms.As reported by as-coa.org, ordinary citizens can acquire some firearms....

A gun control activist was “aghast” and dismayed to learn that the burgeoning blue-city gun buyback culture is actually feeding a secondary arms and gun parts market. The New York Times focused on a recent gun buyback in Flint, Michigan, noting that Gunbusters, a Missouri company, was contracted to handle the weapons which were surrendered. According to the NYT, “[Gunbusters] has taken in more than 200,000 firearms over the past decade from about 950 police agencies around the country, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to St. Louis to Hartford, Vermont.”

In 2022, global military budgets hit $2.2 trillion, an eighth consecutive year of increase.Part of those budgets were used for the procurement of arms, but which countries are major weapons suppliers, and how do they influence the global arms trade?In the chart below, Visual Capitalist's Bhabna Banerjee and Marcus Lu highlight the top 10 countries with the biggest share of global arms exports using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).Which Country Exports the Most Weapons?The U.S. is the biggest weapons exporter, accounting for 40% of the total volume of international arms transfers between 2018–2022. Nearly one-fifth of...

Minuteman statue detail, Lexington, Credit: Tim Grafft/MOTT There’s a perennial debate in gun politics in the United States. The gun control side makes various specious arguments claiming that the Second Amendment protects muskets and not modern arms, that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to a select militia like the National Guard, not We the People, and that “well-regulated” authorizes the de facto destruction of our rights via regulation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Those of us who have studied the copious scholarly research on the text and history of the Second Amendment know that those arguments are bunk. We know that...

Activists protesting against Israel picketed several entrances to a major factory operated by BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest defence contractors on Friday. Dozens of protesters — with organisers from ‘Workers for a Free Palestine’ claiming “400+” — blocked entrances to a major defence factory in Rochester, Kent on Friday morning. Protesters chanted that Israel is a “terrorist state” and pleaded with employees of BAE Systems to go home rather than try to go to work. A protester quoted by the Kent Messenger claimed: “This is our power as people. Your power is your voice and direct action like...

Facing the prospect of a prolonged war and with a counter-offensive mounting, Israel’s Second Amendment-lacking citizenry was granted new permissions “to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves.” Since Hamas terrorists launched their attack on the people of Israel, killing more than 700 people and taking dozens hostage, the Israel Defense Force’s response has been one of increasing force. In addition to calling up 300,000 reservists while launching strikes against the “evil, dark, medieval extremists” a new statement from Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir captured the intensity of the lingering danger. “Today I directed the Firearms Licensing...

Between 2018 and 2022, France’s share of the global arms trade increased to 11 percent compared with 7.1 percent over the previous four-year period, according to an annual Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report published in March. In the same period, the Russian share of the international arms trade declined from 22 to 16 percent. The war has been “a humbling showcase for Russian military technology” Political considerations are also important, said Wezeman. “Since the beginning of the war [in Ukraine] India has been reluctant to increase or sustain military relations on a high level” with Moscow.

The move is aimed at putting pressure on Hungary regarding the expansion of the alliance ahead of next month’s summit. The relationship between the United States and Hungary is becoming increasingly combative, napi.hu reports. So much so, that Senator James E. Risch, the ranking Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is stopping the USD 735 million US arms sale to Hungary for not contributing to Sweden’s membership of NATO. Risch told The Washington Post that “Hungary must allow Sweden into NATO if it wants the arms package, which includes 24 HIMARS rocket launcher batteries, and more than 100 rockets...

A video posted on social networks shows a person carrying a military-grade grenade launcher during a checkpoint in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The weapon, which is only sold to armies and has been widely used during the invasion of Ukraine, was in the hands of a hitman from Los Escorpiones, a cell of the Gulf cartel, which operates in Reynosa. These are weapons that cost between $20,000 and $60,000 on the black market , with shots that can cost approximately $30,000 per ammunition and require specialized training to operate. The armed civilian who boasts an embroidered emblem of Los Escorpiones, in addition...

The History of Bans on Types of Arms Before 1900, by David Kopel and Joseph Greenlee, Law review article, 165 pages, 2021. The Supreme Court, in the seminal Bruen decision, held: once the clear text of the Second Amendment is implicated, the burden falls on the government to prove there were widespread and accepted statutory restraints in history which are very similar to the restraints the government is defending.The law review article by Kopel and Greenlee is the most comprehensive compilation of the laws on ownership and regulation of arms from medieval England through 1900, especially on weapons bans, yet...

A report from Fox News back in 2021 highlighted the scope of the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan as the Taliban took control of 75,000 US vehicles, 200 US aircraft, 600,000 US weapons, and $85 billion in military funding. This is like Obama’s Fast and Furious gun-running scandal on steroids. Today the Taliban is patrolling the streets of Kabul in US humvees. The big story might be the pallets of cash the Taliban have been posting videos of pallets of weapons and stacks of $100 bills they have seized. Here is a more complete list of US equipment now controlled by...

Credit card companies have a plan in place that will, to some degree, allow the tracking of gun and ammo sales. This was a move politicians pushed for, despite absolutely no one being able to actually show us how it will reduce mass shootings, violent crime, or anything else. This is simply the latest step the financial industry has taken to hurt the firearm industry. A lot of people are anything but keen on seeing something like this in place. In Florida, a bill will seek to implement a $10,000 fine on each instance of a company tracking the sales...

Russia is flouting its obligations under a major arms control treaty with the United States, according to State Department officials. “Russia is not complying with its obligation under the New START Treaty to facilitate inspection activities on its territory,” a State Department spokesman said Tuesday. "Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team outlined that breakdown in a notification to key congressional leaders on Tuesday. The assessment points to the degeneration of the last major arms...