News Vérité

President Trump has certainly made headlines at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. When questioned about the recent skirmishes with Iran and what effect the ongoing military standoff has on negotiations, Trump said of his Iranian counterparts, “They’re scum.” He said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) has run its course. “I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore; they’re scum…. They’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people,” he told reporters. “There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s [the ceasefire is] over.” The president’s comments come after Iran attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. retaliated. The administration has also pulled its authorization for Iran to export oil, though it will honor previously granted passage rights. As for continuing negotiations with Iran, Trump said  his team could continue the talks “if they want,” though it’s “a waste of time.” Oil prices immediately jumped after his comments and the U.S. air strikes on Iran, including on Kharg Island. The stock market also tanked. Despite all those domestic and international costs, let me say that this is the Trump I love and voted for. He

Okay, they’re not really going to call it that, but a coalition of NATO countries is looking to open a bank that can guarantee loans to defense contractors. The problem is, though NATO countries are beefing up their war readiness, manufacturers of weapons and war materiel are finding it hard to secure financing from normal banks. European laws restrict banks from dealing in pornography and tobacco (defense contractors all smoke and watch porn videos at work, evidently). Thus a loan-guaranteeing entity could ease the conscience of the banking establishment. The new entity is actually going to be called the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank, or DSRB. Already, Canada, Luxembourg and seven other countries, including Turkey and Ukraine, have announced their support for the DSRB. Contractors are under increased pressure as European nations, per Donald Trump’s mandate, are increasing defense spending, the goal being 5 percent of each year’s budget. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former Bank of England governor, is the impetus behind the venture, which so far has attracted only middle-level NATO countries, not the biggies like Great Britain and Germany. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for an end to autonomous weapons of warfare that could be turned against civilian populations. “Machines selecting and engaging their target and taking a life — without human control and judgment. That is morally repugnant,” Guterres said. “Let us call them what they are: killer robots.”  Pope Leo XIV earlier this year also warned of artificial-intelligence (AI) weaponry and combat reliance on AI. He feared that AI could make combat more palatable for those in charge. Anthropic is currently in a legal war with the Pentagon over the use of its AI tools for warfare and/or domestic surveillance. The Pentagon basically rejected Anthropic’s conditions, countering that it would use AI for any legal purpose it saw fit. Which no doubt means in warfare. The two are still locked in a court battle. Drones were not brought up in any of these discussions, evidently because they’re here to stay as a weapon of warfare. Drones, of course, rely on semiconductor chips and AI to find their targets, along with human help. Actually, if war came down to robots fighting robots with no civilians threatened, that could be a plus. But that’s unlikely. If one