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The US Army wants to field light, medium, and heavy robotic combat vehicles to prepare for future combat on the modern battlefield as part of a rapid modernization effort. 

American defense firm Pratt Miller tweeted about a week before Christmas that it delivered two Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light unmanned ground vehicle prototypes (RCV-Ls) to the Army. 

“RCV-L’s 3 and 4 were delivered to GVSC today, 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This completes the full contracted delivery of Robotic Combat Vehicle – Light in preparation for 2021 testing and experimentation,” Pratt Miller tweeted. 

Pratt Miller partnered with U.K.-headquartered defense contractor QinetiQ. Both firms were awarded the contracts in January. 

“Robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct ground combat operations,” Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the NGCV CFT, told Defense News earlier this year. 

“Whether that’s giving increased firepower to a dismounted patrol, breaching an enemy fighting position, or providing [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive] reconnaissance, we envision these vehicles providing commanders more time and space for decisions and reducing risk to soldiers,” Coffman said. 

RCV-Ls can operate in human or semi-autonomous modes and are equipped with hybrid-electric motors for longer-range reconnaissance or attack missions.

The Army also awarded contracts to QinetiQ and Textron to build four light (RCV Light) and four medium (RCV Medium) sized robotic tanks.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

We have been discussing the chilling crackdown on free speech that has been building for years in the United States. This effort has accelerated in the aftermath of the Capitol riot including the shutdown sites like Parler.  Now former Texas congressman Ron Paul, 85, has been blocked from using his Facebook page for unspecified violations of “community standards.” Paul’s last posting was linked to an article on the “shocking” increase of censorship on social media. Facebook then proceeded to block him under the same undefined “community standards” policy.

Paul, a libertarian leader and former presidential candidate, has been an outspoken critics of foreign wars and an advocate for civil liberties for decades.  He wrote:

The only thing we posted to Facebook today was my weekly “Texas Straight Talk” column, which I have published every week since 1976.

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) January 11, 2021

“With no explanation other than ‘repeatedly going against our community standards,’ @Facebook has blocked me from managing my page. Never have we received notice of violating community standards in the past and nowhere is the offending post identified.” 

His son is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted,

 “Facebook now considers advocating for liberty to be sedition. Where will it end?”

Even before the riot, Democrats were calling for blacklists and retaliation against anyone deemed to be “complicit” with the Trump Administration. We have been discussing the rising threats against Trump supporters, lawyers, and officials in recent weeks from Democratic members are calling for blacklists to the Lincoln Project leading a a national effort to harass and abuse any lawyers representing the Republican party or President Trump. Others are calling for banning those “complicit” from college campuses while still others are demanding a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” to “hold Trump and his enablers accountable for the crimes they have committed.” Daily Beast editor-at-large Rick Wilson has added his own call for “humiliation,” “incarceration” and even ritualistic suicides for Trump supporters in an unhinged, vulgar column.

After the riots, the big tech companies moved to ban and block sites and individuals, including Parler which is the primary alternative to Twitter.  Also, a top Forbes editor Randall Lane warned any company that they will be investigated if they hire any former Trump officials.

The riots are being used as a license to rollback on free speech and retaliate against conservatives.  In the meantime, the silence of academics and many in the media is deafening. Many of those who have spoken for years about the dark period of McCarthyism and blacklisting are either supporting this censorship or remaining silent in the face of it. Now that conservatives are the targets, speech controls and blacklists appear understandable or even commendable.

The move against Paul, a long champion of free speech, shows how raw and comprehensive this crackdown has become. It shows how the threat to free speech has changed. It is like having a state media without state control. These companies are moving in unison but not necessarily with direct collusion. The riot was immediately taken as a green light to move against a huge variety of sites and individuals.  As we have seen in Europe, such censorship becomes an insatiable appetite for greater and greater speech control.  Even Germany’s Angela Merkel (who has a long history of anti-free speech actions) has criticized Twitter’s actions as inimical to free speech.  Yet, most law professors and media figures in the United States remain silent.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and domestic tech companies are developing new techniques to track and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. One way this is being done is through health QR codes. 

On Monday, Beijing authorities imposed a new rule for taxi firms and car-hailing platforms in the metro area that forces users to show their health QR codes before vehicle entry. 

“The move is a response to drivers repeatedly testing positive for the coronavirus,” the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.

The color-based health QR code system produces a code about the user’s health. 

As explained by RT News, “A ‘green’ one means they are free to roam around the capital, while ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ codes call for self-isolation or supervised quarantine.” 

Health QR codes have already become mainstream in Beijing. Before entering shopping malls, restaurants, and even riding public transportation, these codes must be shown. 

This all comes as the polar vortex has split into two, and Arctic air pours into parts of China, especially into Beijing. According to Goldman Sachs, colder temperatures may increase the probability of COVID-19 outbreaks.

So the Chinese are taking immediate precautions in mitigating the spread by widening the use of health QR codes. There’s also news of nearby cities to Beijing have instructed residents to stay home for the next couple of weeks as virus cases increase. 

An alleged video has surfaced on Twitter of Chinese officials sealing people in homes amid the virus outbreak. 

These new monitoring systems are leaving privacy experts worried that CCP is expanding their surveillance of health data to monitor citizens. 

Americans should be terrified that President-elect Biden may follow CCP by implementing some sort of tracking program to mitigate the spread in the US. 

Via AlMasdarnews.com,

The large Russian landing ship, the Saratov, entered the waters of the eastern Mediterranean this week, en route to a Syrian port, the Interfax News Agency reported, citing local Turkish media.

According to the report, the Saratov transited the Bosphorus Strait and moved closer to the Syrian port-city of Tartous, where it is expected to dock in the coming days. The Russian naval fleet currently in the Mediterranean consists of more than 10 combat and auxiliary ships, which are part of different units in the Navy.

Russia’s #Syria campaign: Russian Navy #ВМФ Project 1171 #ЧФ BlackSea Fleet 197th Landing Ship Brigade Tapir (NATO:Alligator) class LST Saratov 150 transited Bosphorus towards Mediterranean en route to the Russian naval base in #Tartus. pic.twitter.com/xjV7ctA6cE

— Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) January 11, 2021

This report was confirmed by the Turkish maritime observer and photographer, Yoruk Isik, who released a set of photos showing the Saratov transiting the Bosphorus Strait on Monday, January 11th.

The large landing ships and auxiliary ships of the Russian Navy, in addition to ships chartered by the Russian fleet, are participating in the process of transporting supplies to the Russian aviation group stationed at Hmeimim Airport (Lattakia countryside).

Over the last five years, the Russian Armed Forces have increased their shipments to the Syrian government, as they not only provide humanitarian aid, but also new weapons to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Just days prior to the Russian warship reinforcement, a large convoy of vehicles belonging to the U.S.-led Coalition entered northeastern Syria, making its way to an army base in the Deir Ezzor Governorate. The large convoy was observed entering from Iraq this past weekend.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), who cited local sources, the U.S.-led Coalition reinforcements sent military and logistical reinforcements to their base in Deir Ezzor after entering the Syrian Arab Republic from the Al-Waleed Crossing, which is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Brett McGurk has been picked by the Biden administration to join the NSC as coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

Brett McGurk has been an outspoken supporter of US military presence in Syriahttps://t.co/HrU0lahvol

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) January 9, 2021

The agency quoted local sources as saying that a column of about 30 vehicles, including trucks loaded with heavy weapons, including cannons, and tanks belonging to the U.S. army, entered Al-Hasakah from Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, before making their way to the base in Deir Ezzor.

The sources indicated that the convoy took the Al-Kharafi Road between Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah, accompanied by U.S. helicopters and military vehicles. This convoy of US military reinforcements is likely part of the troop rotation that takes place every few weeks; they often enter the country from neighboring Iraq and move supplies to one of their bases inside the Syrian Arab Republic.

A newly erected large bronze statue of slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in the middle of the Lebanese capital Beirut is driving outrage and division, causing deepening rifts in the population over the role of Hezbollah and Iranian influence in the country.

The unveiling ceremony for the bust that’s about ten feet high occurred last week. It’s located in a roundabout in the area of Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on a street that also bears his name, and the street is linked to a nearby highway named for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

In the days following the unveiling ceremony the statue created a social media storm of controversy.

According to one Saudi-backed newspaper:

Many Lebanese, mostly critics of Hezbollah, took to social media to lambast the celebration of a foreign military leader in Lebanon’s capital. “Occupied Beirut,” tweeted one Lebanese, Amin Abou Mansour, who posted it with the hashtag #BeirutFree_IranOut.

Others lamented what they described as the cultural hegemony of the militant Hezbollah and its ally, Iran. Wael Attallah, a Lebanese Canadian, tweeted: “This is a cultural aggression being imposed on Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese today feel violated and powerless. The Schism is getting wider day by day, little by little.”
One Lebanese media personality said she received death threats after her criticism on social media of the new statue.

The criticism has triggered a backlash from supporters, who started a Twitter storm with the hashtag: #Soleimani-is-one-of-us.

Much criticism has naturally centered on the fact that the Soleimani statue represents the presence and influence of a foreign power on Lebanese soil. However the small Mediterranean country has long been subject of foreign meddling in recent history, including the Saudis, Syrians, Israel, and the US – not to mention the French Mandate period in the 20th century.

The unveiling of a statue in #Beirut of an Iranian commander #Soleimani killed by the US last year has sparked indignation in Lebanon — the latest manifestation of a growing schism between supporters and opponents of the Iran-backed group #Hezbollah.https://t.co/fR0O7mAIr1 pic.twitter.com/PNleQdJAql

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) January 6, 2021

And as another Gulf-based newspaper pointed out, Hezbollah in prior decades used to be against statues, considering them ‘un-Islamic’. Yet Soleimani’s face has become iconic throughout the Middle East, representing “resistance” to US and Israeli designs on the region.

The Soleimani memorial has also no doubt angered the US Embassy in Beirut, given it’s such a prominent display of devotion to someone considered an archenemy of the US.

Hezbollah seems pretty damn desperate to make late Iranian General Qassem Suleimani a local hero, despite knowing that for the majority of people in Lebanon, he simply represents a foreign power. That’s one of many statues just erected to commemorate his assassination. pic.twitter.com/YVQcC2oQNt

— Nizar Hassan || نزار حسن (@Nizhsn) January 5, 2021

The Trump administration ordered a strike on the popular IRGC commander on January 3, 2020 – which resulted in his death as well as that of Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

As we first reported last night, Vice President Mike Pence confirmed in a letter addressed to Nancy Pelosi late on Tuesday that he will not invoke the 25th amendment to remove President Trump from office, just hours before the House was set to vote on a resolution formally calling on him to do so.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence said he does not “believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution”, and adding that he did “not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.” Instead, Pence, urged Pelosi and “every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment,” in reference to last week’s deadly Capitol riots.

Pence’s full letter is below:

Dear Madam Speaker:

Every American was shocked and saddened by the attack on our Nation’s Capitol last week, and I am grateful for the leadership that you and other congressional leaders provided in reconvening Congress to complete the people’s business on the very same day. It was a moment that demonstrated to the American people the unity that is still possible in Congress when it is needed most.

But now, with just eight days left in the President’s term, you and the Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the 25th Amendment. I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution. Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.

As you know full well, the 25th Amendment was designed to address Presidential incapacity or disability. Just a few months ago, when you introduced legislation to create a 25th Amendment Commission, you said, “[a] President’s fitness for office must be determined by science and facts.”

You said then that we must be “[v]ery respectful of not making a judgment on the basis of a comment or behavior that we don’t like, but based on a medical decision.” Madam Speaker, you were right.

Under our Constitution, the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation. Invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent.

After the horrific events of this last week, our Administration’s energy is directed to ensuring an orderly transition. The Bible says that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…a time to heal, … and a time to build up.” That time is now. In the midst of a global pandemic, economic hardship for millions of Americans, and the tragic events of January 6th, now is the time for us to come together, now is the time to heal.

I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment. Work with us to lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. I pledge to you that I will continue to do my part to work in good faith with the incoming administration to ensure an orderly transition of power. So help me God.

Sincerely

Michael R. Pence

Vice President of the United States

Pence’s expected announcement paves the way for House Democrats to move forward with impeachment legislation.

The House is currently weighing a resolution that would call on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows a majority of the Cabinet to remove the president from office. House Democrats have previously said they will move forward on Wednesday with a vote on impeaching President Trump if Pence declines.

Trump brushed aside calls for his removal over last week’s attack at the Capitol, saying the 25th Amendment is “of zero risk to me, but will come back to haunt Joe Biden.”

“Be careful what you wish for,”  Trump said in Alamo, Texas, during a visit to the border earlier in the day. He said the impeachment effort mounted by House Democrats is “dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.”

Democrats have moved quickly in their efforts to remove Trump from office – and prevent him from running again in 2024 – following the assault last week on the Capitol. An article of impeachment introduced in the House on Monday and backed by more than 200 Democrats accuses Trump of “incitement of insurrection,” and says he “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government.” Three House Republicans, including House GOP leadership member Liz Cheney, said they will vote to impeach the president.

Earlier on Tuesday, the House Judiciary released a 76-page impeachment report which claimed that “President Trump remains a clear and present danger to the Constitution and our democracy.”

In recent months, Japan’s financial conglomerate-cum-VC giant, SoftBank, has repeatedly made the news, starting with its terrible investment in WeWork (and several other not defunct unicorns), proceeding through its penchant for repurchasing gobs of its own stock any time its share price drops, continuing through SoftBank’s infamous – and very expensive – attempt to corner tech stock gamma in the public markets, yet culminating with a stock price which is now at all time highs, wildly surpassing its previous dot com record (from which it plunged at barely recovered).

With this “fascinating” background, one can see why any representative of Masa Son’s very “eclectic” SoftBank would be highly sought after for their thoughts on the market (and how to manipulate it best), which is probably why Rajeev Misra, EVP of SoftBank Group and CEO of the SoftBank Vision Fund (and a former Deutsche Banker of course – SoftBank has quickly emerged as the company where all the financial professionals who blew up the “real deal” DB with their financial genius ended up) was such a highlight when he presented at the Goldman Technology and Internet Conference 2021 this week.

Below, courtesy of Goldman, are the main highlights from his speech:

View on the market. Misra noted that low interest rates and asset-buying by central banks have significantly improved market liquidity, justifying much of the valuation support for the public equity markets, and driving higher relative valuations compared to the private markets. He believes the SPAC, while not a new concept, has been a way for companies to take advantage of this and get access to the public markets more quickly, though it’s a smaller component to the broader public equity story today than interest rates and central banks.

Investment landscape. Misra highlighted that the last 12-months have dramatically changed the landscape, with many of the changes in consumer behavior unlikely to go back to normal. The pace of disruption has covered three years of ground in just one year, and eCommerce in particular has seen as much penetration growth in the last 9 months as it saw in the prior 10 years. Verticals like education, food delivery, eCommerce, life sciences, and entertainment have been key beneficiaries.

When thinking about the future of a post-COVID world, Misra pointed to China and South Korea, both of which are operating 6-9 months ahead of much of the rest of the world in terms of COVID suppression, noting that there have been aggressive hiring and investment cycles by companies benefiting from online shifts, something that highlights the sustainability of shifting consumer behavior. In addition, even in verticals negatively impacted by the pandemic, like ridehailing, technology-enabled companies are gaining share in a post-COVID world. Mr. Misra noted that for Didi, a Chinese ridehailing company, rides-per-day today are higher than last year, despite total market-wide rides only being at ~70% of pre-COVID levels in China.  

Fund management strategy. SoftBank Vision Fund has over 100 investments, 85 of which are in Vision Fund 1 and 25 of which are in Vision Fund 2. Misra highlighted that despite SoftBank being the largest shareholder in 95% of its portfolio companies, the company has been more open over the last year to outside investors supporting follow-on fundraising rounds which helps to validate the valuation levels of these businesses. For Softbank’s portfolio companies, catalyzing business opportunities across Softbank’s ecosystem, whether that be creating business relationships or expanding geographical opportunities, is a large part of the vision. The company facilitates both debt and equity funding, including asset securitization.

Specific investment verticals. While SoftBank portfolio companies operate in a number of verticals and geographies, Misra discussed in particular SoftBank’s focus on mobility, real estate technology, and healthcare technology, with capital deployments made with a longer-term investment trajectory. In mobility, Misra highlighted the opportunity for autonomous vehicles to dramatically lower costs for transport of goods and people, something he expects will take 3-4 years to come to market. Even prior to that, however, he expects the phasing-out of car ownership to provide meaningful tailwinds to core rides in the category, creating meaningful operating leverage for ridehailing businesses as they rationalize costs (e.g., Uber with ATG, freight).  

In real estate, Misra noted that there are meaningful opportunities in real estate, both residential and commercial, given the size of the asset class and level of technological disruption to date. He noted that the residential and commercial office categories were the nearest term opportunities, with hospitality and retail being further out. In healthcare technology, Misra discussed the meaningful changes expected throughout the value chain, from diagnostics to treatment and even areas like gene editing and cell therapies, the latter which he expects will take 5-6 years but is among the most exciting opportunities. With healthcare the number one component of U.S. GDP, he reiterated the focus on companies best positioned to disrupt large asset classes.