Tag: news

Austria announced on Friday that it will likely expel up to 60 Turkish-funded Imams and their families, and may shutter seven mosques as part of a crackdown on what they have termed “political Islam,” reports AFP.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that Austrian officials will shut a Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna, while dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques. 

“The circle of people possibly affected by these measures — the pool that we’re talking about — comprises around 60 imams,” said Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the junior partner in Austria’s coalition government.

Kickl was referring to imams with alleged links to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organisation, a branch of Turkey’s religious affairs agency Diyanet.

Kickl added the government suspects them of contravening a ban on foreign funding of religious office holders. –AFP

40 of the Imams have active applications pending to extend their residency, however a number of them had already been referred to immigration authorities for expulsion. When family members are included, a total of 150 people stand to lose their residency, Kickl told a Vienna press conference. 

The government actions are based on a 2015 Austrian law that prevents religious communities from receiving foreign funding. 

Turkey immediately denounced the move, while populist politicians in Europe praised it. 

“Austria’s decision to close seven mosques and expel imams is a reflection of the Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory wave in this country. It is an attempt to target Muslim communities for the sake of scoring cheap political points,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter.

1/Austria’s decision to close seven mosques and expel imams is a reflection of the Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory wave in this country. It is an attempt to target Muslim communities for the sake of scoring cheap political points.

— Ibrahim Kalin (@ikalin1) June 8, 2018

The Austrian government’s ideologically charged practices are in violation of universal legal principles, social integration policies, minority rights and the ethics of co-existence. Efforts to normalize Islamophobia and racism must be rejected under all circumstances.

— Ibrahim Kalin (@ikalin1) June 8, 2018

Former French Presidential candidate Marine Pe Pen lauded the move, tweeting “Austria is taking things in hand and showing that ‘when you want to, you can!'”

Italy’s new interior minister Matteo Salvini also voiced his support of Austria’s actions, tweeting: “Those who exploit their faith to endanger a country’s security should be expelled!”

Credo nella libertà di culto, non nell’estremismo religioso. Chi usa la propria fede per mettere a rischio la sicurezza di un Paese va allontanato!
Spero già la prossima settimana di incontrare collega ministro austriaco per confrontarci su linee d’azione. https://t.co/WmwpJeYJEe

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) June 8, 2018

And while Austrian officials prepare to crack down on Imams in a culture war, former chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel is warning Europeans to push back against US policies which are disrupting the “international system of norms.”

Schuessel, who also served as president of the European Council, told RT’s Oksana Boyko that the Trump administration posed a serious threat to the “international systems of norms” and should not be allowed to disregard international law with impunity.

Criticizing Washington’s decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and initiate a trade war with its Western allies, Schuessel said that Europe “should stand up and defend our interests.” He suggested that Europe could seek remittal through international bodies such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. –RT

In other words, Austria is kind of old fashioned.

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Authored by EconomicPrism’s MN Gordon, annotated by Acting-Man’s Pater Tenebrarum,

Credit has a wicked way…

…of magnifying a person’s defects.  Even the most cautious man, with unlimited credit, can make mistakes that in retrospect seem absurd.  But an average man, with unlimited credit, is preeminently disposed to going full imbecile.

Let us not forget about this important skill…  [PT]

Several weeks ago we came across a woeful tale of Mike Meru.  Somehow, this special fellow, while of apparent sound mine and worthy intent, racked up over $1 million dollars in student loan debt – all to become an orthodontist.

Surely, with several good text books, and a disciplined self-study program, Meru could have learned everything there was to possibly know about adjusting malpositioned teeth for roughly $200 bucks.  Instead, with the full backing of Uncle Sam’s loan program, he went full imbecile.

Yet Meru isn’t alone.  According to the Department of Education, there are 101 people in the U.S. who are a million dollars or more in federal student loan debt.  What’s more, there are 2.5 million people who owe at least $100,000.  What could they have possibly learned that could be so doggone valuable?

Did they discover how to turn nickels into dimes?  Did they solve the geometry of a four-sided triangle?  Did they learn the secrets of the universe?  Did they get an insider’s peek at something more than what happens under the sun?

Delusions of Grandeur

Only at rare moments are people capable of understanding the full implications of the catastrophes of their making.  These rare moments, often just before dawn, are the precise instants when they gain full clarity to the hopeless fact that they have gone full imbecile.  That every decision they have ever made has led them to this exact place – where they find themselves to be completely and utterly screwed.

Nations, like the people who compose them, have also demonstrated that they are unqualified to responsibly function in a world of unlimited credit. Here in The United States of Debt, federal debt has exceeded $21 trillion, corporate debt has topped $6 trillion [ed note: this is only the amount of non-financial corporate debt issued  in the form of bonds – the actual total is around $20 trillion (PT)], and total household debt has reached a record high of over $13 trillion. In other words, the country, as a whole, has gone full imbecile.

Behold the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme in all its splendor – US federal, corporate and household debt (see also our editor note above regarding the size of outstanding corporate debt). [PT]

These debt figures represent the early lightning of the oncoming storm.  These same debt figures are currently ignored by practically everyone.  The nation’s leaders, in particular, are ignoring them. After an 80 year run of near uninterrupted prosperity, who wants to think the unthinkable?

People would rather be flattered with delusions of grandeur than have cold buckets of ice watery truth dumped on their head.  They want to believe that they are exceptional and that everyone – especially them – can live at the expense of their neighbors. They want to believe they can get more out of their retirement than they put in.

People hold onto the myth that America is a free market economy.  Yet, somehow, they miss the contradiction inherent in the mammoth bureaucracy that has been erected to oversee it.  Free trade is fine in theory, they rationalize.  But, in practice, protectionist measures are required to make trade fair.  And on and on the delusions go…

America Goes Full Imbecile

At the same time, large segments of the American populace – many involuntarily – have been reduced to abject debt servitude.  On the flip-side, the entire structure of Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs is on the brink of collapse.  These signature social achievements of FDR and LBJ, and the tens of millions of dependents that have put their faith and trust in them, stand to be wiped out faster than you can say lickety-split.

This week the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees released their 2018 Annual Report.  Inside they revealed that the Medicare trust fund will be depleted in 2026 and the Social Security trust funds – both for old-age benefits and disability insurance – are likely to be depleted in 2034.

So what happens when these milestones are reached?  Will entitlement dependents find themselves up the creek without a paddle? Not exactly. Most likely, the Treasury, in concert with the Federal Reserve, will indeed go full imbecile. They will create money from nothing to make good on their obligations. But in the process, they will end up destroying the currency.

Massive amounts of debt, made possible through a debt based fake money system, have brought today’s many unique possibilities for destruction into existence much sooner than would have been possible otherwise.  What’s more, the government’s solution, which requires destroying the dollar, is as sensible as cutting off one’s head to cure a headache.

You could have taken an aspirin… or you could have chosen the more permanent solution – adios migraine, forever! [PT]

Of course, faith in the government’s ability to cure all of society’s ailments is what got us into this mess in the first place. The many unfortunate souls set to experience the insidious injustice of having their life savings vaporized through state sponsored currency debasement, will come to deeply regret this misplaced faith in government. It will never return.

For the sake of completeness we would like to point out to readers that cutting off heads is also subject to as of yet unresolved gender equality problems. The head-chopping glass ceiling has yet to be shattered, so to speak. [PT]

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In the aftermath of the recent political and market turmoil in Italy, last weekend we were surprised to report that none other than JPMorgan came to the unexpected conclusion that what Italy’s Euroskeptics are hinting at, if not explicitly pushing for, namely Exitaly, may be the best option for the country, however one which would not take place without major market turbulence.

At the heart of JPM’s argument is that with Italy effectively owing the Eurosystem €426BN via Target2 imbalances, it has the leverage to if not start with a clean slate, then certainly threaten to do so…

… leverage which is further compounded by Italy’s surprisingly favorable current account balance and Net International Investment Position (more details here).

So fast forward just a few days, when later last week the Bank of Italy released data on its aggregated balance sheet for May 2018 including its net Target 2 balance, showing a dramatic increase in its negative net balance. Indeed, the net balance deteriorated by nearly €40bn, its largest monthly deterioration since March 2012, to a new record of -€465bn.

As JPM further details, on the Bank of Italy’s balance sheet, the increase in the Target 2 liability was largely matched by a decrease in deposits from MFIs even as the aggregate size of the balance sheet was little changed, which as JPM’s Nick Panigirtzoglou writes, suggests the worst possible scenario: that some deposits were moved abroad.

This is in sharp contrast with the period of rapid deterioration of the Target 2 balance during the escalation of the Euro area crisis from mid-2011 to mid-2012. At the time, the counterpart to increasing Target 2 liabilities came from an expansion in the Bank of Italy’s assets, primarily from an increase in liquidity provision to the banking system.  Indeed, the levels of excess liquidity in the Eurosystem given QE and the large balance of outstanding TLTROs reduce the need for such liquidity provision.

But, as JPM adds, this tentative sign of deposit outflows highlights another risk posed by a hardening of rhetoric regarding the euro, given that aggregate deposits at Italian banks (excluding deposits by other MFIs and
general government) amounted to nearly €1.7tr as of March 2018.

In short: with the risk of both Italeave and redenomination rising, the Italian savers are starting to pull a “Greece”, something we observed on Friday in the dramatic spike in Italian bill yields above those of Greece.

Which brings us to the next “big question”: how long will the Italian authorities allow these outflows to accelerate before they too respond with whispers (at first) of capital controls.

 

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Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

I’m not the only one of course. The financial crisis of 2008/09 similarly shattered the worldview of tens, if not hundreds of millions of people across the globe. I believe that the old manner of doing things as far as organizing an economy and society died for good during that crisis and its aftermath. Sure it’s been shadily and undemocratically propped up ever since, and we haven’t yet transitioned to what’s next, but for all intents and purposes it’s dead. It’s dead because it has no credibility.

– From last year’s post: The Generational Wheels Are Turning

Hard work is fundamental to our continued existence and advancement as a species. I would never devalue the importance of hard work, particularly when combined with intense passion and drive, which leads to extraordinary technological progress and soaring artistic creations. Nevertheless, my ears perk up whenever I hear an older person lecture millennials about how they need to work more just to have a reasonable chance at a retirement compared to generations that came became before.

Yet that’s exactly what happened when I read an article published at Politico by 75-year old Alicia Munnell, an academic who also worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the U.S. Treasury Department under Bill Clinton.

She seems to understand the problem. She notes:

A comparison of millennials (adults currently ages 25 to 35) with earlier cohorts (Gen-Xers and late baby boomers) when they were the same age shows that even though a higher percentage of both millennial men and women have college degrees, they are behind in almost every economic dimension.

One reason is that millennials entered the labor market during tough times. Most turned 21 between 2002 and 2012, which meant that they were graduating from college during a period that included both the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the Great Recession. This experience appears to have been particularly hard on millennial men, who have labor-force participation rates below earlier cohorts.

That’s all true, it’s her unimaginative, and quite frankly, offensive conclusion about what’s to be done that I take issue with. She writes:

My research suggests that those concerns are real, and millennials really are building wealth more slowly than the other working generations. But they are not insurmountable – as long as millennials are willing and able to work longer than their parents and grandparents did.

Let’s take a step back and dig deeper. She accurately acknowledges millennials were screwed by being born at the wrong time in history. To summarize, an entire generation graduated from college as indentured debt servants and were then thrust into a Hunger Games economy characterized by stagnant real wage growth. Worse, whenever systemic forces resulted in periodic crashes in our fundamentally unstable ponzi economy (which millennials played no role in creating), older generations responded by focusing their energy on ensuring their stock and bond portfolios were inflated back to life.

Remarkably, this basic reality that younger generations were handicapped due to the short-sighted decision making of older generations seems to have no bearing on her analysis of what’s to be done. While millennials may in fact need to work to 70, this doesn’t address the current situation, nor does it deal with the fact that the contemporary social/economic paradigm is dominated by rent-seeking activities more accurately defined as corruption and fraud, which leads to unimaginable wealth for an unscrupulous few, and scraps off the table debt serfdom for everyone else.

Older generations can’t provide solutions for the youth because that’s the sort of lazy thing they come up with: work more. Moreover, successful academics with stints in government and central banking are almost always status quo loyalists and will never concede that paradigm level change is in order. Young people must actively help shape the world they’ll be living in longest, yet when you look at Congress it looks like an assisted living facility.

This is a serious problem, because older people who’ve benefited from the status quo their entire lives will naturally support a propagation of the status quo. That’s the last thing we need right now. I don’t mean to pick on Alicia specifically, I highlight her article to demonstrate a larger point. That the policy solutions being offered for our ills are just repackaged versions of the same old stale solutions that’ve been recycled over and over again for the past 50 years. This is partly why it feels like nothing really changes no matter who you elect. It’s because those who have the power and money to influence policy tend to be comfortable, unimaginative types who strongly support the status quo.

Nevertheless, it remains a total certainly that younger generations will ultimately define the future based on their values and life experiences. Considering how poorly the current paradigm worked for them, it’s a nearly a lock that the manner by which our society and economy work will be fundamentally altered in the not too distant future. The millennial embrace of Bitcoin and crypto assets is merely a preview of the sort of earth-shattering changes coming as an entirely new generation starts to dominate culture.

“Work till you’re 70 and things could turn out ok” doesn’t resonate or inspire anyone. Our current paradigm is a corrupt carcass of a social and economic system kept on life support by those who benefit from it, and no one’s more aware of this fact than the youth.

It’s impossible to know exactly what will come next, but it’s a safe bet we’re on the precipice of enormous change based on an imminent turning of the generational cycle. Whether it leads to a better or worse world will depend on the level of consciousness we bring to it. The world is ours to create, let’s not screw it up.

*  *  *

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President Trump’s 24 hours in Quebec while attending the annual G-7 Summit was every bit as confrontational as we imagined they would be. The president has enraged his fellow world leaders, insulted Justin Trudeau, who’s hosting the summit in Quebec and whom Trump repeated referenced as just “Justin”, and skipped a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has attacked him and vowed to challenge his “America First” trade agenda while also confronting him about his climate stance – something that might be difficult to do, since Trump left this morning after he said he would skip  discussions about climate change Saturday night.

Trump also showed up late to a gender-focused breakfast meeting, billed by the event’s Canadian organizers as a chance for leaders to “draft concrete actions for the G-7 to advance gender equality,” according to CBC. Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s ambassador to France, was making opening remarks when Trump and a flood of press pool members arrived and interrupted her.

As Trump quietly took his place between Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, and Lt.-Gen. Christine Whitecross, the Canadian head of the NATO college in Rome, Trudeau restated his welcome and Hudon repeated her remarks.

Then there were his controversial remarks. Early on, Trump suggested that the G-7 should consider readmitting Russia, which was kicked out in 2014 for its activities in Crimea. Trump instead blamed those on Obama. Also on Friday, Trump floated the idea of ending all tariffs and trade barriers between the US and its allies – a pitch that wasn’t exactly expected, according to Politico. Trump offered the proposal at the end of a “contentious” meeting on trade disputes. Most G-7 members remain furious with Trump over his decision to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, and his threats to impose more trade restrictions. Merkel responded positively to Trump’s suggestion, saying she would consider it.

“We should at least consider no tariffs, no barriers — scrapping all of it,” Trump said, according to officials who were listening and taking notes.

Before leaving for his meeting with Kim Jong Un, Trump provided an update during a live press conference with Larry Kudlow and John Bolton. First he thanked Trudeau and praised Canada as a “beautiful country” before launching into a summary of issues starting with trade. Though he walked away without signing the US on to the traditional post-summit agreement (providing more fodder for critics who sneered about the G-6 + 1), Trump insisted that the G-7 was “tremendously successful” and despite trade tensions “relationships are outstanding.” He adds that the tariff situation is “going to change, 100 percent” as the US is “like the piggy bank that everyone robs”.

During his talk, Trump alternated between stream-of-conscious rambling about trade, Russia and North Korea and taking questions from reporter. When he learned that one reporter was from CNN, Trump taunted him and told him to go back to his “fake news friends.”

On trade:

“We had productive discussion on having fair and reciprocal” trade and market access.

“We’re linked in the great effort to create a more just and prosperous world. And from the standpoint of trade and creating more prosperous countries, I think they are starting to be committed to more fair trade. We as a nation lost $870 billion on trade…I blame our leaders and I congratulate leaders of other countries for taking advantage of our leaders.”

“If they retaliate they’re making a tremendous mistake because you see we have a tremendous trade imbalance…the numbers are so much against them, we win that war 1000 times out of a 1000.”

“We’re negotiating very hard, tariffs and barriers…the European Union is brutal to the United States….the gig is up…there’s nothing they can say.”

“We’re like the piggy bank that everybody’s robbing.”

“I would say the level of relationship is a ten – Angela, Emmanuel and Justin – we have a very good relationship. I won’t blame these people, unless they don’t smarten up and make the trades fair.”

On eliminating trade barriers:

“That’s the way it should be. No tariffs, no barriers – no subsidies.”

“You go tariff free you go barrier-free you go subsidy-free – that’s the way we learned it at the Wharton School of Finance. We can’t have an example where the US is paying fees of 270%.”

On North Korea:

“I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people…he’s got an opportunity that, if you look back into history, few people have ever had.”

“This is a great opportunity for peace and lasting peace and prosperity.”

“It’s going to be something that’s always spur of the moment…this is an unknown personality many people don’t know.”

“You know how they say you know whether you’ll like somebody in the first five seconds? I think I’ll know pretty quickly whether we’re going to make a deal.”

On Russia:

“Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in.” 

Asked if Crimea should be considered Russia now:

“you’d have to ask President Obama because he’s the one who let Crimea get away. He allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude.”

Trump is now making the 20-hour flight to Singapore, where he will attend a historic summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. We’ll now keep our eye out for the finalized communique from the group. The US is typically a leader in the crafting of the statement. But this time, it’s unclear if the US had any input at all into the statement, as only the leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as well as the presidents of the European Commission and European Council remain at the meeting. But regardless of who writes it, the statement will probably be of little consequence, as UBS points out:

Several heads of state will be heading off on a taxpayer-financed “mini-break” in Canada today. In all of its incarnations (over the past four years, we’ve gone from G-8 to G-6+1) the group hasn’t really accomplished much since an initial burst of enthusiasm with the Plaza Accords and Louvre Accords in the 1980s.

And this meeting likely won’t be any different.

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One of the more troubling controversies surrounding Tesla right now is the company’s Enhanced Autopilot feature that is an advanced driver-assistance system used for lane centering, adaptive cruise control, self-parking, and the ability to automatically change lanes without requiring driver steering. The Enhanced Autopilot is embedded into every vehicle and sold to the public as an extra feature, which includes eight surround cameras and twelve ultrasonic sensors, in addition to the front facing radar with artificial intelligence to make autonomous commuting possible.

Critics and vocal short sellers of the company have repeatedly pointed out that at the Model 3 handover event, Elon Musk essentially said drivers could “sleep” while the Enhanced Autopilot feature was engaged, and perhaps as of recent fatal (and non-fatal) Tesla Autopilot crashes continue to pile up.

Adding to the controversies playing Tesla, most recently Reuters reported that a consumer advocacy group on Friday sounded the alarm about the automaker’s “flaws” in the Enhanced Autopilot feature after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Walter Huang, 38, the driver of the March 23 Tesla Model X crash in Mountain View using Autopilot, “had been given two visual alerts and one auditory alert to place his hands on the steering wheel during the trip.” However, as noted previously, those alerts were triggered 15 minutes before his tragic death as the Autopilot accelerated before the vehicle slammed into a highway barrier.

And now, amid the growing controversy over Autopilot safety, a Tesla employee was allegedly caught on video asleep at the wheel of a Model S mobile service vehicle whose Autopilot was engaged. The incident occurred on a major highway, near the company’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Autopilot is a level 2 advanced driver-assistance system, and the driver is responsible for staying alert because of the Autopilot’s ability to pass full control back to the driver. The automaker explicitly states this in the user manual, not that anyone reads those any more.

There have been numerous videos posted on social media platforms of vehicle owners asleep at the wheel, except this is the very first video showing a Tesla employee abusing the company’s own policy while operating Autopilot.

YouTube user Mike Cagulada posted the video Thursday that recorded the dangerous event on June 04. While the video claims that the Tesla employee is sleeping, there’s no firm proof that this is the case. What is known is that the operator of the vehicle had their head pointed to the floor of the vehicle while the car drove itself.

CNET sent the video to Tesla for a comment on the situation and a spokesperson replied via text message: “We take safety very seriously and are investigating this incident.”

Meanwhile, the NTSB’s prove of Tesla’s various autopilot incidents continues apace.

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Moments ago, the White House announced unexpectedly that President Trump will deliver a statement at the G7 summit in Canada at 10 a.m. ET.

It is unclear if Trump will announce that he has managed to reach a compromise with the “G6” or if he is about to barge out and is making a unilateral address to the world before he does so.

Watch it live below.

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Lockheed Martin, the defense company behind F-35A Lightning II, a fifth-generation combat aircraft, won a $928 million contract April 18 to develop a hypersonic missile for the U.S. Air Force that will travel more than five times faster than the speed of sound to overcome Russian and Chinese missile defense systems.

According to Lockheed Martin, under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, the company will design and manufacture the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), a new air-launched weapon system. The missile will be capable of speeds higher than Mach five and could render Russian and Chinese ballistic missile defense interceptors useless.

Lockheed Martin will be strategically working with the U.S. Air Force to “finalize system requirements under the contract’s initial task order,” the press release stated.

“This is the first phase of a development program, with future phases progressing through design, flight test, initial production and deployment of the weapon system at early operational capability. The contract ceiling through early operational capability is $928 million.”

“Our goal is rapid development and fielding of the HCSW system, and this contract is the first step in achieving that goal,” said John Snyder, vice president of Air Force Strategic Programs at Lockheed Martin.

He added, “design, development, production, integration and test experts from across Lockheed Martin will partner with the Air Force to achieve early operational capability and deliver the system to our warfighters. We are incredibly proud to be leading this effort.”

The HCSW team will work on the hypersonic missile program at numerous locations in the U.S., including in Huntsville, Alabama; Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; and Orlando, Florida; with additional support in Denver, Colorado, and Sunnyvale, California.

Lockheed Martin has the most experince when it comes to developing and testing hypersonic weapons and vehicles than any other U.S. defense company. On an international stage, U.S. defense companies are severely behind the technology curve when it comes to developing and fielding these powerful weapons for the modern battlefield.

In March, the United States Strategic Commander told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. is vulnerable to future attack via hypersonic missiles and is quickly falling behind the technological curve for hypersonics.

“We [U.S.] don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon [hypersonic missiles] against us,” warned Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command.

Hyten further said, “both Russia and China are aggressively pursuing hypersonic capabilities. We have watched them test those capabilities.”

“I think we have stability with Russia on the nuclear side,” he added. “We have an advantage with China on the nuclear side. But they are gaining ground quickly, especially when you look at space and cyber.”

Earlier this year, we reported that Russia test-fired a high-precision Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile from a MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jet in the South Military District in Russia’s southwest.

“The launch went according to plan, the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation declared.

The defense ministry released exclusive video showing the hypersonic missile air launch from the underbelly of the MiG-31.

Экипаж истребителя МиГ-31 Воздушно-космических сил #ВКС выполнил практический учебно-боевой пуск гиперзвуковой ракеты высокоточного авиационного ракетного комплекса #Кинжал в заданном районе. Пуск прошел штатно, гиперзвуковая ракета поразила заданную цель на полигоне pic.twitter.com/xLguUwGrQW

— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) March 10, 2018

In late 2017, China conducted several tests of a hypersonic glide vehicle that could be used to defeat U.S. missile defense systems.

China just showed its hypersonic-BGV in a vid on 08 Oct. Probably a test design model, but AFAIK this is first pics of an actual object 1/ pic.twitter.com/EXIMHkXTEA

— Raymond Wang (@soraywang) November 5, 2017

The arms race in hypersonic weapons has ushered in the next Cold War between the United States, Russia, and China. It is a repeating war cycle of madness where billions of dollars are being diverted to the military-industrial-complex. So, it is no surprise that Lockheed Martin was recently awarded roughly a billion dollars to develop and field hypersonic missiles for the Air Force.

Hypersonics will not make the world safer, but slightly more dangerous with global superpowers having the capabilities of hurling projectiles at March five or higher.

Last month, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the 984 new lieutenants who were graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy to prepare for the worst: war. The warnings came a day before Mattis told troops at Fort Bragg, N.C., that “storm clouds are gathering” over the Korean Peninsula.

“Hold the line”: Defense Secy Mattis sends strong message to Air Force academy graduating class pic.twitter.com/bGrVO1GXW3

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 24, 2018

The Pentagon is preparing for the upcoming war cycle, and it is apparent that fifth-generation war machines and hypersonic missiles will be the weapons of choice on the modern battlefield. 

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