Category Archives: US Military

Trump directs ire at Tom Hanks for being ‘destructive’ and ‘woke’

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US president applauded West Point alumni for abruptly calling off a ceremony honoring the actor

Donald Trump launched a vitriolic attack against Tom Hanks for supposedly being “destructive” and “woke” after one of America’s most beloved actors was snubbed without much explanation by West Point last week.

On his social media site on Monday, the US president applauded the alumni association of the US Military Academy (or West Point) for abruptly calling off a ceremony honoring Hanks, twice an Academy award winner who has played numerous military characters and also has a long history of advocating for veterans.

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Blackwater founder and Maga disciple Erik Prince pitching services in Ukraine

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Sources say Prince, whose firm’s contractors committed 2007 Iraq massacre, eager to get into valuable drone sector

Amid reports that Donald Trump’s administration is considering using US private military contractors in a postwar Ukraine, multiple sources tell the Guardian one high-profile and controversial American from the “war on terror” era is already circling for business.

In the streets of Kyiv, military hawks and defense privateers have described how Erik Prince, Maga disciple and founder of the now-defunct mercenary company Blackwater, has been aggressively pitching his services and looking to buy.

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West Point cancels ceremony to honor Tom Hanks as ‘outstanding US citizen’

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Little known about decision, although Hanks, who has advocated for military memorials, also voted for Biden

In Forrest Gump, the title character, played by Tom Hanks, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B Johnson.

In real life, it appears Hanks will no longer receive another military honor.

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Trump sends 10 stealth fighter planes to Puerto Rico amid war on Caribbean drug cartels

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Move comes after accusing Venezuela of buzzing US warship and a deadly US missile strike in Caribbean Sea

Donald Trump is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to bolster US military operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean region, it was reported on Friday.

If follows a deadly US missile strike on Tuesday on a boat in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration insisted was carrying 11 Venezuelan drug traffickers, and comments by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Wednesday that such attacks “will happen again”.

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US Navy Seals killed North Korean civilians in botched 2019 mission, report says

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New York Times says Trump authorized mission to plant listening device; team killed fishers they encountered

US Navy Seals shot and killed a number of North Korean civilians during a botched covert mission to plant a listening device in the nuclear-armed country during high-stakes diplomatic negotiations in 2019, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Citing unidentified sources, including current and former military officials with knowledge of the still-classified details, the newspaper said Donald Trump approved the operation during his first administration, as he was involved in historic talks with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

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Trump’s LA national guard deployment cost taxpayers $120m, Newsom says

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California governor condemns decision to deploy troops in response to anti-Ice protests as ‘waste, fraud and abuse’

Donald Trump’s deployment of the national guard in Los Angeles in response to protests in the city over immigration raids cost taxpayers nearly $120m, the California governor’s office said on Thursday.

The US president sent 2,000 national guard troops into the city in June amid clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters. This week a judge ruled that dispatching the military to accompany authorities on immigration enforcement operations violated federal law.

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Maine shooting survivors sue US government, alleging army failed to stop deadly attack

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US army accused of ‘repeatedly violating its own policies’ over 2023 shooting by reservist that left 18 people dead

Survivors and family members of victims of the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, are suing the US government, alleging that the US army could have stopped the attack carried out by an army reservist but failed to intervene.

The suit, filed on Wednesday in Maine district court, alleges that despite decades of knowledge about the risks posed by soldiers in crisis, the policies and procedures the army has developed around dealing with service members who are struggling with severe mental health challenges were not used to disarm the shooter, a sergeant with a 21-year history in the army reserve. Eighteen people were killed in the attack.

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Top Obama-era Latin American expert warns of ‘disastrous’ US intervention in Venezuela

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US military buildup and attack on alleged narco boat spark fears of protracted guerrilla war in South America

The White House’s former top Latin America official has said he fears the US could stumble into a protracted guerrilla war in Venezuela after Donald Trump ordered a military strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing 11 alleged drug traffickers.

Tuesday’s controversial strike off the Venezuelan coast – which was reportedly carried out by an attack helicopter or Reaper drone – came after the US president ordered a major naval deployment to the region, ostensibly to combat South American drug traffickers.

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US soldiers could be liable for war crimes in Gaza. Will they be prosecuted?

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Human Rights Watch says US military personnel could face criminal prosecution for assisting Israel’s war in Gaza

Human rights groups and activists who protest against continued US support for Israel have focused primarily on the flow of US weapons, warning that continuing to send weapons to a state which has been documented using them in probable war crimes makes the US complicit.

However, this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted another facet of US military support for Israel: military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

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Brawl in Mexico’s senate after debate over US military intervention to fight drug cartels

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Senators Alejandro ‘Alito’ Moreno and Gerardo Fernández Noroña fought in the senate after heated discussion

Mexico’s senate devolved into violence this week as two of the country’s top politicians shoved, grabbed and shouted at each other after a heated discussion over the presence of foreign troops in the country.

Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, head of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (Pri), grabbed at Gerardo Fernández Noroña, the senate president from the ruling Morena party, after lawmakers finished singing the national anthem to mark the end of the day’s session on Wednesday.

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Trump says he hopes to meet Kim Jong-un and raises prospect of US taking over some South Korean land

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South Korean president Lee Jae Myung uses Oval Office meeting to encourage Trump to engage with North Korean leader

Donald Trump has said he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, possibly this year, in an attempt to revive the failed nuclear diplomacy of his first term as US president.

“I’d like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future,” Trump said during an occasionally awkward meeting at the Oval Office with South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, in which he raised the prospect of taking ownership of South Korean land that hosts a US military base.

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Trump ‘manufactured crisis’ to justify plan to send national guard to Chicago, leading Democrat says

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Pentagon official confirms plan as House minority leader Jeffries says president is ‘playing’ with Americans’ lives

Planning is underway to send national guard troops to Chicago, an official at the Pentagon confirmed to ABC News on Sunday.

“We won’t speculate on further operations. The Department is a planning organization and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel,” a Department of Defense official said, according to ABC.

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Judge blocks White House from defunding 34 municipalities over ‘sanctuary’ policies

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Cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities had sued Trump administration over funding freeze

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to 34 “sanctuary cities” and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement, significantly expanding a previous order.

The order, issued on Friday by the San Francisco-based US district judge William Orrick, adds Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque, to cities that the administration is barred from denying funding.

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Three states to deploy hundreds of national guard troops to Washington DC

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South Carolina and Ohio join West Virginia in pledging troops, fueling protests that national guard should not be used for ‘a political policing mission’

Three states have moved to deploy hundreds of members of their national guard to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown.

West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days.

The moves announced on Saturday came as protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and national guard troops fanning out in the heavily Democratic city following Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia national guard members.

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Shooter in custody after five soldiers shot on Georgia military base, army says

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Parts of base had been on lockdown earlier after shooter was reported, as base says all five were moved to hospital

Five soldiers were shot and wounded on Wednesday on the Fort Stewart military base in south-east Georgia before the shooter was taken into custody.

Parts of the base had been locked down earlier on Wednesday after a shooter was reported on the sprawling army post, a spokesperson said.

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Trump moves nuclear submarines after ex-Russia president’s menacing tweet

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Order comes after president’s anger at tweet from Dmitry Medvedev which called Trump’s threat to sanction Russia over Ukraine a ‘step towards war’

Donald Trump has said that he has deployed nuclear-capable submarines to the “appropriate regions” in response to a threatening tweet by Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, suggesting that he would be ready to launch a nuclear strike as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote that he had decided to reposition the nuclear submarines because of “highly provocative statements” by Medvedev, noting he was now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council.

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Pete Hegseth replaces first woman to lead US naval academy with Marine Corps general

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Yvette Davids, who took the role in January 2004, will be succeeded by Michael Borgschulte

The first woman to lead the US naval academy is being reassigned, with the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, moving to replace her with a Marine Corps general, defense officials confirmed on Friday.

The decision marks the first time in the nearly 180-year history of the academy that a Marine Corps officer has been nominated to take charge.

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Trump’s $1tn for Pentagon to add huge planet-heating emissions, study shows

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Exclusive: 17% increase in military spending will add emissions equivalent to those of some entire countries

Donald Trump’s huge spending boost for the Pentagon will produce an additional 26 megatons (Mt) of planet-heating gases – on a par with the annual carbon equivalent (CO2e) emissions generated by 68 gas power plants or the entire country of Croatia, new research reveals.

The Pentagon’s 2026 budget – and climate footprint – is set to surge to $1tn thanks to the president’s One Big Beautiful Act, a 17% rise on last year.

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Ukraine awaiting details on ‘billions of dollars’ worth of weapons promised by Trump

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US president said to have discussed providing Patriot missiles and long-range Tomahawks but no agreement has been reached

Ukraine is waiting for further details of the “billions of dollars” worth of US military equipment promised by Donald Trump on Monday, amid confusion as to how many Patriot air defence systems will be sent to Kyiv.

At a meeting at the White House with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Monday, Trump said an unnamed country was ready to immediately provide “17 Patriots” as he said a “very big deal” had been agreed for European allies to buy weapons from the United States and then ship them to Ukraine.

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Lobbyists linked to Donald Trump paid millions by world’s poorest countries

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Somalia, DR Congo and Yemen among states forced to sign deals and barter their minerals for aid or military support

Some of the world’s poorest countries have started paying millions to lobbyists linked to Donald Trump to try to offset US cuts to foreign aid, an investigation reveals.

Somalia, Haiti and Yemen are among 11 countries to sign significant lobbying deals with figures tied directly to the US president after he slashed US foreign humanitarian assistance.

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