US set to upgrade controversial nukes stationed in Germany
Newsletter published on March 29, 2020
(1) US set to upgrade controversial nukes stationed in Germany
(2) Phone, microwave radiation during pregnancy may raise ADHD risk
(3) Microsoft drop its investment in AnyVision, the Israeli facial
recognition company
(4) Boeing faces Bankruptcy; FAA seen as captured by the industry it
regulates
(5) Boeing Crashes: $43 Billion in Share Buybacks Turn into Existential
Threat
(1) US set to upgrade controversial nukes stationed in Germany
Bob Dylan song on JFK assassination:
"We've already got someone here to take your place"
Dylan is saying that there was no "lone gunman". Lee Harvey Oswald was a
patsy. This was an action by the Deep State, and Johnson was their man.
Recently, DW in Germany ran a story "US set to upgrade controversial
nukes stationed in Germany":
This despite Trump campaigning against NATO.
The implication is that the Deep State is still in charge, the same Deep
State that killed Kennedy; and that the mainstream media are complicit.
The upgrade of nukes is said to be in response to Russia's developing
its own nukes. But Russia did that in the wake of the West's coup in
Ukraine (Virginia Nuland admitted that the US had spent $5billion in
Ukraine, cultivating 'Democracy'), and the spread of NATO eastwards.
US set to upgrade controversial nukes stationed in Germany
March 26, .2020
by Naomi Conrad and Nina Werkhäuser
The US has stored nuclear bombs across Europe as a deterrent against
Russia — including in Germany, where parliament voted in 2010 to
withdraw the bombs. But for now, they are here to stay — and set to be
modernized.
Viewed from above, the fields surrounding Büchel air base stretch out
like a greenish-brown patchwork quilt, punctuated by the small villages
and woodlands that make up the Eifel region in western Germany.
Take a closer look at satellite imagery, and you can make out several
dozen camouflaged airplane hangars. Hidden deep below them lies a
carefully guarded secret: underground vaults housing American nuclear
bombs that date back to the Cold War.
A state secret
The precise number of bombs stored in the underground vaults in the air
base is unclear. Estimates range between 15 to 20, and their location is
a state secret. So secret that local resident Elke Koller, a now retired
pharmacist, only found out about their existence through media reports
in the mid-1990s — despite being a member of the local Green party at
the time.
She told DW that learning of their existence came as a "complete shock."
She has since become a veteran protester, organizing local marches and
rallies against the bombs.
The German government has never officially confirmed the existence of
the nuclear bombs in Büchel. Indeed, parliamentarians would risk
prosecution on the grounds of divulging a state secret, should they
officially acknowledge their location.
On the record, the Germany government only admits to being part of what
is officially termed a "nuclear sharing agreement."
Americans activate the nukes, Germans deliver them
In the case of a nuclear strike, the American soldiers who guard the
bombs located on the German air base — with an order to shoot at any
intruders — would attach the bomb to German fighter jets and activate
the code. Then German crews would embark upon what insiders refer to as
a "strike mission" — delivering the American bombs to their destination.
That would, in fact, be the first time that crews come in closer
proximity with the closely-guarded bombs: according to one pilot, who
spoke to DW on condition of anonymity, they only train with dummies.
This agreement — American bombs guarded by American soldiers on a German
base but flown by crews and planes of Germany's military forces, the
Bundeswehr — dates back to the Cold War and NATO's nuclear deterrence
strategy aimed at keeping the Soviet Union at bay. Even today, NATO's
nuclear posture is still an integral, some would even argue paramount,
component of its strategic make-up.
(2) Phone, microwave radiation during pregnancy may raise ADHD risk
March 25, 2020 / 3:33 AM
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay News
Pregnant women exposed to high levels of radiation from cellphones,
microwaves and Wi-Fi may be increasing their baby's risk for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, a new study suggests.
Called MF -- magnetic fields -- nonionizing radiation, these waves are
in the air all around people. They also come from cellphone towers,
high-tension electrical wires, electric appliances, wireless devices and
Bluetooth signals. Exposure to MF nonionizing radiation has already been
linked to cancer risk and other medical conditions in some previous studies.
"Pregnant women who are concerned about MF impact on the health of their
fetuses and offspring should reduce MF exposure during pregnancy as much
as they can," said lead researcher Dr. De-Kun Li, a senior research
scientist at Kaiser Foundation Research Institute in Oakland, Calif.
"In this case, remember 'distance is your friend,' keeping distance from
the MF-generating sources," he said.
(3) Microsoft drop its investment in AnyVision, the Israeli facial
recognition company
From: Stanley Young <stanjyoung@sbcglobal.net>
Robert Collette <collette.robert@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fw: WE WON! Microsoft drops AnyVision
A surprising success, in these times. JVP's a good group & about the
only way one can do something for the Palestinians without getting
indicted, in the U.S. anyway.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Granate Kim <info@jewishvoiceforpeace.org>
To: Stanley Jordan Young <stanjyoung@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2020, 04:31:41 PM PDT
Subject: WE WON! Microsoft drops AnyVision
In January we went to Microsoft HQ to demand they drop AnyVision –
yesterday, they did.
Dear Stanley Jordan,
BREAKING! After 8 months of campaigning to demand that Microsoft drop
their investment in AnyVision, the Israeli facial recognition company,
we've SUCCEEDED!This is a HUGE and sorely needed victory at a time when
corporations and governments have begun to use COVID-19 as an excuse to
violate human rights. A win against a massive corporation like Microsoft
is meaningful and important.
This campaign showed us that by working in coalition – with Microsoft
workers, community leaders in Seattle, MPower Change, and SumOfUs – we
can make significant change happen and get a corporate giant to do the
right thing.
As soon as we learned about Microsoft's $74 million investment in
AnyVision last June, we launched a campaign demanding they drop the
facial recognition tech company, which an investigation found was
secretly surveilling Palestinians. [1]
AnyVision's surveillance violates Palestinians' human rights, privacy,
and basic dignity. Over 75,000 people signed our combined petitions to
Microsoft, and we held a powerful action at Microsoft HQ where we
delivered those names in person.
Governments and corporations are already exploiting the COVID-19
pandemic to ramp up surveillance and militarization. The Israeli
government is using the moment to beef up their already pervasive secret
surveillance of Palestinians, going so far as to track people's movement
through their phones.
This is a powerful moment to show that with enough pressure, even a U.S.
giant like Microsoft will divest from this kind of human rights abuse.
In this time of crisis, when governments and corporations alike will be
using instability to extract profit, erode human rights, and amass
control, our work together can stand as a redline.
If you believe in the power and necessity of grassroots organizing,
coalition-building, and smart partnerships, please take a moment and
give to Jewish Voice for Peace.
And thank you for all you do. This is a win you deserve.
Onward to the next work,
Granate Kim
Communications Director
(5) Boeing Crashes: $43 Billion in Share Buybacks Turn into Existential
Threat
by Wolf Richter
Mar 11, 2020
Of immediate concern is how much cash Boeing is burning due to the 737
MAX fiasco and now the coronavirus, and how much cash it can pile up to
avoid a liquidity crisis.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
Boeing’s shares [BA] came unglued, plunging 18.1% today, after having
already plunged over the past four weeks. Since February 12, shares have
crashed 46%, and since the peak on March 1, 2019, 57%:
Today’s plunge came after a flurry of disclosures and leaks in the
morning about Boeing, including:
Sources said that Boeing is planning to draw down entirely and much
quicker than expected its new credit facility of $13.825 billion as
early as Friday, apparently worried that banks might freeze the credit
facility later, and banks did during the Financial Crisis.
Boeing disclosed that it had negative net orders of -28 aircraft for the
first two months of 2020, with cancellations of the 737 MAX exceeding
orders for all models;
It imposed a hiring freeze to "preserve cash"
Trying to forestall a liquidity crisis.
Of immediate concern is how much cash Boeing is burning to deal with the
737 MAX fiasco, and how much cash it can pile up to avoid a liquidity
crisis.
Back in October 2019, Boeing obtained a new credit line of $9.5 billion,
which about doubled the size of its existing credit line. Credit lines
serve as liquidity backup that a company can draw down when it needs
cash. Then in February, it obtained another loan facility, this time a
two-year "delayed-draw term loan" for $13.825 billion from a consortium
of banks, led by Citibank. This type of loan allows Boeing to wait
drawing the money until it needs it.
Boeing initially drew $7.5 billion on this new credit line and was
expected to draw any other amounts way down the road, as needed to deal
with the 737 MAX fiasco. But the disruptions from the coronavirus have
been thrown on top of its existing 737 MAX fiasco.
Now Boeing is expected to draw the remainder of the line as early as
Friday, sources told Bloomberg. According to one of the sources, Boeing
is drawing down the rest of the loan as a precaution due to market turmoil.
This means that Boeing is worried the banks might freeze the unused
portion of the credit facility and make the cash unavailable, as banks
had done during the Financial Crisis, when companies found that access
to their credit lines was suddenly blocked just when they needed the
cash most urgently.
The cash pressures on Boeing are enormous. There is the plunge in
revenues from stalled sales and deliveries of the grounded 737 MAX, and
the cash drain from working with its suppliers for the 737 MAX program
to keep them afloat.
Then there are the settlements with airlines, such as Southwest and
American Airlines, over the grounded 737 MAX in their fleets, where
Boeing pays the airlines. The amounts of the individual settlements have
remained confidential, but in its annual report, released on January 31,
Boeing spelled out its estimates for the combined amounts: $8.2 billion.
This came in two lumps. In Q2 2019, it "estimated potential concessions
and other considerations to customers for disruptions and associated
delivery delays related to the 737 MAX grounding, net of insurance
recoveries," at $5.61 billion. Then in Q4 2019, it estimated an
additional $2.62 billion, for a total of $8.2 billion.
Negative new orders in 2020 so far.
Boeing also disclosed today just how awful its new orders look: During
January and February, Boeing received net new orders of negative -43
orders for the 737 MAX, driven by a flood cancellations. It received
only one order (from FedEx) for its 767, and 17 orders for its 787. This
includes the conversion by Air Lease Corp of nine 737 MAX orders into
three 787 orders; and the conversion by Oman Air of ten 737 MAX orders
into four 787 orders.
This brought Boeings net total new orders for the first two months, net
of cancellations and conversions, to a negative -28.
And Boeing delivered only 30 planes during those two months, down from
95 in the same period last year.
The hiring freeze to "preserve cash"
And now there’s a hiring freeze, pending a "review of priorities and
critical needs," the company announced in a letter to employees,
reported by the Washington Post. This hiring freeze is likely related to
the 737 MAX fiasco, and not the coronavirus, or at least not yet.
"We’re also taking steps to address the pressures on our business that
result from the pain our customers and suppliers are feeling," wrote CEO
Dave Calhoun and CFO Greg Smith in the letter to employees. "It’s
critical for any company to preserve cash in challenging periods. That’s
why we’re implementing steps similar to what many companies are doing
right now."
If it hadn’t wasted $43 billion on share buybacks…
This mad scramble for cash and the existential urge to "preserve cash in
challenging periods" comes after this master of financial engineering –
instead of aircraft engineering – blew, wasted, and incinerated $43.4
billion on buying back its own shares, from June 2013 until the
financial consequences of the two 737 MAX crashes finally forced the
company to end the practice. That $43.3 billion would come in really
handy right now:
The sole purpose of share buybacks is to inflate the stock price because
they make the company itself the biggest buyer of its own shares. But
those $43 billion of share buybacks cost the company $43 billion in
cash. Now those buybacks have stopped because Boeing needs every dime of
cash to stay liquid and alive, and shareholders, who’d been so fond of
those share buybacks, are now getting crushed by the damage those share
buybacks have done to Boeing’s financial position.
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