Israel Is Field-Testing Autonomous Weapons, Cops and Pre-Crime News, Congressional Trading Fun
Links for Friday, December 20
“No, no!” said the queen. “Sentence first—verdict afterward.”
—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
A Palestine story ripped from Robocop. Cops returning to their original function. Pre-crime news. And a look at some of Nancy Pelosi’s trades. Plus music, of course.
Links
• Israel Defense Force Deploying Autonomous Weapons Systems (Kyle Anzalone via Twitter)
From Kyle Anzalone, opinion writer at Antiwar.com, we find news about fully autonomous weapons being deployed by the IDF — guns that can target and fire with no human intervention, like the bad-guy robot in Robocop.
Except that these systems are real, and all of their flaws are features for the IDF. Plus, with no human operator, there’s no human guilt.
Anzalone writes (emphasis mine)
The Israeli Defense Forces are preparing to place dozens of weapons systems across the West Bank that can be operated automatically or remotely. According to a report from Israeli Army Radio, the Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station will be deployed to dozens of checkpoints, settlement entrances, and key control points. It will be the first deployment of the system that is capable of firing lethal rounds without human intervention. The IDF previously used the Samson system, which can fire 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, and 12.7 mm rounds, .50 BMG machine guns, 40 mm automatic grenade launchers, and anti-tank missiles on the Israeli border with Gaza.
About this, Caitlin Johnstone adds:
Of all the horrible things Israel and its western backers do to Palestinians, among the most evil is the way it uses them as lab rats to field test new weapons systems so the rest of the empire can learn how effective they are.
Aljazeera agrees:
Dirty secret of Israel’s weapons exports: They’re tested on Palestinians
Weapons tested in each war Israel wages see a spike in global demand. The current Gaza war is the latest laboratory for its arms industry.
Israel is one of the world’s major exporters of military equipment. Think these things will turn up deployed on American streets? I wouldn’t bet against it.
File under “What goes around…”
Because why not? Who needs Pinkertons when you have the police?
File under “Doing what cops were created to do.”