The political evolution of Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, both captivated and confused many of his old friends but reflected the changing order in the nation’s capital.
Watching carefully what Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, with an overlay of his contacts and travel itinerary, it appears the next phase in Ukraine weapon production will be to build missile and long-range drones outside Ukraine. That is to say outside the reach of proactive Russian attack. Zelenskyy travelled to Portsmouth, U.K., today for a meeting with […]
The post Wait, What? Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Intends to Build Drone and Missile Factory in U.K (Portsmouth) appeared first on The Last Refuge.
CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in another escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of [...]
The wars in Iran and Ukraine show how the drone tech revolution makes it easier — and cheaper — to interrupt energy supplies by striking refineries and oil tankers.Why it matters: It's an important reason why oil traded at $100 per barrel this week and gasoline and diesel fuel are so expensive these days.Looking ahead, the way drones are reshaping modern warfare has high stakes for how policymakers and companies view new and existing power grids, pipelines, liquefied natural gas ports and plenty in between.The big picture: "Anyone building energy infrastructure in any area where kinetic conflict is even remotely possible is going to have to think about drone defense," said Gregory Brew, an analyst with the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm.Catch up quick: Ukraine has increasingly carried out effective drone strikes against multiple Russian refineries from great distances, and Russian crude infrastructure in and around the Black Sea.Iran has used drones to attack shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, deterring oil, refined products and LNG transit despite the overwhelming U.S. military advantage.Iran has also used drones, not just missiles, to attack other regional energy sites, including Qatar's main LNG export hub."A localized conflict in the region effectively triggers global economic shockwaves by taking oil and gas production offline via cheap, massed drone attacks," notes an article this month via West Point's Modern War Institute.State of play: Tatiana Mitrova, a fellow at Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy, said planning now requires "completely different thinking" around electricity and fuels.One lesson, she said, is the usefulness of more distributed energy networks — even if that means cost tradeoffs.Ukrainian forces have already been employing more mobile, on-site power sources in response to Russian attacks on the country's grid systems, she said."For many decades, like for the whole previous century, the idea was about concentration and economy of scale," she said. "But now, the bigger the target, the bigger the damage."That puts a premium on more "modular" infrastructure, she said — "small scale, faster to build, cheaper to build, cheaper to move."Zoom out: Lots of key infrastructure has fixed and known locations, like pipelines.Countermeasures will vary depending on the type of energy infrastructure that needs defending.There are some existing anti-drone tools, ranging from netting to lasers and electronic jamming, as well as missile systems.Yes, but: Some analysts say U.S. and other military planners must be more responsive to the evolution of drone attacks on electricity and oil and gas supplies.Missile interceptor systems are expensive and can't realistically cover all critical infrastructure.What we're watching: The Modern War Institute's analysis, which is mostly focused on electricity, calls for "rethinking energy defense" in the age of cheap drones and missiles. That means ..."[D]ecentralization and microgrids can be used in high-risk areas or regions."Hardening large power assets that can't be decentralized via blast walls, netting around high-voltage transformers, and burying some systems.Stronger cooperation between the military and the energy industry, because the U.S. and allies "must stop treating energy security as a secondary logistical concern."
Tech-fueled "Don't Die" activist Bryan Johnson is known for finding ways to de-age himself in the hopes of living forever.On Tuesday, he announced he believes he has figured out a way to keep himself, and eventually everyone else, going indefinitely.'This may be scary to some people ... a dystopian future.'It brings a whole new meaning to passing on costs to the next generation.Johnson revealed in a recent YouTube video that he has an autoimmune disease, describing it as an incurable illness."My stomach is eating itself," Johnson stated.He went on to describe autoimmune gastritis, a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when one's immune system attacks the stomach lining cells.Johnson acquired his wealth by selling his digital payments company to PayPal in 2013 for a cool $800 million, and he has since become known for his attempts to beat the aging process through clean eating, extreme health regimens, and even using his teenage son's blood.Now, Johnson says the best way to prolong a human life, starting with his own, will strike numerous people as a nightmarish option. "I just cloned myself ... as a newborn," Johnson wrote on X. "This baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now. This may be scary to some people ... a dystopian future. But, for others, they will see it as the inevitable future of health."The 48-year-old said that with this clone, he will "become [his] own blood boy," develop new treatments, and even be able to inject himself with "young cells."Perhaps most disturbingly, Johnson also said his clone would serve him by "grow[ing] organs for transplantation."RELATED: Anti-aging mogul who used son as 'blood boy' reveals his incurable diagnosisI just cloned myself...as a newbornWith this clone, I can:+ become my own blood boy+ test therapies on the clone+ grow organs for transplantation+ develop new treatments+ inject young cellsThis baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now.This may be scary to some… pic.twitter.com/Ved8ij9Col— Bryan Johnson (@bryan_johnson) July 21, 2026Describing his desired process as "a path to reverse aging," Johnson's plan mirrors a very specific plot already explored through cinema. Both 2005's "The Island" and 1979's "Parts: The Clonus Horror" focus on a secret facility that houses clones of the elite who are used for organ harvesting when their owner falls ill.In "The Island," clones who gain consciousness in the facility are told they survived a chemical weapons attack and must stay inside as the outer world is uninhabitable. Residents who win "the lottery" are told they are being transported to a paradise that acts as humanity's last livable location. In reality, the clone is taken into a surgery room where they are killed and harvested for whatever their owner requires."I mentioned getting diagnosed with an incurable disease is one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time. It's opened up a frontier of new paths to repair and strengthen the body. This is the first example," Johnson wrote.RELATED: Who wants to live forever? While Johnson cites existing clinical trials that use cells to cure certain ailments, those are obtained either voluntarily from a host or from leading stem cell clinics in places like Panama.For Johnson however, his desire is to "rebuild" his body "organ by organ" using a clone of himself as the resource."There's no real limitation in imagining," Johnson insisted. "My body will accept them [because] they're my cells," adding that "foreign cells are at risk of being rejected."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
