Cruise industry commits to recovery of Grand Bahama and Abaco – Travel Daily

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Grand Bahama, Bahamas

The cruise industry is proving its commitment to help Abaco and Grand Bahama as the world mourns its destruction and aims to build back the destinations.

Though we still mourn for all those impacted in Abaco and Grand Bahama, it is humbling and heartwarming to see our Member Lines enormous effort to not only provide the necessary relief but also work with those in the destination toward sustainable recovery, said Michele Paige, president, FCCA.

More than a month after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian swept the region, the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and its Member Lines, which operate more than 95% of the global ocean cruising capacity, have already provided and/or raised donation pledges, food and supplies, and accelerated investment plans.

The best things any of us can do is visit The Bahamas

Paige continued: On behalf of FCCA, we are honoured to help support that recovery in any way we can, and currently one of the best things any of us can do is visit The Bahamas, as nearly half of its GDP relies on tourism, and broadcast the message that most of its islands are open and welcoming guests every day.

FCCA Member Lines have already donated and/or raised USD 8 million in relief efforts for The Bahamas, while also launching efforts to collect and provide support, resulting in more than 10 million pounds of food and supplies filling over 250 shipping containers by Carnival Corporation; 20,000 meals per day, as well as water, medical supplies, generators, and a team of specially trained employees and volunteers to assist with logistics and food and beverage efforts by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd; 400 pallets of humanitarian aid along with 300 qualified volunteer and 150 Bahamians on a single relief mission by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line; MSC Group using its cargo and cruise resources to help, with a focus on providing semi-permanent prefabricated modular housing; and Disney Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings are also using their cruise ships to deliver supplies and support.

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Cruise industry commits to recovery of Grand Bahama and Abaco - Travel Daily

Govt. signs Heads of Agreement for new medical university in Grand Bahama – EyeWitness News

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS The government signed a Heads of Agreement today for a $64 million project to bring a new medical university to Grand Bahama.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis underscored the deal withWestern Atlantic University of Medicine to operate a University School of Medicine in Freeport, represents a significant investment with 150 jobs at peak construction and 200 permanent jobs.

The new university is projected to bring $200 million in revenue for the hurricane-ravaged island within the first decade of operation.

This major development will inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy over time, and provide direct and indirect opportunities for scores of residents, Minnis said.

The development will include university-owned housing for faculty, staff and students on campus. It will also encompass: on-campus businesses, including a bookstore, cafeteria and a student center providing music, food, beverages, a copy center and related services.

Western Atlantic intends to build its own campus on land to be leased from the Public Hospitals Authority, according to a press statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

A maximum of 50 acres will be leased in three tranches, based upon the Universitys satisfaction of certain deliverables.

The campus will be developed in multiple phases over the next 10 years. The first three phases represent an investment of $64 million dollars.

It will involve the construction of 98,000 square feet of classrooms, offices, lab facilities, maintenance, security and related spaces.

Construction will begin on the first phase by the end of this year.

During the construction phase, Western Atlantic has agreed to aim for an overall ratio of 80 percent Bahamian workers to 20 percent non-Bahamian workers.

Under the agreement, Western Atlantic will also work closely with the Government and local communities to develop training and professional development programs for Bahamians who want to work during the operation of the campus.

Approval to operate the campus will be contingent on the University obtaining accreditation from the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP), or an equivalent body.

Western Atlantic will also work toward receiving accreditation for its students to be able to practice medicine in the US, Canada and The Bahamas.

This development has the potential to attract global talent and build international connections, said Minnis.

It also represents another opportunity to diversify our economy.

Minnis pointed to signs of recovery progress on Grand Bahama, including the reopening of the Grand Lucayan hotel and Port Lucaya, the return of cruise ship visitors and the restoration of essential utilities.

We have a long road ahead of us for recovery and reconstruction, but we are making progress, said Minnis.

Todays signing is yet another indication of the progress we are making together.

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Govt. signs Heads of Agreement for new medical university in Grand Bahama - EyeWitness News

Tech company receives over $100000 in investments – EyeWitness News

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS A boutique IT service provider has received $112,500 in investment loans from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) through the Access Accelerator, Small Business Development Centre (SBDC).

Alvernia Business Consulting (ABC Bahamas Ltd) specializes in technical support, procurement and implementations for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME).

James Woodside started ABC Bahamas in 2003 after completing his Computer Repair Program at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI). After graduation, he traveled to Cat Island to assist his grandparents. However, he said the move kicked off the start of his own business.

Woodside said: My grand-aunt took me straight from the airport to the District Superintendents office for education and he was ecstatic to have a young person on the island who could help them repair and maintain the local school labs.

Through their encouragement and support, I was able to build my experience and earn some income. Because of their support, other businesses and individuals on Cat Island, they inspired me to name the company after Mt. Alvernia, a local Bahamian landmark.

From 2003 to 2013, Woodside worked with many local businesses and traveled abroad to complete technical training and earn certifications. In 2013, Alvernia Business Consulting became incorporated. From the feedback from past clients, Woodside developed his business to meet the present and anticipate the future needs of local Bahamian businesses.

After seeing an ad on Facebook, ABC Bahamas reached out to Access Accelerator to further expand the companys services. To better provide key technology for SMEs, the tech company needs to build its own infrastructure to implement the technology. With the funds accessed through the organization, ABC Bahamas expects to bring the new products to market.

Receiving funding feels awesome, said Woodside.

Im grateful to have completed the process and see that the SBDC and RBC believe that we can assist our nation with its technological endeavours.

Currently, the company provides: network designs and implementations, virtualization, private clouds, offsite backups, new office setups, office migrations, custom application deployments, software upgrades, computer lab repairs, point to point and point to multi-point wireless, IP surveillance, IP Telephony deployments, structured cabling, electronic document management, security assessments and business continuity planning.

Woodside underscored the difficulty service-based companies face in accessing capital as most banks require 100 percent equity financing for business loans.

He said ABC Bahamas believes in creating mutually beneficial relationships with their clients to ensure they both thrive.

We want to ensure that both, the client and our company, continue to grow sustainably, he said.

The symbiotic approach is working, and we have already seen how this approach is helping our clients expand into new areas.

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Tech company receives over $100000 in investments - EyeWitness News

Can Turkey be Expelled from NATO? It’s Legally Possible, Whether or Not Politically Prudent – Just Security

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Turkeys ongoing military action in Syria, Operation Peace Spring, has caused consternation and dismay among its allies. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the intervention could create an unbearable humanitarian situation and demanded that the offensive should cease. In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an immediate end to military operations. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed their serious concern over Turkeys action and the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in the region.

Others have gone further. Writing shortly before Operation Peace Spring commenced, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham promised to introduce bipartisan sanctions against Turkey if they invade Syria and to call for their suspension from NATO if they attack Kurdish forces who assisted the U.S. in the destruction of the ISIS Caliphate. Echoing these sentiments, Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested that the United States should consider kicking Turkey out of NATO. On Oct 13, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper revealed that he warned Turkey in advance of its incursion that if it were to proceed with the operation, this would damage U.S. relations with Turkey, their staying in NATO.

We are not in unchartered territory. Demands to suspend Turkeys membership in NATO, or to expel it from the Alliance altogether, have been made before, including in response to the political crackdown of 2016 and its decision to acquire the Russian S-400 air defence system.

No Suspension Provision in the North Atlantic Treaty

Yet matters are not quite so simple. The founding instruments of many international organizations provide for the suspension of a member States rights, and even for the termination of its membership, in certain circumstances. Instruments of this kind include the United Nations Charter (Articles 5 and 6), the Statute of the Council of Europe (Article 8) and the Treaty on European Union (Article 7). Alas, the North Atlantic Treaty is not among them. No provision in the treaty foresees the suspension of membership rights, let alone the expulsion of an ally.

Within NATO, concerns over the behaviour of individual allies are thus resolved primarily through diplomatic means, political pressure, and by taking a long-term view. As Jorge Benitez of the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington put it, NATO leaders tend to wait out the misbehaving national leaders until a government consistent with alliance values eventually returns to power.

This has not stopped speculation as to whether a nation may nevertheless be expelled from NATO and if so, how. Indeed, what are the options in the absence of a formal process for suspending or terminating membership?

It is important to bear in mind that NATO is not merely a community of interests, but also a community of values. Inspired by the wording of the Brussels Treaty of 1948, the preamble to the North Atlantic Treaty makes this point in the following terms:

The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments.

They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area.

They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security. They therefore agree to this North Atlantic Treaty.

That the Alliance is based on a set of shared values is further underlined by Article 2 of the treaty, which commits the parties to strengthening their free institutions and bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, as well as by Article 10, which stipulates that prospective members need to be in a position to further the principles of this Treaty in order to accede to it.

More Than a Military Alliance

Some of NATOs founding members sought to accord these principles even greater weight. More than any other party, Canada from the very beginning wished for the North Atlantic community to be much more than a military alliance (Memorandum by Assistant Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, June 26, 1948, in CDER vol. 14, page 521). This desire led the Canadian government to propose that the negotiating parties should accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice for all legal disputes arising between them. Canadas high regard for the principles of democracy, political liberty and the rule of law also led it to express misgivings over the potential membership of Portugal and Spain. In the end, the strategic reasons for inviting Portugal to join NATO as a founding member proved more compelling, while Spain acceded only later, in 1982, after democracy had been restored.

Guided by these ideals, Canada also actively pursued the idea of incorporating an expulsion clause into the draft treaty. The annex to the Washington Paper of September 1948, which contained the first outline of the future agreement, noted the following:

The question of including a provision for disqualification under certain circumstances of any of the signatories from enjoying the benefits of the Treaty requires further consideration.

In the eyes of the Canadian government, the circumstances that might justify the disqualification of a party had to include the coming into power of a communist-dominated government in that state (Commentary on the Washington Paper, Dec. 6, 1948). To deal with such an eventuality, Canada proposed a draft provision entitling the North Atlantic Council to suspend or expel a member state from the privileges of membership (Draft North Atlantic Treaty, Dec. 17, 1948).

These proposals met with a lukewarm reception. The general feeling among the other negotiating parties was that it would be a mistake to include any provision in the treaty that would raise questions about the voting procedure in the Council (Canadian Ambassador in the United States to Secretary of State for External Affairs, Jan. 4, 1949, in CDER vol. 15, page 483). The British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, also thought that any efforts to endow the Council with conciliatory powers should be resisted:

I really do not see any advantage in disputes which we may have in the future with the Americans or indeed with the French being discussed in the open and in the presence of the Italians, the Scandinavians and the Portuguese (Mr. Bevin to U.K. Ambassador to Washington Sir O. Franks , Jan. 12, 1949, in The Brussels and North Atlantic Treaties, 1947-1949, page 334).

The idea to incorporate some kind of suspension and expulsion mechanism into the North Atlantic Treaty was therefore dropped. But this left open the question of how NATO should deal with an ally that went red as a result of Soviet subversion.

Options Considered

In a statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1949, then-Secretary of State Dean Acheson took the view that such a nation could be booted out even in the absence of a formalized suspension and expulsion procedure. His comments on the preamble to the treaty merit quoting in full:

This draft, Mr. Chairman, starts out with a preamble, and one of the purposes of this preamble was to see if we could in some way describe a democratic non-Communist country. The purpose of that was, if, for instance, Italy becomes a member of such a treaty and then by any chance should go Communist, a question has arisen in peoples minds about what happens then. You do not want to have provisions in such a treaty saying that you can throw them out, because that indicates you are rather doubtful about them before you start; but if you can describe the sort of objectives that are shared by all of these countries, and one of them should no longer be able to be seeking those objectives, then the basis is laid for a separation.

We think that perhaps that is a little bit of a theoretical thing, because probably the first thing any country would do if it became Communist would be to get out of this. That is the way they proceed. They do not stay in. (The Vandenberg Resolution and the North Atlantic Treaty: Hearings, page 93)

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations also addressed the matter in its report on the treaty. Once again, the relevant passage is worth quoting in full:

The treaty has been criticized in some quarters because it contains no provision for expulsion or the suspension of rights of a recalcitrant member which might fail to carry out its obligations as a result, for example, of its succumbing to communism. Given the nature of the pact and the close community of interests of the signatory states, the committee believes that such a provision would be both unnecessary and inappropriate. Obviously, however, if a member persistently violates the principles contained in the pact, the other members will no longer be obligated to assist that member. Clearly it would fail to safeguard the freedom * * * of its people, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law as set forth in the preamble, and to strengthen its free institutions as provided in article 2. Presumably it would also decline to participate in mutual aid (art. 3), and might well violate its undertakings in article 8 not to enter into any international engagement in conflict with this treaty. A country suffering such a fate would be in no position either to carry out its own obligations under the treaty or to expect assistance from the other parties. (The Vandenberg Resolution and the North Atlantic Treaty: Hearings, page 379.)

Material Breach under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

These passages confirm that maintaining and furthering the principles on which the Alliance is based democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law forms part of the object and purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty. This, in turn, suggests that a failure to comply with these principles may amount to a material breach of the treaty within the meaning of Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Pursuant to Article 60, a material breach consists of:

(a) a repudiation of the treaty not sanctioned by the present Convention; or

(b) the violation of a provision essential to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.

To constitute a material breach pursuant to sub-paragraph (a), the violation of the principles underlying the treaty would have to be so extensive in scope, so severe and so persistent as to effectively disavow or repudiate the treaty (cf. Namibia Advisory Opinion, para. 95). Turning to sub-paragraph (b), there can be little doubt that continued compliance with the values set out in the preamble and Article 2 is essential for the accomplishment of the object and purpose of the treaty.

Official statements issued by the member states, including at the Brussels Summit in 2018 and more recently on the occasion of NATOs 70th Anniversary, repeatedly affirm these principles. A member nation that violated them in a systematic and egregious manner would thus cast doubt on the very resolve of the allies to unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security (preamble, North Atlantic Treaty).

Should the conditions for the existence of a material breach be satisfied, NATOs member states would be entitled, by unanimous agreement, to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either in their relations with the defaulting state or among them all (Article 60(2) of the Vienna Convention). For these purposes, a unanimous decision of the North Atlantic Council, excluding the defaulting state, would suffice. No further procedural requirements apply, including those laid down in Article 65 of the Vienna Convention.

Whether or not Turkey is in material breach of its commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty is therefore a question to be determined by the other members of the Council. As Klaus Kress has observed, there is a very serious possibility that Operation Peace Spring could constitute a manifest violation of the prohibition of the use of force. Coupled with President Erdoans threat to open the gates for Syrian refugees to migrate to Europe, a threat fundamentally at odds with the unity and solidarity of the Alliance, characterizing these developments as a material breach is not entirely far-fetched.

In any event, they entitle other NATO nations to suspend or scale back their military cooperation with Turkey, even without declaring Turkey to be in material breach. Although Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty commits the parties to maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack, this obligation is meant to pursue the objectives of the treaty. The duty to develop military capabilities and to cooperate to this end therefore does not override the commitment to further the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. A number of Allies, including France, Germany and Norway, as well as official NATO partner Finland, are reported to have suspended the sale of military equipment to Turkey.

Overall, the absence of a suspension and expulsion mechanism in the North Atlantic Treaty does not prevent the North Atlantic Council from suspending or terminating the membership of an ally found to be in material breach of the treaty. However, with the 70th anniversary of the treaty just past, this is a sorry position for the Council to be in by any measure. Suspending, let alone terminating, a nations membership of NATO would be an extreme measure to be contemplated only once other attempts to restore unity and respect for the Alliances founding principles have been exhausted.

(The views expressed here are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of any organization or institution with which he is affiliated.)

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Can Turkey be Expelled from NATO? It's Legally Possible, Whether or Not Politically Prudent - Just Security

Turkey, the Kurds, NATO and what comes next? – Tampa Bay Times

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Jim Miskel [Provided]

While Turkey has agreed to a cease-fire in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria, dont be surprised if it fails to permanently end the fighting. Turkeys invasion may soon resume, or the fighting may transition to unconventional warfare between the Kurds and militias sponsored by Turkey. Whatever the eventual outcome, Turkeys relations with the United States and the other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have been damaged.

From the Turkish perspective, it must seem like the Kurds are not the only ones who made a bad bet when they believed what our president said. First the Trump administration gave Turkey the green light to invade by agreeing to precipitously withdraw American troops from an area where we knew the Turks wanted to take military action. Next, the administration sent a letter asking Turkey to restrain itself. When that had no effect, the administration threatened to destroy the Turkish economy via sanctions when the Turks did what we knew they would: Invade northern Syria. Then, we sent a high-level delegation to arm-twist Turkey into agreeing to what our government calls a cease-fire, which Turkeys foreign minister says is only a pause in the fighting, not really a cease-fire. The foreign ministers statement came almost immediately after Vice President Mike Pences press conference touting the cease-fire.

Notwithstanding our governments diplomatic boilerplate about interests still shared by the United States and Turkey and President Donald Trumps boasting about his bromance with Turkeys president, this episode must have created doubts in Ankara (and likely elsewhere) about the credibility of American commitments. Turkey may also resent our sanction threats and public pressure. Still, the United States has the worlds strongest military and largest economy, so it ought to be in Turkeys interest to eventually patch things up with Washington.

Turkeys relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, may be harder to repair. NATO is a mutual defense organization. It is based on the Three Musketeers principle: all for one, one for all. An attack on one NATO member is an attack on all NATO members. It is not designed to support aggressive behavior by its members.

Turkey may have good reasons for wanting to stabilize the Kurdish areas in Syria, but the path it has chosen is aggressive and may lead to friction with Russia which could, in turn, involve NATO. Turkeys invasion of northern Syria has driven the Kurds into the arms of the Syrian government and into Russias sphere of influence. Russia is one of Syrias few allies in the world. It has long had territorial designs on Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire. Russia even has a history of meddling in the domestic affairs of the Ottomans/Turks by supporting agitation by minorities a strategy Vladimir Putins regime has used in the Baltic States and Ukraine. If Turkey is not careful in dealing with Russias new Kurdish friends Syria, it could provoke Russian retaliation in Syria. Or, Russian meddling with Turkeys own Kurdish population.

Then there is Turkeys threat to send millions of Syrian refugees north into NATO countries in Europe. The threat did more than suggest a blatant disregard for human rights. (Imagine herding up millions of refugees and forcibly transporting them to its borders with Greece and Bulgaria.) It antagonized the Europeans because it played directly into Europes fears about immigration and Islamist terrorism.

Jim Miskel is a former professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. He lives in Vero Beach.

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Turkey, the Kurds, NATO and what comes next? - Tampa Bay Times

No commitment with SDF on fighting NATO ally: US – Anadolu Agency

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KABUL, Afghanistan

The U.S. did not make any commitment with SDF in Syria to fight a longstanding NATO ally, the U.S. secretary of defense said on Monday.

Fighting a longstanding ally (Turkey) was not part of our commitment with the SDF, Mark Esper told a news conference in Afghanistans capital Kabul, adding the commitment with the Kurds was to destroy Daesh, but any future commitment requires broader political framework.

The YPG/PKK terrorist group in Syria uses the acronym SDF as a cover for receiving U.S. support.

Esper said keeping some U.S. troops in northeastern Syria near oilfields is one of the options to deny Daesh revenue from those fields.

He also reassured the Kabul government against an abrupt withdrawal of forces, saying reduction in troops relies on a peace agreement with the Taliban.

Flanked by his Afghan counterpart Assadullah Khalid, the U.S. secretary of defense said at a news conference that unlike Syria, the U.S. has longstanding commitments in Afghanistan, invested billions of dollars and paid sacrifices in Afghanistan that should reassure the Afghans about the future.

U.S. maintains nearly 14,000 troops on ground in Afghanistan. Besides counter-terrorism operations, the American troops are also involved in training and advising Afghanistan's security forces.

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No commitment with SDF on fighting NATO ally: US - Anadolu Agency

NATO ministers need to have difficult conversations to keep everyone honest | TheHill – The Hill

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Nearly two weeks after Turkish forces and its proxies launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceGOP lawmaker: Trump administration 'playing checkers' in Syria while others are 'playing chess' Clinton trolls Trump with mock letter from JFK to Khrushchev White House officials work to tamp down controversies after a tumultuous week MORE flew to Turkey and struck a deal that pauses Ankaras campaign and facilitates a peaceful Kurdish withdrawal. In the meantime, the United States and its European partners continue to deliberate on a punitiveresponse.

The Trump administrationhas sanctionedthree Turkish ministries and two senior officials (per the agreement, those sanctions will be lifted once the Turks end their operation). France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlandshave suspendedarms sales. The Pentagon is even evaluating plans forthe removalof the 50 nuclear gravity bombs stationed at the Incirlik Air Base.

However, the most significant idea discussed bymembers of Congress,commentators,and European officialswas the termination of Turkeys membership in NATO. Defense Secretary Mark EsperMark EsperTrump: 'We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!' Amash rips Trump over move to send troops from Syria to Iraq Defense chief says US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq MORE suggested the Turkish incursion against the Kurds in Syria couldjeopardize its relationswith other NATO states.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely NATO could kick Turkey out of the alliance even if it wanted to. Whether or not Ankara should in fact be removed is up for debate. But going beyond Turkeys unique situation, the general question of introducing a punitive clause to the NATO charter is very much a legitimate one to consider. Indeed, it is a discussion that should have taken place at the end of the Cold War.

There is no mechanism to remove a NATO member. While Canada proposed an expulsion provisionin discussionsleading up to the establishment of NATO, the British were hesitant about the idea because it could send a message to the Soviet Union of NATO infighting.

Testifyingto the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1949, Secretary of State Dean Acheson commented that including an expulsion provision in the North Atlantic Treaty would cause considerable doubt among members before they were even inducted into the alliance.

Such a decision was logical at the time, when NATO was competing with a Soviet Union that threatened to dominate the European continent. But to state the obvious: The world changed dramatically between 1949 and 2019.

The Soviet Union has been dead for nearly 30 years. Europe has been a center of peace and prosperity for two decades. NATO has ballooned from 12 founding membersto 29, stretching as far East as Montenegro. And modern-day Russia, while prolific in asymmetric and covert operations, is an economic basket case that spends aboutone-tenthas much as the U.S. on its defense.

The only potential peer competitor today is China, a nation that is playing a much more sophisticated and multidimensional game than the old Soviet apparatchiks played during the Cold War.

NATOs charter, however, has remained stagnant. Much like the alliance itself, the charter has not changed with the times. It is as if the world is still stuck in the year 1949, with the one big difference being that NATO has expanded far beyond its original intent, incorporating small, geopolitically insignificant countries that either have meager defense budgets or militaries so small that they dont contribute to NATOs combat power. The larger NATO has grown, the more unaccountable its members have become.

Presidents for years have rightly decried the wide disparity in defense spending and military capacity between the United States and the rest of the alliance. Washingtons share of NATOs total defense expenditures isnearly 70percent, with only 7 of 29 member states meeting their 2 percent of GDP defense spending obligation.

The problems bleed into capability as well. Germany, for example, would be lucky to muster a brigade on short notice. Those forces that are deployable could very well be unprepared and under-equipped. European militaries in general have atrophied, with budgets only recently getting out of the red after years of cuts. If a conventional conflict occurred in Europe, the United States would be doing most of the fighting and suffer most of the casualties.

Much of this goes to the lack of accountability within NATO as a whole. As it stands, there is no mechanism in the North Atlantic Treaty to enforce compliance with NATOs Article 3 commitment, which calls for all members to maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack. Wealthy nations have shirked their responsibilities and Washington has enabled this bad behavior by picking up their slack.

If there were ever a time when all 29 members should address what has turned out to be the most glaring omission in NATOs founding document, it is now. Letting the status quo continue, where the only way an offending member can be removed from the privileges NATO offers is by the offender removing it, is unsustainable and breeds further unaccountability.

No change will be easy. Reform is likely to cause friction internally. Member statespursuing policies that run counter to the alliances core tenants (like Turkey) will fight any formal amendments to the NATO charter in order tospare themselves the punishment.

In Turkeys case, it would be simpler for individual members to take unilateral but coordinated action against the Erdogan government by withholding security guarantees for as long as Ankara is in violation of the letter and spirit of the treaty.

Whatever the form, business as usual is not an option.

The sooner NATO ministers engage in the difficult conversations required to keep everyone honest, the sooner the free-riding and malign behavior can be punished and contained.

DanielR.DePetrisis a fellow at Defense Priorities.

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NATO ministers need to have difficult conversations to keep everyone honest | TheHill - The Hill

Nato on the BRINK: December’s summit could be scrapped over furious divisions on Turkey – Express.co.uk

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The heads of 29 member states are expected to descend on the capital to mark Natos 70th anniversary, in what was due to be Britains first major international conference following Brexit.They are due to address the growing threat from China for the first time. But senior political sources in Brussels have cast doubts over the wisdom of holding it while European members, which make up the majority of Nato, face two deep rifts: one with Turkey and one with the US.

Attempting to pass meaningful policies in this challenging environment seems to me to be problematic, said one.

Nato needs, more than anything right now, to demonstrate harmony and solidarity. Unless things change substantially, a delay would not be unwise.

Fabrice Pothier, Natos former director of planning and policy, last night branded the Turkey crisis as the biggest to affect the alliance since the Gulf War.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, beset by low opinion polls and a tanking economy, says the operation aims to counter a terror threat by securing a Kurdish-free buffer zone 300 miles along the border and extending 20 miles into Syrian territory.

But the move is viewed by Europe as a betrayal of Kurdish forces who helped to vanquish Islamic State, and has opened the prospect of thousands of detained IS fighters and their families, now being held by Kurdish forces, being released from detention camps to make their way back into Europe.

It was only made possible because of President Trumps decision to move all US troops out of eastern Syria.

Washington attempted to mitigate the fall-out by imposing sanctions on Turkey.

However a request for Nato members to follow suit, made in front of Turkish delegates during a high-level meeting in London last week, simply drove divisions deeper, sources say.

A five-day cease fire was brokered on Thursday but it is not certain it will hold.

Even if does hold the result, victory for Erdogan and a regional boost for Russia, would do little to cement divisions.

This is a crisis of the magnitude of the onset of the Iraq War, when European allies were divided, particularly France and Germany and Turkey, which refused to grant US forces access to the north, said Fabrice Pothier.

Natos problem with this troubling incursion is that it creates a double rift; one against Turkey, because it could have humanitarian consequences and security consequences which could seriously impact Europe.

The other is with the US which simultaneously opened the gates for Turkeys actions and allowed Russia to further its regional aims.

If some are saying the summit should be suspended, I can understand why.

The whole point about Nato summits is to show accord and move forward, together, with fresh policies.

This summit is hoping to tackle the serious issue of China for the first time. But the Turkey issue isn't going away, and they wont want it to dominate proceedings.

On Friday French premier Emmanuel Macron criticised Natos lacklustre response to the crisis, prompting EU firebrand Guy Verhofstadt to renew calls for a European Army, which risks undermining Nato further.

A meeting that evening between Vice President Mike Pence and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg - who, while condemning the incursion sympathised with Turkeys position - did little to appease critics.

Britains lacklustre response has also not helped

While Germany, France, Finland and Sweden immediately announced an arms embargo to Turkey follow the launch of hostilities, followed by an EU ban on arms exports on Monday, it was only on Tuesday - after defence secretary Ben Wallace told Nato delegates that Turkey needs to do what it sometimes has to do to defend itself from Kurdish PKK terrorists in Syria - that Britain also paused the issuing of new arms export licenses.

Britains response is being read in Brussels as a deliberate demonstration that it will pursue its own foreign policy after Brexit, said Pothier.

He added, however, that Nato should pinch its nose and resist calls to boot Turkey out.

There have been issues with Turkeys membership, like its recent acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defence system and dangerous regional games.

But it remains a key Nato ally - we now know it even holds US nuclear weapons.

The more we allow Turkey to push itself out, the closer it becomes to Russia.

If it aligns properly to Natos number one threat, we have a bigger problem.

Last night former head of Britains armed forces General Lord Dannatt said: Current divisions within Nato are very concerning and suggestions that the summit should be postponed understandable.

It would be very difficult to have a cordial Nato summit when two of its largest members are at loggerheads over Syria.

He added: The fracturing of Nato is one of Vladimir Putins long term strategic goals. We mustn't allow ourselves to play into that agenda.

Nato sources confirmed defence minsters would gather in Brussels next week, followed by a foreign minsters minister meeting next month.

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Nato on the BRINK: December's summit could be scrapped over furious divisions on Turkey - Express.co.uk

Russia threatens military response to NATO bases on its borders as tensions erupt – Express.co.uk

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Dmitry Medvedev made the remarks in an interview with Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti.Mr Medvedev was President of the Russian Federation between 2008 and 2012, swapping roles with Vladimir Putin after the latter was barred due to term limits. He explained: No one denies that Russia has own interests related to ensuring its security.

We are a large country, we are a nuclear state, and the desire to place NATO bases in our immediate vicinity obviously cannot fill us with positive emotions.

We have always responded and will continue to respond to this, both politically and in a military sense.

He warned NATO to think twice before adding certain nations into the group stating: All attempts to drag countries with internal conflicts into NATO are extremely dangerous.

You mentioned Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska, but we can also name other countries.

What is happening to Georgia? What is happening to Ukraine? Those countries are in a difficult situation.

NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is a military alliance containing now 29 member states.

It was set up in 1949 and features both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia and Ukraine are recognised as aspiring members.

READ MORE:Russia flexes muscles with live ballistic and cruise missile launches

He continued: "But in fact, it is precisely these US aspirations to dominate the whole world, including the Balkans and Europe, that cause the main harm.

By the way, Europe itself is tired of these aspirations, or these desires.

Britains Defence Secretary Ben Wallace recently gave a speech at NATOs parliamentary assembly in which he praised the alliance.

He asserted: Seventy years ago, a group of 12 nations came together to establish our Alliance.

They did so to protect their common values and the freedoms so recently won in the Second World War.

The then common need of the founding members; as is it is now; is not one of offence but of defence mutual self-defence.

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A Covert Ex-Nazi Army Helped NATO Keep Stalin’s Troops Out Of West Germany – The National Interest Online

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Key point: They would not have been able to stop the Soviets, but they were determined to go down fighting.

If the Soviets had invaded West Germany in the early days of the Cold War, they would have found more than a hodgepodge of NATO troops waiting for them.

They would also have confronted a secret army of Hitlers former soldiers, waiting to settle scores with the Communists. Considering the brutal, take-no-prisoners warfare on the Eastern Front in World War II, former German SS troopers fighting vengeful Red Army troopsagainwould have been the height of savagery.

The German magazine Der Spiegeldiscovered a fileburied for years in the archives of theBND, Germanys spy agency. The documents reveal that in 1949, some 2,000 former officers of the SS and the Wehrmachtthe regular German military under the Third Reichformed a secret paramilitary army that might have numbered as many as 40,000 fighters in the event of war.

The Allied occupation forces didnt know about it. If they did, they would have discovered the involvement of several former Nazi generals who would later become senior commanders in theBundeswehr, West Germanys army.

The underground army was apparently supported by former Third Reich generals such as HansSpeidel, who became chief of NATO ground forces in Central Europe in 1957, and AdolfHeusinger, the first inspector general of theBundeswehr.

Thus after losing millions of men to defeat Hitler, the Western Allies might have had to deal with an army of German war veterans backed by former Nazi senior officers who were rising stars in the West German military. Anti-communist or not, the existence of such an organization surely wouldnt have reassured the survivors ofCoventryandOradour-Sur-Glane.

The secret army was the brainchild of AlbertSchnez, a former Wehrmacht colonel who later became an official in theBundeswehr. Along with other German war veterans just after the war, he worried what would happen if the Soviets invaded. West Germany had no army until 1955, and America demobilized much its own military in 1945, leaving Western Europe vulnerable to Soviet conquest.

Schnez wanted ready-made battle staffs, composed of combat-experienced officers, who would form the nucleus of combat divisions. He was convinced that if the Soviets attacked, legions of German war veteransand there were no shortage of those after World War IIwould have flocked to the colors.

They planned to wage war against the Soviets as guerrillas, perhaps operating from Spain or Switzerland.

The West German parliament also didnt know about this secret army, but the German security service had its leader on its payroll. In 1951, Schnez approached the Gehlen Organization, as German intelligence was known at the time, to offer the services of his organization.

The timing was impeccable. The Korean War was raging, and U.S. and European leaders worried that the conflict was a Soviet diversion to draw off U.S. forces while the Soviets invaded Western Europe.

In a disturbing reminder of where the members of the secret army learned their trade, they spied on leftist West German politicians. Had West Germany gone to war with the Soviets, one wonders what would have happened to anybody the secret army deemed insufficiently anti-communist.

But how would this army have fared against a Soviet invasion?

Probably not well. The massive Soviet tank armies sweeping west to the Ruhror the English Channelmight just possibly have been contained by threadbare NATO forces, or more likely the threat of American nukes.

Tens of thousands of aging, poorly armed SS veterans might have been a nuisance to Soviet supply lines, but no more. Considering Soviet memories of German atrocities, one suspects that an insurgency led by ex-Nazis would have been dealt with swiftly and mercilessly.

Its also remembering that Hitler had the same idea. With Allied and Soviet armies remorselessly closing in on Germany from west and east in 1944 and 45, Hitler had an inspiration. The German people would rise up as guerrillas against the occupiers as they advanced into German territory.

TheWerewolveswere supposed to strike terror in the hearts of Germanys enemies. Indeed, the Allies feared a Nazi guerrilla war. Instead, the Werewolves merely proved that after six years of war, the German people were tired, hungry and bombed out.

They just wanted the war to end, even in defeat.

Perhaps the secret army would have discovered that the German people preferred being Red to being dead.

Image: Reuters.

This article first appeared several years ago.

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A Covert Ex-Nazi Army Helped NATO Keep Stalin's Troops Out Of West Germany - The National Interest Online

Russia Is Getting Ready To Get Up Close and Personal With NATO F-35s – The National Interest Online

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Key point: And the F-35will soon be flying around the world.

Italy has become the first country to deploy F-35 stealth fighters for NATOs air-policing missions.

Italian F-35As belonging to the Italian air forces 13 Gruppo, 32 Stormo are on track to take over the air-policing mission in Iceland, David Cenciotti reported at The Aviationist on Sept. 25, 2019.

The Italian aircraft, that have already deployed to Keflavik International Airport, from their homebase at Amendola air base in southeastern Italy, will start flying familiarisation sorties in the next few days, Cenciotti wrote. After achieving the NATO certification they will start quick-reaction alert duties.

The F-35s, were accompanied by a KC-767A tanker, a C-130J and a P-72A maritime patrol aircraft, Cenciotti added, citing data from flight-tracking websites.

F-35s surely will become regular fixtures in NATO deployments. Several NATO countries besides Italy are acquiring F-35s, including the United States, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway. Spain has expressed interest in the stealth fighter. Canada seems likely to acquire the type.

Under the air-policing scheme, NATOs larger members deploy fighters in order to patrol the air space of smaller members that lack their own fighters. The main air-policing destinations are Iceland and the Baltic States. F-15s, F-16s and Typhoons have handled most of the air-policing deployments in the last decade.

The deployments are significant because they put NATO fighters in close contact with Russian warplanes flying along Russias western frontier and in North Atlantic air space. It probably wont be long before NATO F-35s intercept Russian Sukhois.

The F-35 recently has passed several important milestones despite lingering cost, technical and maintenance problems. The Royal Air Forces F-35Bs flew in combat for the first time on June 16, 2019.

Taking off from the British air base at Akrotiri in Cyprus, a pair of the vertical-landing stealth fighters patrolled over Syria alongside RAF Typhoon fighters, the U.K. Defense Ministry announced.

The F-35s didnt drop bombs or fire missiles or guns during their combat patrol. Still, the mission made the United Kingdom the third country after Israel and the United States to deploy F-35s in wartime.

The Israeli air force claimed it was the first to fly F-35s in combat. Tel Aviv in May 2018 announced it deployed the radar-evading jet on two fronts. The Israeli government circulated a photo of an Israeli F-35A flying over Beirut in Lebanon during the daytime, strongly implying the fighter struck targets in Lebanon. Israeli warplanes also frequently operate over Syria.

U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs in September 2018 conducted an air strike in support of what the U.S. Navy described as "ground clearance operations" in Afghanistan. The U.S. Air Force flew its own F-35As in combat for the first time over Iraq in April 2019. The U.S. Navy is still working up its F-35C squadrons for their first front-line cruise aboard an aircraft carrier, currently scheduled for 2021.

The U.S. military plans to begin rotating F-35 stealth fighters into South Korea starting in a few years, a South Korean newspaper reported. The American planes would join a growing fleet of South Korean F-35s.

So far, the U.K. F-35Bs sortie rate in wartime conditions is no better than the sortie rate the remnant fleet of 1980s-vintage Tornadoes achieved in the years preceding their retirement. The eight Royal Air Force Tornadoes at Akrotiri as recently as 2015 managed two, two-ship sorties a day, each lasting six to eight hours, according to Financial Times.

Trade publication Defense News in early June 2019 revealed lingering flaws in the F-35s design.

At high angles of attack, the F-35B and the carrier-compatible F-35C have a tendency to depart from controlled flight, Defense News reported.

Specifically, the Marine short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant and the Navys carrier-launched version become difficult to control when the aircraft is operating above a 20-degree angle of attack, which is the angle created by the oncoming air and the leading edge of the wing, Defense News explained.

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is theauthor of the graphic novelsWar Fix,War Is BoringandMachete Squad. This article first appeared earlier this year.

Image: DVIDS.

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Russia Is Getting Ready To Get Up Close and Personal With NATO F-35s - The National Interest Online

Bill McKibben’s Book Falter Explores End of Humanity – The Intercept

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Is the human race approaching its demise? The question itself may sound hyperbolic or like a throwback to the rapture and apocalypse. Yet there is reason to believe that such fears are no longer so overblown. The threat of climate change is forcing millions around the world to realistically confront a future in which their lives, at a minimum, look radically worse than they are today. At the same time, emerging technologies of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence are giving a small, technocratic elite the power to radically alter homo sapiens to the point where the species no longer resembles itself. Whether through ecological collapse or technological change, human beings are fast approaching a dangerous precipice.

The threats that we face today are not exaggerated. They are real, visible, and potentially imminent. They are also the subject of a recent book by Bill McKibben, entitled Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? McKibben is an environmentalist and author, as well as the founder of 350.org, a campaign group working to reduce carbon emissions. His book provides a sober, empirical analysis of the reasons why the human race may be reaching its final stages.

Image: Henry Holt and Co.

Can you explain what you mean by the human game?

I was looking for a phrase to describe the totality of everything that we do as human beings. You could also term it as human civilization, or the human project. But game seems like a more appropriate term. Not because its trivial, but because, like any other game, it doesnt really have a goal outside of itself. The only goal is to continue to play, and hopefully play well. Playing the human game well might be described as living with dignity and ensuring that others can live with dignity as well.

There are very serious threats now facing the human game. Basic questions of human survival and identity are being realistically called into question. Its become clear that climate change is dramatically shrinking the size of the board on which the game is played. At the same time, some emerging technologies threaten the idea that human beings as a species will even be around to play in the future.

Could you briefly run down the implications of climate change for the future of human civilization, as we presently understand it?

Climate change is by far the biggest thing that humans have ever managed to do on this planet. It has altered the chemistry of the atmosphere in fundamental ways, raised the temperature of the planet over1 degree Celsius, melted half the summer ice in the Arctic, and made the oceans 30 percent more acidic. We are seeing uncontrollable forest fires around the world, along with record levels of drought and flooding. In some places, average daily temperatures are already becoming too hot for human beings to even work during the daylight.

People are making plans to leave major cities and low-lying coastal areas, where their ancestors have lived for thousands of years. Even in rich countries like the United States, critical infrastructure is being strained. We saw this recently with the shutdown of electrical power in much of California due to wildfire risk. This is what weve done at merely 1 degree Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels. It is already becoming difficult to live in large parts of the planet. On our current trajectory, we are headed for 3 or 4 degrees of warming. At that level, we simply wont have a civilization like we do now.

Since the major culprit in climate change remains the fossil fuel industry, what practical steps can be taken to get their activities under control? And given that they also share a planet with everyone else, what exactly is their plan for a future of climate dystopia?

We have already made efforts at divestment and halting the construction of pipelines, but the next crucial area is finance: focusing on the banks and asset managers that give them the money to do what they do. It has become very clear that the only goal of the fossil fuel industry is to protect their business model at all costs, even at the cost of the planet. Major oil companies like Exxon knew about the connection between carbon emissions and climate change in the 1980s. They knew and believed in what was coming. Instead of rationally adjusting their behavior to avoid it, they invested millions in lobbying and disinformation to ensure that the world wouldnt do anything to make them change or stop their activities.

Just as we had long taken for granted the stability of the planet, we have likewise taken for granted the stability of the human species.

To the extent that any fossil fuel company thinks about the long run at all and its not clear that any still do they know that their days are numbered. Renewable energy costs are plummeting, and what the industry is fighting for now is to just keep themselves going for a few more decades. Their goal is to ensure that were still burning a lot of oil and gas in 10 or 20 years, rather than trying to get off the stuff as fast as possible.

The other major threat that you identify is posed by technologies like genetic engineering. Can you explain the threat that they pose to human identity and purpose?

Just as we had long taken for granted the stability of the planet, we have likewise taken for granted the stability of the human species. There are technologies now emerging that call into question very fundamental assumption about what it means to be a human being. Take, for example,genetic engineering technologies like CRISPR. These are already now coming into effect, as we saw recently in China, where a pair of twins were reportedly born after having their genes modified in embryo. I dont see any problem with using gene editing to help existing people with existing diseases. That is very different, however, from genetically engineering embryos with specialized modifications.

Lets say for example that an expectant couple decides to engineer their new child to have a certain hormonal balance aimed at improving their mood. That child may reach adolescence one day and find themselves feeling very happy without any particular explanation why. Are they falling in love? Or is it just their genetic engineering specs kicking in? Human beings could soon be designed with a whole range of new specs that modifies their thoughts, feelings, and abilities. I think that such a prospect not far-fetched at all today will be a devastating attack on the most vital things about being human. It will call into question basic ideas of who we are and how we think about ourselves.

There is also the implication of accelerating technological change in genetic engineering technology. After modifying their first child, those same parents may come back five years later to the clinic to make changes to their second child. In the meantime, the technology has marched on, and you can now get a whole new series of upgrades and tweaks. What does that mean for the first child? It makes them the iPhone 6: obsolete. Thats a very new idea for human beings. One of the standard features of technology is obsolescence. A situation where you are rapidly making people themselves obsolete seems wrongheaded to me.

As things stand, these technologies will take the economic inequality presently in existence and encode it in our genes.

There also seems to be a question of economic inequality here, in the sense that people with more resources will be the ones with the access to these genetic enhancements.

As things stand, these technologies will take the economic inequality presently in existence and encode it in our genes. This is so obviously going to happen if we continue down this path that no one bothers to argue otherwise. Lee Silver, a professor at Princeton University who is one of the leading proponents of genetic modification, has already said that in the future we will have two unequal classes of human beings: GenRich and naturals. He and many others have already begun taking such a future as granted.

Do you think that artificial intelligence poses a similar threat to human beings?

Many of the first generation of people who studied AI came away deeply afraid of its potential implications. There is a fear that smart robots and programming codes may get out of hand and end up posing a threat to human beings. Those fears may or may not be real. At the end of the day, they worry me less than the more fundamental assault on human meaning and purpose posed by these technologies. They can easily eliminate most of the choices and activities that have given us our basic sense of identity as human beings.

What should be the priority of social movements seeking to defend the human game at the moment? And do we have cause for optimism?

Climate change is such an immediate and overpowering issue that it should be the focus of our attention right now, because it could make everything else moot. Ive gotten to watch the rise of the climate movement over many years and it gives me cause for some optimism. Weve recently seen massive climate strikes around the world. The Democratic Party in the United States is becoming energized on this issue. These are good signs. Whether they come in time or not, we dont know. But the advent of human genetic engineering is not getting the attention it deserves at the present. The profound implications of CRISPR and other rapidly evolving technologies are things that we should give much more attention. From a strategic perspective, it would be good to get a resistance going sooner than later. As we have seen with fossil fuels, once there is a huge, powerful industry behind something, it becomes much more difficult to control.

It seems like at core there is an ideological issue underlying all of these threats that are presently facing human beings.

Its instructive that a lot of the fantasies underlying the most extreme manifestations of genetic engineering and AI come from people in Silicon Valley who share a libertarian mindset. They are essentially hip versions of the Koch brothers. They share an ethos with the fossil fuel industry that says no one should ever question decisions made by the powerful and that no one should ever get in the way of business and technological innovation.

Meanwhile, the public is being told and has been told for a long time that theyre nothing but individuals and nothing but consumers. That goes against everything we know about human nature. Human beings are happy when theyre part of working communities, not when theyre out on their own as individuals trying to take over the universe. Thats what all these battles are in some sense about: building human solidarity against a hyper-individualist elite. We need to find out once again how to make decisions as a society, rather than have a small group of super-wealthy people privately making them for us.

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Bill McKibben's Book Falter Explores End of Humanity - The Intercept

Behind The Night: Diaz vs Cyborg – The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship

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I never knew that was the way they made it appear, Knapp said. That was not it on any level. I was there. I had never seen anything like that. Somebody yelling at the crowd while they were fighting.

When Knapps favorite Diaz moment of her career was spun into him attacking Cris Cyborg, she wasnt the only one upset by the spin being put on the story. As classless as the broadcast wanted to make Nick Diaz look, it wasnt a Nick Diaz move.

It kind of upset [Diaz] because the broadcast was portraying it that hes talking [smack] to Cris Cyborg, Knapp said. If that would have been some female out there it wouldnt have been like that. Could he have leaned over and said, can you keep your bitch quiet? or something, could that have happened? Sure.

Knapp explained that while it was happening, she was watching her favorite Diaz moment of all time unfold. Winning a fight while also verbally lighting somebody up in the crowd. It came as nothing but disappointment to find out that the moment was spoiled and twisted. Instead of standing up for himself, it transformed to him kicking Cris Cyborg while she was down.

While its always fun to make the bad guy look worse, a look inside one of Strikeforces most memorable moments without using forum posters as sources only further proves one thing, Nick Diaz doesnt back down from any man. To the men who got away with throwing drinks and running their mouths to the leader of the Nick Diaz Army, stay away from the 209!

Diaz would successfully defend his Strikeforce title yet again against Paul Daley before returning to the Octagon.

To revisit the night marred by illusion watch the full Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg event replay ONLY on UFC FIGHT PASS!

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Behind The Night: Diaz vs Cyborg - The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Terminally-ill roboticist on his way to becoming the world’s first full cyborg – Firstpost

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tech2 News StaffOct 17, 2019 10:11:15 IST

An American scientist battling a muscle-wasting disease hasannounced that heis in-transitionto become "the world's first full cyborg." The procedure is a part of a life-extensionexperiment involving the scientist a world-renowned roboticist whowas told he had a year to live.

Approaching age 60, Dr Peter Scott-Morgan was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, alsoknown as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).ALSis currently untreatable. It causes muscle weakness, and often, visible wasting away ofthe patient's musculature.

Now, Scott-Morgan, who was given until2019 to live, is on an attemptingto have all his biological organs replaced withmachinery. Once a full cyborg, Scott-Morgan will be able to controlan artificial intelligenceavatar that resembles his own face before his degenerativedisease consumes his vital organs.

Peter Scott-Morgan's avatar introducing 'Peter 2.0'. Image: Embody Digital/YouTube

Scott-Morganrecently completed one of the first,critical steps on this journey: the removal ofhisvoicebox.Withouta voicebox, salivacan find its way into his lungs and cause him to suffocate a big concern with ALS patients. He has also had a feeding tubeinserted directly into his stomach, a catheter into his bladder and a colostomy bag directly onto his colon so he no longer needs to eat or excrete with any conscious muscle control.

The removal of his voicebox and movement viaatop-endwheelchair which he said on Twitter is'brilliantly engineered',allows him to stand, lie flat and go fast, havebrought hima step closerin his transition from livingahuman life to surviving in a robotic one.

He has alsocreated an avatar ofhimselfbeforethe first visible signsof ALS set in a"face" with a range of facial expressions thatScott-Morgan will continue to use as the disease progresses and he loses control of his expressions and facial movements.

Part of the scientist's full cyborg technologyis a revolutionary eye-tracking technology that will allow him to control multiple computerswithhis eyes alone. Among several other uses, thisgives Scott-Morgancontrol of his own electronic bed and a hoist that helps him move around on his own.

A daybefore he underwent thelaryngectomy (voice-box removal), Scott-Morganannounced the endof 'Peter 1.0' and thestartof his life as a 'Full Cyborg' in the making as 'Peter 2.0'.

"This is my last post as Peter 1.0. Tomorrow (Thursday, 10 October) I trade my voice for potentially decades of life as we complete the final medical procedure for my transition to Full Cyborg, the month I was told statistically I would be dead," he said in a tweet. "I'm not dying, I'm transforming. Oh, how I love science," he added.

With allthe procedures he has lined up, their associated risks, and being terminally-ill, Scott-Morgansaysheisn't interested in surviving ALS he intends to 'thrive' as a cybernetic being. Thisvision is far from just a dream for the roboticist "we are within touching distance of changing - everything. I'm not dying - I'm transforming!" he has said on his website.

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Terminally-ill roboticist on his way to becoming the world's first full cyborg - Firstpost

Disembodied cyborg hand can solve a Rubiks Cube using scary smart AI – SYFY WIRE

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The machines arent just getting stronger; theyre also getting smarter way smarter. Nothing says kill it with fire! like watching the disembodied hand from a metal skeleton writhing and twisting as it deliberately, methodically, implacably works its way through a Rubiks Cube until the puzzles solved. And now we cant help but wonder if the next thing this cold, calculating android wants to solve might be, yknow, people.

OpenAI the nonprofit tech outfit thats already brought us predictive artificial intelligence that can finish your thought when given a writing prompt (to hilarious effect), and can write a Lord of the Rings-style script all on its own has turned its attention to actual robotics with its latest AI demonstration, and were equally mesmerized and terrified. Check out the Terminator-like mechanical magic on display in the video below:

We dont know if the fact that this is just a hand without a body is amplifying the scare factor, or if weve just seen too many dystopian movies about murderous cyborgs. But either way, of course thats not OpenAIs goal here.

The reason [we were] excited to work on the Rubiks Cube task is that it really requires human-level dexterity, said OpenAI robotics staffer Matthias Plappert, via VentureBeat. Its a [highly] complicated task in the sense that you need to really precisely control your fingers in order to rotate the [cube] faces. [We] wanted to see how far [we could] push this approach

While it looks as though the cyber-hand is reacting to thoughts its machine learning-backed system is having on the fly, thats only partially the case. Rather than deploying a real-time AI that can think for itself independent of circumstance (a truly next-level task), this robot uses 13,000 years worth of databased simulation learning that allows it to draw on a deep well of conditional actions based on a specific challenge in this case, the challenge of solving a Rubiks Cube.

The hand is instructed by an AI algorithm called automatic domain randomization (ADR), according to the report, and can even see the positions and colors of the 54 separate colored squares that make up the cubes six 9-square sides. All of the information needed to solve the cube comes packed into the database on which the AI relies, and the software deploys reinforcement learning that is, adapted learning based on outcomes that the bot is able to measure and assess in real time to get nearer and nearer to its ultimate goal.

So long as the ultimate goal is lining up all the pretty colors into neat 3x3grids, well admit to being more than a little bit impressed. But if bots like these ever aspire to more lofty goals like organizing into a global network hellbent on eliminating mankind from the problematic equation of existence then we may have to break out the time displacement sphere and summon up a John Connor from the future to come and save us, before things get trulyout of hand.

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Disembodied cyborg hand can solve a Rubiks Cube using scary smart AI - SYFY WIRE

ALS affected, terminally-ill Robotics expert will transform himself into the world’s first ‘cyborg’ – Digit

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Weve all watched and read a ton of Cyberpunk media from comics, novels, games and even movies. One of the major staples of the Cyberpunk genre is the idea that technology and humanity will be entwined in a way that seems indistinguishable. Basically, cyborgs. And although were a little too early to witness the birth of the machine, were now seeing the first steps in biological augmentation with small-time hackers bio-modifying themselves. In a step that may change the way we look at human-machine integration, 61-year-old Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan has decided to take things to the next level and turn himself into a full-fledged cyborg.

A little background on this topic first. Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Latera Sclerosis (ALS). The disease affects the motor neurons and causes weakness and atrophy in the muscles as the patient slowly wilts away. There is no cure for ALS. Scott-Morgan was diagnosed with the disease in 2018 and was given till 2019 to live. But, hes got the perfect solution to his problem. Have all his biological organs replaces with machines. It sounds far-fetched but put yourself in Scott-Morgans shoes. Its a tough decision but one that has to be made if Scott-Morgan is to live longer than 2019.

His first step towards being a full cyborg was to remove his voicebox. He also has a feeding tube that is directly inserted into his stomach and a catheter into his bladder. With these modifications, Scott-Morgan will no longer need to use his muscles for eating or relieving himself.

Scott-Morgan went a step further and created a digital replica of himself. This model will allow Scott-Morgan to communicate with the outside world after he loses control of his facial muscles. Scott-Morgan will also be using eye-tracking technology that will allow him to control various devices using only his eyes. He calls himself Peter 2.0!

This seems like a drastic step to take but in the case of Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan, this seems like the only step to take. If successful, this will mark a turning point in the merging of robotics and medicine.

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ALS affected, terminally-ill Robotics expert will transform himself into the world's first 'cyborg' - Digit

Is this guitar-playing cyborg from Japan the future of heavy metal? – Guitar World

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Japanese hard-rockers Ironbunny are a Kawaii metal group fronted by three vocalists: Hina, Kotono and Minami. So far, so Babymetal. But do Babymetal have a cyborg guitarist who comes from a future 300 years ahead? Hell no.

Meet Ediee Ironbunny, the automated shred machine who has time-travelled back to 2019 in order to save rock n roll - and, as it happens, film an exclusive playthrough video for Guitar World.

This clip for new single 23 - twenty three showcases Ediees precision-engineered riff delivery system, as well as his/her/its astonishingly lifelike lead technique, complete with a slick tapping flourish to round out the solo.

(Image credit: Ironbunny)

Of course, no cyborg electric guitar performance would be complete without a fretboard equipped with cycling green LEDs, which appear in Ediees Combat Guitar IB7, also fitted with a Bare Knuckle Aftermath in the bridge and Sustainiac in the neck.

Ediees not the only supreme guitar talent to grace Ironbunnys debut album, Tettsui no alternative, either; Warren DeMartini, Doug Aldrich and George Lynch also lend their skills in honor of the bands noble quest.

Digging Ironbunnys message? You can hear the full track below and hop on over to ironbunny.jp for more info.

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Is this guitar-playing cyborg from Japan the future of heavy metal? - Guitar World

Dying scientist is about to become first cyborg – Times of India

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LONDON: A terminally-ill scientist who is dying from a muscle wasting disease has taken the final steps to become the worlds first full cyborg. Peter Scott-Morgan, 61, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease two years ago, but instead of accepting his fate he decided to challenge what it meant to be human.

He said he wanted to push the boundaries of what science can achieve so decided to extend his life and become fully robotic known as Peter 2.0.

The world-renowned roboticist has already undergone a series of incredibly complex and risky operations during his journey. This has included developing a remarkably lifelike avatar of his face before he lost any muscle. The avatar is designed to respond using artificially intelligent body language and he has also explored eye-tracking technology to enable him to control multiple computers using only his eyes.

And this week he announced the final procedure in his transition into a robot where he traded his voice for potentially decades of life. Scott-Morgan labelled this final procedure as the end of Peter 1.0 with a post this week on Twitter , and wrote: This is my last post as Peter 1.0. Tomorrow (Thursday 10/10) I trade my voice for potentially decades of life as we complete the final medical procedure for my transition to Full Cyborg, the month I was told statistically I would be dead. Im not dying, Im transforming. Oh, how I love science.

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Dying scientist is about to become first cyborg - Times of India

The Terminator timeline explained: Every key event from the franchise in chronological order – GamesRadar

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While he's widely hailed as a visionary director, James Cameron likely had no idea just how unwieldy the Terminator franchise would become when he first sent a from the future to eliminate Sarah Connor in 1984. Since then, the Terminator timeline has grown into the past and the future through four more movies and a TV show not to mention numerous books, comics and videogames.

That expansion has meant a lot of time travel and rewriting of history, meaning the Terminator timeline is now a complex beast far less linear than the chronologies of the Star Wars and Star Trek universes. History is repeatedly rewritten and character fates routinely altered as the Terminator saga branches off into numerous alternate timelines there are at least three dates given for the world-ending Judgment Day, Sarah Connor has died a couple of times, and some instalments even pretend that previous movies never happened.

Indeed, the upcoming Dark Fate (the first Terminator movie to boast the involvement of Cameron since 1991s Terminator 2: Judgment Day) is a direct sequel to T2 that acts as if Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015) and the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-09) TV show never happened. This is a continuation of the story from Terminator 1 and Terminator 2, Cameron told the Hollywood Reporter back in 2017. We're pretending the other films were a bad dream. Or an alternate timeline, which is permissible in our multi-verse.

For those looking to understand every Terminator, weve pulled together all the disparate strands of the Terminator timeline into one coherent history, all the way from the birth of Sarah Connor to the death of her son, John aka the saviour of humanity. To make it a little easier, weve flagged up which of the sagas many timelines the event is taking place in: the Prime Timeline is the one established by James Camerons first two movies; the Terminator 3 Timeline follows on from Rise of the Machines; the Sarah Connor Chronicles Timeline shows the arc of the TV show; and the Genisys Timeline reveals the rewritten Terminator history established by the 2015 movie.

So boot up for the ultimate ride through the Terminator timeline and remember, there is no fate but what they make Warning: spoilers for every Terminator film other than Dark Fate, which reaches UK cinemas October 23 and US cinemas November 1.

The Prime timeline

The Terminator (1984)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

The Terminator 3 timeline

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Terminator Salvation (2009)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles timeline

The Terminator (1984)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-09)

The Genisys timeline

Terminator Genisys (2015)

1965-ish Sarah Connor, mother of the hero of humanitys resistance against the machines, is born.

Why is the Terminator timeline so vague about the date? The script for The Terminator specifies that shes 19 years old in 1984, suggesting she was born in 1965, which could also tally with psychiatrist Dr Silberman saying in Terminator 2 that shes 29 in 1995. But in Terminator 3, Sarahs gravestone says she was born in 1959, while Terminator: Genisys reckons she was nine in 1973, which suggests a birth year 1964. Thats what living your life off the grid does to you

1973 (GENISYS TIMELINE) A shapeshifting T-1000 arrives from the future to kill a nine-year-old Sarah Connor, but luckily a T-800 has also come back to protect her. Sarahs parents are killed by the T-1000, leaving that particular T-800 model to become an unlikely father figure known as Pops and kickstart a whole new Terminator timeline. (Terminator Genisys)

1984 (PRIME TIMELINE) A T-800 cyborg from the future arrives in mid-80s Los Angeles, and embarks on a killing spree whose victims include several women named Sarah Connor, and a police station full of cops. Ultimately, however, the Terminator misses its target, failing to assassinate the one Sarah Connor whos essential for the future survival of humanity it ends up crushed in a hydraulic press, though crucially, a processor chip and an arm survive... Kyle Reese, who travelled back from the future to protect Sarah, dies. (The Terminator)

(GENISYS TIMELINE) Kyle Reeses mission to intercept the original Terminator is instantly made a hell of a lot easier when another version of Sarah Connor and her Terminator dad, Pops, intercept the cyborg assassin on its arrival in 1984. They also save him from a T-1000 whos come to sample the joys of the mid-80s. Based on the Genisys is Skynet message that Reese hears during his journey back in time, Sarah and Pops alter their plan to time travel to 1997 to prevent Judgment Day. Instead, Sarah and Reese set their time coordinates to 2017, where a new computer operating system called Genisys is about to go live (Terminator Genisys)

1985 (PRIME TIMELINE) Future military hero John Connor is born on February 28 and spends his life dealing with the impossible expectations placed on him by his mother.

(Image credit: Fox)

1995 (PRIME TIMELINE) Another of Skynets cyborg goons arrives in the 20th century the difference this time, however, is that the target is 10-year-old John Connor, and that the T-1000 is a liquid metal mimetic polyalloy shapeshifter perfectly placed to make the most of ILMs pioneering CG technology. A reprogrammed T-800 who looks a lot like his 1984 predecessor arrives to serve as Johns protector, and follows the boys order to break his mother, Sarah, out of the secure psychiatric hospital she now calls home.

In the ensuing carnage, the trio destroy the Cyberdyne Systems research facility thats developing Skynet from reverse-engineered parts harvested from the 1984 Terminator inventor Miles Dyson is killed in the blast. With Judgment Day seemingly averted and the T-1000 eliminated, all is seemingly well though the cuddly T-800 takes his newly installed casual vocabularly to a fiery grave. No problemo! (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

1997 (PRIME TIMELINE) The US government gives Skynet full control of strategic defence on August 4. After learning at a geometric rate, it becomes self-aware on August 29 a key date in the Terminator timeline, because at this point, its too late for humans to pull the plug. Calculating that all humans are a threat to its survival, the super-computer launches a missile attack on Russia, who subsequently retaliate in kind. Three billion people are killed on Judgment Day, initiating a decades-long war between humans and machines. (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

(TERMINATOR 3 TIMELINE) At least, that was the original plan, but the Skynet trampling events of 1995 postponed the apocalypse at least for a few years. Even with Judgment Day averted, however, its still a bad year for the Connor family. Suffering from leukaemia, Sarah lives long enough to see the world not ending on August 29, but dies from her illness before the year is out. (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

1999 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) It turns out Sarah Connor wasnt dead after all, as the short-lived TV show pretends erases the events of Terminator 3 from the Terminator timeline. Instead, Sarah and John are still on the run from law-enforcement authorities who think theyre responsible for Miles Dysons death when they meet Cameron, a reprogrammed female Terminator sent back to protect John. She transports the Connors forward to 2007 to continue their fight against Skynet because you just know that, er, itll be back. (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

2003 (TERMINATOR 3 TIMELINE) Just before his execution, death row inmate Marcus Wright agrees to sign his body over to Cyberdyne Systems Genetic Research Division. Its not the last well see of him he survives Judgment Day in stasis. (Terminator: Salvation)

(PRIME TIMELINE) Kyle Reese is born at least, he is in the original Terminator timeline, as James Camerons script says he was 26 years old when he travelled back from 2029. However, in the 2017-set Terminator Genisys, Reese meets his 12-year-old self, which suggests hes born in 2005.

(Image credit: Fox)

2004 (TERMINATOR 3 TIMELINE) A T-X Terminator arrives from 2032 with a mission to wipe out figures wholl be key members of the humans resistance. With his mother having passed away seven years earlier, John Connor is living off the grid in LA, and hes done such a good job of disappearing that its pure coincidence the T-X finds him she gatecrashes an early meeting with his future wife (and future military leader) Kate Brewster.

With a reprogrammed T-850 acting as a guardian angel (yes, this one looks like the original 1984 Terminator as well), they go on the run. Meanwhile, the US military activates Skynet to counteract a computer virus that in a cunning ruse has actually been unleashed by Skynet itself. So Kates dad, a military general, gives them the location and access codes to Crystal Peak, a facility John believes houses Skynet. However, hes unable to destroy the computer. Crystal Peak is really just a shelter to protect the couple from Judgment Day, which is, by now, unavoidable because Skynet has become totally integrated with the internet. After a couple of false starts, the world belatedly ends on July 24 leaving John to take up his mantle as the saviour of mankind.

Bizarrely, this is possibly when the Schwarzenegger-esque design and voice of the T-800 model Terminators is established though this hilarious deleted scene may not be strictly canon (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

2005 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) According to Camerons knowledge of the past/future, Sarah Connor dies of cancer in this particular branch of the Terminator timeline. (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

2007 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) Kyle Reeses big brother, Derek, arrives from the future with a mission to eliminate the architects of Skynet, and joins forces with the Connors and Cameron as they fight a succession of Terminators who knew thered be so many? And that so many of them would be so bad at their jobs? (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

2009 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) Derek Reese is killed by a Terminator. John Connor travels forward to 2027 with Catherine Weaver, a T-1001 whos the spitting image of the lead singer from Garbage. Theyre trapped there for all eternity thanks to a threat even greater than Skynet the cancellation of a TV show. (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

2011 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) Skynet goes online yet again, gains self-awareness and, according to what Cameron tells Sarah Connor in 2007, initiates the latest iteration of Judgment Day on April 21, 2011. Dj vu, anyone? (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

(Image credit: Fox)

2017 (GENISYS TIMELINE) After their journey through time Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese hook up once again with Pops whos taken the long way round and aged accordingly. Their efforts to stop the Genisys operating system designed, coincidentally, by Miles Dysons son, Daniel from becoming Skynet meet a formidable obstacle in the form of a Terminatorised John Connor, whos in San Francisco to ensure his digital paymaster goes live. Sarah, Kyle and Pops defeat John and think theyve destroyed the Cyberdyne facility, but unbeknown to anyone Skynet survives and becomes self-aware. Reese also pays a visit to his 12-year-old self to remind him that Genisys is Skynet a piece of information that may just come in handy later on (Terminator Genisys)

2018 (TERMINATOR 3 TIMELINE) John Connor, a rising star in the human military, discovers Skynets plans for T-800 Terminator units covered in living tissue, along with a load of human prisoners captured by the machines. He also learns that he and an unknown teenage fighter named Kyle Reese are top of Skynets hit list. Meanwhile, Marcus Wright awakens from stasis and discovers that the medical experiments he signed up for have given him an entirely mechanical endoskeleton causing John Connor and his wife, Kate, to suspect hes been sent to kill them. They eventually team-up, however, and embark on a mission to destroy Skynets T-800 facility. John is fatally wounded in the battle when a Terminator stabs him through the heart, but saved when Marcus donates his own still-human heart for transplant. (Terminator Salvation)

2022 (PRIME TIMELINE) Despite having at least two recorded deaths and even a gravestone, Sarah Connor is still very much alive in a movie set 27 years after the events of Terminator 2. Connor will team up with an ageing T-800 and Grace, a human soldier turned into a cyborg, to protect a young woman named Daniella Ramos from the latest Terminator model known as the REV 9, it can split itself into two distinct bodies. (Terminator: Dark Fate)

(Image credit: Fox)

2027 (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TIMELINE) Derek Reese and Terminator Cameron are sent back in time to kill Terminators/save the Connors. And no, we have no idea why or how this happens before Skynet uses prototype technology to send the first Terminator back in time from 2029. Its wibbly, wobbly, timey and wimey. (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

2029 (PRIME TIMELINE) Skynet sends the first Terminator back to kill Sarah Connor in 1984; John Connor sends Kyle Reese to protect her. (The Terminator)

(GENISYS TIMELINE) a super-advanced T-5000 Terminator named Alex infiltrates John Connors team, and infects Connor, turning him into a Terminator.

(PRIME TIMELINE) Skynet sends a shapeshifting T-1000 back to 1995 to kill John Connor as a kid; Connor sends back a reprogrammed T-800 to protect him. (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

2032 (TERMINATOR 3 TIMELINE) A red letter day for the Terminator timeline, as Skynet finally gets its man When a T-850 with the original Schwarzenegger design assassinates John Connor, Connors wife, Kate, reprograms the unit and sends it back to 2004, to protect the couple from the T-X. (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

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The Terminator timeline explained: Every key event from the franchise in chronological order - GamesRadar

Ruby Rose’s Batwoman & Grant Gustin’s The Flash Unite In Arrowverse Crossover BTS Photos – Heroic Hollywood

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Ruby Rose and Grant Gustin take time out as Batwoman and The Flash innew behind-the-scenes photos from the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

With filming currently underway for The CWs next huge Arrowverse crossover, fans get to see some of their favorite heroes team up to stop a multiversal crisis from wiping them out of existence. In a new series of behind-the-scenes photos, Batwoman star Ruby Rose jokingly poses with Grant Gustins The Flash in-between filming. Grant Gustins The Flashand Ruby Roses Batwoman will join the rest of the Arrowverse heroes in stopping the Anti-Monitor from destroying the multiverse in the five-part Arrowevrse event.

The new photos unveiled by the Daily Mail show off Grant Gustin and Ruby Rose not shying away from whoevers taking photos during filming of the Arrowverse crossover. In the images, Batwoman star Ruby Rose can be seen pretending to lick Grant Gustins face. Even in the face of a crisis, its good to know the Arrowverse heroes can still have fun. Take a look at Grant Gustins The Flash and Ruby Roses Batwoman on the set of the next Arrowverse crossover below.

Are you looking forward to seeing Ruby Roses Batwoman team up with Grant Gustins The Flash and the rest of the Arrowverse heroes? What else do you want to see from the Arrowverse crossover? Let us know in the comments!

The next Arrowverse crossover event has been teased since the very first episode ofThe Flash, where a newspaper headline from the year 2024 revealed the Barry Allens fate was to disappear during a crisis. However, the fifth season finale of the Grant Gustin series accelerated this when the original newspaper headline changed the date of the event from 2024 to 2019. To add to this, the seventh season finale of Stephen AmellsArrowset up Oliver Queens role in the next crossover by having him join the Monitor on a mission to warn other worlds of the crisis, as part of the arrangementthe Emerald Archermade in order to save the lives of both The Flash and Supergirl.

Crisiswill span two quarters and consist ofArrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow,andBatwoman. The Arrowverse crossover will launch with three episodes in December before concluding with two additional episodes in January.

Stay tuned for the latest newsonRuby Roses Batwoman, Grant Gustins The Flashand the Arrowverse.

Source: Daily Mail

Along with the premiere of the first teaser forDoom Patrol,DC Universe also debuted a collection of character posters for each of the members of perhaps the strangest team of characters to be adapted in live-action form for DC Comics.

In particular, these new character posters highlight Timothy Dalton's The Chief, Diane Guerrero's Crazy Jane, Joivan Wade's Cyborg, April Bowlby's Elasti-Woman, Matt Bomer's Negative Man and Brendan Fraser's Robotman. These posters each follow unique designs that reflect the nature of each character and tease unique personalities amongst the group as well.

You can start the gallery of new posters by clicking "Next".

Which of theseDoom Patrolposters is your favorite? Are you excited to see what the cast brings to these roles? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to continue following Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news in the DC Universe.

Doom Patrol is a reimagining of one of DCs strangest group of outcast Super Heroes which includes: Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor/Negative Man, Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele/Robotman, April Bowlby as Elasti-Woman, Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane, Joivan Wade as Victor Stone/Cyborg and Timothy Dalton as Dr. Niles Caulder/The Chief.

Here is the synopsis for the show:

Doom Patrolwill find the reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with a warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.

Doom Patrolwill premiere on February 15, 2019 exclusively on DC Universe.

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Ruby Rose's Batwoman & Grant Gustin's The Flash Unite In Arrowverse Crossover BTS Photos - Heroic Hollywood