Tag Archives: Pentagon

Did Pentagon Just Get Hit By A Large Explosion?!

Was the Pentagon just hit by a large explosion?! Take a look at the viral photo, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Pentagon Was Just Hit By A Large Explosion!

A photo of an explosion at the Pentagon has gone viral on social media, with multiple “blue check” Twitter accounts, an Indian media outlet and Russian state media sharing it!

RT : Reports of an explosion near the Pentagon in Washington DC

Bloomberg Feed : Large Explosion near The Pentagon Complex in Washington D.C. – Initial Report

⚠️BREAKING – Initial Reports of a Large Explosion near The Pentagon Complex in Washington D.C.
A Fire is currently Burning at the Location of the Blast with Fire and Rescue Crews arriving On-Scene.

Initial Reports of a Large Explosion near The #Pentagon Complex in #Washington D.C.
A Fire is currently Burning at the Location of the Blast with Fire and Rescue Crews arriving On-Scene.

Truth : Pentagon Was Not Hit By A Large Explosion!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created using AI technology, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : There Was No Pentagon Explosion

First, let me just confirmed that there was no explosion at the Pentagon yesterday or today. The Pentagon did not come under attack, as many people have claimed.

For one thing – no legitimate media outlet has reported on such an explosion. No, propaganda outlets like Russia Today (RT) do not count.

This incident has shown just how unreliable RT really is – it was the only state media agency to post the fake photo. RT deleted the photo hours later, but did not appear to apologise for the “mistake”.

Furthermore, police and fire officials in Arlington, Virgina, have confirmed that the viral photo is fake, and that there was no incident at the Pentagon. No explosion. No fire. No smoke.

@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon.

There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public.

Fact #2 : That Is Not The Pentagon

Anyone who has seen the facade / side profile of the Pentagon will immediately realise that the photo does not show the famous building.

The fake building looks like like a university than the Pentagon, which has a flat, sloping roof without a triangular Gable roof.

The facade of the Pentagon is also almost flat and uniform, with uniform, same-sized windows throughout.

Fact #3 : The Photo Was AI Generated

The viral photo appears to be created using an AI image generator. If you look closely at the photo, you will see many discrepancies that suggest it was AI-generated:

The facade of the building is distorted, with some windows merging together.
The fence suddenly turns into crowd barriers, both of which have distortions with holes too.
The lamp post appears to be distorted and cut off from its base, literally floating sideways.

Not shown below, but the concrete walkway also gradually fades into grass, which is another sign it was AI-generated.

Fact #4 : Twitter Blue + Gold Accounts Helped Spread Fake Photo!

It is important to point out that while this viral photo tricked many people into thinking it was real, it was the new Twitter Blue and Twitter Gold accounts that helped it go viral.

The photo went viral because multiple Twitter Blue accounts shared the fake photo. Because many people still believe that blue check Twitter accounts are “verified” and therefore trustworthy, they shared it out too.

Elon Musk is responsible for this debacle, by allowing any Tom, Dick and Harry to purchase a blue check to masquerade as a “verified” Twitter account. That was how the fake Bloomberg Feed account was able to trick so many people to share this fake photo.

On top of that, Russian state media – RT (Russia Today) boosted the fake photo by reposting it on its Twitter Gold account, which is a paid and verified account. Even though RT finally deleted the tweet hours later, more than 38,000 people had already viewed the post, and many shared it because they believed RT verified the news.

Fact #5 : Indian News Channel Helped Spread Fake Photo

It also did not help that Republic TV – a right-wing, English language news channel in India, broadcasted a “Live & Breaking” news of the Pentagon explosion using nothing more than that fake photo!

To top it off, they even invited Professor Madhav Nalapat – “an international affairs expert” to opine on the fake explosion!

To be fair – Republic TV relied on RT to verify that news, with a chyron saying, “RT REPORTS EXPLOSION NEAR PENTAGON“. That ought to teach them for relying on Russian state media for facts…

Republic TV claims the Pentagon was just hit by a massive explosion! 😲🤔

Here is my fact check : https://t.co/GndMXdMr4I #TechARP #Pentagon #Explosion #Military #USDOD #UnitedStates #Facts #FactsMatter #FactCheck #Hoax #Fake #FakeNews #AIGenerated #AI #ArtificialIntelligence pic.twitter.com/XaqglBsV3T

— Dr. Adrian Wong (@DrAdrianWong) May 24, 2023

Fact #6 : This Is Just AI-Generated Fake News!

This is yet another example of fake photos / videos / news created by artificial intelligence. Here are some other examples I fact checked recently:

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Did Russia Just Destroy 4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles In Ukraine?!

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Did Russia just destroy four Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Ukraine?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Russia Just Destroyed 4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles In Ukraine!

People are sharing a video of Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov claiming that Russian forces destroyed four Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFV) in Ukraine!

Here is the accompanying message, which I machine-translated into English.

💥 За сутки боевых действий на данном направлении противник потерял 11 танков, 17 боевых машин пехоты, в том числе четыре БМП «Брэдли» производства США, 10 других боевых бронированных машин, 5 пикапов с крупнокалиберными пулеметами и более 150 военнослужащих.

💥 During the day of hostilities in this direction, the enemy lost 11 tanks, 17 infantry fighting vehicles, including four US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 10 other armored combat vehicles, 5 pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and more than 150 military personnel.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Russias-Ministry-of-Defense-spokesman-Igor-Konashenkov-says-Russia-has-already-destroyed-4-Bradley-vehicles.mp4?_=1

Truth : Russia Did Not Destroy 4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles In Ukraine!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS spread by pro-Russian netizens and groups.

Fact #1 : Video Was Recorded On 4 September 2022

The video is genuine, but it isn’t new. It was actually posted on the official Russian Ministry of Defence’s Telegram group on 4 September 2022.

In that longer video, Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov was giving a report on the state of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

⚡️ Сводка Министерства обороны Российской Федерации о ходе проведения специальной военной операции на территории Украины (04.09.2022 г.)

⚡️ Report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine (04.09.2022)

Fact #2 : Bradley Fighting Vehicle Donation Only Announced In January 2023

President Joe Biden only announced that the US government would be sending Ukraine about 50 Bradley M2A2 ODS Fighting Vehicles on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.

That’s exactly four months after Russia claimed to have destroyed four of them!

Fact #3 : There Are Still No Bradley Fighting Vehicles In Ukraine

Even today, it is impossible for Russian military forces to have destroyed four Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Ukraine, because the Ukrainian army still does not not have any!

Yes, President Biden announced a new $2.8 billion weapons package on January 4, 2023 that would include about 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, but those vehicles will take months to deliver.

As Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder announced on January 5, 2023 – the Bradley Fighting Vehicles have not been delivered to Ukraine.

You will see when Bradleys arrive on the battlefield. Let Ukraine announce it.

Fact #4 : Ukrainians Need To Train On Bradley Fighting Vehicles First!

Logistically, the US Army has about 4,000 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and can easily deliver the 50 vehicles to Ukraine in weeks, if not days.

However, Bradley Fighting Vehicles are complex vehicles, and it will take several weeks for each vehicle and maintenance crew to learn how to use and maintain them. And that is expedited training.

In fact, the Ukrainians will only start training on the Bradley M2 vehicles this week in Germany, as announced by Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder in a briefing last week.

Training will mostly start next week in Germany. We expect this training to last weeks, not months.

Regardless of when the US government sends the Bradley M2 vehicles to Ukraine, they will only appear on the battlefield after there are trained Ukrainian crews.

Fact #5 : This Is Just Pro-Russia Propaganda

This is nothing more than old but official Russian propaganda that is being used by pro-CCP and pro-Russia netizens and groups to promote the perception that the United States is wasting resources in Ukraine.

Be wary of such claims, because there are plenty spreading on WhatsApp, Telegram and social media platforms. Here is a selection of similar Russian propaganda that I fact checked in the past:

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Elon Musk Withdraws Demand For Starlink Funding!

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Elon Musk has officially withdrawn SpaceX’s demand for more Starlink funding in Ukraine!

Elon Musk Withdraws Demand For Starlink Funding!

Elon Musk was seen as a saviour to Ukrainians, after his company – SpaceX, shipped thousands of its satellite terminals to Ukraine, and activated its Starlink satellite Internet services.

But he came under fire after a SpaceX letter demanding more funding leaked, exposing how most of Starlink service in Ukraine was being funded by third party entities, including the US, UK and Polish governments.

The backlash resulted in an angry “The hell with it” retort by Musk, which could either mean he was going to continue subsidising a small part of Starlink services in Ukraine, or he was just being sarcastic.

That was finally clarified when he tweeted that SpaceX officially withdrew its request for (additional) funding.

SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for funding

He could barely hide his indignation at being “exposed” for only subsidising a small percentage of Starlink services in Ukraine, with his follow-up tweet to “clarify” that SpaceX was only getting paid for 42% of Starlink users in Ukraine.

To be precise, 25,300 terminals were sent to Ukraine, but, at present, only 10,630 are paying for service

While that sounds “bad”, the truth is – SpaceX was charging an ultra-premium $2,500 for its Starlink service in Ukraine, when most users only needed the much cheaper $500 connectivity, or the $60 consumer connectivity.

That’s like charging them for Gigabit broadband, when they only need 50 Mbps or 100 Mbps connectivity. The cost is the same, but the company gets to claim that they are being fleeced, when the truth is – they are looking to profiteer off a country desperately trying to fight off a Russian invasion.

Come on, Elon…

Elon Musk / SpaceX Is Making Money Off Starlink In Ukraine!

As a capitalist and a corporation respectively, Elon Musk and SpaceX are entitled to profit off the Starlink satellite service. But it is also important to note that Ukraine has offered SpaceX a unique opportunity to showcase the advantages of the Starlink system.

The overwhelmingly positive media coverage of Starlink’s importance in the Ukraine War is something money can’t buy. So it is important that Elon Musk and SpaceX do not abuse their unique position, to focus on profit, profit, profit.

Not only do they stand to lose that positive news coverage, it could also open a bag of worms… like when the leaked letter exposed that SpaceX was not as charitable as everyone thought.

According to the leaked SpaceX letter, about 85% of the 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine were paid or partially paid for by countries like the US, the UK and Poland. Those countries also paid for about 30% of the Internet connectivity, which costs $4,500 per month per unit.

That service cost was also brought into question since it was their top-tier pricing, when the majority of users in Ukraine only needed the much cheaper $500 per month connectivity, and consumer connectivity only cost $60 per month. It looked like SpaceX was profiteering off Ukraine’s desperation.

The SpaceX letter naturally rankled the Pentagon, with one senior defence official saying that SpaceX has “the gall to look like heroes” and present them with a bill for tens of millions of dollars, when Starlink service in Ukraine was already being sponsored in large part by outside sources.

Let’s hope that Elon Musk and SpaceX has learned their lesson on trying to profit off the Ukraine War…

Earlier : SpaceX Will No Longer Pay For Starlink In Ukraine!

According to an exclusive report by CNN, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon, warning that it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service.

SpaceX delivered about 20,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine so far, with CEO Elon Musk stating on Friday that the “operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year“.

We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.

In the letter that was sent in September, SpaceX asked the Pentagon to fund the Ukraine government’s use of Starlink, which would cost $124 million for the rest of the year, and could cost as much as $380 million for the next 12 months.

Here is a breakdown of Starlink costs in Ukraine, and who paid for what:

USAID – about $3 million on hardware and services
Poland : almost 9,000 Starlink terminals
US : almost 1,700 terminals

SpaceX priced the two Starlink satellite terminal models it sent to Ukraine at $1,500 and $2,500, even though the consumer model is cheaper at just $599.

SpaceX claims to have paid for about 70% of the service provided to those Starlink terminals, but that’s based on their claim to have offered the highest level of service at $4,500 per month, even though the majority only signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service. Starlink consumer service in Ukraine, in comparison, costs just $60 per month!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Elon Musk To Keep (Partly) Funding Starlink In Ukraine!

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Amidst the recent funding controversy, Elon Musk has begrudgingly agreed to keep (partly) funding Starlink services in Ukraine!

Elon Musk To Keep (Partly) Funding Starlink In Ukraine!

Elon Musk was seen as a saviour to Ukrainians, after his company – SpaceX, shipped thousands of its satellite terminals to Ukraine, and activated its Starlink satellite Internet services.

Starlink has been critical in providing the Ukrainian government and military forces with secure communications, and the ability to control drones to monitor or attack Russian forces.

But that burnish was just soiled by the raging controversy over SpaceX’s reluctance to “keep paying” for Starlink in Ukraine, especially when it’s revealed that most of the “free” terminals and services were funded by other parties!

In what appears to be a rage post, Elon Musk begrudgingly agreed to keep (partly) funding Starlink services in Ukraine on Saturday, October 15, 2022:

The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.

Of course, that could be nothing more than Musk’s sarcastic response to what he probably perceives as a lack of appreciation for SpaceX’s efforts.

Elon Musk / SpaceX Is Making Money Off Starlink In Ukraine!

Not only do they stand to lose that positive news coverage, it could also open a bag of worms… like when the leaked letter exposed that SpaceX was not as charitable as everyone thought.

Let’s hope that Elon Musk and SpaceX has learned their lesson on trying to profit off the Ukraine War…

Earlier : SpaceX Will No Longer Pay For Starlink In Ukraine!

According to an exclusive report by CNN, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon, warning that it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service.

SpaceX delivered about 20,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine so far, with CEO Elon Musk stating on Friday that the “operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year“.

We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.

Here is a breakdown of Starlink costs in Ukraine, and who paid for what:

USAID – about $3 million on hardware and services
Poland : almost 9,000 Starlink terminals
US : almost 1,700 terminals

SpaceX priced the two Starlink satellite terminal models it sent to Ukraine at $1,500 and $2,500, even though the consumer model is cheaper at just $599.

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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SpaceX Will No Longer Pay For Starlink In Ukraine!

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SpaceX is no longer willing to pay for Starlink satellite service in Ukraine!

SpaceX Will No Longer Pay For Starlink In Ukraine!

The stars are shining for once on Russian President Vladimir Putin in his invasion of Ukraine!

According to an exclusive report by CNN, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon, warning that it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service.

SpaceX delivered about 20,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine so far, with CEO Elon Musk stating on Friday that the “operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year“.

We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.

Here is a breakdown of Starlink costs in Ukraine, and who paid for what:

USAID – about $3 million on hardware and services
Poland : almost 9,000 Starlink terminals
US : almost 1,700 terminals

SpaceX priced the two Starlink satellite terminal models it sent to Ukraine at $1,500 and $2,500, even though the consumer model is cheaper at just $599.

Loss Of Starlink In Ukraine Will Be Disastrous

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service has been vital to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield, proving its government and military with secure communications and Internet connectivity.

It not only provides Ukrainian forces with secure communications, it allows them to control drones to monitor and even attack Russian forces.

However, that reliance on SpaceX and its Starlink satellite service is a double-edged sword – it appears to be highly reliant on whims and fancies of its erratic CEO – Elon Musk.

Revelations about this letter raises concerns about Musk’s allegiance in the Ukraine War, after his much-derided Ukraine peace plan on October 3, 2022.

Not only did Elon Musk personally block the use of Starlink in Russia-occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian counteroffensives in the South and East were recently stymied by outages on the battlefield.

That has affected every effort of the Ukrainians to push past that front. Starlink is the main way units on the battlefield have to communicate.

According to SpaceX, about 85% of the 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine were paid or partially paid for by countries like the US, the UK and Poland. Those countries also paid for about 30% of the Internet connectivity, which costs $4,500 per month per unit.

The SpaceX letter rankled the Pentagon, with one senior defence official saying that SpaceX has “the gall to look like heroes” and present them with a bill for tens of millions of dollars, when Starlink service in Ukraine was already being sponsored in large part by outside sources.

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!