by Jim Lobe
via IPS News
Responding to growing criticism by human rights groups and foreign governments, U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday announced potentially significant shifts in what his predecessor called the “global war on terror”.
In a major policy address at the National Defense University here, Obama said drone strikes against [...]
by Matthew Duss
via USIP
On April 22, Canadian authorities arrested two men who allegedly planned to derail a U.S.-bound passenger train. Officials said al Qaeda elements in Iran gave “direction and guidance” to Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35. But police have not found evidence of Iranian state sponsorship. And Tehran [...]
via Lobe Log
by Wayne White
A major obstacle in the way of sorting through to an internationally acceptable definition of terrorism — largely intentional violence against civilians — was the incredibly broad definition that effectively evolved as acceptable, or necessary, among quite a few prominent governments involved in the course of the titanic [...]
Jeremy Scahill, Blowback Reporter
by Tom Engelhardt
via Tom Dispatch
Chalmers Johnson’s book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire was published in March 2000 — and just about no one noticed. Until then, blowback had been an obscure term of CIA tradecraft, which Johnson defined as “the unintended consequences of policies [...]
via Lobe Logby Marsha B. Cohen
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a black hole in the federal budget into which hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been sucked and billions more seem destined to vanish.
The most recent reminder came in an April 1 UPI article about the retirement [...]
via Lobe Log
by Daniel Luban
This week, as you’ve probably heard, marks the ten year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Most people who have commented on the milestone have agreed that the war was a catastrophic mistake. But why, exactly, did the Bush administration decide to go into Iraq in the [...]
The Trillion-Dollar Concept That No One Can Define
by Mattea Kramer and Chris Hellman
via Tom Dispatch
Imagine a labyrinthine government department so bloated that few have any clear idea of just what its countless pieces do. Imagine that tens of billions of tax dollars are disappearing into it annually, black hole-style, since it can’t pass a [...]
Waterboarding Americans and the Redefinition of Torture
by Nick Turse
via Tom Dispatch
Try to remain calm — even as you begin to feel your chest tighten and your heart race. Try not to panic as water starts flowing into your nose and mouth, while you attempt [...]
via Lobe Log
by Jim Lobe
As I noted in the piece published on IPS Friday, “It’s All About Israel,” Israel and the presumed threat posed by Iran to its security dominated Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Thursday. It was the one opportunity Committee members — [...]
via Lobe Log
Editor’s note: Mr. Naas is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served 4 years in Afghanistan during better times.
President Obama has announced that the United States will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Massive amounts of equipment are already en route back to bases in this country. [...]
From IPS News- Q&A: “I Feel Indigenous No Matter Where I Am and Where I’m Going”
- Heroin Dulls Hardships for Afghan Women
- Health Care for Immigrants Crumbling in Spain
- Multimedia Project Tackles LGBT Rights in Palestine
- Africa Leads Fight Against HIV
- Marrying Off South Sudan’s Girls for Cows
- Obama Narrows Scope of Terror War
- Advocates Cheer Tightening of Extractives Transparency Standards
- Where Law Enforcement Goes Bad
- Indian Gov’t on Collision Course With Civil Society
