via LobeLog
by Tom Lippman*
The Middle East’s seemingly endless conflicts are diverting attention and resources from a graver long-term threat that threatens the whole region, the growing scarcity of water, and the situation will get worse before it gets better — if it ever does get better. Years of war, careless water supply [...]
Speaking Truth From the Robotic Heavens
Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background [...]
via LobeLog
by Emile Nakhleh
The Bahraini Arabic language newspaper al-Wasat reported on April 9 that a Cairo court began to consider a case brought by an Egyptian lawyer against Qatar accusing it of being soft on terrorism. The “terrorism” charge is of course a euphemism for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt, Saudi [...]
How Does the Global War on Terror Ever End?
via Tom Dispatch
[This epilogue to Scahill’s bestselling book, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, is posted with the kind permission of its publisher, Nation Books.]
On January 21, 2013, Barack Obama was inaugurated for his second term [...]
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 [...]
via Lobe Log
by Mitchell Plitnick
All was not as it seemed during President Barack Obama’s appearances in Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he addressed audiences of Israelis and Palestinians. On the surface, it looked like Obama was swearing fealty to Israel, and pledging unconditional US support for any and all Israeli actions. But a [...]
via Lobe Log
by Henry Precht
Two US service members were killed and at least eight others injured Monday in an insider attack at a Special Forces site in Afghanistan. The Taliban asserted responsibility. This incident would seem to nullify President Hamid Karzai’s earlier charge that US and Taliban forces were colluding [...]
via Lobe Log
Lobe Log contributor Emile Nakhleh, an expert on political Islam and Middle Eastern society, recently provided a fascinating primer on Bahrain to the Bahrain Mirror (Arabic version), an e-newspaper run by Bahraini dissidents. As discussed in the Mirror’s introduction, prior to becoming the CIA’s former chief regional analyst, Dr. [...]
From IPS News- The Nowhere People: Rohingyas in India
- Rohingya Refugee Families Reinforce Shelters, Relocate Ahead of Monsoon, But Dangers Remain in Crowded Bangladesh Camps
- Five Years After the Disaster: Rana Plaza Victims Still Hurting
- Development Prospects for Hundreds of Millions Remain in Jeopardy
- Illicit Trade in Oil & Fuel: an Emerging Global Policy Challenge
- Can Sustainable Bioeconomy be a Driver of Green Growth?
- Kidnapped, Abducted and Abandoned…
- From Mega to Micro, a Transition that Will Democratise Energy in Brazil
- Over to You, Children! Zambia’s ‘Plant a Million Trees’ Takes Root
- The Gang Rape and Murder of an 8 Year Old Child in India
