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Latest Articles: War, War, War
TGIF: Operation CYA – Afghanistan
Post Date: 2017-08-26 05:20:01 by Ada
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Steve Bannon’s Brietbart and others notwithstanding, that was Trump being Trump when he announced he would not be quitting Afghanistan, despite the manifest futility and counterproductivity — that is, idiocy — of America’s 16-year war there. He is not a captive of “my generals,” bad as they are. He is his own man. Just look at the attitude toward military power he displayed throughout his presidential campaign and young presidency. He boasted of being the most “militaristic” candidate in the large Republican field — and that was saying something. He promised to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS, torture terrorist suspects, and kill their ...
It’s the opium, stupid: ‘Afghan surge guarantees CIA black-ops budget boost’
Post Date: 2017-08-24 06:14:37 by Ada
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The CIA is also overjoyed because its black-ops budget - which is tied to the exponential growth of opium production in Afghanistan - is now secured possibly for another 20-50 years, claims Mike Raddie, co-editor of online site BSNews. The announcement on US strategy in Afghanistan comes as Donald Trump shakes up his inner circle: chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has become the latest to head for the exit. The US military said that in a matter of days additional US troops could be deployed to Afghanistan, following President Trump’s speech on a new strategy for the region. The first new deployments of American military personnel will happen "pretty quickly," Gen. Joseph ...
Trump’s Afghanistan Escalation Will Add to Massive War Costs
Post Date: 2017-08-24 05:49:50 by Ada
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Exact Costs of War Are Huge, But Not Well Documented With his Monday speech committing to the US to a continuation and escalation of the Afghan War, an already major increase in military spending for 2018 looks like it might be growing even more to cover the added expenses of a bigger conflict. There is no good figure available on the cost of the first 16 years of the US war in Afghanistan. Estimates are that $1 trillion has been spent so far, between direct spending on the war itself and medical costs for Afghan War veterans. That’s likely to just be a fraction of the overall cost, just for those 16 years, as the cost of caring for those veterans for decades to come will ...
Soft coup success? Wall Street and military-industrial complex run US Presidency
Post Date: 2017-08-23 08:11:32 by Ada
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Business as usual at the office of the US Presidency. Now that Steve Bannon is out, and Trump’s non-interventionist, America first advisors have been picked off one by one, a Goldman Sachs/Military Generals US run White House is gearing up for more war, starting with Afghanistan. Neocons like Lindsey Graham and John McCain are ecstatic… The mainstream liberal media is so happy with the Afghanistan ramp up they refused to lay down any criticism of a “Trump decision”…which is rare indeed, considering the liberal media finds fault in just about anything Trump says or does. To get a better understanding of what is really going on in Washington DC, Mike Krieger ...
Two CIA Contractors Successfully Sued for “Black Site” Torture
Post Date: 2017-08-23 07:44:08 by Ada
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Hired psychologists devised "enhanced interrogation techniques” to break prisoners. Given the intense media coverage over Charlottesville, a recent small headline largely escaped notice, but it could have a major impact on how Americans come to terms with the excesses that developed from the “global war on terror.” For the first time, several individuals closely associated with the CIA torture program were about to become answerable in a court of law for “legally aiding and abetting and/or factually aiding and abetting torture,” forcing the government to intervene and come to a settlement of the case. It is surprising that it has taken this long to reach ...
Trump May Not Finish His Term But the Assassination Complex Will Live On
Post Date: 2017-08-22 12:45:58 by Ada
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Donald Trump’s speech on Afghanistan will briefly turn the media spotlight onto America’s longest war. Much of the media analysis will undoubtedly be about how the speech impacts Trump politically. Given the events of the past week, it seems unlikely that Democratic pundits will repeat their inane praise of the State of the Union address, in which Trump apparently became presidential for the first time. But this speech should serve as a moment to seriously examine the trajectory of the U.S. war machine from 9/11 to the present. Amid the deluge of scandal, incompetence, and bigotry emanating from the Trump White House, the relative calm of the Obama era seems like a far-off ...
Sen. Rand Paul: 16 years on, it's past time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan
Post Date: 2017-08-22 07:25:28 by Ada
3 Comments
The Trump administration is increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan and, by doing so, keeping us involved even longer in a 16-year-old war that has long since gone past its time. The mission in Afghanistan has lost its purpose, and I think it is a terrible idea to send any more troops into that war. It’s time to come home now. Our war in Afghanistan began in a proper fashion. We were attacked on 9/11. The Taliban, who then controlled Afghanistan, were harboring al Qaeda, and after being warned, and after an authorization from Congress, our military executed a plan to strike back. Had I been in Congress then, I would have voted to authorize this military action. But as is ...
How the Brass Talked Another President into a Losing Strategy
Post Date: 2017-08-22 07:03:32 by Ada
2 Comments
Despite tough talk, Trump approach on Afghanistan is no different than 2009. The American people don’t like long wars with uncertain outcomes—and never have. That was true in 1953, when the U.S. accepted a stalemate and armistice with the Chinese-backed North Koreans, and it was true again in 1975, when the U.S. suffered an ignominious defeat and 58,000 dead at the hands of pajama-clad guerrillas and the North Vietnamese army. “Never fight a land war in Asia,” General Douglas MacArthur famously said, and for good reason: in both Korea and Vietnam, the enemy could be endlessly supplied and reinforced. The solution, in both cases, was to either widen the war or leave. ...
Syria: the facts on the ground
Post Date: 2017-08-20 07:26:02 by Tatarewicz
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Asia Times... Way beyond the al-Sadr-Saudi love fest, Mesopotamia and the Levant, in the post-Daesh era, are indeed unrecognizable compared to the state of play in the early 2010s. The facts on the ground in the Syrian war theater are stark. A girl looks out from a bullet-riddled bus in a rebel-held part of the southern city of Deraa, Syria July 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir A girl looks out from a bullet-riddled bus in a rebel-held part of the southern city of Deraa, Syria July 9, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Alaa Al-Faqir While the Beltway was blinded by regime change, Moscow swooped in and with a small expeditionary force turned the Middle East game upside down. While Russian jets fully ...
Its Time to Stop Supporting Our Troops: Thirty Million People Killed by U.S. Since the End of World War II
Post Date: 2017-08-16 06:15:09 by Tatarewicz
16 Comments
PMF... First published in December 2015 With the 115 year old tradition of the annual Army-Navy football classic on Saturday [December 2015], the so called Americas game and rivalry for the ages is now once again upon us. This occasion never fails to pay reverent homage to Americas so called cream of the crop elitist military academies and always from the president to celebrities Americans give tribute to our armed forces. At this time we hear that familiar patriotic mantra support our troops mindlessly repeated. So it seems appropriate now to take a cold hard look to examine what it actually means to support our troops. As both a West Point graduate and critic of the American Empire, to ...
2 US soldiers killed, 5 more wounded in possible ISIS attack in Iraq
Post Date: 2017-08-14 06:25:43 by Tatarewicz
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RT Two American soldiers have been killed and five more wounded during an operation in northern Iraq. Though the military has said they were taking part in “combat operations,” initial reports said the deaths were not from “enemy contact.” Read more © Ali Arkady/VII/Redux Iraqi forces carrying out tortures in Mosul mostly supervised by US – security official The troops were taking part in operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). "The entire counter-ISIS Coalition sends our deepest condolences to these heroes' families, friends and teammates," Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force – ...
Russian- Syrian soldiers in AIRLANDING OPERATION BEHIND ISIS LINES
Post Date: 2017-08-13 01:28:41 by Tatarewicz
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LiveLeak... Few minutes ago the Syrian media released more info about the Tiger Forces landing operation behind ISIS lines in the province of Raqqah reported earlier today. According to the report, government troops led by Tiger Forces Commander Suheil al-Hassan were transported by 4 Mi-35 attack helicopters to the eastern Raqqah countryside 21km behind the front line and Khirbet Makman village, Al-Qadir town and Bir Rahum. The Russian Aerospace Forces supported the operation providing an air cover to the advancing government troops, according to the report. This was the first ever air landing operation conducted by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) during the ongoing war. The operation ...
Food For Thought - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
Post Date: 2017-08-12 17:26:15 by Horse
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"I therefore suggest that it would be quite possible for Russia to remain a spectator of the Austro-Serbian conflict without involving Europe in the most horrible war she ever witnessed. I think a direct understanding between your Government (Russia) and Vienna possible and desirable, and my Government is continuing its exercises to promote it. Of course military measures on the part of Russia would be looked upon by Austria as a calamity we both wish to avoid and jeopardize my position as mediator which I readily accepted on your appeal to my friendship and my help. "This is the end of negotiations with America, once and for all! If Wilson wants war, let him provoke it and then ...
China To North Korea: You Hit The U.S., We’re Not Helping You
Post Date: 2017-08-12 15:42:06 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
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Via Daily Wire: China has delivered an ultimatum to North Korea: If they hit the United States, they’re on their own. The state-run Global Times wrote in an editorial, “China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral.” However, should the U.S. and South Korea strike North Korea first, then “China will prevent them from” implementing regime change in North Korea. The editorial continued:http://www.dailywire.com/news/19624/china-north-korea-you-hit-us-were-not-helping-aaron-bandler
Who’s In Charge of U.S. Nukes? Energy Secretary Rick Perry
Post Date: 2017-08-12 08:39:06 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
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August 11, 201712:30 pm In 2012, then-Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) famously forgot the Department of Energy during a debate performance in which he was listing the four federal departments he would eliminate as president. Today, he is now in charge of the Department of Energy and America’s nuclear weapons stock pile. The Department of Energy spends roughly two-thirds of the department’s $30 billion budget on maintaining the United States’ nuclear stockpile. In December, Politico reported on how crucial the Department of Energy is in maintaining the country’s nuclear stockpile. Politico reported:“The agency’s chief responsibility isn’t energy policy: ...
North Korea and the Trump AdministrationÂ’s Foreign Policy Dysfunction
Post Date: 2017-08-10 22:37:18 by bush_is_a_moonie
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Tillerson’s attempts to reassure Americans following Trump’s incendiary rhetoric on North Korea do not seem very reassuring: “I think Americans should sleep well at night, have no concerns about this particular rhetoric of the last few days,” Mr. Tillerson said as his plane stopped to refuel in Guam, the very island that North Korea threatened to target. He added, “Nothing I have seen and nothing I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours.” It is understandable that Tillerson wants to back away from the alarming rhetoric that the president used earlier this week, but this points to the key problem with the ...
Japan ready to protect Guam, defense minister says
Post Date: 2017-08-10 08:41:40 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
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Japan ready to protect Guam, defense minister saysIn the event of a North Korean nuclear attack on Guam, Japan’s new defense minister said Thursday that his country’s military could shoot down the missiles before they reach the U.S. territory.In such a scenario, Japan has the right to activate its Aegis destroyer missile defense system, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said during a session of the National Diet, Japan’s parliament.Any attack against Guam would be considered an existential threat to Japan, the defense minister said, also citing a mutual defense agreement with the United States.Japan lies only about 620 miles to the east of North Korea, which has conducted ...
McMaster: US Prepared to Launch ‘Preventative War’ Against North Korea
Post Date: 2017-08-07 04:23:43 by Ada
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Says It Doesn't Matter Much If North Korea's Missiles Actually Work Continuing to hype the threat posed by North Korea, despite their two ICBM tests being eventually conceded to both be failures, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster insisted that the US is fully prepared to launch a “preventative war” against North Korea, to prevent them threatening the US. The threat is with heavily fictionalized versions of North Korea’s missile program, but McMaster appeared undeterred about the war, saying he wasn’t going to confirm if North Korea really had missiles that could reach the US, before incredibly adding “I mean how much does that matter?” One ...
Damascus: Syrian Army Equipped with Modern Anti-Aircraft System
Post Date: 2017-08-07 02:42:35 by Tatarewicz
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TEHRAN (FNA)- A Russian media outlet reported on Sunday that the Syrian Army's anti-aircraft units have been recently equipped with a modern system that has reinvigorated security of Damascus' airspace. The Arabic-language website of Sputnik reported that the Syrian army has been equipped with a modern anti-aircraft system known as Virba shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles to target enemy flying objects in low altitude in Damascus. The website went on to say that the Virba system is equipped with an automatic control system that can identify flying objects and specify their flight path and altitude. A guided warhead working with ultra violet ray has been mounted on the ...
America Has No Enemies
Post Date: 2017-08-06 10:08:45 by Ada
5 Comments
America as a people has no enemies, none: not North Korea, not Iran, not Russia and not China. Our government says these are enemies, but they are not. Their forces are not bent on attacking us. They are not preparing to attack us, anymore than Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen were preparing to attack us. None of these countries began a war against us; but in one way or another the government claimed to see enemies and inserted our country into new battles and wars in these places. We must stop supporting the government when it invokes “national security” in situations where national security is not anywhere near being at stake. We should stop supporting our ...
US Generals Want to Extend Our Longest War
Post Date: 2017-08-05 08:04:30 by Ada
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Media reports claim President Donald Trump let loose on his generals behind closed doors, blasting them royally for their startling failures in Afghanistan, America’s longest war. The president has many faults and is a lousy judge of character. But he was absolutely right to read the riot act to the military brass for daring to ask for a very large troop and budget increase for the stalemated Afghan War that has cost $1 trillion to date. Of course, the unfortunate generals are not really to blame. They have been forced by the last three presidents to fight a pointless war at the top of the world that lacks any strategy, reason or purpose – and with limited forces. But they ...
The Most Underreported World Stories So Far This Year
Post Date: 2017-08-04 08:22:45 by Ada
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Watch the various television and cable news shows, and one will be exposed to multiple reports of–the exact same story. Day after day, night after night: the national mainstream news media regurgitates the same news stories to the American people. It’s the same song sung by a different singer; but it’s the same song. If you don’t believe that, start channel surfing the newscasts instead of watching just one network. You will hear the same stories repeated over and over again by all of the different newscasters. Wake up, folks! You are being programmed and propagandized. I have repeatedly said: the real problem with America’s news media (and churches) is not what ...
White House Looks at Afghanistan Pullout as an Option
Post Date: 2017-08-01 16:54:40 by Ada
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Military Objects to Proposed Pullout as Not Meeting War Goals After months of the Pentagon failing to sell a concrete plan of escalation to the White House, officials now say that the administration is considering getting back on track with a drawdown headed for a full pullout from the country after 16 years. This is happening for the same reason the Pentagon hasn’t been able to sell the escalations, that a number of officials are unconvinced that the escalation is going to accomplish anything, and that they don’t think there’s a clear strategy for victory. The Pentagon was more or less uniform in arguing escalations, albeit of varying sizes, and are said to be objecting ...
Lindsey Graham: Trump is prepared to strike North Korea
Post Date: 2017-08-01 10:42:41 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
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by Anna Giaritelli | Aug 1, 2017Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday that President Trump has indicated to him that the administration is prepared to strike North Korea to prevent an attack against the U.S."There is a military option to destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself," Graham said on NBC about potential plans to respond to North Korea's increasingly offensive posture. "If there's going to be a war to stop him [Kim Jong Un], it will be over there. If thousands die, they're going to die over there, they're not going to die here and he's [Trump] told me that to my ...
America at war since 9/11 Reality or reality TV?
Post Date: 2017-08-01 06:50:12 by Tatarewicz
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Le Monde diplomatique The headlines arrive in my inbox day after day: “U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria killed hundreds of civilians, U.N. panel says.” “Pentagon wants to declare more parts of world as temporary battlefields.” “The U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.” There are so many wars and rumors of war involving our country these days that it starts to feel a little unreal, even for the most devoted of news watchers. And for many Americans, it’s long been that way. For them, the meaning of war is closer to reality TV than it is to reality. On a June day, you could, for instance, open the New York Times and read ...
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