The United States is “likely” to significantly boost its already astronomical military aid to Israel, Reutersreported Thursday. Citing an anonymous U.S. official, journalist Dan Williams wrote that, after the $3 billion annual military aid package expires in 2017, this amount could be raised to $3.6 to $3.7 a year. An unidentified Israeli official pegged this post-2017 amount between $3.5 billion and $4 …
Blocking a Nuclear-Free Mideast – Paul R. Pillar
Last week, the latest quinquennial review conference for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) ended as a failure, without issuing a formal statement or report. The single biggest snag concerned whether to call for the convening of a conference on a Middle Eastern nuclear weapons free zone (MENWFZ). Fingers of blame were pointed in various directions, including at Egypt for pushing some …
What Major University Charges $71K a Year and Epitomizes Corporatism and Self-Dealing? – Michael Arria
A new report [3] released by members of New York University’s faculty shows that NYU gouges students to raise billions for real-estate transactions and compensation packages for its top executives. Concerned about the economic situation of many students, the professors spent an entire academic year interviewing people and researching the school’s finances. They discovered that NYU students pay the highest tuition in the …
Wahhabis go nuclear — literally – Pepe Escobar
The serious possibility of a nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 is only a few weeks away – onJune 30. So guess what the terminally paranoid House of Saud is up to: Lay their hands on a nuclear bomb to counteract the non-existent “Iranian bomb”, which Tehran, via Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, has consistently abhorred as un-Islamic, and wouldn’t …
Israel’s Plan to Kill Lebanese Civilians – Jonathan Marshall
It’s a rare and remarkable event when a government broadcasts ahead of time its intent to commit war crimes. Yet that’s just what senior Israeli military officials recently did in the pages of The New York Times. Israeli military officials gave friendly Times correspondent Isabel Kershner a provocative briefing, warning (in her words) that in the “almost inevitable next battle with Hezbollah . . . many Lebanese …
US press blacks out Israeli defense minister’s citation of ‘Nagasaki and Hiroshima’ as model for dealing with – Iran Philip Weiss
This is a story about the media blackout of important information about Israel: that their leaders are seriously misguided. Two weeks ago, Electronic Intifada reported public comments by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in which he cited Hiroshima and Nagasaki as role models in responding to Iran. Ya’alon suggested that Israel might have to nuke Iran in order to prevent a long …
The U.N. at 70: Is It Still Fit for the Purpose? – Julia Rainer
Events are being organised around the world to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, but a recent seminar held in the Austrian capital was not held to applaud the body’s past contributions. Rather, the 45th International Peace Institute (IPI) Seminar, held from May 6 to 7, saw representatives from the political, NGO, media and military sectors come …
“First Strike” Attack against Iran? Washington’s “Missile Defense” Deal with the Gulf Monarchies – Bruce Gagnon
This is what it has all come down to…. the US and the corrupt, dictatorial Gulf monarchies meeting at Camp David Thursday and agreeing on a plan to flood the Middle East with ‘missile defense’ (MD) systems. These Gulf monarchies are the essential allies of the US in the world now (in addition to a few other fascist-leaning nations). Together …
U.S. Hosts Arms Bazaar at White House Arab Summit – Thalif Deen
When the United States sells billions of dollars in sophisticated arms to Arab nations, they are conditioned on two key factors: no weapons with a qualitative military edge over Israel will ever be sold to the Arabs, nor will they receive any weapons that are not an integral part of the U.S. arsenal. But against the backdrop of a White …
CONFIRMED: US “Operation Rooms” Backing Al Qaeda in Syria – Tony Cartalucci
US policy think-tank Brookings Institution confirms that contrary to propaganda, US-Saudi “moderates” and Turkey-Qatar “Islamists” have been coordinating all along. The war in Syria continues to drag on, with a recent and renewed vigor demonstrated behind an opposition long portrayed as fractured and reflecting a myriad of competing foreign interests. Chief among these competing interests, the public has been told, …