Nicole Colson – The Mediterranean Has Become a Cemetery

With little mention in the media, a grim milestone was passed off the southern shores of Europe last month. With the death toll of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea already surpassing all of last year, 2016 has become the deadliest year on record for those fleeing the violence, poverty and horror of their home countries in the hope of finding …

Nick Turse – Mission Impossible Keeping Track of U.S. Special Ops in Africa

Sometimes the real news is in the details — or even in the discrepancies. Take, for instance, missions by America’s most elite troops in Africa. It was September 2014. The sky was bright and clear and ice blue as the camouflage-clad men walked to the open door and tumbled out into nothing. One moment members of the U.S. 19th Special Forces Group …

Trade Officials Promised Exxon That TTIP Will Erase Environmental ‘Obstacles’ Worldwide

Newly released documents show that, in back-room talks, European officials assured ExxonMobil that the pending US-EU trade agreement would force the removal of regulatory “obstacles” worldwide, thus opening up even more countries to exploitation by the fossil fuel empire. Heavily redacted documents pertaining to an October 2013 meeting, obtained by the Guardian and reportedon Tuesday, reveal that then-trade commissioner Karel de Gucht met …

James Jordan – Nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to say: How the broad climate movement has failed us

January 13, 2016 – Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal – It has been a month since the UN climate summit in Paris, aka COP 21. One might expect the kind of ebb and flow we often see in popular movements. Interest in climate issues, the cause of the day during the summit, might be expected to wane and move to the …

Peter Symonds – CSIS report: A blueprint for US war with China

A major new report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has laid out detailed plans for the Pentagon’s preparations for war in Asia. The report, entitled “Asia-Pacific Rebalance 2025: Capabilities, Presence, and Partnerships,” examines the range of threats to US dominance in Asia, but there is no doubt that its chief preoccupation and target is China. …