After a decade of waging long-distance war through their video screens, America’s drone operators are burning out, and the Air Force is being forced to cut back on the flights even as military and intelligence officials are demanding more of them over intensifying combat zones in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The Air Force plans to trim the flights by the armed surveillance drones to 60 a day by …
The Dark Saudi-Israeli Plot to Tip the Scales in Syria – Colin Hallnan
A quiet meeting this past March in Saudi Arabia, and a recent anonymous leak from the Israeli military, set the stage for what may be a new and wider war in the Middle East. Gathering in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, newly crowned Saudi King Salman, and the organizer of the get-together, the emir …
EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Clinton sold out Honduras: Lanny Davis, corporate cash, and the real story about the death of a Latin American democracy – MATTHEW PULVER
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, considered by some to be the only real threat to Hillary Clinton, has joined Sen. Bernie Sanders to be the only two challengers to the former secretary of state. Republicans, whose seemingly limitless field seems poised for a “Hunger Games”-esque cage match, worry that a Clinton cakewalk through the primaries will leave her relatively unscathed …
Kaplan’s Cure for the Middle East: Imperialism By Amitabh Pal
The solution to the current mess in the Middle East is to bring back imperialism—that’s what an influential foreign policy thinker is straight-facedly claiming. Robert Kaplan has been dispensing advice for decades on how to manage the world, and his words have often been heeded. In the mid-1990s, his book Balkan Ghosts apparently helped convince President Clinton that not much could be …
War leaves 16 million Yemenis without clean water: Oxfam
Almost two-thirds of the population of war-torn Yemen have no access to clean water, two months into the Saudi-led air campaign against rebel forces, relief agency Oxfam said Tuesday. “Ongoing air strikes, ground fighting and fuel shortages mean that an additional three million Yemenis are now without drinking water, raising the total number of Yemenis without a clean water supply …
2015 Memorial Day: Praying for Peace While Waging Permanent War? – Bill Quigley
Memorial Day is, by federal law, a day of prayer for permanent peace. But is it possible to honestly pray for peace while our country is far and away number one in the world in waging war, military presence, military spending and the sale of weapons around the world? Permanent War Since 1980 the US has engaged in aggressive military action in …
Obama Winks at Terrorist Gains – Gareth Porter
News media coverage of the Camp David summit between President Barack Obama and Gulf Cooperation Council members has focused largely on Obama’s success in getting the GCC States to go along with the negotiation of a nuclear agreement with Iran. But the much more consequential story of the summit is Obama’s decision not to confront Saudi Arabia and Qatar about …
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 …
Not ISIS – Saudi Arabia Prepares to Execute and Publicly Display Beheaded Body of Political Activist in “Crucifixion” – Michael Krieger
One of the ways that the U.S. government most clearly expresses its deep dedication to global human rights, democracy and decency across the globe is via its unwavering support for the feudal, inhumane tyrannical monarchy of Saudi Arabia. A monarchy that also increasingly seems to have played a key role in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Saudis have received a lot of bad …
“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 …