Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “The Pentagon”
Facing the gleaming Doha skyline on a Persian Gulf winter carries the merit of a panoramic perspective. Most nations around it are going into melt down and the remaining ones – with the exception of Iran – exhibit neither the political leadership nor the economic and institutional infrastructure to do anything other than to meekly accept whatever tsunami hits their shores. They …
President Obama’s pledge to pursue “audacious” executive action during his final year in office is stirring a frenzy of speculation about what he might have up his sleeve. White House chief of staff Denis McDonough this week said “audacious” executive actions on tap for 2016 are being carefully crafted to “make sure the steps we have taken are ones we can …
s the wars of the world rage on into 2016, the powder keg now appears to be ‘Syraq’ and not Ukraine. One day, perhaps too late, we as a country will recognize that some of our ‘friends’ are our ‘enemies,’ and some of our ‘enemies’ are really our allies. But as long as we pursue the politics of Saudi Arabia …
Just days before Saudi Arabia performed a mass execution of 47 people, including four pro-democracy protesters; the US approved tens of millions in military contracts to the Saudi government. The contracts include $24 million to Raytheon Company for equipment relating to Patriot missiles, $12 million to Advanced Electronics Co. for electronics updates to F-15 fighter jets, and tens of millions …
Bad things happen when the Pentagon tries to run itself like a business. ifty-four years ago, the brand-new Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara thought he could bring Pentagon spending on everyday items under control by applying efficiencies he had used to help turn around Ford Motor Co. Instead, he created a monster. McNamara’s creation, known as the Defense Logistics …
The death of six US soldiers in Afghanistan on December 21 at the hands of a Taliban suicide bomber brings to 21 the number of US combat deaths there in 2015. Once again we must confront the question of national purpose in waging war without debate or declaration. Like all other battlefield deaths in the Middle East, the Obama administration …
“The funding to continue the war against ISIL is an authorization of force against ISIL, albeit a quiet one, designed not to attract public attention.” Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare, Dec 17, 2015 Money is raining down on the US military complex in the $1.15 trillionspending bill that was unveiled on Wednesday by various leaders of Congress. Of that portion, a good $572.7 billion is …
There is “strong” evidence that the U.S. military attack on a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan two months ago constituted a criminal act, and should be investigated as such, Human Rights Watch said Monday in a letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter(pdf). “The attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz involved possible war crimes,” said the …
The increase in the level of terrorist activities of ISIL in Afghanistan has recently been the topic of various reports being published in the international media. Along with the massacre of the local population which seems to be a trademark of this Islamist group it has recently entered in a direct confrontation with the Taliban. It’s now safe to assume …
The New York Times reported last week that climate change is forcing environmental researchers to seek cold-water refuges for imperiled salmon. This raises an obvious question for Republican candidates in the US presidential race: how do we ensure no Muslim salmon are swimming among the pink refugees? Clearly, we need a religious test for lox. The idea is absurd, of course. Climate change …
