Connect The Dots – The Whistleblower’s View – 01.10.18

The Whistleblower’s View: Listen to Lisa Ling, a former military technological expert who was featured in the documentary, National Bird, discussing drone warfare, militarism, and the future of democracy with Alison Rose Levy.   Download this episode (right click and save)

Stephen Lendman – US Warplanes Kill Defecting ISIS Field Commanders

On Sunday, Fars News said US warplanes killed 27 ISIS field commanders – 26 in a bombing raid on a Raqqa, Syria command center, the sole survivor eliminated separately. According to Fars, they “sought to break allegiance with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the…main (ISIS) ringleader, a move (looked on as) surprising (and) suspicious.” It’s more evidence of ISIS in disarray since …

Russia Intercepts Israeli Jets; Threatens Shootdown: Report

According to reports by Lebanese, Iranian, and Israeli media, the Russian Air Force recently intercepted Israeli aircraft flying over Lebanon near the Syrian border. The reports coming from these news sources claim that the Russians informed the Israelis that they were approaching Russian-controlled airspace and that they would be shot down if they did not change course. The Israelis complied. …

Pepe Escobar – Dr. Strangelove is naked

The whole Global South is now informed about how the Russian campaign in Syria has swiftly smashed all of ‘Exceptionalistan’s’ elaborate plans for a “Greater Middle East.” These plans span everything from the Wolfowitz Doctrine to Dr. Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s categorical imperative of preventing the emergence of a strategic competitor across Eurasia. But the subtext is even more intriguing: …

Stephen Lendman – Russia’s First Week in Waging a “Real” War on Terror. 112 Targets Struck. ISIS Forces Retreating

In over a year of Washington’s phony war on ISIS, they’re stronger with more territory than when US bombing began – targeting Syrian and Iraqi infrastructure, not terrorist forces or facilities. On September 30, things changed markedly. Washington wants no interference in its policies. Putin’s intervention leveled the playing field. ISIS forces are panicking, retreating, hiding in residential areas and …

Stephen Lendman – British SAS Special Forces “Dressed Up as ISIS Rebels” Fighting Assad in Syria

On August 2, Britain’s Sunday Express newspaper headlined “SAS dress as ISIS fighters in undercover war on jihadis,” saying: “More than 120 members belonging to the elite regiment are currently in the war-torn country” covertly “dressed in black and flying ISIS flags,” engaged in what’s called Operation Shader – attacking Syrian targets on the pretext of combatting ISIS. Maybe covert …

Burglars use drone helicopters to target homes – David Barrett

Unmanned drones are being piloted over private homes by burglars in a bid to identify potential targets, police have confirmed. Detectives fear the mini-helicopters, which can be bought for as little as £30, are being deployed to take surveillance photographs from above, posing a brand new threat to home security. Suffolk Constabulary confirmed it had received at least one report …

We’re Citizens, Not Subjects. We Have the Right to Criticize Government without Fear – Chelsea Manning

When freedom of information and transparency are stifled, then bad decisions are often made and heartbreaking tragedies occur – too often on a breathtaking scale that can leave societies wondering: how did this happen? Think about the recent debates on torture, assassination by unmanned aircraft, secret warrants and detentions, intelligence and surveillance courts, military commissions, immigration detention centers and the …

Obama Secretly Loosened Standards for Drone Killings in Pakistan – Sarah Lazare

While publicly vaunting drone strike reforms allegedly aimed at minimizing civilian deaths, President Barack Obama secretly loosened the standards for covert attacks in Pakistan, likely paving the way for the killing and wounding of an unknown number of non-combatants, the Wall Street Journal revealed Sunday. The news follows last week’s revelation that CIA drone strikes in January killed one U.S. and one Italian hostage in …