Imperial Hubris

Students say they will continue protesting ‘war criminal’ David Petraeus

"Students at the City University of New York have said they will continue protesting against David Petraeus and pledged to 'make his time in New York a living hell' after a video emerged showing the former general being hounded as he left the university on Monday. Petraeus, who served as commanding general in Iraq, overseeing all coalition forces in the country, is teaching a course titled 'Are We On the Threshold of the North American Decade?' Hunter College professor Sandor John, who helped organise the protest, told CNN that 'a lot of our students are from countries that have been targeted by the United States'. He added: 'We don’t want someone like him on campus.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudents say they will continue protesting ‘war criminal’ David Petraeus

South Korean troops kill man trying to swim North

"South Korean troops shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea on Monday after he ignored repeated warnings to turn back, the defence ministry said. The spokesman said Nam was believed to have been trying to defect to the North, and had jumped into the river with a flotation device to help him get across. Hours before the shooting, hundreds of South Korean factory supervisors drove across a nearby border crossing into North Korea after both sides agreed to reopen a joint industrial zone shut down in April." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth Korean troops kill man trying to swim North

Pat Buchanan: Putin ‘Made A Better Case’ Than Obama On Syria

"Conservative pundit Patrick Buchanan says Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times is an 'outstanding piece' that 'made a better case against U.S. strikes in Syria' than President Obama has done in arguing for U.S. strikes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPat Buchanan: Putin ‘Made A Better Case’ Than Obama On Syria

The People Say No To War

"What happened? The people happened. Public-opinion polls showed at once that most of us do not want Obama to commit an act of war against Syria. Furthermore, the people inundated Congress with calls and emails. Because of this (and in some cases personal conviction), most members of Congress also do not want war with Syria. Obama got the message: he was heading for sure defeat in the House of Representatives and perhaps in the Senate. He couldn’t bear the prospect of rebuff. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave him a graceful way out. Because the people didn’t want war, when a possible diplomatic solution arose, Obama had to go for it. The people gave him no choice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe People Say No To War

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for U.S. attacks and economic boycott

"'We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,' Zawahiri said according to the SITE translation. 'And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,' he added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAl-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for U.S. attacks and economic boycott

U.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers

"The U.S. use of drones in the 'war on terror' includes what is called a 'double tap,' meaning sending a second drone to the same area, in what amounts to targeting rescuers who are responding to the first attack. This isn’t new, not the action nor the reporting. What does it tell us, that 'double tapping' continues, about the decisions of the Obama administration, and the reactions, or lack thereof, from the U.S. public? Michael Kelly’s conclusion that the fact that double tapping 'is now normalized as a common tactic of the U.S. drone war is stunning' seems accurate to me. But I’m also not stunned that more people aren’t stunned by this 'normalcy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers

A Rogue State and Failed Social Visions

"We are always getting New Freedoms, New Frontiers, Fair Deals, New Deals, Square Deals, Wars on Drugs, Wars to End All Wars, Wars to Make the World Safe for Democracy, Global Wars on Terror, and Wars on Poverty. We are always getting social visions enacted with names like Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Defense of Marriage Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Iraq Liberation Act. There’s no getting around it. The U.S. is a rogue state domestically as well as in its international affairs. These are two sides of the same belief system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Rogue State and Failed Social Visions

Report: Half of Syrian rebels are hardline jihadists or Al-Qaeda operatives

"Of the rebel forces, IHS Jane’s estimates that around 10,000 are jihadists fighting for groups linked to Al-Qaeda and another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists, who differ from jihadists in that they are concentrated only on the Syrian conflict, and not on the global Islamist fight. 'The insurgency is now dominated by groups which have at least an Islamist viewpoint on the conflict,' Charles Lister, author of the analysis, told the British newspaper. 'The idea that it is mostly secular groups leading the opposition is just not borne out. [..] If the West looks as though it is not interested in removing Assad, moderate Islamists are also likely to be pushed further towards extremists,' he warned." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReport: Half of Syrian rebels are hardline jihadists or Al-Qaeda operatives

Eric Margolis: Obama, Don’t Play Chess With KGB

"Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize should be rescinded and given, instead, to Vladimir Putin. Add a warning to Obama’s amateur foreign policy advisors: 'don’t play chess with the KGB!' In fact, Obama, who rudely snubbed former KGB agent Putin recently, owes Russia’s leader a 'Bolshi Spaseba' (big thanks) for pulling his bacon out of the fire in Syria. Putin brilliantly demonstrated to the world the difference between diplomacy and force, the rapier versus the cudgel." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: Obama, Don’t Play Chess With KGB

It’s official. America’s Suez moment has arrived

"Britain had once been the dominant power in the world. But years of unsustainable finances and economic decline changed all of that. By the end of World War II, Britain was nearly bankrupt. But reality hadn’t set in yet. They still saw themselves as a superpower. British policymakers were still at the peace table. They helped set up the UN, divide up Germany, and even influence the new global financial system at Bretton Woods. Reality finally hit during the Suez Crisis. It became clear that the UK no longer had the economic fortitude or international standing to do as it pleased. And with the US opposed to the invasion of Egypt, the British government had no choice but to withdraw." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt’s official. America’s Suez moment has arrived