Middle East

At Guantánamo, a Death Penalty Case Without a Death Penalty Lawyer

"The judge’s departure from the rules, which require learned counsel at every part of a capital prosecution, is inexplicable. Even beyond the binding military commission rules, the American Bar Association’s guidelines for capital cases have long explained that the unique and complex labyrinth of capital trial preparation and investigation requires qualified death penalty counsel represent the defendant at every stage of the proceedings. Nonetheless, Judge Spath suggested that the junior defense counsel should, alone, stand in the place of learned counsel and a team with deep knowledge of the voluminous issues that the case raises."

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Is Trump Going to Lie Our Way Into War With Iran?

"Americans aren’t exactly itching for a new war. (A majority, in fact, believes the country would be better off staying in the nuclear deal with Iran.) So how can the Trump administration build a case for a pre-emptive strike? Those claims of a nefarious alliance with Al Qaeda might help."

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Pentagon tried to block report on child sex among Afghan forces

"The Pentagon tried to block an independent assessment of child sex abuse crimes committed by Afghan soldiers and police, instead insisting on the creation of its own report offering a far less authoritative review of human rights violations perpetrated by U.S. allies, according to an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Afghan security personnel have been known to recruit young boys as servants, sometimes to use for sex. There is a broader practice in Afghan society to dress some boys as women and have them dance at gatherings. Known as bacha bazi, it was banned under the Taliban but revived after the U.S. invasion in 2001."

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Pentagon to Admit to 2,000 Ground Troops in Syria

"US officials said on Friday that the Pentagon is expected to confirm concern that there are 'about 2,000' US ground troops in Syria, a major increase from the roughly 500 that they officially claim is the case. The US has overtly lied about troop levels in Syria consistently throughout their deployment. President Trump has made a point of troop levels needing to be kept secret from 'the enemy,' but consistent lies from the Pentagon about their deployments have made the figures less a closely guarded secret than a mockery of transparency."

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Iran supreme leader is ‘new Hitler’ says Saudi crown prince

"Saudi Arabia’s crown prince this week called Iran’s supreme leader the 'new Hitler of the Middle East.' Salman also told The New York Times the war in Yemen was 'going in its favor.' The war, which has raged since 2015, has pitted a Saudi-led coalition backed by the U.S. against the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ousted president. The war has left over 10,000 people dead, driven 3 million from their homes and destroyed the country’s already fragile infrastructure."

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Ron Paul: Why Are We Helping Saudi Arabia Destroy Yemen?

"We are told that US foreign policy should reflect American values. So how can Washington support Saudi Arabia – a tyrannical state with one of the worst human rights record on earth – as it commits by what any measure is a genocide against the Yemeni people? US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s crimes against Yemen is a national disgrace. That the mainstream media fails to accurately cover this genocide is shameful. Let us join our voices now to demand that our US Representatives end US involvement in Yemen immediately!"

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Saudi Arabia agrees to ease Yemen blockade, facing mass starvation warnings

"Around seven million people are living on the brink of famine and four million have no access to clean water. Save the Children estimates that even before the blockade began around 130 children were dying each day and that more than 50,000 will have died by the end of 2017. The Saudi-led military coalition has also been bombing the Houthis for more than two years in support of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government, but there is no end in sight to the fighting. Both the US and UK have supported the Saudi-led coalition with logistics and intelligence, despite accusations that the coalition was guilty of war crimes for bombing civilian targets."

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Purged Saudi royals must cough up 70% of their wealth to be freed

"Riyadh seems to have found the way to curb the budget deficit caused by lower oil prices. As the Financial Times report, Saudi officials are offering the arrested royals a deal – pay up to 70 percent of your wealth and go free. The Saudi government could appropriate hundreds of billions of dollars from the arrested to refill depleted state reserves, according to the media."

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James Corbett: The Saudi Purge is a Global Crisis

"The House of Saud is in crisis as MBS consolidates his hold on the kingdom and prepares to transform Saudi Arabia in his image. But what is behind the purge, and how does it relate to the future of the world monetary system. Join James for a classic Corbett Report debriefing on the Saudi purge and the rise of the petroyuan."

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