military industrial complex

4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

"Civil libertarians rightly point to Obama’s reversals on expanding warrantless surveillance; the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects; military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay; prosecuting whistleblowers; and embracing an expensive definition of the war on terrorism’s executive powers. But there’s little evidence that Obama will change course. The evidence is staring everyone in the face. Obama has elevated a practice of stealthy robotic warfare to the tactic of choice for U.S. security priorities, and built around it a system that operates it practically on bureaucratic inertia." Continue reading →

Continue Reading4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

Paul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again

"Washington is controlled by powerful interest groups, not by elections. What the two parties fight over is not alternative political visions and different legislative agendas, but which party gets to be the whore for Wall Street, the military-security complex, Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and energy, mining, and timber interests. Being the whore is important, because whores are rewarded for the services that they render. To win the White House or a presidential appointment is a career-making event as it makes a person sought after by rich and powerful interest groups. What is curious is that voters don’t understand how politics really works." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again

Taliban urge Obama to pull troops out now

"Taliban insurgents told re-elected President Barack Obama to admit that the United States has lost the war in Afghanistan and pull its troops out now. 'Obama must by now know that they have lost the war in Afghanistan,' spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on the Islamists’ website. 'So, without further lying and delays, they should leave our sacred land and focus on their own country instead.' Accusing Americans of committing war crimes, he added: 'The American administration should stop acting like police in the world and focus on solving their own people’s problems, and don’t make the world hate Americans even more.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTaliban urge Obama to pull troops out now

Obama Bombs Yemen Hours After Winning Reelection

"Not even a full day had passed before newly reelected President Obama ordered another drone strike in Yemen. 'A U.S. drone strike targeted a group of al-Qaida militants on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday night, killing at least three terrorists, government officials said.' The drone war violates both domestic and international law, and the Obama administration’s vehement disdain for transparency in government is the only thing keeping it from public and legal scrutiny. Beyond the law, it’s terrorism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Bombs Yemen Hours After Winning Reelection

Julian Assange says victorious Obama ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’

" WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday described re-elected President Barack Obama was a 'wolf in sheep’s clothing' and said he expected the US government to keep attacking the anti-secrecy website. Speaking to AFP by telephone from Ecuador’s London embassy, where he sought asylum in June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations, Assange said Obama’s victory was no cause for celebration. 'Obama seems to be a nice man, and that is precisely the problem,' the 41-year-old Australian told AFP, after the president defeated Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday night." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJulian Assange says victorious Obama ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’

Pakistani flagmakers may see boost in sales after Obama victory spurs more effigies

"Demonstrations against Washington’s programme of missile strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants are common in Pakistan, and no protest is complete without a Stars and Stripes being sent up in flames. Nadeem Shah, the owner of a flag business in Rawalpindi, the twin city of the capital Islamabad, said he expected more drone strikes — and more protests. In Rawalpindi, US flags start at around 120 rupees ($1.25) but in Nadeem Shah’s shop 1,500 rupees will get you a three-square-metre number in cloth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPakistani flagmakers may see boost in sales after Obama victory spurs more effigies

Support for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

"It wasn’t so long ago that the following statement could only appear in a dystopian novel or movie script. The U.S. President has killed an American citizen without due process, without even charging him with a crime. His decision to do this has been challenged by members of neither party. While the media-fueled frenzy goes on about how supposedly different Romney and the conservatives are from Obama and the liberals, no one even raises an eyebrow about this terrifying political development. Not even the left, which quite correctly howled at the Bush administrations’ assaults on freedom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupport for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

Pentagon to end exclusive deal with RIM’s Blackberry

"The US military and intelligence agencies have long preferred the Blackberry due to security concerns and had worried that Apple, Android and other smart phones lacked sufficient safeguards. The Canadian firm RIM has struggled to compete against the iPhone and devices that use Google’s Android system. Questions remain as to whether companies other than Blackberry can meet the strict encryption criteria employed by intelligence services within the Defense Department, including the eavesdropping National Security Agency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon to end exclusive deal with RIM’s Blackberry

The Police-State’s Fascist Strength

"1) WidePoint Corporation has been awarded ... contract to provide mobile Telecom Expense Management Services (TEMS) to the TSA. ... approximately $33 million dollars.... 2) 'L-3 Communications Beats Estimates—Key contract wins during the quarter included ... explosives detection and advanced imaging technology systems to the TSA. Funded order backlog was $11.0 billion. 3) Morpho Detection, Inc. received a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the TSA with a maximum value of $528 million. And this is just one day's gleaning from my Google Alert on the TSA!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Police-State’s Fascist Strength

GDP Was Strong in Q3; Why Did That Happen?

"Weaponized Keynesianism happened. Government defense expenditures surged by 13 percent between July and August. The Pentagon spent significantly more on weapons, training, operations, and maintenance. (Ammunition purchases, for instance, doubled.) Had these expenditures not occurred last quarter, the U.S. economy would have grown at a mere 1.36 percent, instead of 2.0 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGDP Was Strong in Q3; Why Did That Happen?