Winning Hearts & Minds

UN to investigate civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes

"The United Nations is to set up a dedicated investigations unit in Geneva to examine the legality of drone attacks in cases where civilians are killed in so-called ‘targeted’ counter-terrorism operations. The announcement was made by Ben Emmerson QC, a UN special rapporteur, in a speech to Harvard law school in which he condemned secret rendition and waterboarding as crimes under international law. His forthright comments, directed at both US presidential candidates, will be seen as an explicit challenge to the prevailing US ideology of the global war on terror." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN to investigate civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes

US ‘Secret’ Drone Base and Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy

"It is from this massive, 500 acre base run by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), that virtually all the non-Afghan war drones are launched. It is the center of the US drone war against al-Qaeda (except for those al-Qaeda elements in Libya and Syria with which the US administration is allied -- think of those as Eastasia). Appropriately, the base, called Camp Lemonnier, is located on grounds used earlier by the French Foreign Legion -- the non-French arm of the French military used to keep the French colonial empire in line. In Lemonnier we see both under one roof cash to those who do what they are told and drones for those who do not." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS ‘Secret’ Drone Base and Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy

Former cricket captain turned politician Imran Khan detained and ‘interrogated over drone views’ by U.S. immigration

"Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain turned politician, was taken off an international flight from Canada to New York and questioned by US immigration officials over his views on drone strikes and jihad. Khan, who has been at the forefront of a high-profile campaign as leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (PTI) to end US drone strikes in northern Pakistan, had been in Canada to give a speech and was on his way to a fundraising dinner in the US on Friday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer cricket captain turned politician Imran Khan detained and ‘interrogated over drone views’ by U.S. immigration

Obama Supporters Actually Hate Obama’s Policies

"Luke Rudkowski hits the streets of NYC to find out where Obama supporters really stand on his policies. Now he did this in an underhanded way where the policies where presented to be Romney's, but this was only done to get an honest opinion. The reactions when the truth was uncovered varied but they were very telling to say the least." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Supporters Actually Hate Obama’s Policies

The most powerful person in the global economy

"The most powerful person will soon be the president of the European Central Bank, the Italian banker Mario Draghi. In the last few weeks, we have seen an extraordinary expansion of the European Central Bank’s powers. It can now set interest rates, control financial markets, and effectively dictate tax and spending policies across what remains — despite its current difficulties — the world’s largest single economic bloc. But history suggests that when you concentrate too much power in a single pair of hands, and even worse when the person who wields that power is not limited by any form of accountability, the results are catastrophic." Continue reading →

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President Romney Can Thank Obama for His Permanent Robotic Death List

"It’s a good thing that Mitt Romney endorsed President Obama’s counterterrorism agenda. Should he win the election in two weeks, Romney will inherit an institutionalized, bureaucratic machine for using lethal robots to target and kill suspected terrorists and their allies. Killing Osama bin Laden was a one-time event; this 'Disposition Matrix' is Barack Obama’s real national-security legacy. Despite bin Laden’s death and the supposed disruption of al-Qaida’s old leadership, the Matrix keeps adding names, as fast or faster than the drones drop bodies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPresident Romney Can Thank Obama for His Permanent Robotic Death List

Glenn Greenwald: Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent

"What has been created here - permanently institutionalized - is a highly secretive executive branch agency that simultaneously engages in two functions: (1) it collects and analyzes massive amounts of surveillance data about all Americans without any judicial review let alone search warrants, and (2) creates and implements a 'matrix' that determines the 'disposition' of suspects, up to and including execution, without a whiff of due process or oversight. It is simultaneously a surveillance state and a secretive, unaccountable judicial body that analyzes who you are and then decrees what should be done with you, how you should be 'disposed' of." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent

UK to double number of drones in Afghanistan

"The UK is to double the number of armed RAF 'drones' flying combat and surveillance operations in Afghanistan and, for the first time, the aircraft will be controlled from terminals and screens in Britain. Pilots based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire will fly the recently bought American-made UAVs at a hi-tech hub built on the site in the past 18 months. The most recent figures from the Ministry of Defence show that, by the end of September, the UK’s five Reapers in Afghanistan had flown 39,628 hours and fired 334 laser-guided Hellfire missiles and bombs at suspected insurgents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK to double number of drones in Afghanistan