25 Apr 2015
23 Jan 2015
'American Sniper' Has Incited Death Threats and Racism
As controversy rages over American Sniper, many supporters of the movie have suggested that it's apolitical and shouldn't be construed as supportive of war or bigotry; that it's merely a character study of a tortured soldier. The problem with that analysis is that the film isn't focused on a group of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or the difficulties with being reacquainted with civilian life, or the inadequacies of the Veterans Administration.
The movie is about Chris Kyle, a remorseless sniper who said his job was “fun” and wished he could return to Iraq to fight even more, and who made millions of dollars and gained worldwide fame writing about his exploits. If anything, Kyle is the absolute worst soldier one could pick to talk about soldiers coming home and our need to take care of them. The way he wrote and talked about his time in Iraq, one would think the war was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Critics of American Sniper's portrayal of Chris Kyle have received a torrent of death threats, even calls for decapitation, and the film has spawned an outpouring of anti-Muslim bigotry on social media.
16 Oct 2014
The Disturbing Expansion of the Military-Industrial Complex
Unfortunately instead of putting more energy into providing help for E.U. citizens and others, we are witnessing the growing militarisation of Europe, its role as a driving force for armament and its dangerous path, under the leadership of the United States/NATO, towards a new ‘cold’ war and military aggression.
The European Union and many of its countries, which used to take initiatives in the United Nations for peaceful settlements of conflict, are now one of the most important war assets of the U.S./NATO front. Many countries have also been drawn into complicity in breaking international law through U.S./U.K./NATO wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on.
The whole of civilisation is now facing a challenge with the growth of what President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) warned the U.S. people against – the military/industrial complex – saying that it would destroy U.S. democracy. (Full speech here)
We know now that a small group made up of the military/industrial/media/corporate/academic elite, whose agenda is profit, arms, war and valuable resources, now holds power worldwide and has a stronghold on elected governments. We see this in the gun and Israeli lobbies, among others, which wield great power over U.S. politics.
19 Aug 2014
Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization
In the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, John Oliver explores the racial inequality in treatment by police as well as the increasing militarization of America’s local police forces.
23 Apr 2014
Ethnic cleansing by the British
The ethnic cleansing by the British of an entire small population and culture – the Chagos Islanders – is probably the most despicable act by Britain of my lifetime. As if the Iraq War and Extraordinary Rendition were not enough, New Labour’s moral dereliction – or more properly evil – was confirmed by the breathtaking cynicism of David Miliband’s proclamation of a Marine Protected Zone around the islands, designed to protect the American base on Diego Garcia and make it impossible for the Chagos Islanders to return to their living as native fishermen, and keep away any eyes that might see the secret prison inmates.
Extraordinarily and to their eternal shame, a number of prominent British environmentalists and conservationists lent their support to the Diego Garcia marine protected zone. These purblind fools, obsessed with a single cause and blind to wider policy and justice, are in the same category as the ridiculous “feminists” who were co-opted by the neo-conservatives agents (be they propaganda media or secret service or both) to frustrate the aims of Julian Assange and Tommy Sheridan.
In truth, if colonial conquest and force majeure are legitimate grounds of sovereignty, and if extermination of a population can wipe out the legal right to self-determination, then in international law Britain has the right to Diego Garcia and to give it as tribute to their US overlords. But if international law has any relationship of any kind to principles of justice, then Britain should not be permitted to reap the dubious benefit of genocide. What international law actually is in the neo-conservative era is the real question before the UN tribunal now looking at the Diego Garcia question.
7 Jan 2014
Honduras and the dirty war fuelled by the west's drive for clean energy
The west's drive to reduce its carbon footprint cheaply is fuelling a dirty war in Honduras, where US-backed security forces are implicated in the murder, disappearance and intimidation of peasant farmers involved in land disputes with local palm oil magnates.
More than 100 people have been killed in the past four years, many assassinated by death squads operating with near impunity in the heavily militarised Bajo Aguán region, where 8,000 Honduran troops are deployed, according to activists. Farmers' leader Antonio Martínez, 28, is the latest victim of this conflict. His corpse was discovered, strangled, in November.
Peasant farmers say they are the victims of a campaign of terror by the police, army and private security guards working for palm oil companies since a coup in June 2009 ended land negotiations instigated by the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya.
Witnesses have implicated Honduran special forces and the 15th Battalion, which receives training and material support from the US, in dozens of human rights violations around the plantations of Bajo Aguán.
Full story on The Guardian - The Bajo Aguan Region - A Laboratory for the New Global Counterinsurgency, and a Laboratory for Neoliberalism (Rights Action)
8 Aug 2013
28 Jul 2013
Military Industrial Complex, Drones, & Torture
Are we in perpetual war? It seems like the War on Terror has no end in sight, which brings about the question of who is profiting from the fighting, and whether or not the reasons are ethical. Drones are becoming an increasingly-used tactic, and a particular favorite of President Obama-- should the use of deadly drone strikes be legal? Is it moral? Do the ends justify the means? And lastly, is the use of torture as shown in the movie, Zero Dark Thirty justified? What is the American opinion on torture, and is it acceptable to torture someone believed to have knowledge of an imminent attack to get the information?
Ana Kasparian (Host, The Point and Co-host of The Young Turks) lead this weeks panel to discuss these issues and more with Cameron White (President of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Los Angeles Chapter), Kurt Schlichter (Conservative columnist and author) and Avskilyona Minko (Host, Producer, Huffpost Live). Special thanks to Ed Krayewski (Associate Editor, Reason Magazine) and Chase Madar (Author, The Passion of Bradley Manning) for sending in points.
5 Jun 2013
Steven Seagal becomes the face of Russian arms firm
The actor Steven Seagal has become an unlikely business envoy for a pre-Russian revolutionary arms factory after agreeing to feature in adverts marketing its weapons in the US. Seagal, known for starring in Hollywood martial arts films, told journalists about the plans on Tuesday during a tour of the Degtyaryov weapons factory in Kovrov, a city about 160 miles (260km) from Moscow.
"My friend Igor Kesayev invited me here. On his request, I will feature in adverts for Kovrov weapons for the US," the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Seagal as saying. "I trust Kesayev. Whatever's put in my hands, I will advertise." Kesayev – who has an estimated fortune of $2bn (£1.3bn), according to Forbes magazine – controls the Degtyaryov factory, which has made weapons including machine guns and rifles since 1916.
He is one of a series of influential Russians with whom the 61-year-old Seagal, the star Hard to Kill and Under Siege, appears to have bonded with: in recent months he has been seen hobnobbing with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov
30 May 2013
Protest against warlords in Amsterdam
Picket line at shareholders meeting EADS in Amsterdam.. shareholders arrive at the hotel in Amsterdam for the meeting.. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company is one of the biggest European arms producers.. due to inadequate arms export regulation the company can export its weapons all over the world, also to dictatorships.. moreover the company is a nuclear weapons producer..
26 May 2013
Obama Expands Militarization of American Police
Among items transfered to US local law enforcement agencies have been assault rifles and grenade launchers, even Blackhawk helicopters and .50 caliber machine guns ; In fiscal year 2011 alone, the Pentagon transferred almost $500 million worth of materials to domestic law enforcement -- near double the previous year's total
5 May 2013
U.S. Military being used as Government-Paid Missionaries
A collection of clips showing military chaplains and some of the many fundamentalist parachurch ministries that operate freely within the military clearly stating what their real mission is. Video also shows the mission of these chaplains and parachurch ministries being put into practice in Afghanistan. This is disturbing, especially the comments at about 3:00m.
6 Apr 2013
North Korea: latest war mongering
Western nations, including Britain, are deciding whether to pull diplomats out of North Korea after being told that their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond Wednesday. Whitehall has been told it should consider evacuating its embassy in Pyongyang.
The Foreign Office last night said it had ‘no immediate plans to withdraw’ Britain’s embassy in Pyongyang and condemned ‘provocations’ by the North Korean regime. The US does not have an embassy in Pyongyang. Russia said yesterday that it was considering airlifting its workers out of the country and had been in discussions with China – North Korea’s closest ally.
The warning came just a day after David Cameron claimed that Kim Jong-un’s military have weapons which could threaten the UK. Mr Cameron said: ‘North Korea does now have missile technology that is able to reach, as they put it, the whole of the United States. ‘If they are able to reach the whole of the United States they can reach Europe too, they can reach us too. That is a real concern.’
31 Mar 2013
22 Mar 2013
Children Horribly Deformed by US Chemical Weapons in Iraq
"In 2012, European researchers visited a scrap metal site in Al Zubayr, an area near Basrah in southern Iraq. A local police officer told them that the site had at one time held military scrap metal from the bloody battles waged during the American invasion. A local guard told the researchers that children had been seen playing on the scrap during that time, and both adults and children had worked disassembling the military leftovers. At one point, the guard said, members of an international organization with equipment and white suits showed up, told guards that the site was very dangerous and "quickly ran off."*
The depleted uranium usage in Iraq left lasting effects, on our own troops and in babies born with horrifying deformities in Fallujah and Basra. Is this the legacy of the war, and should people be paying more attention to these awful consequences?
4 Mar 2013
China defends growing military spending
China has defended its booming military spending saying vast investments in the armed forces have contributed to global peace and stability, despite concerns among the US and Beijing's Asian neighbours over sharpening territorial disputes.
However, in a break with previous years, no figure for this year's defence budget was presented on the eve of the annual legislative session which will see new leaders placed into top government positions after they were elevated at November's Communist Party congress. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Fu Ying, a spokeswoman for the National People's Congress, said the figure would appear in the overall budget to be released Tuesday.
On the same day, party leader Xi Jinping will take over from Hu Jintao as president, as well as head of the government's Central Military Commission, as part of China's once-a-decade power transition. In addition, the session approves top cabinet appointments such as the defence minister.
China's defence spending has grown substantially each year for more than two decades, last year rising 11.2 percent to $106.4bn, an increase of about $10.7bn. Only the US spends more on defence.
2 Mar 2013
British Defence Secretary wants to cut benefits, not troops
British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has warned he will resist further cuts to the armed forces in Chancellor George Osborne's forthcoming spending review.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said other Conservative Cabinet ministers believed that the greatest burden of any cuts should fall on the welfare budget. There was, he said, a “body of opinion within Cabinet who believes that we have to look at the welfare budget again”, and that “we should be seeing welfare spending falling” as a result of rising employment levels.
24 Feb 2013
US Air Force Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle
The U.S. Air Force is developing tiny unmanned drones that will fly in swarms, hover like bees, crawl like spiders and even sneak up on unsuspecting targets and execute them with lethal precision.
The Air Vehicles Directorate, a research arm of the Air Force, has released a computer-animated video outlining the the future capabilities of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). The project promises to revolutionize war by down-sizing the combatants.
6 Feb 2013
Full-scale invasion as the United States deploys troops in 35 African countries
A full-scale invasion of Africa is under way. The United States is deploying troops in 35 African countries, beginning with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. Reported by Associated Press on Christmas Day, this was missing from most Anglo-American media. The invasion has almost nothing to do with “Islamism”, and almost everything to do with the acquisition of resources, notably minerals, and an accelerating rivalry with China.
Unlike China, the US and its allies are prepared to use a degree of violence demonstrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Palestine. As in the cold war, a division of labour requires that western journalism and popular culture provide the cover of a holy war against a “menacing arc” of Islamic extremism, no different from the bogus “red menace” of a worldwide communist conspiracy.
Reminiscent of the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, the US African Command (Africom) has built a network of supplicants among collaborative African regimes eager for American bribes and armaments.
Last year, Africom staged Operation African Endeavor, with the armed forces of 34 African nations taking part, commanded by the US military. Africom’s “soldier to soldier” doctrine embeds US officers at every level of command from general to warrant officer. Only pith helmets are missing.
It is as if Africa’s proud history of liberation, from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela, is consigned to oblivion by a new master’s black colonial elite whose “historic mission”, warned Frantz Fanon half a century ago, is the promotion of “a capitalism rampant though camouflaged”.
A striking example is the eastern Congo, a treasure trove of strategic minerals, controlled by an atrocious rebel group known as the M23, which in turn is run by Uganda and Rwanda, the proxies of Washington.