Things to consider—

Since early 2011, Obama's been waging proxy war on Syria. Imported death squads masquerade as freedom fighters. The scheme's familiar. It repeats. It reflects US imperialism's dark side. In the 1980s, CIA-recruited mujahideen fighters battled Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers. Ronald Reagan called them "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers." He characterized Contra killers the same way. —Stephen LendmanFor over a century now US ambassadors have acted as fifth columns in the nations they are embedded in, their role chiefly to foster corporate and plutocratic power and coordinate machinations against any truly pro-democratic government.•••••"The dead end identity politics of SF Pride, which sells out a peace hero like Bradley Manning to curry favor with the American ruling class, is what I had in mind. The empire loves your tameness, irrelevance and cowardice, SF Pride. You don’t bother the American ruling class — a five foot two, 105 pound soldier does because he has a conscience and because he didn’t make comfort the guiding principle of his life...." —Randy Shields
Apr 082011
 

The penalty imposed by the top brass amounts to little more than a “slap on the wrist” and implicitly endorses the notion that barbarism is a tacitly accepted practice.

By Naomi Spencer | 8 April 2011

Tunnell. Imperial tasks often turn soldiers into sadistic murderers. Or maybe they were that to begin with.

An Army investigation into officers in charge of the brigade involved in murdering Afghan civilians for sport last year concluded that its commander had no responsibility for the atrocities.

Colonel Harry D. Tunnell IV was found to have pursued an aggressive “strike and destroy” strategy, but the Army determined it bore no “causal relation” to the rampant criminal activities of soldiers in the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division while they were stationed in Kandahar province. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 2:22 pm
Apr 082011
 

The inevitable betrayals by social democrats and liberals unfurl to the detriment of tens of millions.  It’s happening on a global front as the world’s plutocracy takes back and then some the hard-won gains of the working class in developed nations.

By Julie Hyland | 8 April 2011

Nick Clegg, British Liberal Democrat leader, allied with David Cameron, Tory leader. As in America, France, Canada and other First World nations, profiting from the absence of genuine left parties, such rightwing and center-right politicians are busily dismantling the remnants of the working class's safety net.

BRITAIN’S GOVERNMENT has placed on hold its Health and Social Care Bill in order to conduct a “listening exercise”, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told parliament on Tuesday.

His statement was unprecedented, as the bill is halfway through parliament. Aimed at the wholesale privatisation of the National Health Service, the legislation is the centerpiece of the Conservative/Liberal Democrats public sector reform. When implemented, it will signify final dismantling of the post-war welfare state in Britain. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 12:29 pm
Apr 082011
 

Essential Readings: Counterinsurgency

by Essential Readings Editor , http://www.jadaliyya.com/ | Apr 06 2011

U.S. Army Maj. Robert Holbert takes notes and drinks tea with local school administrators during a cordon and search of Nani, Afghanistan in June 2007. Image by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel, U.S. Army.

This Essential Readings post is written by Laleh Khalili.

[Editors' Note: This is the second in a series of “Essential Readings,” in which we ask contributors to choose a list of must-read books, articles, and new media sources on a variety of topics. These are not meant to be comprehensive lists, but rather starting points for readers who want to read more about particular topics.


Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 11:26 am
Apr 082011
 

By Paul Craig Roberts | March 13, 2011 | This is a repost

“Support the troops” is one of the most cruel hoaxes in human history, and yet the vast majority of the population has fallen for it. “War Is Peace.”

A wildly successful p.r.-concocted slogan designed to mislead the innocent.

IF WE WERE TO BE BLESSED with a 21st century George Orwell, he would coin a new “speak” to apply to “support the troops.” Would he call this “Deceptive Speak”?  Or would he be more clever?

The words certainly deserve an Orwellian name.  The catch-phrase was rolled out the minute the war started, which makes one wonder about its public relations origin.  Who can oppose supporting the troops, at least before we learned from WikiLeaks and Abu Ghraib of the intentional killing of civilians and torturing of whoever happened to be rounded up in the various sweeps? All for the fun and games of it. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 10:50 am
Apr 082011
 

By Chuck Collins, AlterNet

Posted on April 8, 2011

Utterly dishonest leadership has created a crisis that should have never happened.

Before any government shutdown–or drastic state and federal budget cuts –we should reverse huge tax cuts for the wealthy and deadbeat corporations.

When you hear politicians lament that “we’re broke,” consider this fact: If corporations and households with $1 million income paid at the same levels they did in 1961, the Treasury would collect an additional $716 billion a year – or $7 trillion over a decade. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 10:35 am
Apr 082011
 

By Brad Johnson | ThinkProgress

AS GLOBAL WARMING from unlimited fossil fuel burning accelerates, the Arctic is beingradically transformed. This winter saw large regions of Canada and Greenland about 10°C (about 15-20°F) above the historical average. Temperatures in eastern Canada in the dead of winter were a staggering 21°C (37.8°F) above average. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 9:40 am