Op-Ed Articles
Obama, Republicans And The Media Concur: It's Time For War With Isis
By Trevor Timm
It's sounding like the Bush years all over again: the administration and Congress want a war and the media's happy to cover it as the government prefers.
Since 9/11, We've Had 4 Wars in the Middle East. They've All Been Disasters.
By Kevin Drum
In the past 50 years, has there been any case of the U.S. successfully training local troops to prosecute a war against insurgents?
Demolishing Libya:
How "Humanitarian Interventions" Come Back to Haunt Us
By Binoy Kampmark
If ever there was a brutalised poster boy for the failure of humanitarian intervention, then bloodied, wounded Libya would be it.
Seven Countries In Five Years
By "Observer"
Seven countries in five years and the US dollar is raising from the dead. Ukraine fulfilled its purpose, ISIL conquering Iraq and Syria, just conquering strategic Koban.
War Porn
Hollywood and War from World War II to American Sniper
By Peter Van Buren
American soldiers are good, the enemy bad. Nearly every war movie is going to have a scene in which Americans label the enemy as "savages," "barbarians," or "bloodthirsty fanatics,"
Alive and Bleeding
By Robert C. Koehler
I feel a cry of despair tear loose from my soul and spill into the void. Our politics are out of control. There's no sanity left.
Is Washington Preparing to Wage War on Russia?
Seeing through the Official Lies on Ukraine
By Prof. John McMurtry
Charges of aggression and crime against Russia and Putin are daily proclaimed with no evidence, but together provide a pretext for why "Russia must be stopped" and the US-led West Ukraine regime armed with US weapons to "teach Putin a lesson".
Putin Should Just Take East Ukraine
By Finian Cunningham
Russian President Vladimir Putin should just be done with this stupid Western game in Ukraine and send in his troops to liberate the eastern region, otherwise known as Novorossia.
Ukraine Finance Minister's American 'Values'
By Robert Parry
One of those "values" - personified by Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko - may be the skill of using insider connections.
Christian College Gives Torture President Honorary Humanities Degree
By William Boardman
The American torture president and self-professed Christian, George W. Bush, gratefully accepted an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the a University in Texas.
Don't Tell Anyone in Berlin
Ironman Varoufakis's Revolutionary Plan for Europe
By Mike Whitney
If you haven't been following developments in the Greek-EU standoff, you're really missing out. This might be the best story of the year.
Statin Drug Scandal:
Cholesterol-lowering Drug Researchers Start Backtracking;
By Health Impact
The criminal activity of the pharmaceutical industry regarding cholesterol-lowering statin drugs sent shock waves through the mainstream media in Australia.
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Hard News
Syria: 150 killed in Aleppo battles after army offensive: Syria monitor:
Battles in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo have killed at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 insurgents after the army launched an offensive there, a monitoring group said
Rebel counter-attack, storms halt Aleppo offensive:
A rebel counter-attack and stormy weather are preventing Syrian government forces from pressing their offensive in the northern province of Aleppo Thursday, an activist group monitoring the war said.
Pentagon Identifies 1,200 Syrian Mercenaries to Participate in US-Led Training:
The fighters will undergo vetting for the program, which is expected to begin in March at multiple sites outside of Syria and train more than 5,000 Syrian fighters a year. Some 3,000 could be trained by the end of 2015, a US official said.
EU moving toward talks with Assad government:
The EU is moving toward engaging in discussions with the government of Bashar Assad's regime, Elmar Brok, the chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Wednesday.
The American Public Is Becoming Ever More Rabid for War Against ISIS: News Analysis -
It sure isn't hard to gin Americans into a war fever. President Obama isn't even trying, but support for sending U.S. ground troops back into Iraq to fight ISIS continues to grow. According to a new CBS News poll, it now stands at 57 percent.
15 Muslim Worshipers Killed in US Airstrike in Iraq's Anbar:
A US aircraft killed 15 worshipers in an airstrike on a mosque in al-Haditha city in Western Al-Anbar province on Wednesday.
10 killed in attacks around Baghdad:
Three people died and 11 were hurt after a bomb went off near a cafe just south of the capital, police said. Another bomb blast on a commercial street in Baghdad's western Ghazaliyah area killed two people and wounded eight others.
8 Soldiers Killed in Yemen's Dawan Region Oil Field:
Eight Yemeni soldiers guarding oil installations were killed on Wednesday during a gunfight with tribesmen in the eastern province of Hadramawt, a military official said
Yemen's Houthi movement sack top military official: sources:
Yemen's Houthi movement was plunged into a state of confusion on Wednesday following news of the sacking of one of its top military commanders over the failure to reach a settlement with other political factions.
White House: Israel 'cherry-picking' intel that distorts Iran talks:
"There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate. There's no question about that," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Italian parliament to vote on recognition of Palestine:
The text calls on the Italian government to "recognize the State of Palestine so that negotiations towards the solution of 'two peoples, two states can start.'"
Libya: Suspected ISIL militants seize university in Sirte: Report:
The move came a day after dozens of gunmen, who brandished the ISIL's flag, paraded through the streets of the city. The militants were heavily armed, the reports said.
Libyan government sends troops to fight Isis in Sirte:
Libya's government has sent troops to the coastal city of Sirte to confront Isis militants who are believed to be controlling the area and where the Egyptian Coptic Christians were abducted prior to being beheaded near Tripoli.
Do not send foreign troops here, warns Libya's air force commander:
Saqr al-Joroushi warns that foreign boots on the ground would cause Libyan to unite against them and increase country's woes
Isis plans to use immigrant boats from Libya to cause terror in Europe and close shipping routes:
Propaganda released by Isis has detailed plans to use Libya as a base to cause "pandemonium" in Europe by hijacking immigrant boats crossing the Mediterranean.
NATO bombs cleared the path for IS in Libya: Op-Ed:
Mr. Baird proudly signed a bomb destined for release by a Canadian plane. "Free Libya. Democracy," he wrote. The minister then declared, after his lightning visit, "The one thing we can say categorically is that they [the rebels] wouldn't be any worse than Col. Gadhafi."
US says world must fight 'new war on new enemy':
While U.S. officials have said the aim was to draft an action plan, it was unclear if there would be any concrete results out of the three-day meeting.
Afghanistan: Drone Strike Kills Eight Taliban:
On Wednesday afternoon eight Taliban insurgents including their commander were killed in a drone attack in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, according to local security officials.
Russia Slams Ukraine Call for UN Troops, Says Violates Deal:
The Russian ambassador to the United Nations says that the proposal by the Ukranian president violates the Minsk peace accords. Russia rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Thursday for the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to help uphold a recent peace agreement in eastern Ukraine.
US Sends "Tankbuster" Jets To Europe Over Russia Fears After Germany Says "A Large Scale War Could Develop":
Karl-Georg Wellmann, a lawmaker in Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union has warned that, despite its efforts to avoid arms being provided to Ukraine, Germany "will no longer be able to stop weapons deliveries from from the U.S. and Canada."
Russia starts supplying gas to Eastern Ukraine 'as humanitarian aid':
Responding to an order from Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to supply gas to east Ukraine as humanitarian aid, gas company Gazprom said it had started supplies via the Prokhorovka and Platovo pumping stations on the border with east Ukraine.
Manipulating Public Opinion:
RAF jets scrambled after Russian bombers seen off Cornwall:
The Russian Bear bombers did not enter sovereign airspace, it said. On the same day, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned that Russia's President Putin posed a "real and present danger" to three Baltic states.
Germany rejects Greek loan request:
Germany has rejected a Greek request for a six-month extension to its eurozone loan programme. The rejection came despite the European Commission calling the Greek request "positive" only minutes earlier.
Tony Blair to advise Serbian government, a country Britain once helped to bombed while he was PM :
The fee for Mr Blair's private consultancy firm is being paid for by the United Arab Emirates, The Guardian reported, citing a senior Serbian minister and a source in the Serbian Prime Minister's office.
MEP claims Nigel Farage, Ukip Leader, The 'Biggest Waste Of Money In Europe' :
Video
Court nixes Guantanamo conviction of Australian ex-detainee:
An appeals court on Wednesday struck down the terrorism conviction of Australian David Hicks, reversing one of the few successful prosecutions of a prisoner before a U.S. military court at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay.
Australian David Hicks 'relieved' after terror conviction quashed:
"It is just unfortunate that because of politics, I was subjected to five and a half years of physical and psychological torture that I will now live with always."
Controversy in Uruguay Over New Lives of Guantanamo Refugees:
Controversy is flaring over the six Guantanamo detainees taken in by Uruguay for resettlement, with even the man who pushed through the plan, President Jose Mujica, seeming to criticize them for lacking a work ethic.
http://abcnews.go.com/
Gitmo torturer allegedly had long history with Chicago Police Dept.:
A former Chicago homicide detective accused in a federal civil rights lawsuit over wrongful conviction is alleged to also have carried out interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, where his methods were described as "illegal," "immoral" and "unconstitutional.
The Oil Price Crash is Being Used to Attack the Public Sector:
From Anchorage and the Alberta tar sands to the Gulf Coast, the collapse in oil prices is being used as an excuse by right-wing governments to further gut social spending and shrink critical services for the poor.
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