Op-Ed Articles
An Old Hand Is At Work in Yemen's Boody Civil War
By Robert Fisk
Yemen is not Syria. But America's skewed comprehension of the Middle East has now produced a remarkably similar scenario.
Ex-CIA Agent Claims Baghdad Massacre Would Have Been 'Ideal'
By Jack Sommers
"The thing was ideal when IS was advancing on Baghdad because Sunnis were killing Shias. That's exactly what we need. - Our best hope right now is to get the Sunnis and Shias fighting each other and let them bleed each other white."
The Strategy Behind Israel's Attack on Iran and Hizballah
By Jonathan Cook
Israel has good reason to fear that the Lebanese militia Hizballah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard will seek dramatic revenge for the killing of 12 senior figures from the two organisations in an air strike in Syria on Sunday.
Congress Seeks Netanyahu's Direction
By Robert Parry
Conservative Pat Buchanan once got in trouble by calling Capitol Hill "Israeli occupied territory," but even he might not imagine what's happening now - with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu invited to address a joint session of Congress to decry President Obama's foreign policy.
As a Muslim, I'm Fed Up With the Hypocrisy of the Free Speech Fundamentalists
By Mehdi Hasan
The enlightened and liberal west v the backward, barbaric Muslims.
Lessons that Hollande failed to learn from Bush's blunders
By Ramzy Baroud
"If we can combat terrorism in Iraq, just as we did in Africa, we are ensuring our own security," Francois Hollande said.
State of the Union 2015: Lethal, Predatory, Delusional
By Glen Ford
Washington can muster no response, except war. Neither can it maintain living standards for the vast majority of its own people.
How Propaganda Conquers Democracy
By Nicolas J S Davies
In recent decades, the U.S. propaganda system has grown more and more sophisticated in the art of "perception management," now enlisting not only government PR specialists but careerist journalists and aspiring bloggers to push deceptions on the public.
How To Buy a Politician
Video
Discussing the corruption of politics with Russell Brand on the Trews.
Doomsday Clock Set at 3 Minutes to Midnight
By Megan Gannon
It's the first time the clock hands have moved in three years; since 2012, the clock had been fixed at 5 minutes to symbolic doom, midnight.
Why Can't The World's Greatest Minds Solve The Mystery Of Consciousness?
By Oliver Burkeman
Philosophers and scientists have been at war for decades over the question of what makes human beings more than complex robots.
|
Hard News
Kurdish forces killed more than 200 militants :
"The Peshmerga cleared an area of 480 square km of IS insurgents, and took control of the strategic higher areas to the west of Mosul Dam. The militants will not be able to return to the dam," said Barzani. A large number of IS militants were killed and more than 200 bodies were left on the battlefield.
20 killed in Syria, Iraq attacks: Officials:
A suicide attack in the Taji area, north of the Iraqi capital, killed at least seven people and wounded 17 on Thursday, security and medical officials said.
Flood of jihadi volunteers to Syria 'unstoppable', warns Turkish Prime Minister :
Mr Davutoglu said that Turkey opposes either Isis or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad winning the war in Syria. He believes that if the international community is not going to send ground troops to Syria "the only alternative is to train and equip moderate opposition forces".
Coalition needs 2 years to expel ISIS: UK:
The US-led coalition could take up to two years to expel ISIS from Iraq, and Baghdad's own forces will be incapable of proper combat operations for months, Britain's foreign minister warned on Thursday.
Japan 'exploring all ways' to free Islamic State hostages:
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government was trying to contact the hostage-takers but that it would not give in to terrorism.
Israeli Mossad Warns U.S. on Iran Sanctions:
The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has broken ranks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling U.S. officials and lawmakers that a new Iran sanctions bill in the U.S. Congress would tank the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Mossad chief denies opposing new sanctions on Iran:
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo issued a rare press release on Thursday denying reports that he told U.S. senators he was opposed to further sanctions on Iran during its negotiations with world powers over its contentious nuclear program.
Death of Iranian general in Syria strike likely no accident:
It can be assumed that the officials who ordered the strike weighed the possibility of killing the general against the risks of a Hezbollah terror plot targeting Israel.
Report: Israel knew about presence of Iranian general in Syria strike:
Israel was aware that a convoy that was attacked in Syria contained an Iranian general, contradicting an earlier report that Israel did not know of his presence, an Arab newspaper alleged on Thursday.
Netanyahu to speak before Congress on alleged, Iran nuclear threat:
"In this time of challenge, I am asking the Prime Minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life. Americans and Israelis have always stood together in shared cause and common ideals, and now we must rise to the moment again." US House Speaker John Boehner
Netanyahu's congressional address moved even closer to election:
U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner said Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will now address Congress on March 3, just two weeks before the upcoming Israeli election. Boehner confirmed on his Twitter account that Netanyahu wanted to coordinate his speech with the pro-Israel AIPAC conference in Washington
Netanyahu's Iran speech in Congress is a recipe for an explosive U.S.-Israel clash:
PM's Congressional gambit unlikely to sway voters in Israel but could endanger Israel's long term interests in America.
Yemen's president steps down, cabinet resigns:
In quick succession, Yemen's president and cabinet resign following a Houthi takeover of the presidential palace this week
Saudi Arabia: Doctors find Raif Badawi unfit for flogging:
The planned flogging of Raif Badawi is likely to be suspended this Friday after a medical committee assessed that he should not undergo a second round of lashes on health grounds. The committee,
comprised of around eight doctors, carried out a series of tests and recommended that the flogging should not be carried out.
Robert Fisk: Saudi Arabia's history of hypocrisy we choose to ignore:
Today, the Americans and Europeans - and of course, our own Prime Minister - like to draw a line between the "moderate", friendly, pro-Western, oil-wealthy Saudi Arabians who are praised for denouncing the "cowardly terrorist attack" in Paris, and their Crescentader Wahabi friends who behead thieves and drug dealers after grossly unfair trials, torture their Shia Muslim minorities and lash their own recalcitrant journalists.
GCC exporters to lose $300bn due to falling oil price, IMF warns:
Of the GCC countries, only Kuwait will manage to maintain a budget surplus this year, the IMF said. All other countries including oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will sink into deficits.
41 people killed in Ukraine:
At least 41 people were killed in Ukraine's east on Thursday, one of the deadliest days in the separatist war, with a bloody bus shelling in Donetsk The trolleybus shelling in the rebel bastion city was the day's bloodiest incident, with 13 civilians killed
'Covert team' caught after shelling kills at least 9 in eastern Ukraine:
What local authorities call a "covert group" has been arrested in Donetsk. The group is suspected of the shelling during rush hour on Thursday morning, which took the lives of at least nine people and injured up to twenty.
Ukraine: Army retreats at Donetsk airport:
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the main terminal of Donetsk airport, scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks, the government confirmed.
Kiev lies to its own troops, sends them to be slaughtered, Novorossiya clearly winning:
Here's the situation in a nutshell: Kiev is sending poorly trained, fresh recruits into battle. They are shelling civilian areas (e.g., Gorlovka) but not providing cover, recon, or reinforcements to the men actually doing the fighting against the NAF
Battle Rages With Rebels at Border Post in Ukraine:
Shelling from both Ukrainian military and rebel separatist positions continued Wednesday over a remote border checkpoint northwest of Luhansk that Ukraine said was seized Monday by Russian troops, a chief spokesman for the Ukrainian military said.
Russia has 9,000 troops in Ukraine, Poroshenko tells Davos forum:
Moscow challenged Poroshenko to present facts to prove his allegations. However, he won support from NATO, which said the amount of heavy military equipment used by Russian troops in eastern Ukraine had increased, and the alliance repeated its call for the forces to withdraw.
'No military equipment' crossed at observed Russia-Ukraine border checkpoints - OSCE:
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, mission in Ukraine has not registered any movement of military vehicles on the border between Russia and Ukraine, the group's newly released statement says. "Yesterday's claims by Kiev of alleged Russian troops movement over the Russia-Ukraine border don't stand any criticism. That's absolute nonsense," said Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense.
US "Trainers" To Deploy To Ukraine: Will Begin Shipment of US-funded Armored Vehicles:
American soldiers will deploy to Ukraine this spring to begin training four companies of the Ukrainian National Guard, the head of US Army Europe Lt. Gen Ben Hodges said during his first visit to Kiev on Wednesday.
Ukraine begs IMF for more help as bankruptcy looms:
The country's currency, the hryvnia, lost half of its value against the dollar, putting most of the banking sector on the verge of bankruptcy, while official foreign reserves have fallen to only $7.5 billion-even though the central bank stopped intervening to support the currency in November.
Russian government presents Putin with $21 billion plan to tackle crisis:
Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Wednesday the economy was starting to show signs of recovering from the worst of the financial crisis, citing stabilization on Russia's stock, currency and money markets.
US wants to dominate the world, says Russia's Lavrov:
Lavrov condescendingly called US policy "a bit out of date" and out of touch with "modern realities," adding that attempts to isolate Russia would fail and one day Washington's hostile policy would be a thing of the past.
Congress alarmed by plans to use Russian system to route 911 calls:
"In view of the threat posed to the world by Russia's Vladimir Putin, it cannot be seriously considered that the US would rely on a system in that dictator's control for its wireless 911 location capability," the document obtained by the Washington Times said.
This map shows how one anti-Islam group is spreading across Europe:
Islamophobia is on the rise in Europe, and its face appears to be Pegida.
29 killed as DRC army, rebels clash: -
Nearly 30 people have been killed over the past week in clashes between the Congolese army and one of the armed groups operating in the east of the country, a spokesman for local United Nations peacekeepers said in Bunia on Thursday.
Five killed in Mogadishu car bomb;
Five people were killed on Thursday in a suicide car bombing against a hotel in Mogadishu, on the eve of a visit to the Somali capital by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Armed men shoot dead Libyan head-of-security in Sirte:
Armed men killed the head of security on Thursday in the Islamist-held coastal city of Sirte, hometown of slain dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, a security source said.
Benghazi branch of central bank seized by Islamic fighters; almost $100B inside:
Libyan fighters are sitting on almost $100 billion in oil revenue and foreign currency after seizing control of the Benghazi branch of the country's central bank.
UN Condemns Libya Central Bank Attack, Calls for Renewed Ceasefire:
After Libya's General National Congress said it would not participate in the UN-hosted talks in Geneva following the latest attack in Benghazi, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) issued a condemnation and called for renewed efforts to enforce an end to the hostilities on Thursday.
Cooperation between British spies and Gaddafi's Libya revealed in official papers:
Links between MI5 and Gaddafi's intelligence during Tony Blair's government more extensive than previously thought, according to documents
Egypt orders release of Mubarak sons:
An Egyptian court has ordered the release of the sons of ousted President Hosni Mubarak pending their retrial in a corruption case, their lawyer told the Reuters news agency.
Suicide attack kills 3, wounds 18 in S. Afghanistan: -
Three persons including the attacker were killed and 18 others sustained injuries as a suicide bomber targeted a police convoy in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah, 555 km south of Kabul, on Thursday, spokesman for provincial government Omar Zawak said.
Asylum Seekers Attempt Suicide in Australian Detention Center:
Australia's asylum seeker policy has been derided both at home and abroad as ineffective and draconian. The asylum seeker processing center on Manus Island has been engulfed in mass protests by detainees for over a week.
ECB unveils massive QE boost for eurozone:
The European Central Bank (ECB) says it will inject at least €1.1 trillion into the ailing eurozone economy. The ECB will buy bonds worth €60bn per month until the end of September 2016 and possibly longer, in what is known as quantitative easing (QE).
Venezuela to Increase Social Spending despite Economic Slowdown:
President Nicolas Maduro emphasized the gains made in the country through social spending and announced changes to the currency exchange system.
5 Ways the US is Interfering in Venezuela:
There is hard evidence that the United States government has been trying to destabilize Venezuela since the election of socialist President Hugo Chavez in 1998 to the current government of President Nicolas Maduro. Let's count down the top 5 ways.
Mexican Authorities Admit Organized Crime Ruled Guerrero:
The criminal groups had penetrated 13 of the local authorities and, in some, their control meant they were able to appoint themselves as police chief or effectively lead police operations, said Tomas Zeron, head of the Agency of Criminal Investigation.
FBI Agent: No Direct Evidence Ex-CIA Man Leaked to Reporter:
Former CIA man Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Missouri, is charged with leaking information about a purportedly botched operation to thwart Iran's nuclear program to New York Times reporter James Risen, who wrote about the mission in the 2006 book "State of War." Risen has refused to disclose his sources.
Footage Released of US Police Shooting Innocent Man 9 Times:
A New Jersey officer can be seen threatening to kill a black man shortly before firing his weapon, newly released footage shows. Police in New Jersey released footage Tuesday showing the police shooting of a black man with his hands up.
What Happens When a Civilian Kills a Cop in Self Defense?:
The Maye case is one of the most egregious examples of an innocent victim of the War on Drugs going to prison for acting in what he believed was self-defense.
|
