David Swanson: Bradley Manning Meets Kafka

09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement, Military
David Swanson
David Swanson

Screaming in Bradley Manning's Trial

I sat in the courtroom all day on Wednesday as Bradley Manning's trial wound its way to a tragic and demoralizing conclusion.  I wanted to hear Eugene Debs, and instead I was trapped there, watching Socrates reach for the hemlock and gulp it down.  Just a few minutes in and I wanted to scream or shout.

I don't blame Bradley Manning for apologizing for his actions and effectively begging for the court's mercy.  He's on trial in a system rigged against him.  The commander in chief declared him guilty long ago.  He's been convicted.  The judge has been offered a promotion.  The prosecution has been given a playing field slanted steeply in its favor.  Why should Manning not follow the only advice anyone's ever given him and seek to minimize his sentence?  Maybe he actually believes that what he did was wrong.  But — wow — does it make for some perverse palaver in the courtroom.

This was the sentencing phase of the trial, but there was no discussion of what good or harm might come of a greater or lesser sentence, in terms of deterrence or restitution or prevention or any other goal.  That's one thing I wanted to scream at various points in the proceedings.

This was the trial of the most significant whistleblower in U.S. history, but there was no mention of anything he'd blown the whistle on, any of the crimes exposed or prevented, wars ended, nonviolent democratic movements catalyzed.  Nothing on why he's a four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee.  Nothing.  Every time that the wars went unmentioned, I wanted to scream.  War was like air in this courtroom, everybody on all sides militarized — and it went unnoticed and unmentioned.

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F. William Engdahl: The Stark Reality Behind Obama’s Russian ‘Statesmanship’

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Genocide, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Officers Call
F. William Engdahl
F. William Engdahl

The Stark Reality Behind Obama’s Russian ‘Statesmanship’

By F. William Engdahl

F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant, author and lecturer. He is author of the best-selling book on oil and geopolitics, A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order. It has been published as well in French, German, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Korean, Turkish, Croatian, Slovenian and Arabic. In 2010 he published Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century, and in 2011, Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order, completing his trilogy on the power of oil, food and money control.

With a diplomatic attitude more reminiscent of a spoiled brat grabbing his toys and leaving the room, US President Obama has resorted to diplomatic snubs and childish criticisms of Russian behavior as if the Russian leaders were small children.

In a press conference Obama described the Russian President as having a “slouch…looking like that bored schoolboy in the back of the classroom.” Yet behind the childish form of the latest White House refusal to meet President Putin before the G-20 St. Petersburg Summit is a grim reality:

Washington is rapidly losing its way to impose its will in the world on multiple fronts and the Putin snub is an impotent reflection of that loss of power. The real issues in US-Russian relations go far deeper.

Read rest of long detailed article — strongly recommended.

Berto Jongman: Cover-Up on Iraqui Birth Defects Continues — World Health Organization Under Scrutiny

07 Health, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Non-Governmental
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

The WHO must release report on Iraqi birth defects now

The indefinite postponement of the World Health Organisation's report is alarming scientists and activists

Al Jazeera, 11 Aug 2013 13:28

Mozhgan Savabieasfahani

Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, a native of Iran, is an environmental toxicologist based in Michigan. She is the author of over two dozen peer reviewed articles and the book, Pollution and Reproductive Damage (DVM 2009).

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Large parts of the Middle East are now contaminated with war pollutants.

In Iraq, war debris continues to wear away and erode populated cities. Such debris includes the wreckage of tanks and armoured vehicles, trucks and abandoned military ammunitions, as well as the remains of bombs and bullets. Left unabated, the debris will act as dangerous toxic reservoirs; releasing harmful chemicals into the environment and poisoning people who live nearby.

Today, increasing numbers of birth defects are surfacing in many Iraqi cities, including Mosul, Najaf, Fallujah, Basra, Hawijah, Nineveh, and Baghdad. In some provinces, the rate of cancers is also increasing. Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe birth defects – some never described in any medical books – are weighing heavily on Iraqi families.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Cover-Up on Iraqui Birth Defects Continues — World Health Organization Under Scrutiny”

SchwartzReport: Everything You “Know” About Drugs Is Wrong

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 06 Family, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

schwartzreport newAs Marijuana Prohibition begins to crumble, the ugly racist truth about the War on Drugs is beginning to come out.

Everything You Know About Drugs Is Wrong
TESSIE SWOPE CASTILLO – Salon

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

It’s not every day you read a book that blows the lid off of everything you’ve ever been taught about drugs, but Dr. Carl Hart’s recent work, ‘High Price,” does just that. Part memoir, part myth-buster, the fast-paced read details his journey from a violent Miami ghetto to the halls one of the world’s most prestigious universities.

At the heart of ‘High Price” is the argument that current U.S. drug policies are not only morally wrong, but scientifically wrong as well, a game of politics and fear-mongering in which our government sanctions the widespread prescription of certain drugs, while locking more than 1.5 million people behind bars each year for the use of others. If you’ve ever wondered why our nation pops OxyContin like candy, while its twin sister, heroin, evokes fears of driveling, strung-out junkies, High Price has an answer – just perhaps not the one you were expecting. I caught up with Hart to talk about the book, his career and how he thinks American drug policy needs to change.

What made you decide to write this book – and how did you decide to include personal stories in a book about the science of drugs?

Read full interview.

Chuck Spinney: Newt Gingrich as Dr. Evil, Bill Clinton as Dr. Lesser [But Still Very] Evil

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Corruption, Government
Jeff St. Claire and the late, and much missed, Alexander Cockburn have written an excellent and important history of how the democrats under Clinton sold out their heritage and, in effect, became the enablers of the Republicans in the construction of the emerging American police.
 
 
WEEKEND EDITION AUGUST 9-11, 2013
 
The Origins of the Neoliberal War on the Poor
 
by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Counterpunch
 

In November of 1994 two years of ramshackle government, breached pledges and the Clinton administration’s frequently manifested contempt for its traditional base, exacted their price. In the midterm elections Republicans seized control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since the Eisenhower era. The rout extended to governors’ mansions across the country, where the Republicans captured the majority of governorships for the first time in a quarter-century. Newt Gingrich, the new Speaker of the House, became the nation’s political wunderkind.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Newt Gingrich as Dr. Evil, Bill Clinton as Dr. Lesser [But Still Very] Evil”

Berto Jongman: What Do Afghan Insurgents Want?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Academia, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace, Peace Intelligence
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Understanding Afghan Insurgents – Motivations, Goals, and the Reconciliation and Reintegration Process

Who Are They? What Do They Want? Why Do They Fight?

This paper presents the results of 78 in-depth interviews conducted with self-identified Afghan insurgents. If the interviewees are indeed representative of broader Taliban sentiments, then the future of Afghanistan is grim. It appears that only the return of a ‘pious’ Islamic government will satisfy them.

Author: Andrew Garfield, Alicia Boyd

Series: FPRI Monographs and Essays Issue: 3