The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Arab spring, act two Are the Arab monarchies next? As the chaotic transition towards democracy continues in North Africa and Yemen, the fighting in Syria is intensifying. And, less noticed, opposition to the Arab monarchies is growing. by Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui Le Monde Diplomatique, January 2012 The Arab Spring is not an outcome, …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Arab Spring Act II — Near Enemies Falling First?”
Obama may want out of Afghanistan, but he is under to pressure to stay, and the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex (MICC) still has a budgetary interest in maintaining perpetual war, be it cold or hot ( for reasons I explained here). The bloom is off the Karzai rose (as Amy Davidson explained in her 11 Jan …
No Guts, No Glory The Real Challenges Facing the Next Secretary of Defense FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY, This essay appeared in Counterpunch (12 Dec 2012) and Time’s Battleland (3 Jan 2013) EXTRACT: The problem is not just a strategic one of extracting our forces with dignity; nor is it a political one of fingering who is …
Stupid title but the attached piece by Spencer Ackerman is quite relevant for sorting out the implications of a Hegel nomination for Secretary of Defense. I am ambivalent over this choice. The central question is how an incoming Secretary of Defense will deal with cleaning out the Pentagon’s Augean Stables. Nothing in Hagel’s record (or …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Chuck Hagel is NOT a Hippie!”
FYI … Another excellent report by Patrick Seale. The Kurds Seize Their Chance by Patrick Seale Agence Global 25 Dec 2012 Many Kurds have come to believe that the present prolonged turmoil in the Middle East — in Syria and Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in Iran and Turkey — is giving them their …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Patrick Seale on The Kurds Seizing the Day”
Herewith is a stunning series of reports by Gareth Porter, one of the very best investigative journalists in America. Not only does he show how King David created the myth of his success and became naked in the process, he puts the failures of the surges in Iraq and Afghanistan into a definitive perspective. But …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: The Patraeus Myth & the Pentagon’s Big Lie”
I am ambivalent about whether Chuck Hagel has the managerial and bureaucratic skills to make the kind of Sec of Defense we need to clean out the Pentagon’s Augean Stables — but the outrageous neocon assault on him because he does not kowtow to the Likud party line is over the top, as Steven Walt …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Smearing Hagel, Talking to Iran”
