Der Chilcot-Bericht diese Woche über die Rolle Britanniens beim Einmarsch in den Irak 2003 war so höflich und reserviert wie eine ordentliche englische Teeparty. Keine direkten Beschuldigungen, keine Rede von Kriegsverbrechen durch den damaligen Premierminister Tony Blair oder dessen Leitstern, Präsident George W. Bush. Aber immerhin ziemlich belastend.

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Iraq and Afghanistan are extreme examples of the US exercising global hegemony, which included spectacular, full-scale military invasions, lengthy occupations, and nationwide “nation-building” carried out by various organizations utilized by the US to project power abroad.

One of these organizations is USAID. It should be, but rarely is, troubling to the world’s nations that USAID played an integral part in the invasion, occupation, and conquest of Iraq and Afghanistan, while it also maintains an extensive presence everywhere else US interests have directed their attention.

USAID and a virtual army of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and front-companies it supports worldwide, are engaged in activities in other nations ranging from education, energy, natural resources, economic development, transportation, and security – or in other words everything foreign nations should already be attending to themselves.

Seven years ago, I reviewed The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo‘s First 100 Days, and the author, Karen Greenberg, joined in the discussion. All these years later, this book still haunts:

“We can win the fight against terrorism and religious extremism, but only if we adhere to our American values,” wrote Gen. Lehnert, the first commanding officer at Guantanamo Bay. “Guantanamo’s continued existence hurts us in our prosecution of the fight against terrorists.”

A significant number of Labour MPs, however, are likely to support the renewal of the system. Corbyn is expected to offer the lawmakers a free vote on the issue.

Wie beim Terrorkrieg jedwede pazifistische Organisation, knipst sich auch bei den entsprechenden Terrorgesetzen jedwede Bürgerrechtsorganisation genauso aus wie die angebliche „parlamentarische Opposition“, der sie alle hinterher laufen.

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Dallas Police report multiple shooters, triangulation, on 7/7/16. Some officers were shot in the back.

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Die Behörden vermuten inzwischen, dass Johnson ein Einzeltäter war. Heimatschutzminister Jeh Johnson sagte in New York: „In diesem Stadium scheint es, dass er ein Einzeltäter war, ohne eine bekannte Verbindung oder Inspiration durch irgendeine internationale terroristische Gruppe.“
Die Polizei hatte zunächst von mehreren Tätern gesprochen.

(1.7.2016) Under the guise of protecting the investigation — as well as the victims and their families — the letter asks law enforcement agencies to deny information to anyone asking and “immediately notify the FBI of any requests your agency received” so “the FBI can seek to prevent disclosure through appropriate channels, as necessary.”

The FBI has decided to insert itself into another public records battle. The agency has long been known to cc: itself to public records requests for Stingray documents, but this time it‘s claiming any requests for local law enforcement documents related to the Orlando nightclub shooting need to be routed through it.

(Podcast) Like prestidigitation, while we’re all watching the media circus that is our presidential election, the House of Representatives is being usurped using the most sophisticated mapping and digital software. It’s a process the Republicans started back in 2010 with only 30 million dollars. The net result has been to lock up congressional control for at least a decade. The Democrats are now trying, perhaps too little too late, to compete. If they can’t, control may be locked up until at least 2031. The goal set by the GOP was a landside-proof House and we may soon see if they succeeded.