(2.8.2016) „Under what legal authority are these strikes being conducted?“ a reporter asked Cook at Monday‘s Pentagon briefing.

„The 2001 authorization for the use of military force, similar to our previous airstrikes in Libya,“ Cook responded.

That’s because the administration has a fallback legal position. It maintains, unconvincingly, that the war is legal under two previous authorizations of force: one approved in 2001 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and another in 2002 aimed at “the continuing threat posed by Iraq” — the Iraq ruled by Saddam Hussein, that is.

Although hardly news, it bears repeating that the Afghanistan War stands as the longest in all of United States history. By election day, it will have entered its 16th year. Our next president will surely inherit the war there, just as Barack Obama inherited it from George W. Bush. Here is a situation where the phrase “endless war” is not hyperbole; it accurately describes reality.

The 1991 war might have been a profitable war – Colin Powell later claimed America made money out of it – but it only paved the way for the 2003 war, which in turn paved the way for yet another more recent intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

And so on and so forth.

(14.6.2016) „There‘s a massive difference between leaving the EU and our relations with Europe, which if anything I think are going to be intensified,“ Johnson, who was appointed to his post on Wednesday, told reporters.

„I was very pleased to receive a phone call from Secretary (John) Kerry of the United States who totally agreed with that analysis. His view was that post-Brexit and after the negotiations, what he really wants to see … is more Britain abroad, a greater global profile.“

Juncker entgegnet in den Interview, es sei nicht hilfreich, der Türkei einseitig das Ende der Gespräche zu signalisieren, „Das geht so nicht, das müssen alle Mitgliedsstaaten – und zwar einstimmig – beschließen, dass diese Verhandlungen abgebrochen werden.“ Diese Bereitschaft aller Mitgliedsstaaten sehe er derzeit nicht.

Founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange questioned the US’ role in the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey, during an exclusive interview with Russia Today’s Afshin Rattanzi at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Wednesday.

In Aleppo läuft der Kampf gegen Extremisten-Gebiete weiterhin auf Hochtouren. Zeitgleich arbeiten russische und syrische Behörden mit Hochdruck daran die Zivilbevölkerung über sieben Fluchtkorridore aus den Gebieten zu retten. Mit Dutzenden Tonnen an humanitärer Hilfe soll eine humanitäre Katastrophe vermieden werden. Auch Kämpfern wird die Gelegenheit geboten ihre Waffen niederzulegen und sich amnestieren zu lassen, was Dutzende auch getan haben. Doch ein großer Teil kämpft weiter.

Russland und China wollen ein gemeinsames Marinemanöver abhalten, und zwar in einem Gebiet, das für Washingtons aktuelle Eindämmungspolitik gegen Peking maßgeblich wichtig ist.

As the probe deepens into U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s supporters, the suspected organizers of the July 15 failed coup attempt, more of the hierarchy inside the Gülenist group has come to light, as reports have revealed Gülenist leaders known as “imams” commanded their superiors in the military and state organization.

The “imam” of the General Staff was Muhammet Uslu, a former cleaning worker who built up an “irrepressible career” due to his Gülenist links, daily Hürriyet columnist Abdülkadir Selvi wrote on Aug. 3.

In einer Rede vor dem türkischen Religionsrat am Mittwoch verurteilte Erdoğan die westlichen Staaten scharf:

“Während dieser Vorgänge stand der Westen nie auf unserer Seite. Er stand mit den Putschisten. Er stand nicht auf der Seite der Regierung dieses Landes, die gegen den Putschversuch gekämpft hatte.”