Troubled ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM
Financial rescue plan aimed at restoring liquidity to the financial markets
(…)
Committed : $11 trillion (total)
Invested: $3 trillion (total)
Archiv: Obama
Black Cube: Inside the shadowy Israeli firm accused of trying to undermine the Iran deal
(25.05.2018)
Black Cube’s political work frequently intersects with Israel’s foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.
“They would never work against Israeli interests,” said the source who was familiar with Black Cube’s Iran work. He likened the firm to an “almost privatized wing of Mossad.”
He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube’s work to discredit the Iran deal.
What is Black Cube, the Cambridge Analytica-linked intelligence firm?
(May 21, 2021)
In May, Black Cube resurfaced in the news, when it was revealed it was used to get information on two Americans who supported the Iran nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump has since pulled out of.
According to the New York Times, Black Cube assembled a file on Ben Rhodes, a former national security adviser to President Obama that contained “pictures of his apartment in Washington, telephone numbers and email addresses of members of his family, as well as unsubstantiated allegations of personal and ethical transgressions.”
Additionally, Black Cube collected information on Colin Kahl, a national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Assad must go, Obama says
(18.8.2011)
As Obama issued his statement, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain joined him in calling on Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside.”
Obama had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the past two weeks to discuss calling for Assad’s resignation and to coordinate steps on sanctions.
Hillary Clinton: Muammar Gaddafi ‚must go now‘
(02.03.2011)
Testifying before the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton called for an end to the violence in Libya.
She also added that the United States had reserved all its options as it considered additional steps that might be needed to stop Libyan forces from attacking civilians.
The political universe of Pennsylvania: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama pay visits
The Oz-Fetterman race could decide whether Republicans or Democrats control the U.S. Senate; Pennsylvania will also go a long way toward determining the presidential winner in 2024, just as it fueled the victories of Obama, Trump, and Biden.
Three presidents descend on Pennsylvania in a major day for one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate contests
For President Joe Biden, who will hold a rare joint appearance with former President Barack Obama in Philadelphia meant to boost the Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania will amount to a political stress test in his home state, where he’s traveled 20 times since taking office.
For former President Donald Trump, who rallies outside of Pittsburgh in the city of Latrobe, a win by his hand-selected candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz could prove his own enduring viability in a commonwealth he lost by a narrow margin in 2020.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
McChrystal raus, Petraeus degradiert: Die “Warlord AG” Afghanistan bekommt einen neuen Geschäftsführer
(23.06.2010)
Der Präsident der Republik USA, Barack Obama, zitiert seinen Afghanistan-Kommandeur Stanley McChrystal erst nach Washington, um ihn dort zu feuern. Angeblich geht es um harsche Worte gegen die zivile Regierung im „Rolling Stone“. Am gleichen Tag erscheint ein Bericht des Kongress-Unterausschusses für Nationale Sicherheit und Auswärtige Angelegenheiten, welcher unter der Überschrift „Die Warlord AG“ minutiös belegt, dass die Militärs des von den USA angeführten Nordatlantikpaktes jeden einzelnen Versorgungstransport in ihre Besatzungszone von Kriegsfürsten bewachen lassen, Milizen finanzieren und dass diese Gelder eine „signifikante potentielle Quelle für die Finanzierung der Taliban“ darstellen.
Dann stellt sich der Präsident in die mittwöchentliche Abendsonne – sein Generalstabschef Michael Mullen darf am Rande stehen – und verkündet die Degradierung seines bisherigen Militärdiktators David Petraeus vom Chef des Zentralkommandos zum Nachfolger seines bisherigen Untergebenen McChrystals in Afghanistan.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Assad must go, Obama says
(18.8.2011)
As Obama issued his statement, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain joined him in calling on Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside.”
Obama had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the past two weeks to discuss calling for Assad’s resignation and to coordinate steps on sanctions.
Fighting between U.S. troops and militias draws scrutiny to Syria role
(27.08.2022)
President Biden’s order to strike targets belonging to Iranian-backed groups reflects a decision to act — “to protect and defend the safety of our personnel, to degrade and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners, and to deter the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities,” the president said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Since Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla took over U.S. Central Command in April, there has been a push to ensure that Iran cannot carry out attacks against U.S. forces and assets with impunity, according to a person familiar with planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Hillary Clinton: Muammar Gaddafi ‚must go now‘
(02.03.2011)
Testifying before the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton called for an end to the violence in Libya.
She also added that the United States had reserved all its options as it considered additional steps that might be needed to stop Libyan forces from attacking civilians.
At least 32 people dead following violent clashes between rival militias in Libyan capital of Tripoli
Libya has been split between warring factions since 2014, following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.
Neue Kämpfe in Libyen: Mindestens 23 Tote
Seit dem Sturz und gewaltsamen Tod des langjährigen Machthabers Muammar al-Gaddafi 2011 wird Libyen von Gewalt und Machtkämpfen erschüttert. Seit März kämpfen zwei rivalisierende Regierungen um die Macht. Im Mai kam es dabei nach einem gescheiterten Putschversuch in Tripolis erstmals zu schweren Kämpfen.
Warum das Atomabkommen für den Iran von Anfang an wertlos war
(14.Mai 2018)
Die Vetomächte im U.N.-Sicherheitsrat, Russland, China, Großbritannien, Frankreich und die Vereinigten Staaten machten am 20. Juli 2015 das gesamte internationale Atomabkommen für den Iran wertlos. Und sie wussten es.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Democrats blaming voters for being ’stupid‘ rather than acknowledge failed ideology, policies: Glenn Greenwald
(24.05.2022)
„The Democrats simply replaced Trump with the same ideology they governed with for 8 years under Obama that caused people to run away from them as fast as they could,“ he said. „And now that people are doing that again, instead of asking ‘why is that happening’ they’re getting poised to blame the electorate for being stupid — for thinking the economy’s bad when it’s actually good.“
„And ultimately they’ll just say there were ‘too racist’ to vote for Democrats.“
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Youngkin defeats McAuliffe in race for Virginia governor
McAuliffe also nationalized the race, campaigning with President Biden, Vice President Harris, former President Obama, and other top Democrats in an unsuccessful attempt to boost his fortunes.
„Alrighty Virginia, we won this thing,“ Youngkin told supporters in his victory speech a little after 1 AM Wednesday.
Barack Obama stumps for Terry McAuliffe as tight Va. governor’s race worries Democrats
Obama exhorted voters on behalf of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, who is now in a tighter-than-expected gubernatorial race in which Black voters in particular could make the difference.
But the former president plans to echo his plea in 2022 as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of Congress and statehouses nationwide.
Ben Rhodes‘ Book Proves Obama Officials‘ Lies, and His Own, About Edward Snowden and Russia
The memoir of Rhodes, now appropriately an MSNBC contributor, is an incredibly self-serving homage to himself that repeatedly attempts to demonstrate his own importance and accomplishments. The passage about Rhodes’ conduct regarding Snowden is very much aligned with those goals. While repeatedly emphasizing how traumatic the Snowden revelations were for the Obama administrations, Rhodes boasts of the crucial role he played in preventing Snowden from leaving Russia as the NSA whistleblower was desperately attempting to do so — exactly the opposite of what people like Rhodes and Hillary Clinton were telling the public about Snowden.
It is really beyond words how willing these people are to lie.
VP Biden on Afghanistan: „We are leaving in 2014. Period.“
(Oct 12, 2012)
McChrystal raus, Petraeus degradiert: Die „Warlord AG“ Afghanistan bekommt einen neuen Geschäftsführer
(23. Juni 2010)
Am Montag, den 22.Juni, veröffentlichte die Washington Post auf ihrer Webseite den neunundsiebzig Seiten langen Bericht des „Unterausschusses für Nationale Sicherheit und Auswärtige Angelegenheiten“ mit dem Titel „Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan“, für den der Leiter des Ausschusses, der Republikaner John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), verantwortlich zeichnete (1, 2).
Der „Unterausschuss für Nationale Sicherheit und Auswärtige Angelegenheiten“ ist ständiger Teil des „Ausschuss für Aufsicht und Reform der Regierung“ des Repräsentantenhauses.
Die Veröffentlichung des Berichts fällt mit den Machtkämpfen um die Kompetenzen der CIA, der Geheimdienste des US-Verteidigungsministeriums und den eigenmächtigen Spionagediensten des US-Militärs (wie diejenigen des General Petraeus) um die Kontrolle der Oberhoheit in den besetzten Gebieten zusammen, in denen sich Geschäfte mit Hilfe korrupter Politiker in mehrfacher Milliardenhöhe abwickeln lassen – die Möglichkeiten zum Geldverdienen reichen von der Opiumproduktion, den Rüstungsgeschäften und Waffenhandel, Lizenzen für die Ausbeutung der Rohstoffe, Aufträge für die Bauunternehmen bis hin in alle Bereiche des öffentlichen Lebens einer Gesellschaft. Es geht um die reine Ausbeutung eines Landes.
Taliban takeover seen narrowing prospects for 2001 AUMF update
And Biden’s Monday characterization of the terrorist threat has some analysts like Anderson wondering just how narrow an AUMF the administration would support, particularly if it’s one that that includes geographic limitations.
“Their logic, now the way they are describing counterterrorism operations, sounds like the last three presidential administrations who have said, ‘This is why we can’t take away the 2001 AUMF,’” said Anderson, a former attorney-adviser at the State Department.
U.S. failed to keep proper track of more than $1 billion in weapons and equipment in Iraq
(May 24, 2017)
The arms and equipment transfers were apart of the Iraq Train and Equip Fund, a program that initially appropriated $1.6 billion under the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act to help Iraqi forces combat the rise of the Islamic State.
Pentagon loses track of $500 million in weapons, equipment given to Yemen
(March 17, 2015)
The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen, amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.
(…)
In recent weeks, members of Congress have held closed-door meetings with U.S. military officials to press for an accounting of the arms and equipment. Pentagon officials have said that they have little information to go on and that there is little they can do at this point to prevent the weapons and gear from falling into the wrong hands.
McChrystal raus, Petraeus degradiert: Die „Warlord AG“ Afghanistan bekommt einen neuen Geschäftsführer
(23. Juni 2010)
Am Montag, den 22.Juni, veröffentlichte die Washington Post auf ihrer Webseite den neunundsiebzig Seiten langen Bericht des „Unterausschusses für Nationale Sicherheit und Auswärtige Angelegenheiten“ mit dem Titel „Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan“, für den der Leiter des Ausschusses, der Republikaner John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), verantwortlich zeichnete (1, 2).
Der „Unterausschuss für Nationale Sicherheit und Auswärtige Angelegenheiten“ ist ständiger Teil des „Ausschuss für Aufsicht und Reform der Regierung“ des Repräsentantenhauses.
Die Veröffentlichung des Berichts fällt mit den Machtkämpfen um die Kompetenzen der CIA, der Geheimdienste des US-Verteidigungsministeriums und den eigenmächtigen Spionagediensten des US-Militärs (wie diejenigen des General Petraeus) um die Kontrolle der Oberhoheit in den besetzten Gebieten zusammen, in denen sich Geschäfte mit Hilfe korrupter Politiker in mehrfacher Milliardenhöhe abwickeln lassen – die Möglichkeiten zum Geldverdienen reichen von der Opiumproduktion, den Rüstungsgeschäften und Waffenhandel, Lizenzen für die Ausbeutung der Rohstoffe, Aufträge für die Bauunternehmen bis hin in alle Bereiche des öffentlichen Lebens einer Gesellschaft. Es geht um die reine Ausbeutung eines Landes.
Krieg in Afghanistan: Warlord Inc. – freies Geleit gegen Geld
(23. Juni 2010)
Die USA verteilen in Afghanistan Milliarden Dollar an Firmen, damit schwerbewaffnete Söldner für Sicherheit sorgen. Die Dienstleister verdienen prächtig – und bestechen mit dem Steuergeld zwielichtige Kriegsfürsten und möglicherweise auch Taliban.
Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan
(June 22, 2010)
To the Members of the Subcommittee:
Today I present to you a report entitled, Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan, which has been prepared by the Majority staff of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
After a six-month investigation, the report exposes the circumstances surrounding the Department of Defense’s outsourcing of security on the supply chain in Afghanistan to questionable providers, including warlords.
The findings of this report range from sobering to shocking. In short, the Department of Defense designed a contract that put responsibility for the security of vital U.S. supplies on contractors and their unaccountable security providers. This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others.
Not only does the system run afoul of the Department’s own rules and regulations mandated by Congress, it also appears to risk undermining the U.S. strategy for achieving its goals in Afghanistan.
Afghanische Warlords stehen jährlich mit Hunderten von Millionen-Dollar-Margen auf NATO-Gehaltslisten
(4. November 2009)
Denn so lange die Warlords, Gebietsfürsten und Distriktgouverneure mit jährlichen Millionenbeträgen auf der Gehaltsliste der CIA und der NATO stehen, haben sie noch weniger Interesse an friedlichen Verhältnissen in der Region. Je mehr Krieg und Terror, umso besser – ansonsten würden diese hohen Einnahmen für sie wegfallen. Das Geld bekommen diese Führer dafür, dass sie private Sicherheitstruppen mieten, um die jeweiligen Basen der westlichen Allierten sowie die Transportwege vor terroristischen Überfällen zu schützen. Diese Kuh gilt es mit allen Mitteln zu melken.
Somit ist durchaus der Beweis erbracht, dass die NATO den Krieg in Afghanistan doppelt finanziert – nicht nur die eigenen Truppen sondern auch die der Gegenseite gleich mit.
The Public Cost of Private Security in Afghanistan
(Sept 9, 2009)
The private security industry in Afghanistan has grown apace with demand. As of August 2009, the total number of private security personnel employed by the US Department of Defense – the largest employer of private security in the country – increased 19 percent (from 4,373 to 5,198) in response to the deployment of additional military forces. Since 2001, a range of private security providers (PSPs) has emerged, including international and national PSCs operating with or without the required Afghan licensing permits, as well as militias hired as “armed support groups” (ASG) by international military forces. Many PSPs are controlled by prominent Afghan families, including Hashmat and Ahmed Wali Karzai, brothers of President Hamid Karzai; Hamid Wardak, the son of Defense Minister Rahim Wardak; Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of Nangarhar province; and Hajji Jan Mohammad Khan, the former governor of Uruzgan.
The use of unregistered PSCs and militia groups by the NATO International Security Assistance Force and US military contingents is widespread. Many of these PSPs serve as ready-made militias that compete with state authority and are frequently run by former military com-manders responsible for human rights abuses or involved in the illegal narcotics and black market economies. Financing armed, alternative power structures fulfills security needs in the short-term at the cost of consolidating government authority in the long-term.
(…)
Drug trafficking and other criminal activities in which commanders may be involved – and for which their militias provide security – is a lucrative source of illegal revenue that can then be used to bribe government officials and strengthen shadow structures of authority. Illicit taxation of PSPs escorting convoys and other scams on private transport and security are also an important source of funding for corrupt police and insurgents. The Kandak Amnianti Uruzgan, for example, secures protection “by paying a hefty toll to the policeman in charge of the road.” Although it is transportation and construction companies, both international and national, who are the main source of “protection” revenue, private security escorts also pay Taliban not to be attacked. According to an Afghan intelligence official, there are examples of PSPs paying as much as 60 percent of their gross profits for convoy security to the Taliban and other insurgent-cum-criminal groups for “protection.”
Remarks by the President at the National Defense University
(May 23, 2013)
So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.
Obama: ‚This War, Like All Wars, Must End‘
(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.“
Report: Whistleblower Daniel Hale, responsible for revealing massive civilian cost of US Drone Program, receives 45 month sentence „It was necessary to dispel the lie that drone warfare keeps us safe, that our lives are worth more than theirs“ #DanielHale
Daniel Hale sentenced to 45 months in prison
Before he was sentenced, Hale read a powerful and intensely emotional speech to the court, condemning the horrors of war, particularly the post-9/11 U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and drew attention to Iraqi and Afghan victims of the U.S. drone assassination program. He said he opposes war for the same reasons he opposes the death penalty, saying it’s wrong to kill and especially wrong to kill the defenseless. The U.S. often posthumously labels those it kills as “combatants,” and Hale said that sometimes up to 90% of victims in a given airstrike are unidentifiable.
U.S.-Imperium will „globale Koalition“ für Terrorkrieg 2.0 und bastelt an „Nachrüstung“ der Kriegsvollmacht aus 2001
(2. September 2014)
Auf dem Gipfel des Nordatlantikpakts in Wales wird es weniger um Russland als um die Frage gehen, mit welcher schwachsinnigen Ausrede nun die N.A.T.O. den am 4. Oktober 2001 ausgerufenen „kollektiven Verteidigungsfall“ aufrechterhalten will.
Eine Option: Noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat“.
Am 26. August berichtete Radio Utopie, wie die Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika in der laufenden Farce um angeblich ohne Zutun oder Kenntnis eigener oder alliierter Kräfte unter den Labeln „Islamischer Staat“, „Isis“ und „Isil“ aus dem Nichts aufgetauchten Schattenarmeen in Syrien und Irak die Bereitschaft der Weltöffentlichkeit testete eine offene Invasion Syriens zu akzeptieren. Das Weiße Haus hatte ohne offizielles Statement einen drittrangigen Sprecher erklären lassen, die U.S.A. hätten „zum Schutze ihrer Bürger“
das Recht auf Kriegführung “ohne Rücksicht auf internationale Grenzen”. Wir verwiesen in diesem Zusammenhang auf die vom U.S.-Kongress am 14. September 2001 für den (jeweiligen) Präsidenten ausgestellte, uneingeschränkte, weltweite und zeitlich unbegrenzte Kriegsvollmacht „Authorization for Use of Military Force“ (A.U.M.F.).
Zwei Tage nach unserem Artikel wurde am 28. August dieser Zusammenhang über die „New York Times“ quasi offiziell gemacht…
Hillary Clinton warns of ‚huge consequences‘ in Afghan US troop withdrawal
Mrs Clinton said it was also important to protect the „many thousands of Afghans“ who had worked with the US and Nato during the conflict, and said a large visa programme should be set up to provide for any refugees.
Afghanische Warlords stehen jährlich mit Hunderten von Millionen-Dollar-Margen auf NATO-Gehaltslisten
(4. November 2009)
Denn so lange die Warlords, Gebietsfürsten und Distriktgouverneure mit jährlichen Millionenbeträgen auf der Gehaltsliste der CIA und der NATO stehen, haben sie noch weniger Interesse an friedlichen Verhältnissen in der Region. Je mehr Krieg und Terror, umso besser – ansonsten würden diese hohen Einnahmen für sie wegfallen. Das Geld bekommen diese Führer dafür, dass sie private Sicherheitstruppen mieten, um die jeweiligen Basen der westlichen Allierten sowie die Transportwege vor terroristischen Überfällen zu schützen. Diese Kuh gilt es mit allen Mitteln zu melken.
Somit ist durchaus der Beweis erbracht, dass die NATO den Krieg in Afghanistan doppelt finanziert – nicht nur die eigenen Truppen sondern auch die der Gegenseite gleich mit. Auf das der Krieg nicht zum Erliegen gebracht wird!
Welcher Provinz-Warlord könnte nicht in Versuchung kommen und lässt schnell mal ein Attentat inszenieren, dass dann immer die über die Grenze gekommenen Aufständigen waren? Seine Sicherheitskräfte brauchen schliesslich Arbeit, Lohn und Brot. Ohne Gefahr gibt es kein Geld – eine einfache Rechnung und ein fataler Teufelskreis. Die Ansicht der USA, dass, wenn man den Kriegsherren kein Geld mehr für ihre Dienste zur Verfügung stellt, dann eine Eskalation der Lage erfolge, kann man unterschiedlich bewerten. So wie jetzt die Lage in Afghanistan ist, hat diese bisherige Strategie nach acht Jahren keinen Erfolg für den ISAF- Einsatz gebracht und die meisten Anschläge erst hervorgerufen.
Alle gefallenen Soldaten, einschliesslich der deutschen Opfer, sowie die Toten und Verletzten der afghanischen Zivilbevölkerung oder der Hilfsorganisationen, sie alle sind gestorben in dem grausamen korrupten Machtspielen der Westmächte und den Führungskräften in Afghanistan.
Stellungnahmen der Bundesregierung, der Parteien und Medien zu dem Bericht des Zentrums für internationale Zusammenarbeit an der New York University waren bis heute in Deutschland nicht festzustellen.
The Public Cost of Private Security in Afghanistan
(9.September 2009)
The private security industry in Afghanistan has grown apace with demand. As of August 2009, the total number of private security personnel employed by the US Department of Defense – the largest employer of private security in the country – increased 19 percent (from 4,373 to 5,198) in response to the deployment of additional military forces. Since 2001, a range of private security providers (PSPs) has emerged, including international and national PSCs operating with or without the required Afghan licensing permits, as well as militias hired as “armed support groups” (ASG) by international military forces. Many PSPs are controlled by prominent Afghan families, including Hashmat and Ahmed Wali Karzai, brothers of President Hamid Karzai; Hamid Wardak, the son of Defense Minister Rahim Wardak; Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of Nangarhar province; and Hajji Jan Mohammad Khan, the former governor of Uruzgan.
The use of unregistered PSCs and militia groups by the NATO International Security Assistance Force and US military contingents is widespread. Many of these PSPs serve as ready-made militias that compete with state authority and are frequently run by former military commanders responsible for human rights abuses or involved in the illegal narcotics and black market economies.
Krieg in Afghanistan: Warlord Inc. – freies Geleit gegen Geld
(23. Juni 2010)
Die USA verteilen in Afghanistan Milliarden Dollar an Firmen, damit schwerbewaffnete Söldner für Sicherheit sorgen. Die Dienstleister verdienen prächtig – und bestechen mit dem Steuergeld zwielichtige Kriegsfürsten und möglicherweise auch Taliban.
Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan
June 22, 2010
To the Members of the Subcommittee:
Today I present to you a report entitled, Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan, which has been prepared by the Majority staff of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
After a six-month investigation, the report exposes the circumstances surrounding the Department of Defense’s outsourcing of security on the supply chain in Afghanistan to questionable providers, including warlords.
The findings of this report range from sobering to shocking. In short, the Department of Defense designed a contract that put responsibility for the security of vital U.S. supplies on contractors and their unaccountable security providers. This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt
Afghan officials, and perhaps others.
Not only does the system run afoul of the Department’s own rules and regulations mandated by Congress, it also appears to risk undermining the U.S. strategy for achieving its goals in Afghanistan.
VP Biden on Afghanistan: „We are leaving in 2014. Period.“
(Oct 12, 2012)
Internationaler Strafgerichtshof: Khan wird neuer UN-Chefankläger
Der Wechsel als Chefankläger erfolgt in einer kritischen Zeit für das Gericht. Es steht unter großem politischen Druck wegen geplanter Ermittlungsverfahren zu Kriegsverbrechen in Palästina und in Afghanistan. Dadurch wären auch Prozesse gegen Militärs aus Israel oder den USA möglich.
Heim in den Verantwortungsbereich
(18. März 2010)
Nun, die Situation in Asien ist für viele Europäer verwirrend. Das liegt daran, dass viele Europäer nicht mehr wissen, wo Asien liegt. Asien beginnt am Ende Sibiriens und endet am Nil. Nun befassen wir uns mit den geostrategischen Grundlagen des US-Militärs. Das hat sich die Welt in den „Vereinigten Kampf-Kommandaturen“ („unified combatant commands) in „Verantwortungsbereiche“ aufgeteilt. Zum Verantwortungsbereich („area of responsibility“) des Europakommandos („Eucom“) gehören bislang auch drei Länder Asiens: Syrien, der Libanon und Israel. Ebenso natürlich die israelisch besetzten Gebiete, sowie der Gazastreifen.
Das möchte General David Petraeus, Chef des Zentralkommandos (Centcom), und damit u.a. direkter Vorgesetzter der US-Kommandeure in den eroberten Ländern Irak und Afghanistan, gerne ändern. Um den Zusammenhang nun denkbar ausreichend zu erläutern: dazwischen liegt der Iran.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Biden Says Rioters Who Stormed Capitol Were Domestic Terrorists
President-elect says Trump supporters who attacked legislative complex were insurrectionists, not protesters.
Torture Report Puts Presidential Hopefuls in Quiet Mode
(Dec. 10, 2014)
Most of the possible presidential candidates have not plunged into Washington’s debate over the Senate Intelligence Committee’s withering report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s brutal interrogation tactics — and some are ducking questions entirely, illustrating the delicate politics of national security. (…)
For Mrs. Clinton, the challenge is different: She must balance her desire to be seen as tough on national security against pressure from her party’s liberal wing to not only condemn the gruesome tactics but punish those involved.
REPORT of the SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE STUDY of the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY’S DETENTION AND INTERROGATION PROGRAM
The Committee makes the following findings and conclusions:
#1: The CIA’s use of its enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees.
(…)
#2: The CIA’s justification for the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques rested on inaccurate claims of their effectiveness.
(…)
#3: The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others. (…)
At least five CIA detainees were subjected to „rectal rehydration“ or rectal feeding without documented medical necessity. The CIA placed detainees in ice water „baths.“ The CIA led several detainees to believe they would never be allowed to leave CIA custody alive, suggesting to one detainee that he would only leave in a coffin-shaped box. One interrogator told another detainee that he would never go to court, because „we can never let the world know what I have done to you.“ CIA officers also threatened at least three detainees with harm to their families— to include threats to harm the children of a detainee, threats to sexually abuse the mother of a detainee, and a threat to „cut [a detainee’s] mother’s throat.“
#4: The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and others.
Conditions at CIA detention sites were poor, and were especially bleak early in the program. CIA detainees at the COBALT detention facility were kept in complete darkness and constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste.10 Lack of heat at the facility likely contributed to the death of a detainee. The chief of interrogations described COBALT as a „dungeon.“11 Another senior CIA officer stated that COBALT was itself an enhanced interrogation technique.“ At times, the detainees at COBALT were walked around naked or were shackled with their hands above their heads for extended periods of time. Other times, the detainees at COBALT were subjected to what was described as a „rough takedown,“ in which approximately five CIA officers would scream at a detainee, drag him outside of his cell, cut his clothes off, and secure him with Mylar tape. The detainee would then be hooded and dragged up and down a long corridor while being slapped and punched.
„We Tortured Some Folks“: CIA Lied To Congress, Senate Torture Report Reveals
(Dec 09, 2014)
The drilldown from Bloomberg:
– CIA provided inaccurate information about effectiveness and scope of interrogations of suspected terrorists, and mismanaged a program that was far more brutal than represented, according to 6-year investigation by Democrats on Senate Intelligence Cmte.
– Interrogation techniques weren’t effective, didn’t produce key information that led to killing of Osama bin Laden and were significantly different from procedures authorized by Justice Dept, report says
– CIA provided inaccurate information to White House, Congress, DOJ, CIA Inspector General, media and the public
– “This document examines the CIA’s secret overseas detention of at least 119 individuals and the use of coercive interrogation techniques – in some cases amounting to torture,” Senate Intelligence Cmte Chairman Dianne Feinstein says in statement
After Jake Sullivan chirped to his boss about Al Qaeda being „on our side in Syria,“ he advocated for more covert arms shipments to the Syrian insurgency the jihadist group was leading. Expect more wise moves like this in the months and years to come.
„[al-Quada] is on our side in Syria“–email from policy advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Feb 2012)
(12.04.2017)
Biden to appoint Jake Sullivan as national security adviser
Sullivan has been advising Mr. Biden on domestic policy, but has an extensive foreign policy background. He served as Mr. Biden’s national security adviser during President Barack Obama’s second term and was a head of policy planning and deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state.
Tony Blinken, in Riyadh, April 2015: “Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message […] we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation centre”
Obama the pretender
America is circling the political toilet in part because Obama had the chance to fix many longstanding problems and did not rise to the occasion, a fact the former president is still stubbornly unwilling or unable to see.
The reality is the Biden admin will probably bomb *multiple* countries on its very first day. It will continue the ongoing imperial U.S. wars on Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, and Niger. And Biden will likely further expand covert drone wars across the globe.
Biden is going to win the presidency today! Thank God! We can finally go back to some sense of normalcy, like invading and bombing countries in the Middle East. But with decency.
Nervous Democrats don’t see 2016 nightmare repeating itself
Democrats are feeling confident that 2020 will not be a repeat of 2016 and that polls showing Joe Biden with a comfortable lead over President Trump will not result in another nightmare for the party.
Trump’s 2016 upset of Hillary Clinton after polls showed the Democrats with a slender lead on Election Day lingers fresh in the minds of many Democrats.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Michael Moore’s Letter to Obama about Afghanistan
(Original: Nov 30, 2009)
When we elected you we didn’t expect miracles. We didn’t even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn’t even function as a nation and never, ever has.
Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God’s sake, stop.
Tonight we still have hope.
Tomorrow, we shall see.
Obama Doubles Number of Troops in Afghanistan. Wait…What?
(Jul 11, 2009)
Obama’s Presidential campaign was pretty much based on getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan, playing to the anti-war movement, to be fair he did make statements about Afghanistan deteriorating and being ignored, but he has doubled the number of troops there now and the anti-war groups seem to be eerily silent.
Joe Biden, President Barack Obama, & Stevie Wonder Speak LIVE in Detroit, Michigan
There is too much at stake on Tuesday to sit this election out. Tune in as Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Stevie Wonder get out the vote in Detroit, Michigan.
The Biden campaign announces two stops for @BarackObama and @JoeBiden in Michigan Saturday: a Drive-in event in Flint, and a Drive-in event in Detroit
Obama’s car rally for Biden in Philadelphia. Walmart has more cars on a Wednesday afternoon.
WATCH LIVE: Obama holds drive-in rally for Biden in Philadelphia
[Thread] Obama years, in no particular order ….
(19.12.2017)
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Obama tears into Trump at Philadelphia rally: ‚The next 13 days will matter for decades to come‘
Obama framed the election as a battle for democracy.
“Our democracy is not gonna work if the people who are supposed to be our leaders lie every day and just make things up,” Obama said. “This notion of truthfulness and democracy and citizenship and being responsible — these aren’t Republican or Democratic principles. They’re American principles. … We need to reclaim them.”
US-Wahlkampf: Obama ruft zu Abwahl Trumps auf
Die Corona-Pandemie wäre für jeden Präsidenten schwierig gewesen, räumt Ex-US-Präsident Obama ein. Doch das „Ausmaß der Inkompetenz“ Trumps habe viele Menschen unnötig sterben lassen. Er sei überzeugt, Biden könne es besser machen.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
On this day in 2011, an Obama-ordered drone strike killed 16 year-old American citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, his teenage cousin, and 5 other civilians as they were eating at an outdoor cafe in Southern Yemen.
(14.10.2020)
Obama: ‚This War, Like All Wars, Must End‘
(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.“
Obama: Trump’s lack of ‚patience‘ and ‚focus‘ hold back his foreign policy
Obama, after speaking at the Democratic National Convention and headlining a number of fundraisers for the party, is expected to hit the campaign trail next week, according to Democratic Party officials, as he looks to support Biden in the final weeks of the election.
Obama also said that he has seen growth from Biden on foreign policy, noting that while the former Delaware senator voted in 2002 to authorize military force in Iraq, a vote that became a flashpoint during the 2008 presidential primary, Biden had „learned a lesson“ from that.
Trump’s spy chief declassified unverified Russian intelligence despite concerns raised by CIA and NSA
(30.09.2020)
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified unverified Russian intelligence despite concerns being raised by the CIA and National Security Agency, according to people briefed on the matter.
Career officials in the intelligence agencies were concerned about declassifying the information because it was unverified and they believed it could reveal sources and methods. Ratcliffe overrode those concerns and sent the document to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham on Tuesday, the people sa
Comey knocks Barr’s attacks on the Russia probe: ‚I have no idea what on Earth he is talking about‘
(30.09.2020)
Graham pointed to the documents declassified Tuesday by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe — which summarized unverified Russian intelligence that Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign was trying to „stir up a scandal“ by tying Trump to Russia — arguing they showed the FBI’s double standard in not investigating Clinton and Russia.
One Republicans senator even asked Comey about the Democratic allegations he had swung the 2016 election to Trump by releasing information about the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s emails.
BREAKING: Newly Declassified Documents Show Hillary May Have Set Up the Russia Hoax
(29.09.2020)
“According to his handwritten notes, former Central Intelligence Agency Director Brennan subsequently briefed President Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, including the ‘alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.’”
„On 07 September 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok regarding ‘U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private mail server,’” the letter continues.
Who was President at the time when Trump wasn’t paying any income tax?
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
FYI: Constitution was „Shredded“ on 9-11, U now live in a 100% surveillance state, U have no right to privacy, U have no 4th Amendment protections, & the Democrats voted for it, and Obama/Biden renewed it! & then repealed Habeas Corpus!
Absolutely one of the best things about her: Those close to Harris describe her as a “Truman Democrat,” a nod to her willingness to use American power to promote American values and interests.
(14.08.2020)
The Biden Doctrine Exists Already. Here’s an Inside Preview.
The Democratic nominee and his closest advisors served in the Obama administration—but their foreign-policy vision is finding inspiration in Harry S. Truman.
#Biden – „The Democratic nominee and his closest advisors served in the Obama administration—but their foreign-policy vision is finding inspiration in Harry S. Truman.“
Mike Pompeo talks as if Obama is still president
(14.07.2020)
Most of the sentiments Pompeo expresses would be anodyne coming from any other administration but are risible from this one. Does he know who he works for? He acts as though someone else is president — Barack Obama perhaps? That makes U.S. diplomacy nearly worthless, because the whole world can see the Grand Canyon-size gap between Pompeo’s rhetoric and Trump’s actions and beliefs. U.S. credibility has become a joke, and Pompeo keeps producing more punchlines.
Twitter accounts of Obama, Biden, Musk and others compromised
The attack is likely the largest ever on Twitter’s security system and may have already cost users ten of thousands of dollars.
The accounts – which included other tech CEO’s including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, celebrities such as Kanye West, and other political figures like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – posted similar messages offering to double bitcoin payments sent to an address during a set period of time.
Obama advises Kanye West on 2020 White House run
(Oct 10, 2015)
The president spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco, where the hip hop artist will later perform. Mr. Obama has a few political nuggets to pass on for West’s 2020 bid for the presidency.
Netanyahu caters to Right, divorces Palestinian statehood from annexation
(31.05.2020)
IT WILL likely go like this. Netanyahu will rely on the formal public pledge he made in his 2009 Bar-Ilan speech to support a demilitarized Palestinian state. That pledge was made when former US president Barack Obama was in power and was designed to satisfy an administration that wanted a two-state solution based on pre-1967 lines.
Netanyahu did not speak of the 1967 lines in the speech, but Obama accepted Netanyahu’s statehood pledge nonetheless.
Did Putin save Israel from Obama at UN, and why are we hearing this now?
Danon appealed to his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin, and the matter went up to the Netanyahu-Putin level. The Russians did not agree to veto Resolution 2334 condemning settlements, but they were opposed to the second one, and generally did not approve of the Obama administration making these last-minute moves right before Trump took office.
The Israeli source posited that the Obama administration did not want to be seen as less pro-Israel than Russia, so they backed down from the second initiative.
Report: Putin nixed Obama initiative to create Palestinian state within 1948 borders
In late 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin prevented former US President Barack Obama’s attempt to pass a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution demanding Israel relinquish the West Bank territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and accept a two-state resolution based on 1948 borders, freshly declassified documents appear to show.
Don’t forget Black Lives Matter started under Obama and he did nothing to hold killer cops accountable. Obama deported more people than any other president (2.7 million), destroyed Libya (leading to slave markets for African refugees) and waged nonstop war
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Making of a myth: Timeline of media’s role in selling ‚Trump-Russia collusion‘ tale
Nov. 18, 2016:
Trump announces Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his choice for National Security Adviser. Over the next few weeks, Flynn communicates with numerous international leaders.
Nov. 30 – Dec. 28, 2016:
Two dozen Obama administration officials make requests to unmask the name of National Security Adviser designee Flynn, who was „incidentally“ captured by intel surveillance. The officials include: U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and CIA Director John Brennan.
Jan. 5, 2017:
Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough requests Flynn unmasking.
Intelligence Community leadership, including FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, CIA Director Brennan and Director of National Intelligence Clapper, provides classified briefing to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and National Security Adviser Susan Rice on alleged Russia hacking during 2016 campaign, according to notes later written by Rice.
After briefing, according to Rice’s notes, President Obama convenes Oval Office meeting with her, Comey, Biden, and Yates. The „Steele dossier“ is reportedly discussed. Also reportedly discussed: Flynn’s intercepted talks with Russia’s ambassador.
Saagar Enjeti: BOMBSHELL reveals Biden at center of Obamagate, media ignores
Saagar blasts Joe Biden for being among the Obama administration officials who „unmasked“ former national security adviser Michael Flynn, despite his wavering stance on involvement in the prosecution.
Rand Paul: „Vice President Biden Is Guilty Of Using Government To Go After A Political Opponent“
Sen. Rand Paul called for acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell to testify about a list of Obama administration officials, including Obama and Biden, involved in the „unmasking“ of then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s communications after the 2016 election.
Speaking to members of the press, Paul also said he wanted testimony from the officials on the list, including James Comey and James Clapper.
‘He knew everything’: Trump demands that Obama testify in Flynn case
“Here is the concern: If you don’t have a national security reason, you’re basically spying on a political opponent,” the South Carolina Republican said on the news show.
“What is the national security reason to unmask Gen. Flynn in transition? I can’t think of one. But, I do believe, given their behavior, they’re looking to get rid of Flynn and if they used our intelligence apparatus to basically act on a political vendetta, that’s chilling to every American and would be very wrong.”
More Than a Dozen Obama Officials Requested ‘Unmasking’ That Identified Michael Flynn in Intelligence Reports
The list includes then-Vice President Joe Biden and former CIA Director John Brennan; the requests came after Russian interference in U.S. election.
Unmasking’ requests number in thousands across administrations, as pols demand details
The numbers reflect how frequently national security and intelligence officials use this tool in their work. Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens‘ conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens‘ identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens‘ names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights. In the typical process, when officials are requesting the unmasking of an American, they do not necessarily know the identity of the person in advance.
Saagar Enjeti: Obamagate is real and the media can’t just ignore it
Saagar Enjeti blasts former President Obama after it was revealed in transcripts he was the person who told then-deputy attorney general Sally Yates about Mike Flynn’s intercepted phone call with the Russian ambassador, Joe Biden responds to Flynn claims on Good Morning America.
Grenell declassifies names of Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Flynn
Another source familiar with the intelligence told Fox News that Grenell is moving to declassify several pieces of intelligence in stages, with this being one part of it. Asked if former President Barack Obama’s name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves.
Intelligence Chief Declassifies Names of Obama Officials Who ‘Unmasked’ Flynn
President Trump’s top intelligence adviser has declassified and may release the names of Obama administration officials who requested the “unmasking” of former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, an action that identified him from intelligence reports following Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, a senior government official said.
Release of the list, which would be an unprecedented move, is likely to resurrect a partisan debate over an episode that had roiled the early days of Mr. Trump’s presidency …
2020 elections: Barack Obama wins the Democratic primary
In the end, the most influential politician of 2020 might be the one who has been the most silent.
With Bernie Sanders exiting the race and Joe Biden taking on the mantle of presumptive nominee, the man who hovered quietly over the race for more than a year, Barack Obama, will soon return to the political fray.
Democrats and Their Media Allies Impugned Biden’s Cognitive Fitness. Now They Feign Outrage.
But, as the Democratic establishment has united with creepy speed and obedience behind Biden in order to stop the Sanders candidacy, those who now raise these concerns instantly come under a withering assault of insults and attacks from Democratic Party operatives along with their crucial media allies: thinly disguised pro-Biden reporters who continue to insist on wearing the unconvincing and fraudulent costume of neutrality. They are invoking the classic Orwellian formulation from the novel 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
The entire 2020 primary is about whether Democrats can come to grips with what a shitty President Obama was. The answer appears to be no they cannot.
Is „Pete Obama voice“ a thing?
U.S.-Imperium will „globale Koalition“ für Terrorkrieg 2.0 und bastelt an „Nachrüstung“ der Kriegsvollmacht aus 2001
(2. Septemmber 2014)
Auf dem Gipfel des Nordatlantikpakts in Wales wird es weniger um Russland als um die Frage gehen, mit welcher schwachsinnigen Ausrede nun die N.A.T.O. den am 4. Oktober 2001 ausgerufenen „kollektiven Verteidigungsfall“ aufrechterhalten will.
Eine Option: Noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat“.
New Details Show How Deeply Iowa Caucus App Developer Was Embedded in Democratic Establishment
Acronym, which includes a hybrid model of a 501(c)4 entity that does not disclose donors and a Super PAC that does, has been a favorite for deep-pocketed Democratic donors. Donald Sussman, the founder of Paloma Partners, and Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, each donated $1 million to Acronym last year. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg gave $500,000. Investor Seth Klarman, once a major donor to Republican causes, gave $1.5 million to Acronym.
Maker of glitchy Iowa caucus app has Democratic Party ties
But business and tax records show ACRONYM and Shadow are registered at the same Washington, D.C., street address, which belongs to a WeWork co-working location. Shadow CEO Gerard Niemira previously served as the chief operating officer and chief technology officer at ACRONYM, according to an online resume.
And on Sunday, McGowan tweeted pictures from a birthday celebration that included her husband and Troy Price, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
The Democratic chair for Iowa, Troy Price, should resign immediately.
Troy Price
Troy Price is an American political strategist and LGBT rights advocate who has served as the Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party since his election in July 2017. Price worked in the administration of Iowa Governor Chet Culver, and later served as a press aide for Tom Vilsack.[2] Price served as Iowa Director for the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaignand the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.[3]
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
How Many People Has the U.S. Killed in its Post-9/11 Wars? Part 2: Afghanistan and Pakistan
(03.04.2018)
Combining my estimates for Afghanistan and Pakistan, I estimate that about 1.2 million Afghans and Pakistanis have been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Nicolas J.S. Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. He also wrote the chapter on “Obama at War” in Grading the 44th President: a Report Card on Barack Obama’s First Term as a Progressive Leader.
The Iraq Death Toll 15 Years After the US Invasion
(15.03.2018)
Taking ORB’s estimate of 1.033 million killed by June 2007, then applying a variation of Just Foreign Policy’s methodology from July 2007 to the present using revised figures from Iraq Body Count, we estimate that 2.4 million Iraqis have been killed since 2003 as a result of our country’s illegal invasion, with a minimum of 1.5 million and a maximum of 3.4 million.
Mike Prysner Protests Obama’s Wars
Iraq War Vet Mike Prysner
Protests Obama’s Wars
Veterans for Peace
White House
December 16, 2010, 10 am
Trump predicted Obama would attack Iran to ‚get elected‘
In a 2011 video, Donald Trump predicted a ‚weak and ineffective‘ President Obama would attack Iran in order to win a second term. Trump followed this notion up at other points in 2011 and 2012.
Trump’s reckless decisions to walk away from the Iran Deal and now to launch airstrikes in Iraq without Iraqi government consent have brought us closer to war and endangered U.S. troops and diplomats. We should end the forever wars, not start new ones.
Col. Macgregor: US airstrikes look like an attempt to drag us into a war
Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor reacts to U.S. airstrikes on Iran-backed militia.
A proxy war between the US and Iran just moved a step closer
The angry demonstrations at the American embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday are just the latest installment in a deepening confrontation between the US and Iran for influence in Iraq.
It’s a struggle that dates back to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the emergence of a Shia-dominated state in Iraq. But in light of the Trump administration’s campaign of maximum economic pressure against Iran, it has reached a new and potentially dangerous pitch.
Obama: Gaddafi must leave Libya now
(27.2.2011)
Obama’s remarks came in a call on Saturday to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, sharpening US rhetoric after days of deadly violence – and criticism that Washington was slow to respond.
„When a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now,“ the White House said in a statement, summarising their telephone conversation.
Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors to wealthy donors
Last week, more than 200 lower- and mid-level Obama staffers who worked on his presidential campaigns and in his administration threw their support behind Warren.
Saagar Enjeti: New ‚Hillary 2.0‘ Biden ad shows why he will lose
Saagar Enjeti argues why Biden’s case to the electorate is stuck in the past.
Obama Attacks Bernie Sanders
(21.12.2019)
Is Obama is attacking Bernie Sanders? Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comments below.
The Afghanistan Papers – A secret history of the war: Stranded without a strategy
By March 2007, the number of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan had climbed to 50,000. Despite the increase, McNeill said nobody in charge was able to articulate a clear mission and strategy.
“I tried to get someone to define for me what winning meant, even before I went over, and nobody could. Nobody would give me a good definition of what it meant,” he told government interviewers.
The Afghanistan Papers – A secret history of the war: At war with the truth
A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
The documents were generated by a federal project examining the root failures of the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. They include more than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with people who played a direct role in the war, from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan officials.
Documents show US leaders misled public on progress in Afghanistan War: report
Senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public about their progress throughout the 18-year war in Afghanistan, consistently painting a rosier picture of the state of the war than they knew to be true, according to a cache of documents obtained by the Washington Post.
In private interviews conducted by a watchdog that span the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations – which the Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request — U.S. officials frequently acknowledged a lack of understanding, strategy and progress in a war they regularly described publicly as being on the cusp of success.
Obama is wrong: Dems are not #TooFarLeft
Establishment and Wall Street Dems are misreading the winds of public sentiment if they believe moderation is a winning political strategy for 2020. There is no constituency for a presidential candidate who prescribes half-measures to put out a fire.
And polling indicates that.
Krystal Ball rips report saying Obama would intervene to stop Sanders
Bernie is an existential threat to business as usual and both parties ability to cash in as perpetual winners in the oligarchy-and they’ll use every means, fair and unfair, to protect their position. So, to those of you dedicated to upending business as usual, in case you had any illusions, Obama’s comments prove that you better be prepared for the fight of your life.
Obama privately said he would speak up to stop Sanders: report
President Obama privately said he would speak up to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) from becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Politico reported Tuesday.
The former president reportedly said if Sanders held a strong lead in the Democratic primary, he would speak out to prevent him from becoming the nominee.
Democratic candidates reject Obama’s warning of going too far left
“When I talk about health care being a human right and ending the embarrassment of America being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care for every man, woman and child, that’s not tearing down the system,” he said, according to the New York Times. “That’s doing what we should have done 30 years ago.”
US election 2020: Democrats respond to Obama’s warning
Answering questions on a forum aired by Univision, a Spanish-language TV network, he was asked whether Mr Obama was „right“ to say voters didn’t want systemic change.
Mr Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist and progressive, laughed and said: „Well, it depends on what you mean by tear down the system.“
Too Far Left? Some Candidates Don’t Buy the Argument
Ms. Warren declined to address Mr. Obama’s implicit criticism, and instead praised the former president’s efforts on health care.
“I so admire what President Obama did. He is the one who led the way on health care and got health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans when nobody thought that was possible,” she said, speaking to reporters after a campaign event in Waverly, Iowa.
THANK YOU! ???? The hashtag I launched this morning, #TooFarLeft, is #1 in America and #3 worldwide. The idea is to destroy the ludicrous mainstream talking point that wanting social, economic, racial, and environmental justice is a radical position.
‚Too Far Left‘ hashtag trends on Twitter
The hashtag „TooFarLeft“ trended on Twitter on Saturday morning, in part because of comments made Friday by former President Obama.
Obama spoke at a fundraising meeting Friday evening and warned donors of the danger of the 2020 Democratic primary field moving too far to the left.
„Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality,“ Obama said. „The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.“
Obama speaks out on 2020: Voters ‘don’t want to see crazy stuff’
“We also have to be rooted in reality and the fact that voters, including the Democratic voters and certainly persuadable independents or even moderate Republicans are not driven by the same views that are reflected on certain, you know, left-leaning Twitter feeds. Or the activist wing of our party,” Obama said.
US election 2020: Obama issues warning to ‚revolutionary‘ Democrats
The comments, which come less than four months before the Democratic primaries, represent one of Mr Obama’s most pointed interventions in the race so far.
They may be seen as a critique of senators Sanders and Warren – widely seen as two of the most left-wing candidates in the field.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Condemning Trump on Syria? It’s ‘buffet outrage’
The more recent set of causes for our Kurdish misadventure began in 2011, when President Obama ordered President Bashar Assad of Syria to “step aside.” Beyond the arrogance that leads American presidents to think they can and should decide who may rule other countries lay the utter impossibility of achieving that goal.
U.S. and Allies Say Syria Leader Must Step Down
(18. August 2011)
“We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way,” Mr. Obama said in a written statement released Thursday morning after coordination with allies in Europe. “He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”
Almost simultaneously, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany issued a joint statement urging Mr. Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people.” Canada made a similar appeal, as did the European Union.
That awkward moment when suddenly the entirety of the corporate propaganda media claims the US wasn’t waging a regime change war in #Syria but Obama, Hillary Clinton and their cronies are all on record since 2011 declaring that “Assad must go”.
Assad must go, Obama says
(18.8.2011)
As Obama issued his statement, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain joined him in calling on Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside.”
Obama had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the past two weeks to discuss calling for Assad’s resignation and to coordinate steps on sanctions.
Netanyahu to Obama: Syria Disintegration Allows for ‚Different Thinking‘ on Future of Golan Heights
(10.11.2015)
Netanyahu’s general, implied statement on the Golan Heights draws from political ideas developed by various right-wing figures over the past year, who argue that the situation in Syria and the takeover of ISIS and other Al-Qaida-affiliated groups of large portions of the country may allow Israel to receive international recognition of 1981 the annexation of the Golan Heights.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History
(17.1.2014)
Written in the frenzied, emotional days after 9/11, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force was intended to give President Bush the ability to retaliate against whoever orchestrated the attacks. But more than 12 years later, this sentence remains the primary legal justification for nearly every covert operation around the world. Here’s how it came to be, and what it’s since come to mean.
U.S.-Imperium will „globale Koalition“ für Terrorkrieg 2.0 und bastelt an „Nachrüstung“ der Kriegsvollmacht aus 2001
(2. September 2014)
Auf dem Gipfel des Nordatlantikpakts in Wales wird es weniger um Russland als um die Frage gehen, mit welcher schwachsinnigen Ausrede nun die N.A.T.O. den am 4. Oktober 2001 ausgerufenen „kollektiven Verteidigungsfall“ aufrechterhalten will.
Eine Option: Noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat“.
(…)
Kern- und Knackpunkt ist dabei das nun seit bald 13 Jahren ausgerufene quasi-religiöse Dogma und Denkverbot, was gerade von allen ehemals oder vermeintlich progressiven, linken, sozialdemokratischen oder sozialistischen Gruppen und Organisationen am vehementesten verteidigt und hochgehalten wird:
Legenden der Geheimdienste dürfen nicht in Frage gestellt werden.
Dafür darf dann um so lauter an ihnen rumgejammert, ein bisschen rumgezupft und sich beklagt werden.
Trump Sets the Terms on Racial Division. Do Democrats Know What to Do?
Valerie Jarrett, the former senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said any Democratic nominee would do well to mimic the former president’s messaging.
13-jähriger Terrorkrieg: Die „Authorization For Use of Military Force“ vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut
(29.8.2014)
Die nach den Attentaten vom 11. September in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika dem Präsidenten vom Kongress persönlich ausgestellte Vollmacht, der ein nun fast dreizehn Jahre andauernder weltweiter Terrorkrieg a.k.a. „war on terror“ folgte, ist in Deutschland immer noch weithin unbekannt.
Radio Utopie dokumentiert dieses in jeder Hinsicht verheerende historische Ermächtigungsgesetz im Wortlaut.
60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History
(17.1.2014)
Written in the frenzied, emotional days after 9/11, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force was intended to give President Bush the ability to retaliate against whoever orchestrated the attacks. But more than 12 years later, this sentence remains the primary legal justification for nearly every covert operation around the world. Here’s how it came to be, and what it’s since come to mean.
Trump critic and former CIA chief John Brennan to brief Democrats on Iran
House Democrats have invited former CIA director and frequent Trump critic John Brennan to brief them on the situation in Iran.
Brennan is scheduled to speak at the party’s weekly caucus meeting Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama, was also invited.
The meeting will take place the same day Trump administration officials will update lawmakers on escalating tensions between the two countries. Democrats will likely attend both briefings.
Joe Biden is Obama without hope
He offers voters no change.
DER 11. SEPTEMBER: Langer Marsch eines Molochs
(10. September 2014)
Entgegen der heutigen Wahrnehmung rauschte die Regierung der USA Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts keineswegs unvorbereitet in die Attentate des 11. Septembers. Im Gegenteil waren über Jahrzehnte umfangreichste, weit verzweigte „Sicherheits“-Strukturen aufgebaut worden, bereits damals in enger Symbiose mit dem „privaten“, also internationalen kommerziellen Sektor.
Vergesst den „Brexit“. Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika wollen ihren Klon über den Kontinent Europa.
(22. Juni 2016)
Diese „Union“, dieses „Europa“ ist ein Fluch. Sonst gar nichts. Dieses „Europa“ soll zum Teufel gehen, wo es hingehört. Dessen Heuchler und Schergen, vorneweg die Contras der paneuropäisch-ideologischen Scheinlinken, werden nun am Donnerstag dastehen und mehr oder weniger deutlich sagen, „Tja, das habt ihr davon wenn ihr euch widersetzt! Das gibt´s hier nicht! Ihr wisst doch wie´s läuft!“
Das weiß ich und ich widersetze mich nichtsdestrotrotz. Und ich werde den Tag noch erleben, an der Fluch des Krieges, des Verrats, der Heuchelei, der Ausbeutung, die „Europäische Union“, dieses „Europa“ von uns weichen wird.
Weil wir siegen werden.
Ich bin der Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten. Und ich fühle mich irgendwie beschossen.
Schönen guten Tag, erstmal. Schön wieder hier zu sein, in den Vereinigten Staaten von Europa.
Äh, Moment mal…
Obama worries about progressives‘ ‚rigidity‘ leading to ‚circular firing squad‘ among Democratic Party
„One of the things I do worry about sometimes among progressives in the United States, maybe it’s true here as well, is a certain kind of rigidity where we say, ‚Uh, I’m sorry, this is how it’s going to be,‘ and then we start sometimes creating what’s called a ‚circular firing squad,‘ where you start shooting at your allies because one of them is straying from purity on the issues,“ Obama said a town hall in Berlin, Germany, hosted by the Obama Foundation.
Obama Goes After Progressives Again!
Streamed live 14 hours ago
Obama Foundation Town Hall Europe
The Obama Foundation hosted a town hall in Berlin, Germany with President Barack Obama and hundreds of emerging leaders from across Europe. The town hall continued the conversation about the importance of community leadership and civic engagement — and how the Obama Foundation can support emerging leaders in their efforts.
„Politische Freunde“: Obama bei Merkel im Kanzleramt
Regierungssprecher Steffen Seibert sagte, es handelte sich um einen vertraulichen Termin. Die Kanzlerin empfange den früheren US-Präsidenten zu einem Gespräch – wie es immer wieder vorkomme, dass sie mit früheren Präsidenten und Regierungschefs, „mit denen sie eine Strecke lang eng und gut zusammengearbeitet hat, auch durchaus nach deren Zeit noch einmal zusammentrifft“.
60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History
(17.1.2014)
Written in the frenzied, emotional days after 9/11, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force was intended to give President Bush the ability to retaliate against whoever orchestrated the attacks. But more than 12 years later, this sentence remains the primary legal justification for nearly every covert operation around the world. Here’s how it came to be, and what it’s since come to mean.
The U.S. is thinking of invading Venezuela. That’s unlikely to lead to democracy.
(25.3.2019)
In 2015, the Obama administration declared Venezuela a national security threat, following months of protests and subsequent government repression. That declaration opened the door for sanctions against individuals in the Maduro government. The administration’s logic was that economic pressure would encourage military defection and compel the regime either to democratize or collapse, but neither happened.
Nichts gefunden: Auch der Generalbundesanwalt hat NSA-Affäre beendet (Update)
(5.10.2017)
Es gebe keinen Anfangsverdacht für Massenüberwachung durch britische und US-Geheimdienste in Deutschland. Mit dieser Aussage hat auch der Generalbundesanwalt die NSA-Affäre für sich als beendet erklärt. Er hat sich damit reichlich Zeit gelassen: Über vier Jahre sind seit den ersten Anzeigen vergangen.
ALLE WICHTIGEN LEUTE DER KANZLERIN
(8.7.2015)
Am heutigen Mittwoch, den 8.Juli um 18 Uhr veröffentlicht WikiLeaks drei weitere NSA-Abhörprotokolle von Gesprächen der deutschen Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, zusammen mit einer Liste von 56 NSA-Selektoren, die sich auf die Bundeskanzlerin und das Bundeskanzleramt beziehen. Die Liste enthält nicht nur vertrauliche Telefonnummern der Bundeskanzlerin, sondern auch die Nummern ihrer Spitzenbeamten, ihrer Assistenten, ihres Stabschefs, ihres Büros und sogar ihres Fax-Anschlusses. Die gesammelten NSA-Ziellisten, die von WikiLeaks veröffentlicht wurden, belegen die gezielte Langzeit-Überwachung von 125 Telefonnummern deutscher Politiker und Beamter – und zwar aus politischen und wirtschaftlichen Gründen, wie aus den Kennzeichnungen in den Dokumenten selbst hervorgeht.
Die heute veröffentlichen Protokolle zeigen, dass die obersten Ebenen der US-Administration Merkels Pläne zur internationalen Finanzkrise und der europäischen Bankenrettung ausgewertet haben. Auch ihre privaten Ansichten über das Engagement von Präsident Obama gegenüber dem Iran wurden während eines Gespräches mit dem Kronprinzen Shaykh Muhammad bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten abgehört.
Joe Biden’s not so secret weapon: Barack Obama
Poll of the week: A new Gallup poll finds that former Vice President Joe Biden holds an 80% favorable rating and 9% unfavorable rating among Democrats. This topped all other current or potential 2020 presidential Democratic candidates.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
Altogether, in the three parts of this report, I have estimated that America’s post-9/11 wars have killed about 6 million people. Maybe the true number is only 5 million. Or maybe it is 7 million.
Assad must go, Obama says
(18.8.2011) As Obama issued his statement, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain joined him in calling on Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside.”
Obama had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the past two weeks to discuss calling for Assad’s resignation and to coordinate steps on sanctions.
Hillary Clinton: Muammar Gaddafi ‚must go now‘
(2.3.2011) Testifying before the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton called for an end to the violence in Libya.
She also added that the United States had reserved all its options as it considered additional steps that might be needed to stop Libyan forces from attacking civilians.
Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the “War on Terror”
(März 2015)
This investigation comes to the conclusion that the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan, i.e. a total of around 1.3 million. Not included in this figure are further war
zones such as Yemen. The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware of and propagated by the media and major NGOs. And this is only a conservative estimate. The total number of deaths in the three countries named above could also be in excess of 2 million, whereas a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely.
Unworthy victims: Western wars have killed four million Muslims since 1990
(8. April 2015)
In the absence of even the possibility of corroboration, these figures provide plausible estimates based on applying standard statistical methodology to the best, if scarce, evidence available. They give an indication of the scale of the destruction, if not the precise detail.
Much of this death has been justified in the context of fighting tyranny and terrorism. Yet thanks to the silence of the wider media, most people have no idea of the true scale of protracted terror wrought in their name by US and UK tyranny in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Democrats’ Dilemma – What Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips tell us about the future of the Democratic Party.
As she saw it, the party ostensibly committed to progressive values had become complicit in perpetuating the status quo. Omar says the “hope and change” offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. Recalling the “caging of kids” at the U.S.-Mexico border and the “droning of countries around the world” on Obama’s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor.
Rep. Omar appears to criticize Obama in latest swipe at Dem establishment
While progressives have criticized Obama in the past, Omar’s comments — on the heels of a tumultuous week that saw her comments on pro-Israel lobbying shake up Congress — serve as another reminder of how the incoming class of rising star Democratic lawmakers is challenging the party’s status quo.
Chris Matthews: „This Was A Takeover Attempt By Netanyahu With His Compliant American Partners“
(3.März 2015) MSNBC’s Chris Matthews reacts to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Minister’s speech to a joint session of Congress. Matthews said Netanyahu was trying to „take power away from the president.“
„This was a takeover attempt by Netanyahu with his complying American partners to take American foreign policy out of the hands of the president,“ Matthews said.
Trump kassiert Obama-Dekret: CIA darf zivile Drohnen-Opfer verschweigen
Der damalige Präsident hatte die Angriffe mit den unbemannten Flugzeugen massiv ausgeweitet, unter anderem im afghanisch-pakistanischen Grenzgebiet.
Trump hatte bereits im vergangenen Jahr keinen Bericht mehr vorgelegt. Jetzt annullierte er die Anordnung seines Amtsvorgängers ohne Angabe von Gründen.
13-jähriger Terrorkrieg: Die „Authorization For Use of Military Force“ vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut
(29.8.2014)
Die nach den Attentaten vom 11. September in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika dem Präsidenten vom Kongress persönlich ausgestellte Vollmacht, der ein nun fast dreizehn Jahre andauernder weltweiter Terrorkrieg a.k.a. „war on terror“ folgte, ist in Deutschland immer noch weithin unbekannt.
Radio Utopie dokumentiert dieses in jeder Hinsicht verheerende historische Ermächtigungsgesetz im Wortlaut.
60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History
(17. Januar 2014)
Written in the frenzied, emotional days after 9/11, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force was intended to give President Bush the ability to retaliate against whoever orchestrated the attacks. But more than 12 years later, this sentence remains the primary legal justification for nearly every covert operation around the world.
Remarks by the President at the National Defense University
(23. Mai 2013)
So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.
Obama: ‚This War, Like All Wars, Must End‘
(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.“
A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Influence in Washington
(6.12.2018) The United States has long pursued a generally pro-Saudi policy in the Middle East, a legacy of the Cold War when the United States relied heavily on the Saudis to push back against Soviet influence. Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical importance-and its position as the world’s swing producer of oil-has often led U.S. policymakers to minimize criticism of Saudi Arabia. Even as fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were shown to be Saudi citizens, for example, the George W. Bush administration pushed to maintain the close U.S.-Saudi relationship while privately criticizing Saudi support for religious extremism. The Trump administration, however, has taken the United States’ selective vision on Saudi Arabia to new extremes.
Saudis and Extremism: ‘Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters’
(25.August 2016) Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump do not agree on much, but Saudi Arabia may be an exception. She has deplored Saudi Arabia’s support for “radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism.” He has called the Saudis “the world’s biggest funders of terrorism.”
I gave the US trucks and ammunition to Al Qaeda‘: The chaotic US effort to arm Syrian rebels
(15.5.2018) A second Obama administration program, „Timber Sycamore,“ was started by the CIA in late 2012 with the similar aim of arming rebels. This particular operation was active along the Turkish border to Syria’s north, and a Jordanian crossing in the south, referred to as the “Southern Front.”
But Syrian opposition figures say this program was also compromised, with arms falling into the hands of ISIS or Al Nusra.
The program initially supplied light weapons. But as the Syrian civil war intensified, the U.S. strengthened its commitment by providing selected rebels with American “tune-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided” antitank missiles, better known as BGM-71 TOWs.
Congress’s reluctance to limit Trump’s war powers is a dangerous bipartisan failure 17 years in the making
(10.10.2018) The United States marked a melancholy anniversary on Oct. 7 — 17 years to the day that we began offensive military operations in Afghanistan in response to the September 11 terror attacks. Someone born in early October of 2001 is now old enough to fight — and die — in the same war. And although the scope and shape of the conflict has changed in numerous, material ways over these 17 years, it is still being conducted under the same cryptic, 60-word statute Congress enacted one week after the World Trade Center collapsed — the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or “AUMF.”
I disagree with both the Trump and Obama Administrations that the AUMF to go after terrorists that aided the 9/11 attacks somehow applies to Syria or terrorist groups not in existence at the time. You are right there is no AUMF for Iran. Or Venezuela.
Kamala Harris Was Not a ‘Progressive Prosecutor’
SAN FRANCISCO — With the growing recognition that prosecutors hold the keys to a fairer criminal justice system, the term “progressive prosecutor” has almost become trendy. This is how Senator Kamala Harris of California, a likely presidential candidate and a former prosecutor, describes herself.
But she’s not.
No, Kamala Harris is not a ‚female Barack Obama‘
Every politician — every person — is a product of their own time and place. In the coming months, it looks quite possible that Kamala Harris might win Obama’s endorsement of her bid for president.
If she does, the comparisons between the two are likely to reignite. As with May and Kramp-Karrenbauer, those watching would do better to pay attention to the political landscape Harris is working within now, rather than any nostalgic connotations.
Donna Brazile on Kamala Harris: In Post-Clinton Era People Are Looking For Someone Fresh And New
„I’m excited, you know why I’m excited, because the Democratic party we’ve been in the wilderness for the last few years and after the 2018 election, people are coming from all corners of the universe to say they want to toss their hat into the ring, so this is a good time to be a Democrat,“ the veteran Dem said.
„Dieser Krieg, wie alle Kriege, muss enden“
(23. Mai 2013) Bei einer ganzen Reihe einflussreicher Personen dagegen wird er größte Unruhe, oder besser, nackte Panik auslösen. Das muss der Präsident einfach aushalten. Schafft er das und hält er Wort (und lässt die neue Chefin des Secret Service Julia Pierson im Gegensatz zu ihren Vorgängern keine ungebetenen Gäste auf die Party) geht er in die Geschichte ein.
Elizabeth Warren staffs up in Iowa ahead of presumed 2020 presidential run
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is staffing up in Iowa ahead of a presumed 2020 presidential run.
A spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Warren, who launched a presidential exploratory committee earlier this week, hired Kane Miller, Emily Parcell, Janice Rottenberg and Brendan Summers.
Warren Names Former Clinton Campaign Aide Press Secretary
Woolheater served as policy chief for Hillary for America and has spent the last two years as policy lead for Oculus VR, a virtual reality company owned by Facebook.
Elizabeth Warren Moves Left—On Foreign Policy
Sanders and his allies view foreign affairs as a leading area for improvement on his 2016 run for president as foreign policy. The thinking is that had he assailed Hillary Clinton on a problematic record on Syria, Libya, Iraq as well as the Obama administration war in Yemen, he might well have captured the Democratic nomination.
The Biggest Secret: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror
I was sitting in the nearly empty restaurant of the Westin Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, getting ready for a showdown with the federal government that I had been trying to avoid for more than seven years. The Obama administration was demanding that I reveal the confidential sources I had relied on for a chapter about a botched CIA operation in my 2006 book, “State of War.” I had also written about the CIA operation for the New York Times, but the paper’s editors had suppressed the story at the government’s request. It wasn’t the only time they had done so.