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| The Soviet Union ceased to exist 30 years ago, and with its disappearance the United States embraced a triumphalist interpretation of the end of the Cold War that has served to fuel its militarism for another generation. The loss of its major rival could have freed the US from the costly militarized foreign policy that it had pursued since the end of WWII, but instead it freed the US to act however it liked in the world without regard for the consequences for itself or other countries. Desperate to find new causes to champion and new monsters to slay, the US appointed itself as the world’s armed enforcer and then professed bewilderment when the countries that it threatened resisted its "benevolent" leadership. US militarism should have died with the Soviet Union, but instead its supporters just went looking for new enemies. Rather than recognizing that it was the peoples of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union that were responsible for the epochal political changes that brought down their communist governments, US leaders and policymakers congratulated themselves for having "won" the standoff. Some went further and credited the Reagan administration itself for having supposedly delivered the fatal blow. This was a dangerous error. It was just as wrong as the self-centered belief that the US had been responsible for "losing" China in 1949. While the panic over "losing" China had caused Americans to become excessively afraid of communist power, the excitement over "winning" the Cold War caused far too many to become excessively confident in American power. |
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| It is no accident that Julian Assange, the digital transparency activist and journalist who founded WikiLeaks to help whistleblowers tell us what western governments are really up to in the shadows, has spent 10 years being progressively disappeared into those very same shadows. His treatment is a crime similar to those WikiLeaks exposed when it published just over a decade ago hundreds of thousands of leaked materials - documents we were never supposed to see - detailing war crimes committed by the United States and Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan. These two western countries killed non-combatants and carried our torture not, as they claimed, in the pursuit of self-defense or in the promotion of democracy, but to impose control over a strategic, resource-rich region. |
| UN envoy Hans Grundberg expressed concern about the ongoing escalation of the war in Yemen, saying it is "among the worst" seen in years. He warned this is increasingly putting civilians at risk.
Fighting in Yemen has been raging for months, but recently there has been a pickup of cross-border attacks between Yemen's Houthis and Saudi Arabia, involving a lot of airstrikes in the Yemeni capital city.
Being that this is a UN official, and the Saudis fly off the handle at a whiff of criticism, the focus was on the Houthis, warning against their attacks on Saudi territory and demanding they stop immediately. |
| | On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Seoul and Washington have "effectively" agreed on a draft declaration that would finally put an official end to the Korean War. Chung said the US and South Korea have discussed "the importance of the declaration" and are now considering ways to start negotiations with North Korea on the matter. South Korean President Moon Jae-in ultimately favors reunification with the North and sees the end of war declaration as a vital first step. "Our government views that an end-of-war declaration is a crucial step that we must go through in the process of achieving complete denuclearization and a lasting peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula," Chung said. |
| Almost every US ally claims to be a friend because of America's military. It's really not shared values or even interests. Other nations like being defended by a superpower, so they need not spend much on their militaries. The result is that America has a couple score spoiled, entitled, and obnoxious "allies" who under-invest in their militaries, whine if the US looks anywhere else, demand constant "reassurance" that Washington will forever protect them even if they do nothing for themselves, and insist that it is in America's interest to create a permanent defense dole for the indolent, disinterested, irresponsible, and greedy among them - which of course is most of them. |
| The Israeli military has presented Israeli leadership with several possible scenarios for striking targets in Iran, Haaretz reported on Tuesday. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has received a budget boost of $2.9 billion to prepare for attacks on Iran. As part of its preparations, the IDF has conducted air force drills, acquired advanced weaponry, and collected data for new strike targets. Israeli military officials told Haaretz that the IDF would be able to strike Iran as soon as the government gave the order. But the IDF stresses that it is difficult to determine the outcome and consequences of bombing Iran and how such strikes would impact Tehran's civilian nuclear program. |
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