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March 30th, 2021
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The U.S.-led military intervention in Libya began ten years ago this month, and a decade later there has still not been a proper reckoning for the failure of a war that was neither legal under U.S. law nor justified. The Libyan war's architects no longer boast about their "good" intervention, but there is no evidence that they have learned anything from their failure nor has there been any accountability for those responsible. Libya has been consigned to ongoing strife and instability since 2011, and the surrounding region has been convulsed by the aftershocks of the collapse of the old Libyan government. The Libyan war was not necessary for US or European security, and its destabilizing effects on North and West Africa have made Libya's neighbors worse off than they were. The Libyan intervention failed in its stated goal of protecting the civilian population, and it caused more harm than it prevented.
By Daniel Larison
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President Biden vowed that he would not allow China to become the world's "leading" country during his first press conference on Thursday. His comments come as US-China tensions are soaring, and the two countries' relationship is at its lowest point in decades.
"I see stiff competition with China," Biden said. "China has an overall goal -- to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world. That's not going to happen on my watch, because United States is going to continue to grow and expand."
President Biden spoke of his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who Biden got to know while both leaders were serving as vice presidents. "I spent hours upon hours with him alone with an interpreter," Biden said. "He is very, very straightforward. Doesn't have a democratic - with a small 'D' - bone in his body."
By Dave DeCamp
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I'm dying. It's not easy to write these words. But it's true.
In September 2020, oncologists diagnosed me with Stage IV prostate cancer. That means the cancer isn't going away. Doctors can mitigate its spread, but I'll never be in remission. The doctors want to help me maintain a decent quality of life until I die. (I notice that doctors don't actually say "die" or even "pass away." They never say "croak" or "bite the dust" either.)
I followed all of the doctor's orders. I had annual prostate checkups, which included digital exams. (Please don't ask for details.) But most prostate cancer is slow-growing, my doctor assured me. I would die of something else long before prostate cancer, he said.
By Reese Erlich
The Taliban warned on Friday that the group would start targeting foreign troops in Afghanistan if they remain in the country beyond the May 1st deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal. The warning comes a day after President Biden said it would be "hard" to pull troops out by May 1st, signaling that he plans to stay.
The Taliban said in a statement that if foreign troops do not leave by the deadline, the group "will be compelled to defend its religion and homeland and continue its Jihad and armed struggle against foreign forces to liberate its country."
By Dave DeCamp
An article appeared on the website of the Atlantic Council on March 26 entitled Opportunity knocks for NATO and its partners in the Asia-Pacific, which elaborates plans for continuing and qualitatively upgrading the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's steady but largely unnoticed penetration of that region through military partnerships, port visits and exercises with NATO naval groups and the establishment of Asia-Pacific nations' liaison offices at NATO Headquarters in Brussels among other measures. It came as it did immediately after the recent two-day foreign ministers meeting at NATO Headquarters before and after which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Anthony Blinken unrelentingly thundered against China and Russia, with Blinken casting them into the same category with Iran and North Korea as threats not only to the Asia-Pacific region where they're situated but to the entire world.
By Rick Rozoff
According to a report from Politico, the Biden administration is preparing to offer a new proposal to Iran on a way to possibly revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.
Citing people "familiar with the matter," the report said the proposal could be put forward as early as this week. One source said the proposal asks Iran to halt some nuclear activity, such as new advanced centrifuges and the enrichment of uranium at 20 percent, in exchange for some relief from US sanctions, although details are still being worked out.
By Dave DeCamp
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