Archive for the 'War' Category
U.S. to Sell $30 Billion Worth of Fighter Jets to Saudi Arabia
August 9th, 2010Via: Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration plans to sell advanced F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia but won’t equip them with long-range weapons systems and other arms whose inclusion was strongly opposed by Israel, diplomats and officials said. The proposed $30 billion, 10-year arms package, which would be one of the biggest single deals […]
The Ministry of Oil Defense
August 6th, 2010The article opens with: It’s not polite to say so, but if Americans understood just how many trillions their military was really spending on protecting oil, they wouldn’t stand for it. Oh really? How Many Millions are in a Trillion? from Econ4U on Vimeo. Tell us all another one about what “Americans” won’t stand for. […]
And Now… Al Qaeda Responsible for Japanese Tanker Attack
August 6th, 2010That’s the ticket. Via: CBS News: Ten years after the deadly attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden, al Qaeda once again struck at sea with a suicide attack on a Japanese oil tanker. A UAE Coast Guard source confirmed Friday that the tanker, M. Star, was the target […]
Software for Pentagon Costs Americans Tens of Billions of Dollars Per Year, Winds Up Being Owned by Corporations
August 4th, 2010Would you like some air conditioned tents to go with that? Via: Defense News: The Department of Defense spends tens of billions of dollars annually creating software that is rarely reused and difficult to adapt to new threats. Instead, much of this software is allowed to become the property of defense companies, resulting in DoD […]
The WikiLeaks “Insurance” File
July 31st, 2010From now on, I’m going to include a standard WikiLeaks disclaimer in the form of a link to a previous post. — Is WikiLeaks hanging a Sword of Damocles over elements of the U.S. Government? Via: Cryptome: The file, “insurance.aes256,” is ten times the size of the seven other files combined. Appears to be encrypted […]
UK Government to be Sued Over Congolese ‘Conflict Minerals’
July 30th, 2010In other news: Afghan Mineral Deposits Actually Worth $3 Trillion, Not $1 Trillion. Via: Guardian: Britain must answer in court claims that it is turning a blind eye to UK firms that trade in lucrative Congolese “conflict minerals”, a campaign group announced today. The group, Global Witness, said the firms continued to buy minerals from […]
“Extreme and Unlawful” Bush-Era Policies Becoming the “New Normal” Under Obama
July 30th, 2010Via: ACLU: Indeed, on a range of issues including accountability for torture, detention of terrorism suspects, and use of lethal force against civilians, there is a very real danger that the Obama administration will enshrine permanently within the law policies and practices that were widely considered extreme and unlawful during the Bush administration. There is […]
Afghanistan: U.S. Spends $20 Billion Per Year for Air Conditioning in Tents
July 29th, 2010This astonishing statistic is mentioned in the audio feature on the page linked below. Via: PRI: The term we were looking for is “Forward Operating Base” or FOB. The US has many FOBs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The large ones have many tents and other structures where personnel live and work. And all of them […]
Gulf of Hormuz: Japanese Tanker Damaged
July 28th, 2010Update: Cause Still Unknown Via: BBC: An investigation has been launched into the unexplained damage suffered by a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman. The M Star was damaged on Wednesday while travelling from Qatar to Japan. Port officials in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates say the ship was involved […]
Mexico: Prison Official Sent Inmates to Conduct Birthday Party Massacre
July 27th, 2010Via: Christian Science Monitor: A prison director is suspected of arming inmates and sending them on the July 18 Mexico birthday party massacre that killed 17. To some, Mexico’s drug war seems ‘the script of a science fiction movie.’ When gunmen burst into a private birthday party on July 18 and opened fired on guests, […]
