Saturday, February 27, 2016

A View From The Left-NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

NEW WARS / OLD WARS What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

 

War, American Style, What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing

Looking back on almost 15 years in which the United States has been engaged in something like permanent war in the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa, one thing couldn’t be clearer: the planet’s sole superpower with a military funded and armed like none other and a “defense” budget larger than the next seven countries combined (three times as large as number two spender, China) has managed to accomplish -- again, quite literally -- absolutely nothing, or perhaps (if a slight rewrite of that classic song were allowed) less than nothing. 

Unless, of course, you consider an expanding series of failed states, spreading terror movements, wrecked cities, countries hemorrhaging refugees, and the like as accomplishments.  In these years, no goal of Washington -- not a single one -- has been accomplished by war… For the weapons makers and the rest of that complex, failure or success may increasingly be beside the point.    More

 

Saturday, March 12

MASSACHUSETTS PEACE ACTION

2016 Annual Meeting

@11:00am- 4:00pm

First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Cost- $10- $20 (includes lunch)

RegisterIt's that time of year!  Join Massachusetts Peace Action for our 2016 Annual Meeting.  Our  keynote speakers are Phylis Bennis and Representative Jim McGovern. 

http://masspeaceaction.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Bennis-McGovern2.jpg 

Phylis Bennis is the author of Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer. Her focus at this meeting will be on the Syrian War ,ISIS, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

 

Representative Jim McGovern represents Massachusetts' 2nd Congressional District in Congress. Rep. McGovern will be awarded the 2016 Peacebuilders Prize for his leadership in Congress on peace and justice issues.

 

The U.S. Extends Its Drone War Deeper Into Africa With Secretive Base

ON OCTOBER 14, President Barack Obama announced to Congress that America’s global war on Islamic terrorism had expanded to yet another front: The U.S. was sending 300 troops to a new drone base inside Cameroon, along that country’s volatile border with Nigeria, where Boko Haram is most activeGaroua [Camaroon] represents the newest expansion of America’s stealth war against jihad in Africa. Piloted and unmanned aircraft have flown from bases in Djibouti — the center of U.S. drone operations on the continent — as well as Ethiopia and Kenya, in addition to ships off the coast of East Africa. Predator MQ-1 drones and their larger cousins, MQ-9 Reapers, have been based in Niamey in Niger, N’Djamena in Chad, and Seychelles International Airport. There is plenty more to come. The National Defense Authorization Act for 2016 appropriated $50 million for construction of an “Airfield and Base Camp at Agadez, Niger … to support operations in western Africa.”   More

 

US-Russian Cease-Fire Pact: Closer to a Syria War Endgame?

The United States and Russia are hoping that the partial Syrian cease-fire agreement they reached Monday to take effect February 27 will begin a new phase of the war. The cease-fire will not apply to operations against al-Qaeda's franchise in Syria (al-Nusra Front), and the two powers have apparently agreed to try to split off a significant number of armed opposition groups from their cooperation with al-Nusra Front.   Along with continued Russian, Syrian and Iranian operations against al-Nusra Front, that split could further weaken the al-Qaeda franchise and begin a process of winding down the war between the Assad regime and military forces other than ISIS… The reality that has shaped the nature of the war since 2013 has been that virtually all armed opposition groups that were not already partisans of an Islamic emirate in Syria gravitated to tight military alliances with al-Nusra, because the latter had superior organization and highly effective military tactics. Also, such cooperation was being urged on them by Turkish, Saudi and Qatari agents who were generous with heavy weaponry     More

 

Syrian rebels want Al-Qaeda included in cease fire

The United States and Russia announced plans for a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria that would take effect on Saturday but exclude groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda's Nusra Front, a loophole Syrian rebels immediately highlighted as a problem… The plan allows the Syrian army and allied forces, as well as Syrian opposition fighters, to respond with "proportionate use of force" in self-defense. It leaves a significant loophole by allowing further attacks, including air strikes, against Islamic State, Nusra and other militant groups.  Bashar al-Zoubi, head of the political office of the Yarmouk Army, part of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said that would provide cover for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies to keep attacking opposition-held territory where rebel and militant factions are tightly packed.   More

 

Kerry warns of breakup of Syria; but is that Realistic?

Amid ongoing talks in Geneva around a cessation of hostilities in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday night in a joint telephone call with other diplomats, “It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria if we wait much longer.” … A fragile reconstituted state, similar to what has happened in Algeria, could be one outcome of such a situation. Another possible scenario would be Afghanistan, where the central government is just very weak in some provinces and constantly battling insurgents in a low-intensity conflict.  A break-up of Syria, however, on a South Sudan model, seems unlikely… If al-Qaeda and Daesh are defeated on the battleground and deprived of territory, it is true, they could devolve into terrorist organizations again. But that pathway does not lead to a break up of Syria.   More

 

http://www.truthdig.com/images/cartoonuploads/133298_600.jpegBBC Report Explains How US & UK Weapons Flow To Al-Qaida & Other Extremists In Syria

Western weapons and equipment flow freely between the so-called “moderate” rebels in Syria and their close allies from extremist groups like al-Qaida, according to an investigation from a BBC reporter.  In a Dec. 17 episode of the BBC Radio series “The Report,” investigative journalist Peter Oborne documented disturbing evidence that the United Kingdom and United States continue to support the Syrian opposition, particularly the Free Syrian Army, despite ample evidence that they work closely with extremist groups NATO has traditionally thought of as enemies.  Oborne reported that at least two Westerners who were accused of aiding extremist groups in the region, found their charges rapidly dropped when they argued that by seeking to destabilize Syria and depose its president, Bashar Assad, they’d fought on the same side as the U.K.  He also explained how the U.S. has aided al-Qaida’s efforts to “rebrand” its Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, as a moderate group able to be safely financed and “managed” by the U.S.   More

 

More Arms to Saudi Arabia: More Mideast Conflicts

Until recently, the military relevance of sending weapons to Saudi Arabia had less to do with the Saudis using U.S.-supplied arms than it did with cementing ties with Washington. The implicit understanding was that the purchase of large quantities of U.S. armaments was a form of payback for Washington’s commitment to come to the rescue of the Saudi regime in a crisis…  The idea that the Saudis were unlikely to use their U.S.-supplied arms went out the window with the 2015 intervention in Yemen. The Saudis are the key players in a coalition that has caused thousands of civilian casualties while bombing everything from hospitals and markets to water supply systems. Coupled with a naval blockade that has made it extremely difficult to get food and medicine into the country, the Saudi intervention has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. And Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have described the use of U.S.-supplied cluster bombs in civilian neighborhoods by the Saudi coalition as possible war crimes.  More

 

Yemen conflict: Al-Qaeda joins Saudi coalition battle for Taiz

During a visit to the frontline outside Taiz late last year, documentary maker Safa AlAhmad spoke to pro-government militiamen attacking Houthi fighters on a key hilltop with the support of troops from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who were providing tactical advice.  While there, Ms AlAhmad was warned by one group participating in the battle not to film them.  She was told they were members of Ansar al-Sharia, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and that they were angered by the presence of a woman… Several reports of coalition forces and AQAP militants battling the Houthis in the same areas in southern Yemen have emerged over the past 11 months, despite the jihadists' long-standing violent opposition to US-allied coalition governments.   More

 

Obama’s Russian Rationale for $1 Trillion Nuke Plan Signals New Arms Race

The Obama administration has historically insisted that its massive $1 trillion nuclear-weapons modernization program does not represent a return to Cold-War era nuclear rivalry between Russia and the United States.  The hugely expensive undertaking, which calls for a slew of new cruise missiles, ICBMs, nuclear submarines, and long-range bombers over the next three decades has been widely panned by critics as “wasteful,” “unsustainable,” “unaffordable,” and “a fantasy.”  The administration has pointed to ageing missile silos, 1950s-era bombers and other outdated technology to justify the spending, describing the steps as intended to maintain present capabilities going forward – not bulking up to prepare for a future confrontation.   … But President Obama’s defense budget request for 2017 includes language that makes it clear that nuclear “modernization” really is about Russia after all.  The budget request explicitly cites Russian aggression, saying “We are countering Russia’s aggressive policies through investments in a broad range of capabilities… [including] our nuclear arsenal.”  More

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