Charles Kurzman writes at ISLAMiCommentary: Caption for graphic: NSAW SID Intelligence Oversight (IO) Quarterly Report – First Quarter Calendar Year 2012 (1 January – 31 March 2012) – Executive Summary, May 3, 2012, compiled by Kurzman from pages 5-6 of 13. http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/nsa-report-on-privacy-violations-in-the-first-quarter-of-2012/395/ Many Americans were upset to learn this month that the National Security Agency […]
The Kosovo Fallacy and Syria (Axworthy-Cole Debate)
I was on the CBC’s excellent The Current to discuss former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy’s proposal that Western action in Syria should resemble the Kosovo campaign of the 1990s. I disagreed, pointing to the many differences between the two situations I come in about halfway through. Click on the image below to go to […]
US Protected Iraq at UN from Iranian Charges of Chemical Weapons Use
Reprint edn., from my article in Truthdig, where you can find the hyperlinks giving the documentation. I thought these findings by Joyce Battle from the documents she FOIA’ed ad posted at the National Security Archive worth revisiting given the current controversy over Syrian use of chemical weapons: In the 1970s, Iraq under Baath Party dictator […]
Oceans Turning Acid with CO2 at Rate Unseen in 250 million Years, Threatening Further Warming (Queally)
Jon Queally writes at Commondreams.org In both a new study published Monday and in a newspaper interview over the weekend, German marine biologist Hans Poertner warns the world that the crisis of ocean acidification—an intricately woven aspect of global warming and climate change—is now happening at a rate unparalleled in the life of the oceans […]
Kerry signals US Intervention in Syria, but to What End?
Secretary of State John Kerry strongly suggested in remarks on Monday that President Obama has concluded that the ruling Baath regime in Syria was responsible for poison gas attacks last Wednesday that reportedly left hundreds dead, including non-combatant women and children. He further suggested that the Obama administration intended to respond in some way to […]
Gulf Arab Press Condemns Alleged ‘Bloody’ Chemical Weapons attack in Syria (OSC)
The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases comment in the Gulf Arab press on the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Baathist regime. Note that these governmental establishments are Sunni, Wahhabi or Ibadi and often have a hostile attitude to Shiite Islam and Iran, and generally support the rebellion against the regime, […]
Not Markets but the People are making the Green Energy Revolution
The propaganda against the green energy revolution contains all the same predictable elements as the propaganda against anti-slavery movements or later against anti-tobacco findings. We are told that everything is determined by markets, which are the most efficient way to make decisions. So when the markets want green energy we’ll have it. But markets are […]
Top 13 Surveillance Secrets the Gov’t Doesn’t want You to Know About (Quigley)
Bill Quigley writes at Commondreams.org “We believe most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted…the Patriot Act. As we see it, there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows. This is […]
Obama’s Limited Options: Bombing Syria unlikely to be Effective
As pressure on President Obama to bomb Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons ramps up, it is worth revisiting parts of a post I did last June in response to a similar push by the Clintons. It should be remembered that Israel has already bombed Syria a few times, to little apparent effect. […]
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