War

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Even as Parisians were trying to assess the scale of the attacks by Islamic State (IS) which killed 132 people on November 13, politicians were promising a decisive and effective military response. French President Francois Hollande assured, “We will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic […]

Drones

How Syria is becoming a test bed for high-tech weapons of electronic warfare

contributors

David Stupples | (The Conversation) | – – The relationship between Russia and the West is becoming increasingly dangerous with potential flashpoints developing in both eastern Europe and Syria. After repeated incursions into Turkish airspace by Russian warplanes on bombing raids over Syria, NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg warned Moscow that it stands ready to […]

Nuclear weapons

Making money off Nuclear Apocalypse while obsessing about Non-Nuclear Iran

contributors

By Richard Krushnic & Jonathan Alan King | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Imagine for a moment a genuine absurdity: somewhere in the United States, the highly profitable operations of a set of corporations were based on the possibility that sooner or later your neighborhood would be destroyed and you and all your neighbors annihilated. And […]

Chemical Weapons

ISIL’s campaign may be going chemical – why no international outcry?

contributors

Michelle Bentley | (The Conversation) | – – Evidence is mounting that [so-called] Islamic State (IS) [group] is using chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria – and yet this egregious crime, which once used to be a “red line” for the rest of the world, has yet to provoke a proportionate response. One the most […]

Bashar al-Assad

UN: al-Assad, ISIL, al-Qaeda committing Mass Atrocities, Endangering Int’l Security

contributors

UN News Centre | ( Office of the High Commission for Human Rights) – – Mass atrocities by Government forces and non-State armed groups continue to take place in Syria, causing immeasurable suffering to civilians and contributing to a spillover of violence affecting international peace and stability, a United Nations-appointed panel said today. The Independent […]

Climate Change

Water Being Used as Weapon of War in Syrian Conflict, UN Warns

contributors

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer. | (Commondreams.org) | – – Compounded by scorching heat wave, Syrians are experiencing ‘deliberate’ water cut-offs, often for weeks at a time The United Nations on Tuesday said it has reason to believe that groups in the Syrian conflict are using the country’s scarce water supply as a weapon of […]

Featured

Is Israeli military using Barak in struggle w/ Netanyahu over Iran Deal?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – – The revelations from former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s memoir keep coming. Another excerpt was broadcast by Israel’s Channel 2 on Sunday. Barak gave the interviews as background to his autobiography “Wars (Milhamot) of my Life.” “Bibi is weak, he doesn’t…he doesn’t want to take tough steps […]

Apartheid

Gaza: Managing the Disaster isn’t Enough; not one of 11,000 buildings repaired

contributors

By Charlie Hoyle | (Inter Press Service) | – – The rubble of twisted concrete and metal bakes in the hot Mediterranean sun of a regional heat wave. A year on from Israel’s 51-day military operation in 2014, not a single one of the 11,000 destroyed homes in Gaza has been rebuilt. Photo credit: UNRWA […]

Displaced and Refugees

Saudi-led war in Yemen provokes Humanitarian Crisis, 1.2 mn. displaced

contributors

By Kitty Stapp | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Doctors Without Borders . . . is warning that the violence in Yemen “has radically increased” since March, with the humanitarian group seeing mass casualties from bombings and thousands of severely injured. “Especially in Aden, the situation has been extremely difficult, […]