Antiwar.com

CARACAS – Venezuela has begun to train popular defense units to help defend the country in the event of war, although not all of the volunteers will receive weapons training. "Not all of the members of the reserves will be armed," said General Melvin López, secretary of the National Defense Council. "Each person will play … Continue reading “Venezuela: Citizen Reserves to Defend Against ‘External Aggression’”

On Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004, U.S. forces pounded Fallujah and razed a civilian hospital. "Witnesses said only a facade remained of a small emergency hospital in the center of the city," reported the BBC News on the day of the military blitz. "A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were also damaged as … Continue reading “Support the Troops, Oppose Their Actions”

News that a U.S. company recently sent vials of a 1957 pandemic flu strain to laboratories across the world by accident is only the latest outrage from the billion-dollar boondoggle called the federal biological weapons program. As you might recall, the Bush administration started its “bio-defense” spending spree following the September 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, … Continue reading “Who’s the Real WMD Threat?”

Don’t worry, say the hegemonists, be happy. Forget that we’re spending far too much on maintaining the biggest military machine the world has ever seen, and throwing multi-billions more into manipulating and managing “spontaneous” movements for “regime change” around the world. Foreign Affairs magazine tells us, in an article with the hubris-laden title of “How … Continue reading “Cashing in on the Bush Doctrine”

Many have asked how it could be that a comparatively small group of intelligence analysts in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was able to get it right on several key Iraq-related issues, while larger agencies like CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency – with, literally, a cast of thousands – got … Continue reading “Paying the Price for Getting It Right”

Serbia and the EU Proponents of joining the EU in Serbia rejoiced this week as Brussels announced the opening of talks on the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Belgrade – the first step on a long road to the EUSSR. Speculation has been rife that the move came as a reward for Belgrade’s stream of … Continue reading “Bargains, Rumors, and Lies”

BEIRUT – Taking a cue from the 1968 uprising in former Czechoslovakia, many pundits are wondering whether the new breeze of democracy in various Middle East countries is an Arab spring. The jury is still out on the question, but many hope that the "spring" such as it is does not lead on to gloomy … Continue reading “Arab Spring Not Quite in the Air”

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military’s most senior leaders, want Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to approve new guidelines that will formalize the George W. Bush administration’s policy of imprisoning so-called enemy combatants without the protections of the Geneva Conventions and enable the Pentagon to legally hold "ghost detainees," a human rights group is … Continue reading “Pentagon: Detainees? What Detainees?”

In Baghdad yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters the U.S. has no "exit strategy" for the country – just a "victory strategy." That statement seems in line with the sentiment of most lawmakers on Capitol Hill. They’re posed to approve another $80 billion for American military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in the … Continue reading “Billions More for Military Contractors and Permanent Bases”

UNITED NATIONS – The proposed expansion of the 15-member UN Security Council has been thrown into disarray once again – this time by a spirited political campaign to block the permanent membership of Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil. The campaign is being led by a group of about 40 "like-minded" countries – headed by Italy, … Continue reading “UN Security Council Expansion Thrown into Disarray – Again”