Tag Archives: military
Egypt military allows Islamists to attack churches
Egypt’s security forces, which have taken center stage in Egyptian political life in recent weeks, have made little effort to protect churches and other Christian property, leaving Christians in many parts of Egypt to fend for themselves. A majority of the attacks have happened in Upper Egypt, the country’s poorer and more conservative southern and […]
US Defense Department sets up military base in Jordan
The Defense Department is using a warehouse to coordinate support for Jordan’s military as the kingdom copes with a refugee crisis spawned by civil war in neighboring Syria — and to help prepare if violence spills across the border. The Pentagon deployed Patriot air-defense missile batteries here, along with F-16s to train with the Jordanian […]
Drone killings escalate in Pakistan
There were more drone strikes in Pakistan last month than any month since January. Three missile strikes were carried out in Yemen in the last week alone. And after Secretary of State John Kerry told Pakistanis on Thursday that the United States was winding down the drone wars there, officials back in Washington quickly contradicted […]
New leaks published from Snowden expose NSA’s XKeyscore
The Guardian newspaper published slides leaked by Edward Snowden that detail a secret US surveillance system known as XKeyscore. It reportedly enables American intelligence to monitor “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23522565 A series of slides describing XKeyscore, dated 2008, make it clear that the security agency system is collecting […]
Peacekeepers replaced with The United Nations force in Africa
The United Nations has threatened to forcibly disarm rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an early test of the robust new mandate for the multinational peacekeeping contingent that includes going on the offensive there.In an uncharacteristically stern warning on Tuesday, the United Nations ordered individuals near the eastern city of Goma to turn in […]
Military Industrial Complex continues to suck the DOD tit
The Defense Department on Tuesday announced an agreement in principle to buy 71 more F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin at somewhat lower prices than last year. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/business/pentagon-buys-71-more-f-35s-from-lockheed-martin.html?ref=us People briefed on the latest deal, which includes ancillary equipment, said it was worth more of what is by far the Pentagon’s largest program, which could cost […]
Pentagon looks to aid foreign troops that violate human rights
The Pentagon is increasingly training and equipping local security services to combat militants in their countries. A 16-year-old law that bars American aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights is drawing unusual fire from some top military commanders who say it undermines their ability to train the troops to fight militants. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/us/politics/military-says-law-barring-us-aid-to-rights-violators-hurts-training-mission.html?ref=us The […]
NATO to assume security role in Nothern Africa
Libya has been bedeviled by instability since a NATO air campaign helped topple the country’s longtime dictator. Now NATO is sending a team of experts to Libya to assess how the alliance can provide security assistance. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/world/africa/nato-to-send-team-to-libya-to-assess-security-aid.html?hp&_r=0 The overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi’s autocratic government has left the new government struggling to fill a security vacuum. […]
More bodies found outside US base
Of the 17 people from Wardak Province whom Afghan investigators said disappeared into American custody, 14 have now been found dead. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/world/asia/brothers-search-comes-to-grim-end-in-afghanistan.html?ref=world The spokesman for the governor of Wardak Province, confirmed that four more bodies had been uncovered and identified by their relatives as being among the missing, but he said their identities had not […]
US operative killed fighting with Syrian rebels
F.B.I. agents from Detroit’s field office showed up in Flint, Mich. with reports and images, broadcast by pro-government news media agencies in Syria, show that Nicole Lynn Mansfield, 33, and a British man were among three people killed in Syria on Wednesday during a confrontation with government forces. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/us/syria-fighting-touches-a-family-in-michigan.html?ref=us The state media agencies broadcast a […]
US special forces assett sought for torture killing
Family members on Tuesday found the body of a man missing since last November near the American Special Forces base in Afghanistan which he was last seen being taken. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/torture-victims-body-is-found-near-us-base-afghans-say.html?ref=world After his disappearance, the man, Sayid Mohammad, was seen in a video undergoing torture at the hands of an Afghan-American named Zakaria Kandahari, who was […]
Attorney General tells senator that drones could kill in US
The top US lawyer, Eric Holder, said that it was possible under “extraordinary circumstance”, like 9/11 or the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, that the president could authorize lethal military force inside US borders. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21695434 US Senator “alarmed” by how difficult it had been to get President Barack Obama’s administration to clearly define what […]
Arming Africa and Al Qaeda for profit
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to temporarily rescind part of a 21-year-old arms embargo on Somalia, the East African country once considered synonymous with warlordism, piracy and anarchy. The new government who is strongly supported by the United States and Britain, had been pressing for an end to the United Nations […]
Drone swarms a new tactic for US
The report that swarms of American drones had swooped into remote areas, killing up to nine people, is new. Swarms? Perhaps that is why the US is not admitting to the attack due to new tactic of drone swarms. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/world/asia/us-disavows-2-drone-strikes-over-pakistan.html?hp In the early years of the drone campaign, the Pakistani Army falsely claimed responsibility for […]
US DARPA to deploy sea based drones
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it needed to increase its airborne “surveillance and reconnaissance”. “Enabling small ships to launch and retrieve long-endurance UAVs on demand would greatly expand our situational awareness and our ability to quickly and flexibly engage in hotspots over land or water.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21653364 About 98% of the world’s […]
NATO troops shoot children dead
NATO forces accidentally shot dead two boys during an operation in Afghanistan http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/03/02/world/asia/02reuters-afghanistan-civilians-killing.html?ref=world “I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed. The boys were killed when Coalition forces fired at what they thought were insurgent forces,”
Robot future: Update
BigDog is one of a range of robots developed by Boston Dynamics. Its legs mimic an animal’s legs, and are able to absorb shock and recycle energy as the machine moves around. It can perform simple tasks and obey voice commands. “Robots are going to help you move your shopping, [VIDEO…] a robot can be […]
CIA special forces commit war crimes
It became clear that armed individuals named as US special forces stationed in Afghanistan engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21566295 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secret-war/ A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student […]
US drones lead African agenda
Friday that about 100 American troops had been sent to Niger in West Africa to help set up a new base from which unarmed Predator aircraft would conduct surveillance in the region.The US did not say how many aircraft or troops would ultimately be deployed. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/world/africa/in-niger-us-troops-set-up-drone-base.html?_r=0&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1361628183-xpQPI2/bl1WObwvsLFmwAg Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, […]
Dirty Babylon 