U.S. and the World
US Regains Lead as #1 Arms Supplier to Developing Countries
The U.S. has reclaimed its preeminence as the leading arms supplier to developing nations in 2007, a position Russia had occupied since 2004. Arms transfer agreements totaled $60 billion in 2007, with $42.3 billion (70%) going to the developing wo... read more
American Jews Debate Gaza Attacks
Unequivocally hawkish Jewish organizations like the American Jewish Committee and the Zionist Organization of America no longer stand alone as the single pro-Israel school of thought in America. A rising tide of moderate Jewish voices has reacted ... read more
Torture and Surge Success Challenged: Robert Parry
Fearing that President George W. Bush might go down in history as anything less than “the worst ever,” Robert Parry of ConsortiumNews attacks the Bush administration’s attempt to defend the efficacy of torture and the triumph of the 2007 surge in ... read more
Top Ten Myths about Iraq, 2008: Juan Cole
Juan Cole presents his top ten myths about Iraq. Aside from debunking common misconceptions about the health and wealth of Iraqi minorities and refugees, Cole also addresses the supposed success of the troop surge. In what he numbers myth #6, Cole... read more
Bush Administration Trades Terror Victim Families for Libyan Oil
On September 19, 1989, a terrorist bomb destroyed the French-operated flight UTA 772, flying from Chad to Paris, killing all on board. Among the 170 victims were seven Americans, including Bonnie Barnes Pugh, the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Cha... read more
Russia to Increase Production of Nuclear Warheads
Russia has reinforced its belligerent stance by announcing that it will commission 70 new strategic nuclear warheads in the next three years as part of a $133.4 billion defense procurement. Experts argue that the new procurement represents Russia... read more
10 Worst Humanitarian Crises
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Doctors Without Borders has released its annual list of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Heading the list was Somalia. According to the group, “Already struggling to survive with little or no access... read more
Afghan War Crime Covered Up…Literally
Tom Lasseter, writing for the McClatchy Newspapers, reports, “Seven years ago, a convoy of container trucks rumbled across northern Afghanistan loaded with a human cargo of suspected Taliban and al Qaida members who'd surrendered to Gen. Abdul Ras... read more
Mexican Drug War Deaths in One Year Outnumber 5 Years of US Deaths in Iraq
The U.S.-supported “get tough” anti-drug strategy in Mexico has achieved some success, but has come at a price: 5,376 deaths so far in 2008—15 a day. This approach has caused drug trafficking groups to collapse and splinter. The U.S., which releas... read more
By the Heliport of Babylon
Fragments of bricks, engraved with cuneiform characters thousands of years old, lie mixed with the rubble and sandbags left by the US military on the ancient site of Babylon in Iraq. From April 2003 to June 2004, US troops built embankments, dug d... read more
Guantánamo Prosecutor Tells Why He Resigned
Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, a devout Catholic, was called up as a military lawyer after 9/11 and served in Iraq, Bosnia and Africa. In 2007, he became a prosecutor for the military commissions trying terrorist suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, a rol... read more
Cyber-Attacks from China and Russia Threaten U.S. War Command
Cyber-attacks aimed at the U.S. military come on two fronts, said Tim McKnight of Northrop Grumman. A number of countries are actively working to develop methods for disabling the computer systems the U.S. military relies on during wartime. And ad... read more
Sex and the CIA: Is Sexism Hurting U.S. Security?
When a CIA woman serving abroad has an affair or falls in love with a local, their clearances are routinely revoked, forcing them to resign, a group of female former employees charge. When men do the same, they get a slap on the wrist. A few years... read more
Jews and Muslims Unite for Obama
In a piece of news that might bring some hope in the Middle East, both American Jews and American Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. A Pew Research exit poll showed that 78% of Jewish voters cast their... read more
Iran and China Leading Destinations for Smuggled U.S. Weapons
A multi-agency initiative to combat illegal exports of restricted military and dual-use technology from the United States has resulted in criminal charges against more than 145 defendants in the past fiscal year, with roughly 43 percent of these c... read more
In India, They Feel America's Pain
Few places in India absorb and imitate American culture as much as call centers, where ambitious young Indians with fake American accents and American noms de phone spend hours calling people in Indiana or Maine to help navigate software glitches,... read more