Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Monday, 20 May 2013 06:25 |
By Rebecca Solnit http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175701/
Ten years ago, my part of the world was full of valiant opposition to the new wars being launched far away and at home -- and of despair. And like despairing people everywhere, whether in a personal depression or a political tailspin, these activists believed the future would look more or less like the present. If there was nothing else they were confident about, at least they were confident about that. Ten years ago, as a contrarian and a person who prefers not to see others suffer, I tried to undermine despair with the case for hope.
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 06:34 |
By David Vinehttp://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175699/
Outside the United States, the Pentagon controls a collection of military bases unprecedented in history. With U.S. troops gone from Iraq and the withdrawal from Afghanistan underway, it’s easy to forget that we probably still have about 1,000 military bases in other peoples' lands. This giant collection of bases receives remarkably little media attention, costs a fortune, and even when cost cutting is the subject du jour, it still seems to get a free ride.
With so much money pouring into the Pentagon’s base world, the question is: Who’s benefiting?
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 09 May 2013 06:16 |
By Peter Van Buren http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175697/
What do words mean in a post-9/11 world? Apart from the now clichéd Orwellian twists that turn brutal torture into mere enhanced interrogation, the devil is in the details. Robert MacLean is a former air marshal fired for an act of whistleblowing. He has continued to fight over seven long years for what once would have passed as simple justice: getting his job back. His is an all-too-twenty-first-century story of the extraordinary lengths to which the U.S. government is willing to go to thwart whistleblowers.
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 18 April 2013 07:25 |
By Erika Eichelberger http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175689/
Since the Newtown massacre, visions of unfathomable crazy mass killers and armed strangers in the night have colonized the American mind. Proposed laws have been drawn up that would keep potential mass murderers from getting their hands on assault weapons and high-capacity clips, or that would stop hardened criminals from buying guns. But the danger out there is both more mundane and more terrible: you're more likely to be hurt or killed by someone you know or love. And you'll probably be at home when it happens.
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Monday, 15 April 2013 11:28 |
By Helen Caldicott
Global Research, April 14, 2013
Civilian Cancer Deaths Expected to Skyrocket Following Radiological Incidents
The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs. The final version, slated for Federal Register publication as soon as today, is a win for the nuclear industry which seeks what its proponents call a “new normal” for radiation exposure among the U.S population, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 April 2013 11:30 |
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Sunday, 14 April 2013 15:49 |
By Tom Engelhardt http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175687/
The communist enemy, with the “world’s fourth largest military,” has been trundling missiles around and threatening the United States with nuclear obliteration. Guam, Hawaii, Washington: all, it claims, are targetable. The coverage in the media has been hair-raising. The U.S. is rushing an untested missile defense system to Guam, deploying missile-interceptor ships off the South Korean coast, sending “nuclear capable” B-2 Stealth bombers thousands of miles on mock bombing runs, pressuring China, and conducting large-scale war games with its South Korean ally.
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 April 2013 11:31 |
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 28 March 2013 06:14 |
By George Gao
Viktor Bout is extradited to the United States aboard a Drug Enforcement Administration plane on Nov. 16, 2010. Credit: DEA
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 2013 (IPS) - Viktor Bout earned a few monikers in his heyday: “Merchant of Death”, “Sanctions Buster” and “Lord of War”. He’s the poster boy for illicit arms brokers – a guild of shadowy intermediaries who link arms suppliers to their end users.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 March 2013 06:15 |
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 28 March 2013 06:11 |
By Tom Engelhardt http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175667/
It’s true that, last week, few in Congress cared to discuss, no less memorialize, the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Nonetheless, two anniversaries of American disasters and crimes abroad -- the “mission accomplished” debacle of 2003 and the 45th anniversary of the My Lai massacre -- were at least noted in passing in our world. In my hometown paper, the New York Times, the Iraq anniversary was memorialized with a lead op-ed by a former advisor to General David Petraeus who, amid the rubble, went in search of all-American “silver linings.”
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 26 March 2013 12:16 |
By Dahr Jamail
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175666/
Back then, everybody was writing about Iraq, but it’s surprising how few Americans, including reporters, paid much attention to the suffering of Iraqis. Today, Iraq is in the news again. The words, the memorials, the retrospectives are pouring out, and again the suffering of Iraqis isn’t what’s on anyone’s mind. This was why I returned to that country before the recent 10th anniversary of the Bush administration’s invasion and why I feel compelled to write a few grim words about Iraqis today.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 March 2013 16:55 |
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Peace News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Sunday, 24 March 2013 14:06 |
By William J. Astore http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175665/

Today’s unmanned aerial vehicles, most famously Predator and Reaper drones, have been celebrated as the culmination of the longtime dreams of airpower enthusiasts, offering the possibility of victory through quick, clean, and selective destruction. Those drones, so the (very old) story goes, assure the U.S. military of command of the high ground, and so provide the royal road to a speedy and decisive triumph over helpless enemies below.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 24 March 2013 14:19 |
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