Greater Middle East
Are you ready for World War 5?
The fearful synergy of regional sectarian war and Great Power rivalries holds the menace of the looming Syria intervention setting off a new global conflagration.
Tag: GWOT
Watching the Shadows
UN SG: US drone strikes must comply with international law
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon insisted that US drone strikes must operate within international law, and make “every effort to avoid mistakes and civilian casualties.”
Greater Middle East
Yemen: US terror alert enflaming conflict?
The closing of the US embassy in Yemen has coinicided with drone strikes and clashes in Marib province, and a gun-battle between rival factions in the capital Sanaa.
Afghanistan
Will ‘peace’ mean betrayal of Afghan women?
The Taliban have opened a "political office" in Qatar preparatory to talks with Kabul and the US—after years of propaganda about the US defending women's rights in Afghanistan.
Europe
The London attack: context vs. apologia —again
Reactions to the jihadist slaying of a British solider in London are polarized along predictable lines—emphasizing either the context of imperial wars or the threat of political Islam.
Watching the Shadows
Obama addresses drone strikes, steps to close Gitmo
President Obama’s speech outlining plans to restrict drone strikes and renew efforts to close Guantánamo Bay did little more than reiterate existing policy.
North America
Assata Shakur: don’t believe the ‘terrorist’ hype
Veteran Black Panther Assata Shakur's addition to the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list is a propagandistic abuse of the English language in the service of historical revisionism.
Watching the Shadows
Barbara Lee: repeal AUMF to stop ‘perpetual war’
Rep. Barbara Lee called for the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force to be repealed, warning that the alternative could be a “state of perpetual war forever.”
The Caucasus
Chechnya war comes to Boston —or not?
Voices on the left seek to play down jihadist involvement in the Chechen struggle, while the neocon right plays it up—ironically in line with Moscow's propaganda.
Watching the Shadows
Obama’s fourth year: a World War 4 Report scorecard
World War 4 Report offers its annual annotated assessment of Obama’s moves in dismantling, continuing or escalating the oppressive apparatus of the Global War on Terrorism.
North Africa
Mali poised for multi-sided war
With French troops fighting on the ground in Mali, jihadist militias advance on the capital, while Tuareg rebels pledge to re-establish a separatist state in the north.
Watching the Shadows
Chuck Hagel: revenge of the paleocons?
Leftists are ironically rallying around Chuck Hagel as Obama's apparent pick for Secretary of Defense—a conservative Republican who is wary of the neocons but close to Big Oil.