Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Considering that no U.S. military intervention in the Mideast since WWII has produced anything but disaster, in my carefully studied opinion, the only sensible solution is a U.S. military hands-off-the-Mideast policy. Of course, our Israel Lobby-controlled Congress would never allow that before the Israel Lobby is widely recognized as a cancer within the U.S. body politic. 

Having failed in two violent coup attempts that were thwarted, the U.S., UK, and Israel, acting in convert with Venezuelan oligarchs have succeeded in inflicting enough misery that the Opposition has won a controlling majority in the Venezuelan legislature. The Bolivarian Revolution lives on at least for now in the executive and justice branches of government. A presidential impeachment process is about to begin without any impeachable offense being alleged. The U.S. has been pushing very hard diplomatically and via stiff economic sanctions to secure the release of principles in the previous violent coup attempts. A bill declaring amnesty for them was found unconstitutional by the Venezuelan high court. (I haven't checked but I suspect Venezuela's constitution  resembles that of the U.S. in placing the pardon power strictly in the hands of the Executive.) Watch out, Venezuela, if Hillary becomes the U.S. PreZ. 

The inter-agency sharing of information described in this article sounds like a straightforward violation of several different sections of the federal Privacy Act. That Act places severe restrictions on inter-agency sharing of information that includes personal identifiers of members of the public, including the requirement of notifying the victims when a violation is discovered. The Act also provides a private right of action for anyone whose rights under the Act are violated with a statutory minimum damages award of $1,500 plus attorney fees and expenses of litigation.   

Finally out in the open. The U.S. DoD document released by Judical Watch makes it crystal clear that the U.S. and allies in 2012 were supporting al-Nusrah (al Qaeda in Syria) and the Islamic State in Iraq (Salafist predecessor to the proclaimed Islamic State). In Pogo's words, "we have met the enemy and he is us." This is confirmation of a mountain of evidence that the U.S. and its allies have supplied and provided command and control for ISIL and al Qaeda/al Nusrah foreces in Iraq and Syria. The document admits a similar relationshp with the Muslim Brotherhood fighting forces in those nations. More importantly than the confirmatiion, the document constitutes an admission by the U.S. that it is waging a proxy war against the nations of Iraq and Syria. The emergence of the Islamic State can no longer credibly serve as justification for U.S. military action in Syria because that justification depends on a combination of the right to militarily aid a nation at war that requests it and the doctrine that when a nation (Syria) is unwilling or unable to control civilian actors who inflict harm on another nation (Iraq), the injured nation has the right to invade the other nation to the extent necessary to remove the threat. But with this document in the open, we have a doctrine of unclean hands barrier to the U.S. assertion of right to invade Syria's sovereign territory; the U.S. is concurrently backing the civilian force in Syria that is threatening Iraq. Therefore, the U.S. has unclean hands and may not lawfully invoke the doctrine permitting a state to invade a state unwilling or unable to control civilian actors who injure another state. U.S. invasion of Syria is now established as a war of agression, the most serious of war crimes. This also means that President Obama has been far less than candid in requesting a retroactive Authorization for Use of Military Force in Congress that would encompass military invasion of Syria, raising the issue of an impeachable abu

Typical. Authorized leakers announce that Obama has declared war against the democratically-elected government of Syria, then White House officials refuse to confirm it on grounds that a declaration of war is somehow a mere "rule of engagement."  Yet the Constitution holds that only Congress can declare war. 

The Obamas Administration has rejected calls for an investigation by a duly-constituted international body, saying that it has three investigations under way and an unblemished record of investigating and prosecuting misconduct by U.S. forces. This, from the President who refused to investigate and prosecute officials of the Bush2 administration for war crimes in invading Iraq and Afghanistan and refused to prosecute CIA torturers, insisting on legislation to retroactively immunize them. 

The article should have mentioned that the decision was on cross-motions for *partial* summary judgment. The Jewel case will proceed on other plaintiff claims. 

Overview of pending legislation (multiple bills) to authorize use of U.S. military force against ISIL. Table of contents: The IS Crisis and the U.S. Response ............................................................................................... 1 Presidential Authority to Use Military Force Against the Islamic State .......................................... 1 2001 Post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force ........................................................... 1 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq ...................................................... 2 Presidential Authority Under Article II of the Constitution ....................................................... 2 Calls for a New AUMF Targeting the Islamic State ........................................................................ 3 Current IS AUMF Proposals ............................................................................................................ 3 Scope of Force and Military Activities Authorized ................................................................... 4 Targeted Entities .................................................................................................................. 5 Purpose of Authorization ..................................................................................................... 5 Conditions on Use of Military Force ................................................................................... 6 Limitations on Use of Military Force .................................................................................. 6 Repeal of Previous AUMFs ................................................................................................. 7 Reporting and Certification Requirements .......................................................................... 8 War Powers Resolution and Expedited Consideration Provisions ...................................... 8 Tables  Table 1. Proposed Authorizations

That's a public relations defense, not a legal defense to a war crime. Hospitals with staff and patients are strictly off-limits as targets during wartime. Notably, even if one took what Stanekzai said at face value, it constitutes an admission that the Taliban were using the hospital as a safe harbor, not as a fortification from which to direct fire. But he could also be sweeping in wounded Taliban who were among the patients being treated. Would the fact that American troops are being treated for wounds in an Afghan hospital be viewed as making it permissible for the Taliban to target the hospital for rocket fire? Hardly. 

Pepe Escobar again on the Ukraine.

Finally, an article that does a fairly good job of summarizing the situation in Turkey. In a single word, it's a mess. 

Former Army officer and CIA analyst Ray McGovern informs that the Russian humanitarian aid convoy to Luhansk. It should be noted that "humanitarian intervention" has increasingly been used by the U.S. as grounds for full-fledged regime change military operations that invade other nation's sovereignty. Kosovo and Libya and prime examples, and the U.S. war by proxy against Syria has also been justified only by the humanitarian pretext of saving civilian lives, more than 100,000 of which have been extinguished by the war so far. So an actual humanitarian relief effort that invades the coup government of Ukraine's "sovereignty" seems like small potatoes in comparison. 

Former Army officer and CIA analyst Ray McGovern informs that the Russian humanitarian aid convoy to Luhansk. It should be noted that "humanitarian intervention" has increasingly been used by the U.S. as grounds for full-fledged regime change military operations that invade other nation's sovereignty. Kosovo and Libya and prime examples, and the U.S. war by proxy against Syria has also been justified only by the humanitarian pretext of saving civilian lives, more than 100,000 of which have been extinguished by the war so far. So an actual humanitarian relief effort that invades the coup government of Ukraine's "sovereignty" seems like small potatoes in comparison. 

More detail about the extraordinary action of the Dept. of Justice to negotiate a settlement because discovery requested from the United Against Nuclear Iran private organization would include privileged and classified "law enforcement" records.