Leading American historian Alfred McCoy imagines it (via TomDispatch): It’s 2025 and an American “triple canopy” of advanced surveillance and armed drones fills the heavens from the lower- to the exo-atmosphere.… A wonder of the modern age, it can deliver its weaponry anywhere on the planet with staggering speed, knock out an enemy’s satellite communications…
Category General
Only fools are crying over the fall of David Petraeus
The job of a real journalist is to be skeptical of establishment power. Sadly, many reporters rather love receiving cuddles from officials, generals and leaders. Michael Hastings is against all cuddles! His work has shown consistent distance and his recent book, The Operators, about the failed war in Afghanistan, is vital reading. His latest piece,…
US military incapable or unwilling to document its own wars
A great yet disturbing story via ProPublica: A strange thing happened when Christopher DeLara filed for disability benefits after his tour in Iraq: The U.S. Army said it had no records showing he had ever been overseas. DeLara had searing memories of his combat experiences. A friend bled to death before his eyes. He saw…
US election cost over US$6 billion. Discuss
That’s the amount spent, according to the New York Times. This is many things but it ain’t democracy.
“The white establishment is now the minority”
Bill O’Reilly is clearly very sad about this fact on Fox News:
Think twice before visiting Sri Lanka as a tourist
Ever since the end of the country’s civil war in 2009, Colombo has promoted tourism as a way to normalise the place. The Western media has blindly followed. But Sri Lanka isn’t a normal state; it remains authoritarian. I’m proud that the UK-based Sri Lanka Campaign, where I’m an advisor and have pushed for this…
Making money from natural disasters
Naomi Klein writes in The Nation about disaster capitalists salivating over Hurricane Sandy: Less than three days after Sandy made landfall on the East Coast of the United States, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute blamed New Yorkers’ resistance to big-box stores for the misery they were about to endure.… Writing on Forbes.com… [1]… he explained that…