On August 28, 2008, two childhood friends from Midland, Texas, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, traveled north to join thousands of protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC). In the company of six Austin activists, Crowder and McKay were ready for adventure, and prepared, in Crowder’s words, to protest to “change the world.” What began as a journey of hope, however, ended in sudden catastrophe.
If the United States decides to send troops into Libay, will President Obama seek authorization required under the War Powers Act – or another “out” from Congressional scrutiny?
The Samsung-owned dredging barge arrived in Gangjeong on June 20 to deliver blocks of concrete for a controversial South Korean naval base. Gangjeong sits on the south side of Jeju Island, the only place in the world to receive “triple crown status” from UNESCO for its unique geography. The former Roh Moo Hyun government also designated Jeju as a “peace island” as a form of apology for a government-sponsored massacre that took place there in 1948. In May 2009, when South Korean government confirmed the decision to place a naval base on Jeju, an opposition movement immediately formed.
Author, activist, and two-time Green Party vice-presidential candidate (1996 and 2000) Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabeg national, and her latest book, The Militarization of Indian Country, marks her fifth work on this subject. Only 70 pages, this short book surveys a wide range of issues related to military incursions into Native America without delving too deeply into any of them. But at the book’s end the reader will find a number of resources both online and in print to flesh out the issues raised.
Calls for deep cuts in the federal deficit have returned the military budget–now more than twice the 2001 budget even before counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan–to the fiscal chopping block for the first time in ten years. In response, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spent his last months in office stiffening his rhetorical defense of the Pentagon budget. His discourse reveals both the distance we have come in recent years in eliminating Pentagon inefficiencies and excesses, and the numerous dangers threatening American security around the world.
Invading Libya is about the oil, Syria — eliminating the only Russian naval base in the Mediterranean and weakening Hizbollah.
On May 19, President Barack Obama said that “extraordinary change” is sweeping the Middle East. But the president’s silence about signs of counter-revolution in the Middle East is deeply disturbing. This silence comes not just from the White House but also from the Republican and Democratic leaderships in Congress, and the mass media. There is a particularly deafening silence about the arms deal negotiated with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last year.
Burma’s three ethnic insurgencies are on full boil, but at a time when support from former benefactors Thailand and China has grown tepid.
The U.S. needs to repair the extreme imbalance in our security spending to strengthen our non-military security tools. This year’s Unified Security Budget would create that balance by getting serious about waste, reviewing roles and missions, and reforming the budget process.
The Saudi and Bahraini monarchies recently announced the engagement of a Saudi princess to a Bahraini prince. A substantial bridal party has preceded her, though. Starting March 14th, 4,000 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, mostly from Saudi Arabia, have entered Bahrain to suppress its protest movement. Some 1,600 Saudi soldiers will remain in the country indefinitely to safeguard the regime there from further “disturbances,” i.e., pro-democracy protests.