War & Peace Archives - Page 283 of 729 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Obama’s Bush-League World: Is the Obama National Security Team a Pilotless Drone?

by Tom Engelhardt | Jul 19, 2011

Only recently, the Obama administration leaked news that it wasintensifying its military-run war against al-Qaeda in Yemen by bringing the CIA into the action. The Agency is now to build a base for its drone air wing somewhere in the Middle East to hunt Yemeni terrorists (and assumedly those elsewhere in the region as well). Yemen functionally has no government to cooperate with, but in pure Bushian fashion, who cares?

Is China’s String of Pearls Real?

by Vivian Yang | Jul 18, 2011

China’s “string of pearls” consists of port and airfield construction projects, diplomatic ties, and force modernization. These “pearls” range from the coast of mainland China to the recently upgraded military facilities on Hainan Island, China’s southernmost territory. They extend through the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca, over to the Indian Ocean and along the coast of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. They include an airstrip on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago east of Vietnam. A container shipping facility in Chittagong, Bangladesh, a deep-water port in Sittwe, Myanmar, and a potential naval base in Gwadar, Pakistan are also “pearls,” all of them representing Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence.

Afghanistan Bleeding U.S. Financially Even More Than It Did the Soviet Union

by Phyllis Bennis | Jul 17, 2011

Congressman McDermott’s floor speech reminds us that out-of-control Afghanistan spending brought down the Soviet Union.

Obsolete Pentagon Programs Among Beneficiaries of House Funding Increases

by Keith Menconi | Jul 16, 2011

When the economy goes south, congress persons cling to defense programs and jobs for their district.

Will Iraqi Commandos Trained by U.S. Be Turned Into Another Republican Guard?

by Russ Wellen | Jul 15, 2011

Iraq may use the U.S.-trained Iraqi commando corps as a security apparatus as Saddam Hussein did with the Republican Guard

Reduce Corruption, Defeat the Taliban

by Adam Cohen | Jul 14, 2011

The possibility of a negotiated settlement for the 10-year war in Afghanistan finally gained some traction when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a political surge in February. Since then President Obama and other prominent officials have refuted the notion that the conflict can be resolved by military means alone. The goal is to create political solutions led and agreed upon by the Afghan government and the insurgency, and acknowledged by major regional players including Pakistan.

Foreign Policy Goes Gaga

by John Feffer | Jul 12, 2011

Lady Gaga and Alice Walker don’t have much in common. One dresses in red meat; the other doesn’t even eat the stuff. One writes lyrics like “I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it’s free.” The other writes The Color Purple. But they are both cultural celebrities, and the media gravitates to them for comments. And they both have used this celebrity status to weigh in on global issues.

No One Supports the Troops More Than Bradley Manning

by Russ Wellen | Jul 12, 2011

There is no better way to support the troops than to remove them from situations unworthy of their lives.

Breaking the Israel-Palestine Impasse

by Didier Jacobs | Jul 11, 2011

President Obama sketched a peace plan in May. The entire international community supports it, as well as the Israeli opposition parties and the Palestinian governing party. But peace remains elusive because the international community clings to the myth that there is no alternative to a bilateral negotiated solution.

Re-emergence of Shining Path as Drug Syndicate Paints New Peruvian President Humala Into a Corner

by Michael Busch | Jul 9, 2011

If the Shining Path is permitted to reconstitute itself as either a political movement or a drug trafficking outfit, new Peruvian President Ollanta Humala will almost certainly guarantee himself a legacy of failure.