United States Archives - Page 255 of 520

War and DIplomacy – Part II: A Way Out of Afghanistan

by Daryl Copeland | Sep 17, 2010

Afghanistan is a crossroads of civilizations and an almost bewilderingly complicated place.

Over the past few centuries, however, it has more often than not been treated as a pawn in the “great game”. The country has also developed a reputation as the “graveyard of empires”, not least because outsiders’ forces have never succeeded in pacifying the place. Internal stability, such as it has ever existed, has been predicated typically upon de-centralized, and frequently shifting political arrangements between a weak centre and roiling periphery.

U.S. Still Top Arms Supplier to South as Record Sale to Saudis Pends

by Jim Lobe | Sep 17, 2010

Despite an unusual dip in global weapons sales in 2009, the United States retained its spot as the world’s top arms supplier of developing countries, according to an authoritative new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The American Way of War Quiz: This Was The War Month That Was (Believe It or Not)

by Tom Engelhardt, Nick Turse | Sep 17, 2010

Yes, it would be funny if it weren’t so grim. After all, when it comes to squandering money and resources in strange and distant places (or even here at home), you can count on the practitioners of American-style war to be wildly over the top.

How to Convince a State That Thinks It Wants Nuclear Weapons That It Really Doesn’t

by Russ Wellen | Sep 14, 2010

Plenty of options exist for diverting states from acquiring nuclear weapons. But an understanding of why states feel the need for them is required first.

When Nuclear Terrorism Isn’t Terrorism

by Russ Wellen | Sep 13, 2010

The danger that a state might attempt to smuggle nuclear weapons onto U.S. soil as if it were a terrorist group only adds to the urgent need for disarmament.

Fahrenheit 451, Park 51, and Mainstreaming Hate

by M. Junaid Levesque-Alam | Sep 12, 2010

The right pulled off a neat trick by conflating burning the Koran with building an Islamic center near Ground Zero.

Pollution Knows No Borders

by Marco Antonio Martinez Garcia | Sep 10, 2010

The three member countries of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America, a body created as part of NAFTA’s environmental side agreement, are facing high rates of emissions of mercury, arsenic, and chromium, according to Orlando Cabrera, the manager of the Air Quality Program and of the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry (PRTR) of North America.

The US-Japan ‘Alliance’, Okinawa, and Three Looming Elections

by Gavan McCormack | Sep 10, 2010

World attention through the early months of 2010 focused on the tiny hamlet of Henoko in Northern Okinawa as Prime Minister Hatoyama struggled to find a way to meet his (and the Democratic Party of Japan’s) electoral commitment to see that no substitute for the existing Futenma Marine Air Station be constructed in Okinawa. Confronted by adamantine pressures from the US government, and surrounded by uncooperative (some would say even traitorous) bureaucrats who insisted there was no other way but to submit to the US-Japan agreement to construct a new base negotiated by the former LDP government.

What if the United States Deployed a Nuclear Drone?

by Russ Wellen | Sep 6, 2010

Can U.S. plans to arm drones with nuclear warheads in the 60s come to fruition today?

Obama Fighting on all Fronts

by Jim Lobe | Sep 3, 2010

Tuesday evening’s prime-time television address marking the withdrawal of all US “combat” troops from Iraq, as well as the following day’s formal launch here of direct talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, will be hailed by the administration as key advances in restoring some stability to the world’s most volatile region.