“In response to a reported North Korean nuclear test, the US flew a B-52 over Korean territory. US military leaders claim we must confront North Korea to defend the US homeland. Meanwhile, Congress jumps into the game with more sanctions legislation on the Floor this week.”
“Despite Libyan officials rejecting a US-led bombing campaign and/or ground operation, reports indicate plans to deploy about 1,000 UK special forces on the pretext of combating ISIS – to be joined by thousands more American, French and Italian combat troops. On Monday, Britain’s Daily Mirror headlined ‘SAS (special forces) spearhead coalition offensive to halt Islamic State oil snatches in Libya,’ saying: ‘The (pretext) is to halt the advance of 5,000 (ISIS) extremists who have seized more than a dozen major oil fields, boosting their war coffers’ – aiming to capture ‘Libya’s prize oil refinery at Marsa al Brega,’ North Africa’s largest, located between Sirte and Benghazi.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-war-on-libya-imminent/5499465
“Each year more than one trillion dollars goes up in smoke. More accurately, it is stolen from the middle and working classes and shipped off to the one percent. I am talking about the massive yearly bill to maintain the US empire. None of this trillion dollars taken from us is spent to keep us safe, despite what politicians say. In fact, this great rip-off actually makes us less safe and more vulnerable to a terrorist attack thanks to resentment overseas at our interventions and to the blowback it produces. The money is spent to maintain existing conflicts and to create new areas of conflict overseas that in turn feeds the demands for more military spending.”
“While President Obama was tearing up to support his call for gun control, the U.S. military-industrial complex was celebrating its continued leadership in the sale of weaponry to foreign regimes. According to the New York Times, U.S. foreign arms deals increased nearly $10 billion in 2014. Total sales went from $26.7 billion in 2013 to $36.2 billion in 2014, a 35 percent increase. Meanwhile, American statists, including those in the mainstream press, continue to scream about gun-show loopholes here in the United States but remain mute about the U.S. government’s #1 position in sales of guns and other weapons around the world.”
http://fff.org/2016/01/07/gun-control-what-about-u-s-arms-sales/
“The Obama administration formally notified Congress on Wednesday of a $1.83-billion arms sale package for Taiwan, including two frigates, anti-tank missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment, drawing an angry response from China. The authorization, which Reuters on Monday reported was imminent, came a year after Congress passed legislation approving the sale. It is the first such major arms sale to Taiwan in more than four years. The White House said there was no change in the longstanding U.S. ‘one China’ policy. Past U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan have attracted strong condemnation in China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-taiwan-arms-idUSKBN0TZ2C520151217
“Historians of the 2011 NATO war in Libya will be sure to notice a few of the truly explosive confirmations contained in the new emails: admissions of rebel war crimes, special ops trainers inside Libya from nearly the start of protests, Al Qaeda embedded in the U.S. backed opposition, Western nations jockeying for access to Libyan oil, the nefarious origins of the absurd Viagra mass rape claim, and concern over Gaddafi’s gold and silver reserves threatening European currency.”
“A number of foreign liberals—Lithuanian, Russian, Slovakian, Swedish, for instance—have criticized American libertarians for advocating a non-interventionist foreign policy. They’ve instead argued that a ‘compelling’ argument can be made for a ‘globalist’ strategy. Actually, that’s true only so long as one isn’t paying the cost of the foreign policy. As foreigners typically do not for American intervention, unless it is directed at them. Nothing in liberal philosophy requires residents of the globe’s most powerful ‘liberal’ nation to bankrupt themselves, sacrifice their liberty, and court national destruction to try to remake the earth.”
http://www.cato.org/blog/when-foreign-liberals-are-generous-american-lives-money-0
“Unique among the countries on earth, the US government insists that its laws and dictates take precedence over the sovereignty of nations. Washington asserts the power of US courts over foreign nationals and claims extra-territorial jurisdiction of US courts over foreign activities of which Washington or American interest groups disapprove. Perhaps the worst results of Washington’s disregard for the sovereignty of countries is the power Washington has exercised over foreign nationals solely on the basis of terrorism charges devoid of any evidence.”
“‘In Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, it’s reached the point of political and social breakdown,’ Nairn said. ‘There’s no stopping it. It’s out of control. There are not two sides. It [has fractured into] many sides. It’s analogous to what happened in Cambodia, with the massive U.S. bombing of Cambodia, which paved the way for the rise of the Khmer Rouge. [It has destroyed] any semblance of normal politics or even society. In that kind of environment the most evil, the most violent, have a better chance to rise and prevail.’ Ceaseless war and indiscriminant killing define the U.S. imperial power. But this policy, he said, has backfired.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_american_empire_murder_inc_20160103
“Even as Mr. Obama has repeatedly said that he opposes American ‘boots on the ground’ in far-flung parts of the world, his administration continues to carve out exceptions for Special Operations forces — with American officials often resorting to linguistic contortions to mask the forces’ combat role. …These deployments, as well as other missions being considered, have upended the Obama administration’s goal of withdrawing from countries that for more than a decade have been crucibles of combat for the American military.”
http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36715/Understand-the-Message-and-Dont-Wait-for-Others/