“The U.S. has been fighting in and bombing several countries in the Middle East and Asia for 16 years. According to a new study, all that war has cost the U.S. taxpayers $5.6 trillion, which is over three times what the Pentagon estimates.”
Read more: http://uproxx.com/news/study-us-spent-5-6-trillion-war-middle-east/
“At least 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and seven million are in dire need of food assistance. The US began supporting the Saudi-led coalition through a decision by then-US President Barack Obama, who cited the Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to justify US involvement. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has done the same.”
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/united-states-leave-yemen-171112191346249.html
“In 2015, President Barack Obama supported Saudi Arabia’s war effort in Yemen, and President Donald Trump has continued the mission. The fight for control of Yemen shows no sign of stopping. The war has killed thousands of civilians, caused widespread food shortages and triggered a cholera epidemic. Yemenis have been plunged into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. In its drive to destroy rebel targets, the Saudi-led coalition has struck hospitals, schools and marketplaces in scores of well-documented attacks.”
“As children in war-torn Yemen continue to face severe malnutrition and a deadly cholera outbreak, Saudi Arabia has agreed to reopen air and sea ports following a week-long blockade. The Saudi-led coalition, which is backed by the US, launched an aerial campaign against Shiite Houthi rebels in March 2015, and later began a ground operation. The coalition is allied to Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia when the Houthis took power in Yemen. According to the latest UN figures, the conflict has so far led to the deaths of over 5,000 civilians. More than 8,500 people have been injured in the ongoing fighting.”
https://www.rt.com/news/409749-saudi-blockade-yemen-starvation/
“The classified embassy cable, written in Hebrew, constitutes the first formal evidence proving that the Saudis and Israelis are deliberately coordinating to escalate the situation in the Middle East. As is already well-known, the Saudi and Israeli common cause against perceived Iranian influence and expansion in places like Syria, Lebanon and Iraq of late has led the historic bitter enemies down a pragmatic path of unspoken cooperation as both seem to have placed the break up of the so-called ‘Shia crescent’ as their primary policy goal in the region.”
“In 2016, Alwaleed bin Talal, an influential Saudi prince called for an ‘urgent’ end to the ban, saying it is a matter not just of rights but economic necessity. He also detailed the ‘economic costs’ of women having to rely on private drivers or taxis, since public transit is not a viable alternative in the kingdom. Using foreign drivers drains billions of dollars from the Saudi economy, Alwaleed said. He calculated that families spend an average of $1,000 a month on a driver, money that otherwise could help household income at a time when many are making do with less.”
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/saudi-arabia-women-drive-170926190857109.html
“Despite simultaneously tackling multiple domestic and foreign fronts, the King and Crown Prince find themselves emboldened by popular support and an unrivalled consolidation of power.”
Read more: http://globalriskinsights.com/2017/11/anti-corruption-saudi-arabia/
“The US Air Force’s largest medical wing is not targeting Russians with its study on biomarkers, but rather is taking Russian samples in order to match a control group of samples originally provided by a US company, Spokesman for Air Education and Training Command Capt. Beau Downey told Sputnik. Senior Russian officials as well as President Vladimir Putin have questioned why US researchers were collecting genetic material from Russian people, noting that the purposes of the research were obscure.”
“Silicon Valley firms are building surveillance and profiling tools to help government agents make sense of the massive amount of information available on social media and in publicly accessible data sets. Are they using cutting-edge technologies to keep Americans safe, or laying the groundwork for a police state?”
“The body cam of a fellow officer showed one officer picking up the small packet from the ground and placing it in the suspect’s wallet — before making a show of discovering it multiple times for the camera. According Shields’ attorney, Steve Levine, officer Lee seemed stunned when he was shown the video while on the witness stand, saying the officer, ‘Looked dumbstruck to me. Period. He had really no answer.’ According to an expert discussing how the body cams work, the officer may not have realized that the camera was running 30 seconds before he believed he activated it.”