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A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down an Afghanistan runway. (Photo: U.S. Air Force)
Militarization

Military Drones Will Soon Replace Police Helicopters In Neighborhoods Near You

Archives for August 2017

US Ground Troops Attacked By CIA-Armed Syrian Rebels

The Syrian rebels attacking the U.S. troops are the same rebel forces that the U.S. was directly arming through CIA arms smuggling operations for years.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

U.S. ground troops were attacked outside of the Syrian city of Manbij today, according to coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon. They came under fire from Syrian rebels allied with Turkey, and US forces returned fire before fleeing back into Manbij. This is a fight that many have feared was coming for months and is particularly significant

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Battlefield America: We’re Not In Mayberry Anymore

“We’re talking Blackhawk helicopters, machine guns, grenade launchers, battering rams, explosives, chemical sprays, body armor, night vision, rappelling gear, armored vehicles, and tanks.”

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Police move in on a group of protesters throwing rocks at them in Milwaukee, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday evening and officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve the injured victim during a second night of unrest over the police shooting of a black man.

America, you’ve been fooled again. While the nation has been distracted by a media maelstrom dominated by news of white supremacists, Powerball jackpots, Hurricane Harvey, and a Mayweather v. McGregor fight, the American Police State has been carving its own path of devastation and destruction through what’s left of the Constitution. We got

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How Media Overlooked US War Crimes In Raqqa but Decried the Liberation of Aleppo

The “outcry” surrounding the Syrian government operation to retake Aleppo was created in order to generate the pretext for the military intervention long desired by Western governments, Israel and the Gulf monarchies. Now it’s Raqqa’s turn but, with the U.S. raining death from the sky, the same media shrugs.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
People inspect damage from US coalition airstrikes and artillery shelling in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, Syria, May 29, 2017. (Aamaq via AP)

In late 2016, the Syrian city of Aleppo was the focus of an international “outcry” calling for an end to the Syrian government/Russian air strikes that were aimed at reclaiming the city from terrorist groups -- depicted by the Western media as “moderate rebels.” Much of this outcry was fueled by the Western media’s frenzied coverage of the Aleppo

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How ‘Antifa’ Mirrors the ‘Alt-Right’

The violence by antifa—short for anti-fascist or anti-fascist action—in Charlottesville, Va., saw a surge in interest and support for the movement, especially after the murder of Heather Heyer.

Chris Hedges
By Chris Hedges
An anti-fascist demonstrator jumps over a barricade during a free speech rally Aug. 27 in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo)

Behind the rhetoric of the “alt-right” about white nativism and protecting American traditions, history and Christian values is the lust for violence. Behind the rhetoric of antifa, the Black Bloc and the so-called “alt-left” about capitalism, racism, state repression and corporate power is the same lust for violence. The two opposing groups,

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Kenya bans plastic bags, threatening 4 years imprisonment and $40,000 fines

Kenya joins a growing number of African countries that have implemented full or partial bans on plastic bags, including Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mauritania and Malawi. About 40 nations worldwide have a similar law but with far less severe penalties. Other parts of the world have more commonly erred on the side of taxing single-use plastic bags as a way of reducing their use.

Washington Post
By Washington Post
India Pollution

  Rejecting a plea from manufacturers that the production of plastic bags creates jobs, Kenya's high court on Monday paved the way for the world's strongest ban on plastic bags to come into full effect. The law, representing Kenya's third attempt at a ban in the past decade, comes with harsh penalties. For now, they are aimed mostly at

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Israeli Knesset members take to Al-Aqsa after Netanyahu lifts ban

Israeli police and special unit officers were deployed in large numbers at the holy site as far-right settler groups and Knesset members flooded through the Moroccan Gate as part of a one-day trial for such visits. Among them was Likud MK Yehuda Glick, one of the leading advocates for Jewish visitation to the Al-Aqsa compound, and Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, an MK from the Jewish Home party.

Ma'an News Agency
By Ma'an News Agency

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A number of right-wing members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, took to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy military protection on Tuesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lifted a ban on MK visits to the holy site imposed in October 2015, which aimed to ease tensions amid a deadly wave of political

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