Category: World
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A Neocon manifesto for NATO
While we’re on the subject of neocons, I ought to mention the recent CSIS report entitled Towards A Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing Transatlantic Partnership. The report was ostensibly written by five former NATO generals, including Britain’s Lord Inge, the chairman of Aegis Defence Services.However, a postscript adds that "to assist in the…
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An Afghan back-channel?
It would be premature to draw any conclusions about today’s threatened expulsion of a British and an Irish diplomat from Afghanistan, and the Telegraph’s claims that MI6 have been negotiating with the Taliban. The latter story is, however, plausible. MI6 have a long history of involvement in back-channel negotiations, which has often caused friction with…
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Intelligence, deception and the roots of neoconservatism
Col Pat Lang’s blog has a very timely piece by David Habbakuk looking at the intelligence roots of the neoconservative movement. The comments thread is also worth a look. A good example of familiar neocon approaches was the hatchet job done on Sherman Kent, a pivotal figure in the wartime R&A branch of the wartime…
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Dr Von Paleske criticises Survival International campaign
Dr Alexander Von Paleske has asked me to pass on the following article, which is a critique of Survival International’s campaign for a boycott of Botswana diamonds.
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‘No kings in America’, court rules – George appeals
U.S. district Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in a ruling on the NSA’s warrantless surveillance programme: The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to…
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Lebanon analysis roundup
Intriguing snippet from Robert Fisk, an old hand in Lebanon: The long-range Iranian-made missiles which later exploded on Haifa had been preceded only a few weeks ago by a pilotless Hizbollah drone aircraft which surveyed northern Israel and then returned to land in eastern Lebanon after taking photographs during its flight. These pictures not only…
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Is Doha failure a sign of hegemonic decline?
Tim Worstall points us to an interesting piece on global trade negotiations by Martin Jacques in the Guardian today: The irony of Doha is that it is being killed by western disinterest in the face of the growing power of the developing world. The rise of China and, to a lesser extent India, is likely…
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Von Paleske on Barrick Gold
The latest piece from Dr Alexander Von Paleske is an article for Melbourne Indymedia on mining giant Barrick Gold featuring appearances by Peter Munk, Adnan Khashoggi, G.H.W. Bush, Karl Otto Poehl, and Brian Mulroney.
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Straw’s other torture scandal
It looks like Uzbekistan is not the only place where British diplomats are being accused of complicity in torture. A major scandal has been breaking in Greece, where 28 Pakistani men were allegedly abducted and brutally interrogated by Greek security officers and the local MI6 station chief in the aftermath of the July bombings in…
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Craig Murray releases Uzbek torture documents
The former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has released a number of documents on his website concerning British Government complicity in torture by the Uzbek regime. Apparently the Foreign Office is demanding that Mr Murray return the material in an attempt to stop its inclusion in his forthcoming book. Instead, Mr Murray is asking…