A great name for a security company staffed with mercenaries paid to look after top American officials in a hot spot with immunity from prosecution for killing anyone. Will Matt Damon be the good guy? In fact, Blackwater USA is a private contractor employed by the US State Department. The ban on their operations for …
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Category:Risk and Terror
Watching Myanmar atrocities
The past couple of weeks have brought an unusual bout of coverage of politics in Myanmar. But now the killing has started publicly. Unfortunately we will do nothing. Myanmar has suffered under a brutal military regime that has been propped up by oil deals with western companies and countries while it enslaves and tortures peaceful …
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Hacking government IT systems – the next level of war.
There are increasing media reports of the vulnerability of government IT systems to hackers. While much of the media attention has been to Chinese attacks on systems at the US Pentagon, UK government and German government, we should not be deluded into thinking that this is a one way street. US, UK and German forces …
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Terrorist plot in Germany foiled
In early September three men were arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a “massive” attack on US facilities in the country. Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three had trained at camps in Pakistan and procured some 700 kg of chemicals for explosives. She said the accused had sought to target facilities visited by …
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Iraqis want end to occupation more than ever
A survey for the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq shows that about 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military “surge” of the past six months. The relative optimism registered in November 2005 has deteriorated to the gloom of this year’s …
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Baghdad dividing wall counters peace
Construction of another dividing wall in Baghdad between Shula and Ghazaliya districts causes more division than unity. It is another sign of the primitive knee-jerk thinking of an administration resorting to primitive policy. The wall is an attempt to separate Sunni and Shia districts. But of course it also separates families, neighbours and communities, it …
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US changing policy; will reduce troops in Iraq
Over the past month there has been a definite change in the US administration policy of troop levels in Iraq. The surge is over and political pragmatism underpins troop reductions. On September 13 Bush said that about 30,000 troops might return home by summer 2008 (pre-surge level), starting with 5,700 by Christmas. Then on 14 …
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Ahmadinejad can’t visit WTC site
It is a shame that several authorities have refused permission to the President of Iran to visit the site of the World Trade Center to pay respects. Ahmadinejad arrives today to address the UN general assembly. Permission to visit Ground Zero was requested of and refused by the police department, the US Secret Service and …
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US waking up to the reality of Palestine …?
It is surprising to hear US Secretary of State publicly announcing that Palestine must be recognised if peace talks are to make progress. Surprising partly because it is the same person that provided much of the authority for invading Iraq and partly because it is against the wishes of the Israeli propaganda machine which has …
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Torture isn’t justified
That’s my conclusion after reading an essay on torture by The Economist. The analysis indicates that generally torture is not effective or justified, though the argument that it might save lives is that of the devil’s advocate and does not stand up to ethical scrutiny. Its justification can only ever be self-serving and therefore unbalanced.