REPORT: U.S. Military Spending Has Almost Doubled Since 2001

A new report released today by SIPRI, a Swedish-based think tank, reveals that U.S. military spending has almost doubled since 2001. The U.S. spent an astounding $698 billion on the military last year, an 81% increase over the last decade.

U.S. spending on the military last year far exceeded any other country. We spent six times more than China — the second largest spender. Overall, the world expended $1.6 trillion on the military, with the United States accounting for the lion’s share:


As a percentage of GDP, U.S. military spending has increased from 3.1% in 2001 to 4.8% last year.
The report notes that, “even in the face of efforts to bring down the soaring US budget deficit, military spending continues to receive privileged treatment.” Indeed, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and others on the right are passing legislation increasing defense spending. At the same time, they are insisting on massive cuts to social programs that provide vital assistance to the elderly, the poor and the middle class.

The more the opposition becomes dependent on military means, the more influence will be accorded to those within their ranks with military skills, which means defecting soldiers, those with experience fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, or those connected to past paramilitary groups. The more dependent the opposition becomes on the Western powers, the more influence will be accorded to those with connections to and views compatible with these powers.

The more the opposition becomes dependent on military means, the more influence will be accorded to those within their ranks with military skills, which means defecting soldiers, those with experience fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, or those connected to past paramilitary groups. The more dependent the opposition becomes on the Western powers, the more influence will be accorded to those with connections to and views compatible with these powers.

1. Is Qaddafi socialist? Was he ever?
 
Socialists believe that people should democratically and collectively control all aspects of their lives. Qaddafi has ruled Libya as an absolute dictator -- the very antithesis of socialism -- for more than four decades. The fact that he calls his political system a direct democracy is as relevant as the fact that East Germany used to call itself a People's Democracy or that the Pentagon calls itself the Defense Department.
 
It is true that Libya, because of its oil wealth, has a relatively high human development index (HDI), a UN-developed measure that takes account of income, literacy, and life expectancy. But this no more makes it socialist than the even higher HDIs of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, or the roughly equivalent HDI of Saudi Arabia make any of them socialist. 

Internal Review Contradicts U.S. Claims on WikiLeaks

Internal U.S. government reviews have found that WikiLeaks’ disclosures of State Department diplomatic cables has caused little damage to the U.S. government abroad. The review contradicts repeated public statements by the Obama administration that WikiLeaks has endangered U.S. policies and personnel. According to the Reuters news agency, two congressional officials say the administration felt compelled to misrepresent the expected consequences of the leak out of a desire to shut down the whistleblower website and bring charges against its top members.

A history of tragedy and farce

It was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

I have never really been sure what he meant. But as the recent history of US-Pakistan relations churns onward through multiple repetitive cycles, the results, while perhaps verging at times on black farce, have been clearly and consistently tragic. More tragic still, history seems poised to deliver yet more of the same.

US Life Expectancy Falls to 49th: hows are food?

A new study says life expectancy in the United States has plunged over the last decade. According to Health Affairs, the US now ranks forty-ninth in the world in life expectancy, down from twenty-fourth place in 1999. The study authors cited what they called the United States’ "uniquely inefficient" healthcare system as the primary cause.

US Intelligence Spending Tops $80.1B

The Obama administration has disclosed US intelligence agencies spent some $80.1 billion during the previous fiscal year. It’s the first time in over a decade the US government has disclosed its intelligence budget. In a statement, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, said intelligence spending has reached an "unacceptable level."

Nothing better to spend money on than ensureing the the dominace of your empire, huh America?

.....Audit: US Can’t Account for $17.7B in Afghan Spending

A new government audit shows the US can’t account for nearly $18 billion earmarked for the Afghan war. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says the government doesn’t know how some $17.7 billion obligated to over 7,000 contractors has been disbursed.

We unite and demand that the United States stop financing the Police and Military forces in our country

Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award Honors Activists

And the Washington-based progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies has honored two Latin American groups and a US labor group with the annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. The Honduran Platform on Human Rights was cited in the international category for its work documenting and investigating abuses since the June 2009 coup that overthrew Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Bertha Oliva de Nativi of the Committee of Family Members of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras accepted the award on behalf of the five other groups that comprise the Platform.

Bertha Oliva de Nativi: "Nothing is normal in our country since June 28. A coup does not mean more power for the people. It means police and military violence, more repression, and only makes the victim count increase every day. So with this award, I want to ask that we unite and demand that the United States stop financing the police and military forces in our country."

US Accuses China of Illegally Subsidizing Clean Energy Projects

The Obama administration has announced plans to investigate whether China is breaking international trade rules by heavily subsidizing Chinese manufacturers of wind turbines, solar energy products, energy-efficient vehicles, and technologically advanced batteries. China responded by sharply rebuking the White House, accusing the Obama administration of playing election-season politics

Injustice in the age of Obama: Mother Murder by US military, no justice no proof

Since being the defendant in about six trials after I was arrested for protesting the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, it’s my experience that the police lie. Period.

However the lies don’t stop at street law enforcement level. From lies about WMD and connections to "al Qaeda," almost every institution of so-called authority - the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, FBI, all the way up to the Oval Office and back down - lie. Not white lies, but big, Mother of all BS (MOAB) lies that lead to the destruction of innocent lives. I.F Stone was most definitely on the ball when he proclaimed, "Governments lie".

Having clarified that, I would now like to examine a case that should be enshrined in the travesty of the US Justice Hall of Shame.

Pentagon braces for Iraq Wikileaks

The Pentagon has assembled a 120-member team to prepare for the expected publication of some 400,000 Iraq war documents on the Wikileaks website.

The documents are thought to concern battle activity, Iraqi security forces and civilian casualties.

Colonel Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the timing of the leak remained unclear but are preparing for it to be as early as Monday or Tuesday - a possibility raised in previous WikiLeaks statements.

The Pentagon said on Sunday it wants the documents back to avoid "potentially damaging" information being released.

'Significant file'

Lapan said the files were from an Iraq-based database that contained "significant acts, unit-level reporting, tactical reports, things of that nature".If confirmed, the leak would be much larger than the record-breaking release of more than 70,000 Afghan war documents in July, which stoked debate about the nine-year-old conflict but did not contain major revelations.

Spencer Ackerman, a journalist who has covered Wikileaks extensively, told Al Jazeera this particular release of documents would dwarf Wikileaks' July publication of more than 70,000 Afghan war files.

And the US says: "FUCK YOU HAITI"

ICC Petitioned to Probe Israeli Attack on Gaza Flotilla Turkish lawyers representing victims of Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla have petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate the Israeli military for war crimes. Nine people were killed in the May 31st attack, including nineteen-year-old Turkish American Furkan Dogan. On Thursday, Dogan’s father, Ahmet Dogan, urged the Obama administration to back an ICC probe. Ahmet Dogan: "The rights of my son are not being protected. I urge the USA to defend the rights of my son because he is an American citizen. I want the minister of foreign affairs to contact me. Even animal rights are protected in the USA, but not my son’s rights. Why are the people that killed my son not being prosecuted?" Neither the US nor Israel are signatories to the International Criminal Court. The petition comes one month after a UN Human Rights Council probe accused Israeli forces of "willful killing" and torture in the attack and said Israeli officials should face international prosecution.

Turkish lawyers representing victims of Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla have petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate the Israeli military for war crimes. Nine people were killed in the May 31st attack, including nineteen-year-old Turkish American Furkan Dogan. On Thursday, Dogan’s father, Ahmet Dogan, urged the Obama administration to back an ICC probe.

Ahmet Dogan: "The rights of my son are not being protected. I urge the USA to defend the rights of my son because he is an American citizen. I want the minister of foreign affairs to contact me. Even animal rights are protected in the USA, but not my son’s rights. Why are the people that killed my son not being prosecuted?"

Neither the US nor Israel are signatories to the International Criminal Court. The petition comes one month after a UN Human Rights Council probe accused Israeli forces of "willful killing" and torture in the attack and said Israeli officials should face international prosecution.

Currency Wars and Accounting Identities

When Dishonesty is the Price of Admission

By DEAN BAKER

There are few areas of economics more boring than accounting identities. This is really unfortunate, since it is virtually impossible to have a clear understanding of economic policy without a solid knowledge of the underlying identities.

Most of the people in Washington policy debates were apparently overcome by boredom before they could get this knowledge. As a result we see some really silly policy debates.

The debate over the value of the dollar against the Chinese yuan is the latest episode in this silliness. The Washington tribal elite has been on the warpath against budget deficits in recent months. They have worked themselves into such a frenzy that nothing will stand in their way: not concerns about unemployment, not concerns about the well-being of our elderly, and not even concerns about basic economic logic.

America's Third World Economy

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the “New Economy.” The “New Economy” consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.

This economy was taking the place of the old “dirty fingernail” economy of industry and manufacturing. Education would retrain the workforce, and we would move on to a higher level of prosperity.

Time after time I reported that there was no sign of the “New Economy” jobs, but that the old economy jobs were disappearing. The only net new jobs were in lowly paid domestic services such as waitresses and bartenders, retail clerks, health care and social assistance (mainly ambulatory health care services), and, before the bubble burst, construction.

The facts, issued monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, had no impact on the ”New Economy” propaganda. Economists continued to wax eloquently about how globalism was a boon for our future.

Losing our religion

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals some alarming results about religious knowledge in the US.

Say Amen!

Well, maybe not so much. This week the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a poll showing that Americans arguably know less about various world religions than they do about who won the disco ball on the last season of Dancing With the Stars. This shouldn’t be hugely surprising.

We’re Americans, after all, and not knowing stuff is as American as apple pie. Famed historian Richard Hofstadter wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning book in 1964 entitled Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, and it is likely this strain of our historical DNA that is responsible for such phenomena as Snooki getting a book contract and Glenn Beck having an online university.

But, before you judge too harshly, it’s important to remember that this hasn’t exactly been a banner decade in the United States. Median household income has declined by almost $1,000 over the past decade once adjusted for inflation, health care costs continue to soar as we wait years for promised health care reforms to kick in (and others never made it), and the US is embroiled in foreign entanglements in what often seems like a dizzying array of places. So you can excuse people for having other things on their mind, than say the theological underpinnings of Jainism.

Palestinians to decide future of talks

Peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis have once again shipwrecked on an ocean of semantic squabbling.

Relaunched in September, the talks have tested a core premise of the American diplomatic effort in the Middle East: bringing the two sides to sit down and hammer out a comprehensive peace deal that would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.

After three rounds of direct talks in Washington, DC, the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem, negotiations collapsed when Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, refused to extend a moratorium on illegal settlement construction in the West Bank.

Record Number of Americans Below Poverty Line, Uninsured

New figures show the number of Americans living in poverty and lacking health insurance has reached the highest levels on record. According to the Census Bureau, 43.6 million people—about one in seven—lived below the poverty level of $22,000 for a family of four in 2009. It was the largest number since the census began keeping track fifty-one years ago, and an increase of four million people from 2008. The numbers pushed the national poverty rate to a fifteen-year high of 14.3 percent. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number of people in poverty would have been higher by 3.3 million were it not for unemployment benefits. The number of Americans with incomes less than half the poverty line also hit a record high of nearly 20 million, or 6.3 percent of the population. More than one in five children lived in poverty—one in three for African American children. The number of uninsured Americans meanwhile grew for the first time on record, from 46.3 million people in 2008 to 50.7 million people last year. The proportion of Americans with employment health coverage reached its lowest rate in twenty years, at nearly 56 percen

Sad day for Palestine

Reports: Israelis, Palestinians Agree to Hold Talks

The White House is expected to announce today Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to restart direct negotiations for the first time in nearly two years. Both sides are said to have committed to a one-year deadline to complete the talks. The announcement is an apparent victory for the US and Israel, who have pressed Palestinians to drop their insistence on an Israeli settlement freeze as a precondition for talks. Any negotiations would continue to exclude Hamas, the elected government in the Gaza Strip. The talks will reportedly begin on September 2nd in Washington. A formal announcement is expected today.

(...no compromise, is hard to do--sad day. )

Unemployment Grows in US

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November, a sign that employers are likely cutting jobs again as the economy slows.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000, the fourth increase in the past five weeks. Wall Street economists forecast that claims would drop.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose by 8,000 to 482,500, the highest since December. There were no special factors that distorted the numbers, a Labor Department analyst said.

Violence is Everywhere