Drone Warfare Obama drone casualty numbers a fraction of those recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism July 1, 2016 by Jack Serle, The US government today claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 "non-combatants" in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015.
This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and international journalists, NGO investigators, leaked government documents, court papers and the result of field investigations. While the number of civilian casualties recorded by the Bureau is six times higher than the US Government's figure, the assessments of the minimum total number of people killed were strikingly similar. The White House put this figure at 2,436, whilst the Bureau has recorded 2,753. Since becoming president in 2009, Barack Obama has significantly extended the use of drones in the War on Terror. Operating outside declared battlefields, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, this air war has been largely fought in Pakistan and Yemen.
#2
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/08/emerging-vs-developed-economies
Emerging vs developed economies Power shift Aug 4th 2011, by The Economist online (charts, graphs) REAL GDP in most rich economies is still below its level at the end of 2007. In contrast, emerging economies' output has jumped by almost 20% over the same period. The rich world's woes have clearly hastened the shift in global economic power towards the emerging markets. But exactly how big are emerging economies compared with the old developed world? This chart looks at a wide range of indicators: " The combined output of the emerging world accounted for 38% of world GDP (at market exchange rates) in 2010, twice its share in 1990. If GDP is instead measured at purchasing-power parity, emerging economies overtook the developed world in 2008 and are likely to reach 54% of world GDP this year. They now account for over half of the global consumption of most commodities, world exports, and inflows of foreign direct investment. Emerging economies also account for 46% of world retail sales, 52% of all purchases of motor vehicles and 82% of mobile phone subscriptions. They still punch well below their weight in commerce and finance, but they are catching up fast. Almost a quarter of the Fortune Global 500 firms come from emerging markets; in 1995 it was only 4%. The chart below shows more detail of how the economic clout of emerging economies has risen over time: NOTE: Our definition of developed economies based on 1990 data: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
3.
In 1991, the Taliban (a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force. The most often-repeated story and the Taliban's own story of how Mullah Omar first mobilized his followers is that in the spring of 1994, neighbors in Singesar told him that the local governor had abducted two teenage girls, shaved their heads, and taken them to a camp where they were raped. 30 Taliban (with only 16 rifles) freed the girls, and hanged the governor from the barrel of a tank. Later that year, two militia commanders killed civilians while fighting for the right to sodomize a young boy. The Taliban freed him. Mullah Omar started his movement with fewer than 50 armed madrassah students in his hometown of Kandahar. [Matinuddin, Kamal, The Taliban Phenomenon, Afghanistan 1994--1997, Oxford University Press, (1999), pp. 25--6] and [Rashid, Ahmed(2000), Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN0-300-08340-8]
In the beginning the Taliban numbered in the hundreds, were badly equipped and low on munitions. Within months however 15,000 students arrived from the madrassas in Pakistan. The Taliban's first major military activity was in 1994, when they marched northward from Maiwand and captured Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men. When they took control of Kandahar in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders who had presided over a situation of complete lawlessness and atrocities. The Taliban also took over a border crossing at Spin Baldak and an ammunition dump from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In the course of 1994, the Taliban took control of 12 of 34 provinces not under central government control. Militias controlling the different areas often surrendered without a fight. Omar's original commanders were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and madrassa teachers." [74][75] [76] [77] [78] Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban October, 2001, Felbab-Brow, Vanda (2010). Shooting up: counterinsurgency and the war on drugs. Brookings Institution Press. p. 122. The above is a reprint of an exceptionally well document part of an article on the Taliban in Wikipedia
4.
F**K Your SuperBowls While Afghani Kids Freeze and Starve to Death dissidentvoice.org/ 12/3/2009 Nuremberg Justice Coming. Pathetic heartbreaking photos of tiny Afghani childrenin rags freezing without enough food Afghani Kids Still Freeze to Death. #AfghanistanTuesday, (Note: Rough Language) Should Americans be Strung Up by their Balls? Posted on February 7, 2012 by comehomeamerica Kids Freezing To Death In Kabul. A U.S. Christian President Ignores Them?
Eight years of children starving and freezing to death on the
outskirts of Kabul while foreign troops enjoy well furnished barracks.
5.
Mockingbird was a secret operation by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to influence media. Begun in the 1950s, organization recruited leading American journalists into a network to help present the CIA's views, and funded some student and cultural organizations, and magazines as fronts and also worked to influence foreign media and political campaigns. After 1953, Operation Mockingbird had major influence over 25 newspapers and wire agencies. The usual methodology was placing reports developed from intelligence provided by the CIA to witting or unwitting reporters. Those reports would then be repeated or cited by the preceding reporters which in turn would then be cited throughout the media wire services. These networks were run by people with well-known pro-American big business and anti-communist views.
The CIA currently maintains a network of individuals around the world who attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda, and provide direct access to a large amount of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets."[The CIA and the Media - Carl Bernstein www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php ]
6.
Libya: From Africa's Richest State Under Gaddafi, to Failed State After NATO Intervention by Gaikai Chengu, Global Researc
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
2
2
