The Iran War

Robert Fisk on the saber rattling build up to an attack on Tehran.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-an-attack-on-tehran-would-be-madness-so-dont-rule-it-out-6358872.html

Selection of articles setting the scene for the 'inevitable' attack:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/iran-begins-monthlong-naval-exercises-near-strait-of-hormuz-key-world-oil-waterway/2012/02/04/gIQA80hfoQ_story.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/04/iran-military-manouveres-tensions?newsfeed=true

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/292810/20120203/iran-war-bomb-israel-panetta-attack-oil.htm

Conflicts in the New Year

Foreign Policy issues for 2012.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/27/next_years_wars?page=0,2#.TvsJcLI7arc.twitter

Depositions from 1641

Depositions taken from victims of the inter-communal massacres which took part in Ireland during the War of the Three Kingdoms.

http://1641.tcd.ie/

Peace Declared

US forces to begin final withdrawal from Iraq, with the last day of 2011 as the endpoint for the 'Occupation'.

http://www.thenation.com/article/164087/after-nearly-nine-years-war-and-occupation-america-withdraw-all-troops-iraq

The Sudanese Horror

The continuing tragedy of Sudan and the apathy of the international community. The consequences of not holding the perpetrators of War Crimes to account is creating a cycle of impunity which is destroying millions of lives.

http://dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=549

Eliminationism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7cZuhqSzzc

PBS documentary accompaniment to Daniel Goldenhagen's book Worse Than War about Genocide and Eliminationism  with particular focus on the Holocaust and Rwanda and the role of the general population in each slaughter.

Africa Today

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, it is an act of justice.

Nelson Mandela

An indication of some of the problems still facing the African continent as another new state is created. With civil conflict, disputes over territiry, natural disasters and general economic and political mismanagement throughout the region, these links look at both the geographical scale of the African continent and some of the primary reasons for it's current woes.

http://world-poverty.org/povertyinafrica.aspx

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/interactive/2011/jul/11/a-political-history-of-africa-interactive

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/the-true-size-of-africa/

Behind Enemy Lines

A British soldiers account of the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland

http://www.historytoday.com/patrick-mercer/northern-ireland-troubles-holding-ring

South Sudan Secedes

The impending secession of South Sudan and the impact on the people of particular disputed areas, and indeed the international community.

http://www.towardfreedom.com/africa/2379-toward-secession-the-future-of-south-sudan

Tyranny in the National Conscience?

Was the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia a result of radical Agrarian Marxism? Or of a desire to build a rural utopia? This article argue that the seeds of the worst of the atrocities were alive within the psyche of the nation and it's people, from 'fatalistic Buddism' to a traditional disdain for urban life.

http://historytoday.com/tim-stanley/contrarian-question-identity-0

Death and Statistics

Article on the exaggeration and inflation of death tolls in natural disasters and war zones.

""This is a historic disaster," she said. "We have never been confronted with such a disaster in the U.N. memory. It is like no other." The problem with such over-the-top rhetoric is that it requires a willful suspension of disbelief and no small degree of historical amnesia"

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/09/grave_inflation

The Negative Impact of Journalism

American Propaganda from WWI

A side of journalism we don't often think about: the role of the media  and propaganda campaigns in indoctrinating populations and even inciting hatred and violence against minorities. This article examines the issue of whether the actions of the media can ever be considered to be war crimes, with particular focus on a Kenyan case.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/kenyan-trial-asks-can-journalism-be-a-war-crime/238692/

To Dictate or Not to Dictate?

A further look at the role of the ICC in the prosecuting of the 'war' on Gaddafi, with the view that the body has done more harm than good in the matter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-dictators-fall-/2011/06/02/AG57AmJH_story.html?hpid=z3
http://bosco.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/06/06/the_case_for_impunity

Iranian Myths

Excellent insight into the rumours surrounding the role of Iran in the Middle East

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/05/debunking-the-top-7-myths-on-irans-middle-east-policies.php

The Crux of the Issue

Fundemental Islam as a way of life in Pakistan

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/88652/pakistan-united-states-relations-islam-afghan-taliban-terrorism

The Arab Spring and Western Colonialism

Video of a talk given by Noam Chomsky at a FAIR anniversary celebration

http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/133-133/5928-arab-springs-threat-to-western-colonialism

The Congo Today

Child Soldier in the DRC

Current situation on the ground in the war ravaged DRC

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/12/rediscovering_congo?page=0,0

The People of Latin America Flex Their Muscles

From 'El Machete'

Recent trouble in the Brazilian Amazon, symptomatic of the growing disparity between super rich and super poor in that country

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/brazil-archives-63/3004-rebellion-in-the-brazilian-amazon

Problems continue for Bolivia

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3022-bolivia-the-boomerang-effect-for-morales

Causes for concern in rural Argentina

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/argentina-archives-32/2957-argentina-rural-slavery-at-time-of-record-earnings

Popular backlash against the continuing drug war in Mexico

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/3024-anti-drug-war-movement-emerges-in-mexico

Interview with Benjamin Dangl on the role of social movements as the driving force behind change in Latin America

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2998-latin-america-and-the-us-social-movements-are-the-engines-of-change

Pakistan: Friendly Foe?



Pakistan's Military on Patrol 

 The peaks and troughs in US support for Pakistan

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_wright

The End of an Affair?

Recent CIA activities in Pakistan have further soured relations between the two countries.

http://www.truthout.org/node/943