Russians have occupied more than a few NATO capitals including Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Berlin and even Paris. No one wants to see that happen again. And yet the West seems to be pushing Russia up against a wall right now with devastating sanctions that are crippling the Russian economy and roiling the country's politics. And nuclear-armed Russia is a lot stronger militarily than the U.K.
Heading into the last quarter of his presidency, Barack Obama must decide whether he will let the neocons keep pulling his strings or finally break loose and pursue a realistic foreign policy seeking practical solutions to world problems, including the crisis with Russia over Ukraine.
The post Rebuilding the Obama-Putin Trust appeared first on BSNEWS.
The question remains: Will the top torture criminals and their obedient lackeys – from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney down to those CIA personnel and contractors “just following orders” in the CIA’s secret prisons – continue to escape accountability? As things now stand, the sad answer seems to be, “Yes, unless.”
The post Torture’s Time for Accountability appeared first on BSNEWS.
It’s rare on TV when you see two former senior U.S. officials clashing angrily over something as significant as torture. Usually decorum prevails. But ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern wasn’t going to let the ex-House intelligence oversight chief get away with a bland defense of torture.
The post Clashing Face-to-Face on Torture appeared first on BSNEWS.
In 2003 Ray came out of retirement and founded the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) which analyses and criticises the use of intelligence. He famously confronted Donald Rumsfeld publicly about lying about W.M.D. and nearly got him to recant his statements. Ray also protested a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by turning his back onkly to be physically removed, double handcuffed and seriously battered and bruised. He did this at the spry age of 71.
It is often said that the invention of terrible weapons of destruction will put an end to war. That is an error. As the means of extermination are improved, the means of reducing men who hold the state conception of life to submission can be improved to correspond.
– Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1849)
Should We Fall Again for ‘Trust Me’?
Forgetting lessons from the Tonkin Gulf to the Iraq War, the U.S. news media has mostly elbowed past doubts about whether the Syrian government launched the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack and now is focused on the political drama of congressional approval for war, a big mistake says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
By Ray McGovern
Whistleblowers perform a vital public service exposing government complicity in torture, terrorism, corruption, war and other human rights abuses. Recently a group of whistleblowers gave a talk at the Oxford Union. These genuine public servants, realising their bosses were betraying the public and engaging in wrong-doing, sacrificed their careers for the public interest. For many […]
