PRESS ROOM

Counterinsurgency snake oil was sold to soldiers and civilians alike as a "new" brand of urbane and civilized warfare. The absurdly over-the-top euphemistic buzzwords and mantras applied to such strategies – "stability-" and "information" "operations," "handshakes&hand grenades," or "nation builders as well as warriors" – should’ve tipped us off that something severely dark was concealed beneath the seemingly sophisticate rhetoric. Because it’s turned out, time and again, that war is war – despite human beings’ best efforts at linguistic concealment – and the counterinsurgent, counter-guerilla, or counter-terror sorts tend to be the most brutal of all

The second episode in an ongoing series where hosts Chris 'Henri' Henrikson, Danny Sjursen, and Keagan Miller break down early life and military experiences of themselves and other anti war veterans, to catalog and understand the human history of dissent and moral injury.

"Dr. Li also advocates for buying fair-trade chocolate, which is produced without child or forced labour. For making informed choices, he recommends reading the annual Easter Chocolate Shopping Guide. Compiled by the Mighty Earth environmental advocacy group, the guide assigns ‘Good Egg’ and ‘Rotten Egg’ awards to companies on a range of social and environmental criteria that can impact purchasing decisions."

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) framework has assumed elevated importance in recent years with revelations of foreign interference in U.S. democratic processes. Despite this, its core obligations have not been comprehensively updated since the 1960s, even though more than 40 proposals have been introduced in Congress since 2016. Pending broader legislative improvements, the Department of Justice (DOJ) should explore and consider evidence-led tweaks at the executive level to address key shortcomings in the framework.

William Hartung spoke to David Rabin about his recent ICBM Report on this episode of Community Watch and Comment on WPFW-FM 89.3

"How do the ICBMS survive the corruption, accidents, 'stunning breakdowns,' and high-level condemnation? One answer is in a February 9 report by William Hartung of the Center for International Policy, titled 'Inside the ICBM Lobby: Special Interests or the National Interest?' Hartung details the huge sums lavished by weapons contractors on lobbying and campaign contributions in order to buy votes from lawmakers in states that host the missiles, air bases, or the contractors themselves (Montana, North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming), even though, as the report notes, there is 'no militarily sound reason to build a new ICBM.'"

Latest wide-ranging and fairly intense discussion with Jesse & Misty. Starting with upcoming 11th “anniversary” of Wikileaks releasing the horrendous Iraq War “collateral murder” video—connecting to recent UN report concluding French airstrikes killed many Malian civilian wedding guests.

Maj. Danny Sjursen, a historian and veteran of America’s two longest wars, joins Robert Scheer on this week’s installment of “Scheer Intelligence” to discuss what he thinks about Biden’s possible delay and what this will mean to Afghanistan’s people and the American soldiers in the region.

"In 2018, Mighty Earth and Global Forest Watch sounded the alarm when they reported that 90 per cent of Côte d’Ivoire’s primary forest has already been razed and that on a global scale, deforestation there was accelerating at a rate surpassed only by neighbouring Ghana."

"Hartung suggests that, the defense industry deploys new enemies, rhetorically, as it influences congress financially. The weapons manufacturers, according to Hartung, inflate the nature of the risks associated with the “threat of the moment”, such as Russia or China, as a sales pitch for obtaining more funding from the federal government."

"Longtime defense analyst William Hartung of the nonprofit think tank Center for International Policy wrote this month, 'if President Biden is serious about his pledge to end endless wars, he should instruct the Pentagon to reduce the size of the armed forces – by 10% or more to start — and scale back U.S. overseas troop deployments, including closing significant numbers of America’s 800 military bases.'"

"Strategy blunders regarding U.S. relations with both Russia and China, have been driving Moscow and Beijing toward their closest bilateral relations since the 1950s. And if personnel is policy, then it is possible that the Biden administration is purposely pursuing a hard-line (and counterproductive) policy with both Russia and China. Mr. Biden has certainly peopled his national security team with individuals who are known for their hard-line views."