PRESS ROOM

Seventy-five years ago, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 Japanese and injuring another 100,000. The great fires that raged in each city consumed many of the bodies. If ever there was a visceral force for promoting a world free of nuclear arms, it should be the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Temi Ibirogba, a programme and research associate with the Africa Program at the Center for International Policy, warned that training, equipping and assisting the militaries of nations accused of human rights violations empowers them and provides justifications for abuses. “If the most powerful democratic nation in the world is supporting your military, you’ll surely believe that the human rights violations you’ve committed are excusable,” she told the M&G.

Despite Biden’s denunciation of the humanitarian disaster in Yemen, the Obama administration aided Saudi Arabia’s air war with logistical support, intelligence sharing and munitions sales. During Obama’s two terms, the administration offered more than $115 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia in 42 separate deals, more than any previous U.S. administration, according to data compiled in 2016 by William Hartung for the Security Assistance Monitor.

Ben Freeman, a researcher tracking foreign influence in the U.S. at the Center for International Policy think tank, noted that Biden “has come out and said that he would like to ban lobbying on behalf of foreign governments, so how would that mesh, then, with having as his vice president somebody who has at the very least worked on behalf of foreign governments,” though she was not a registered lobbyist.

Blocking withdrawal from a hopeless Afghan War opposed even by its veterans, counts as criminally heinous – and par for the congressional course.

President Polk’s dreams were big, enormous in fact. He desired, and sought to make a reality, a United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While he made a fuss about Texas annexation, his eyes had long been on California, which he saw as the real prize.

William Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, said the OIG had dodged its responsibility by not ruling on the legality of Pompeo’s emergency declaration. “If the OIG is to be believed, when it comes to arms sales the president can ultimately do what he wants when he wants to – a position that violates the spirit and letter of current law,” Hartung said. “All in all a disgraceful abuse of executive authority that calls for a strong congressional response, including more rigorous legal strictures on the executive branch’s powers to approve and evaluate arms sales.”

With the 2020 US presidential election less than 90 days away, foreign powers are interfering in American democracy perhaps more than ever.

The equipment transferred to police departments through the 1033 program is not just for show. For example, William D. Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, cites reports showing that “armored vehicles were used at least 29 times in response to Black Lives Matter protests organized since the murder of George Floyd, including in major urban areas like Philadelphia and Cincinnati.”

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th respectively. These twin events resulted in at least 200,000 casualties and ushered in the nuclear age.

The University of Pennsylvania pocketed a $3 million donation last year from a mysterious Hong Kong shell company that is owned by a Shanghai businessman with deep ties to Chinese government officials.

N.B. Hankes stops by the podcast to discuss his new book, “Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail: A Story of War, Brotherhood, and the Pursuit of Truth.” We discuss Nate’s time as a drone operator in Iraq, his long trek on the Appalachian Trail with his brother, and ridding one’s self of the American military hero mythos.