Antiwar.com Blog

Don’t hold your breath. While the media is breathlessly describing yesterday’s order by President Donald Trump’s “to provide for the immediate (emphasis added) declassification” of Russia-gate materials as a “showdown,” any likely showdown is months away, if it comes at all.

The word “immediate” can mean different things to different people. Had the President set a deadline, or had he given the declassification task to his own National Security Council, the word “showdown” might be closer to what to expect.

The tragic-comedy now on stage in Washington is beyond bizarre. Can President Trump be unaware that those he “ordered” to do the declassification – top officials of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the intelligence agencies – have zero incentive to comply “immediately.” And they have minus-zero incentive, as the top echelons see it, to throw their former bosses, colleagues, and co-conspirators under the bus by releasing the family jewels.

Continue reading “Justice Dept Likely To Slow-Walk Declassification”

Bob Woodward’s book Fear has been a sensation in many respects. But one aspect has barely been mentioned. After two years of exhaustive research for his book, Woodward says that he has found no evidence of collusion between Putin’s government and Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016. Zilch, nada, zero. And Woodward strained very hard looking for it.

This largely ignored blockbuster admission came in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt reported by Real Clear Politics here, where a recording of the full interview can also be found. Real Clear Politics reports the text of the exchange thus:

"In an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Friday, Bob Woodward said that in his two years of investigating for his new book, Fear, he found no evidence of collusion or espionage between Trump and Russia. Woodward said he looked for it ‘hard’ and yet turned up nothing.

"’Did you, Bob Woodward, hear anything in your research in your interviews that sounded like espionage or collusion?’ Hugh Hewitt asked Woodward.

“’I did not, and of course, I looked for it, looked for it hard,’ Woodward answered. ‘And so you know, there we are. …..’ (Emphasis, jw)

Continue reading “Woodward: No Evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion, I Searched Hard for Two Years“

Last night Israeli F-16s attacked the area near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. It appears in the course of the attack, Syrian air defense missiles may have hit a Russian surveillance aircraft, killing 15 Russian service members. The Israelis blame the Syrians for using old air defense systems, while in fact they have been the loudest voices arguing against any upgrade of Syrian defenses (it would make it harder to bomb the country). Meanwhile the Russo-Turk agreement on Idlib has defused the threat of an imminent Russian attack on the province and has thwarted US and western government plans to retaliate against the Syrian government. What’s going on? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

UNICEF reported that one child dies every ten minutes in Yemen with 462,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition which is a dramatic increase of about 200 percent since Saudi Arabia’s invasion started in 2015.

In 2016, UNHCR stated there has been 2.4 million displaced and that number has risen to 3.1 million due to heavy fighting in civilian populations. Yemenis civilians are fleeing across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait from Yemen to neighboring countries like Djibouti to seek refuge. Refugees are also fleeing to Somalia and Oman these countries report thousands seeking asylum. Oman reported nearly 3,000 refugees of 48 different nationalities have fled the conflict for Oman.

This conflict, legacy media like to call a “civil war” has killed more than 10,000 civilians and wounded over 40,000 others. It is a “war” that has left 22.2 million Yemenis requiring humanitarian assistance resulting in more than 80% of the population being in dire need.

Continue reading “One Child Dies Every 10 Minutes in Yemen and No One Cares”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

The Associated Press reports on the appalling starvation that is slowly killing millions of people in Yemen:

In a remote pocket of northern Yemen, many families with starving children have nothing to eat but the leaves of a local vine, boiled into a sour, acidic green paste. International aid agencies have been caught off guard by the extent of the suffering there as parents and children waste away.

The main health center in Aslam district was flooded with dozens of emaciated children during a recent visit by the Associated Press. Excruciatingly thin toddlers, eyes bulging, sat in a plastic washtub used in a make-shift scale as nurses weighed each one. Their papery skin was stretched tight over pencil-like limbs and knobby knees. Nurses measured their forearms, just a few centimeters in diameter, marking the worst stages of malnutrition.

At least 20 children are known to have died of starvation already this year in the province that includes the district, more than three years into the country’s ruinous civil war. The real number is likely far higher, since few families report it when their children die at home, officials say [bold mine-DL].

Continue reading “The Starvation of Yemen and the Attack on Hodeidah”

I was watching the Bill Maher Show this past weekend on HBO. Generally considered a liberal and a free-thinker, Maher argued that U.S. military forces had to stay in Afghanistan to prevent a resurgence of terrorism. He and his guests seem to have forgotten US military testimony that roughly 20 terrorist groups are currently present in Afghanistan; indeed, that the presence of American troops has attracted more terrorist activity, even as the Taliban has increased its control and the drug trade has vastly expanded. How is long-term failure over 17 years an argument for an even longer “enduring presence” by US troops? How long should those troops stay – forever?

General Smedley Butler knew the score. Five years ago, I wrote this post citing his confession about how war is a racket, driven by the profit motive, exploited by the powerful, even as the grunts and the native people of foreign lands pay the price.

Continue reading “William J. Astore: War Is a Racket”