Audrey Kurth Cronin, in Foreign Affairs, June 2013 ….. with this title “Why Drones Fail. When Tactics Drive Strategy,”
Don’t drone me, bro! Pakistani tribesmen hold pieces of a missile, January 2009 Continue reading
Category Archives: military expenditure
USA’s Dollar Weaponry did not Deter Russia from Attacking Ukraine
This article in the ATLANTIC COUNCIL web site on 31 January 2022 pinpointed one relam of power wielded by USA and indicated that it would induce Putin and Russia NOT to attack Ukraine. The fallacy of this prediction does not alter the significance of the Argument about US America’s monetary clout within this our world –– Editor,Thuppahi
George Pearkes
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces appears increasingly likely. Over one hundred thousand Russian troops are massed at the border of neighboring Ukraine, there are allegations of cyber attacks and false flag operations, and reports Russia is withdrawing diplomatic staff. America has responded by threatening Russia with an unconventional weapon: the dollar. However, deploying the dollar may actually undermine its power, and hasten its departure from the US arsenal.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, ethnicity, export issues, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, military expenditure, politIcal discourse, power politics, slanted reportage, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Peas from the Same Almighty Pod: USA and Russia
Norman Solomon, in Common Dreams 23 March 2022, with this title “From Moscow to Washington, the Barbarism and Hypocrisy Don’t Justify Each Other”
While apologists for the governments of Russia or the United States want to focus on some truths to the exclusion of others, the horrific militarism of both countries deserves only opposition.
Russia’s war in Ukraine—like the USA’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—should be understood as barbaric mass slaughter. For all their mutual hostility, the Kremlin and the White House are willing to rely on similar precepts: Might makes right. International law is what you extol when you aren’t violating it. And at home, rev up the nationalism to go with the militarism.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, military expenditure, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, world events & processes
China as Ogre: USA’s Disinformation Campaign in Sri Lanka gathers Momentum
An Internationalist in the Anzac Realm** …………….has informed Thuppahi that “the US congress passed a bill last year that approved a half a billion US dollars to fund a global anti China media campaign which includes training hundreds of journalists to plant anti-china stories in every media outlet in every country the US can influence. So we can expect such articles by the ton every 2 seconds.”
This Note was in response to Thuppahi’s Query about this item (one sent to me by a Lankan friend): viz https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-turns-its-back-on-sri-lanka-amid-massive-economic-crisis-report-2837606Inbox
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, citizen journalism, disparagement, economic processes, governance, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, military expenditure, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes
Blood on Putin’s Hands from Way Back
Michael Patrick O’Leary …. The PADRAIG, in Ceylon Today, …. whose chosen title = “Putin’s Bloody Past” …. Part One”
From 2007 to 2013, Catherine Belton was the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times. She currently works as an investigative correspondent for Reuters, based in London. In her book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, she gives a good insight into the character of Putin as he rose to power.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, military expenditure, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Tales from A Japanese Civilian interned in Australia during World War Two
Miles Kemp
Bank worker Miyakatsu Koike was minding his own business, working quietly in the Surabaya Java branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank, but events on one December day in 1941 turned his life upside down. He had no connections with the military. But his homeland had staged a daring, amoral and unprovoked attack on the US pacific fleet in Hawaii, dragging both countries immediately into World War II. Mr Koike, then 36, was arrested by Dutch colonial authorities immediately and in January the next year became one of South Australia’s most reluctant residents. In harsh conditions, he spent more than four years at the Loveday internment camp located near Barmera.
Loveday POW camp
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, discrimination, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, military expenditure, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, World War II
USA’s Hegemonic Designs Sustain A Dangerous Wonderland
Jean-Pierre Page, whose preferred title is “The Longer Telegram and “sleepy Joe”in Wonderland!
The Biden Administration appears to be implementing most of the recommendations in the Atlantic Council’s Longer Telegram: Toward a new American China strategy, an important strategic document about US policy towards China published in January 2021. This document is one of a troika produced by the Atlantic Council; the other two are Global Strategy 2021: An Allied Strategy for China, published in December 2020 with a preface by Joseph Nye, and The China plan: A transatlantic blueprint for strategic competition, published in March 2021.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, coronavirus, economic processes, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, military expenditure, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
China on the World Stage: A Judicious Assessment
Global Times, 10 December 2021, with this title “French media pushes anti-China narrative in a monolithic block, but at least one man is fighting for objective views” — “Bursting alliance” ….with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Maxime Vivas (Vivas), French writer and journalist, has been insulted and attacked for his objective views on China. Vivas started in early November on the world’s largest petition platform, change.org, a petition to call on all sectors of society to have an objective view of China. But then the link for the petition quickly became unavailable, as the US-based website deleted the petition. “Respect China like we respect ourselves!” Vivas openly criticized the Western media outlets and social media that demonize China, but was frequently attacked by the French media. The Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Liu Xin recently had an online forum with Vivas and Zheng Ruolin (Zheng), a senior Chinese media professional and European studies expert who has lived in France for several years, to look into where the Western media bias came from on China-related coverage and how to deal with their smearing of China.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, law of armed conflict, life stories, military expenditure, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes
On the Table: The Nuclear War Option! God Almighty!
Brian Victoria, in Countercurrents, 5 December 2021, where the title is “An Option Taken Off the Table”
As most readers know, whenever the US seeks to force a nation to accede to its wishes, a spokesperson will say, “All options are on the table,” meaning the use of military force is at least a possibility if not likely. Seldom, however, will one ever hear a US spokesperson say, “The use of military force has been taken off the table.” Instead, one is left to ponder when military action doesn’t occur if it might have been called off because the offending country acceded to American demands. Thus, the mere threat of military action is sometimes sufficient to bring about the desired result.
Test Firing of the Hwasong Missile North Korea
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, climate change issues, disparagement, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military expenditure, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes, zealotry
