by Oui
Mon Sep 2nd, 2024 at 11:50:43 AM EST
Feeding the Beast Enduring War on 'Terror'
The Kunduz airstrike - German Armed Forces go unpunished
The airstrike near Kunduz in Afghanistan on 4 September 2009 was the deadliest German military operation since World War II. German Colonel Georg Klein, who ordered the attack, undoubtedly violated human rights in doing so. And there is more: secrecy, shifting responsibilities between NATO and Germany, disputed legal opinions, lack of comprehensive investigations, failed court cases - the legal review of the airstrike left much to be desired.
The Obama/Biden blunder on Afghan policy deciding a troops surge instead of following the advice of Richard Holbrooke.
A long read ...
The Trillion Dollar War: The U.S. Effort to Rebuild Afghanistan, 1999-2021
Investigation into MSF Kunduz hospital bombing begins | Al Jazeera |
US Dominance Through Military Spending
How War in Europe Boosts the U.S. Economy
How Supporting Ukraine Is Revitalizing the U.S. Defense Industrial Base | CSIS - 18 Apr 2024 |
Congress is facing the most significant and transformational opportunity to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base (DIB) since the end of World War II. The heritage equipment that the United States has provided to Ukraine for its self-defense in the face of the brazen and illegal invasion by Russian forces in 2022 needs to be replenished to ensure the United States is postured to continue to deter its adversaries. The new hardware will be produced at factories across the nation. Of the $113 billion appropriated by Congress to date related to the conflict in Ukraine, as much as $68 billion is destined to be invested here at home. U.S. support for Ukraine thus offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to sustain a demand signal to address long-standing weaknesses in U.S. DIB systems generally and ordnance and missile production specifically. Examining how U.S. military assistance to Ukraine is being spent and where funds for the U.S. industrial base relevant to Ukraine and future U.S. needs are being invested can help demonstrate how Russia's war can establish a long-term incentive structure to revitalize the DIB.
Related reading ...
Understanding the effects of the cost-of-living crisis: The role of interest rates and mortgage debt
US Economic Growth Post Pandemic and UA War
EU Expansion and Limited Economic Growth
Middle East Neocon Wars and NATO Aggression in Europe
German far right hails 'historic' election victory in east | BBC News |
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the results were "bitter" and called on other mainstream parties to form state governments without the far right. "The AfD is damaging Germany. It is weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country's reputation," he said in a statement to Reuters.
The AfD's top candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, who is a highly controversial figure in Germany, hailed a "historic victory" and spoke of his great pride. He failed to win a direct mandate for the state parliament, but secured a seat because he was top of his party list.
Not taking responsibility for poor performance as chancellor of the Ampel coalition setting policy not in German national interest. Selling out to America's war of retribution against the former Soviet empire. US economy is booming with major military contracts funded by EU states. MAGA
West's Coordinated Attack on the Russian Federation
Appointed, not elected, President of the European Union in Brussels
"EUROPE's CHOICE" by Ursula von der Leyen
Political Guidelines for the Next European Commission 2024-2029
All of this - coupled with the fallout from elections and events in a more contested world - has created a turbulent and potentially seismic period for Europe. The risks are real, the responsibilities serious.
Europe now faces a clear choice.
- A choice to either face up to the uncertain world around us alone. Or to unite our societies and unite around our values.
- A choice to be dependent, to let the divisions weaken us. Or to be bold in our ambition and sovereign in our action, working with our partners around the world.
- A choice to ignore new realities or the speed of change. Or to be clear-eyed [NATO speak] about the world and threats around us as they really are.
- A choice to let the extremists and appeasers prevail. Or to ensure our democratic forces stay strong.
My view is that our era's greatest challenges - from security to climate change to competitiveness - can only be solved through joint action. Our threats are too great to tackle individually. Our opportunities too big to grasp alone.
Against this backdrop, I believe Europe must choose its best option: Union. This is based on a deep conviction that it is only Europe that can live up to our generational challenges in this unstable world - whether supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, protecting our planet, ensuring social fairness, defending democracy, supporting livelihoods, industries and farmers, or leading on the tech breakthroughs that will shape the world for the rest of this century.
In the last five years, Europe has shown what it can achieve when it does it together. When it is fast and uses its size and power - as we did when securing vaccines for every Member State at the same time. When it is bold and ambitious - as we were with on the twin green and digital transitions and our recovery plan, NextGenerationEU.
When it is united - as we have been in support of Ukraine, freedom and democracy at the darkest and most difficult of times.
It is time for Europe to step up collectively once again.
This is a shared responsibility for all European voters, but also for all those flying the European flag, from Kyiv to Chisinau, Tbilisi and across the Western Balkans - as well as those calling for a European future in the streets of towns and cities across our Union and continent. We must prepare for that future - by supporting all candidates in their merits-based journey to our Union, and by preparing our Union for the future with essential reforms.
UvdL speech at rightwing think-tank Hudson Institute
Honorary Doctorate degree ceremony of President von der Leyen at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev | 14 June 2022 |
"I feel honoured and humbled by this recognition," President von der Leyen began, "The fact that the honorary doctorate comes from this prestigious institution, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, has a very special meaning for me. This is not only because the list of your doctors honoris causa is truly impressive - from Simone Veil to Yitzhak Rabin. There is also a more personal reason for me. I am a European woman of German nationality. And no longer than 80 years ago, millions of Jewish people were murdered by Germans, in the greatest crime of all human history. We, in Germany, take historical and enduring responsibility for this inhuman disruption of civilisation. It is an indelible stain on my country's conscience, which we must never and will never forget. So, it feels like a miracle that a German like me is welcomed and honoured here, in the State of Israel, as a friend among friends, only a few generations after the Shoah.
"But it is no miracle. My being here is the consequence of a choice made by the State of Israel, and by one man above all: The great David Ben-Gurion. It was he who took the first, historic step towards reconciliation with the Germans. He believed that the best way to honour the victims' memory was to build a better future."
EU Commission President must return Ben-Gurion University honorary doctorate
It is wholly unjustifiable to contribute
to whitewashing the role Israeli academic
institutions play in supporting the
occupation of Palestinians and collaborating
with the Israeli army despite its track record
of egregious human rights violations
Ramy Abdu, Chairman of Euro-Med Monitor
Dumbest, more dumb, dumb ... lacking humanity vs Palestinian indigenous people being ethnically cleansed by brute massive bombing from the air ... thinking fire bombing Dresden (Saxony) and equivalent tonnage over Gaza territory as three atomic bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945.
Death camps ... NEVER AGAIN ⁉️
