Week In Review: 4 February 2018

Ne News
4 February 2018

Superbowl LII is coming up and all those commercials. Celebrity Big Brother has ended in the United Kingdom and the Olympic Torch Relay closes in to Pyeongchang for the upcoming Winter Olympics. And US President had his first State of the Union, and boy the knives are out. It is that time of week again where Ne News covers the news that didn't make the headlines this week.

US World Domination
Over the past couple of months, relations between the United States of America and countries such as Russia, China and North Korea (as well as several other countries) has been tested by US President Donald Trump (this would've been the same if Hillary Clinton was elected as she is a neocon as well). As mentioned by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts in his article "The Nuclear Posture Review: The World Will Not Survive the American Neoconservatives' Doctrine of US World Hegemony (https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-nuclear-posture-review-the-world-will-not-survive-the-american-neoconservatives-doctrine-of-us-world-hegemony/5628178), the government of the United States of America is in demonic hands, and that a report from the House Intelligence Committee was released that is proof that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the Department of Justice (sic), and the Democratic National Committee are engaged in a conspiracy against American democracy and the President of the United States with the full support of the mainstream media. And this has been supported by those who claim to be liberal/progressive/left-wing who may be neocons disguised as progressives. It is worth noting that most politicians in the United States of America are more neoliberal/neoconservative but claim to be for the people.

It is worth noting that the Democrats have moved to the right of the political spectrum. Ajamu Baraka from Global Research wrote in his article "Liberal Totalitarianism and the Trump Diversion" (https://www.globalresearch.ca/liberal-totalitarianism-and-the-trump-diversion/5628172) wrote that

Right-wing neoliberal Democrats who have engaged in a vigorous defense of the intelligence agencies of the U.S. state are concerned about the possible fallout with the public. They argue Republicans are deliberately undermining confidence in U.S. institutions by irresponsibly hurling allegations that support a growing public perception that the government and the individuals who populate governmental institutions are inherently corrupt.

It can be argued that both the Democrats and Republicans are corrupt, and this has been noted by the people of the United States of America who are increasingly voting for third party candidates, but it is worth noting that parties such as the Libertarian, Greens and Communist Parties are not allowed at debates, and elections are run by both major parties instead of an independent umpire like in Australia.

And it is not just Russia that is being targeted, with Venezuela being targeted for "regime change" by the United States of America with Rex Tillerson invoking the possibility of a Pinochet-style coup in Venezuela (https://www.globalresearch.ca/tillerson-invokes-possibility-of-pinochet-style-coup-in-venezuela/5628107). It is worth noting that on September 11 1973, the United States of America (through the Central Intelligence Agency) overthrew the democratically-elected Salvador Allende and installed Augusto Pinochet as the leader of Chile. Of course, this also happened in many Latin American countries where left-wing governments who would govern for the people were overthrown by the so-called "champion of democracy" and replaced by brutal dictators who murdered dissidents among others.

And Washington also targeted its own people, such as African-Americans were targeted during the Vietnam War due to their opposition to the Vietnam War (https://www.globalresearch.ca/african-americans-national-liberation-and-the-vietnamese-revolution-reject-the-pentagon-war-machine/5628095) which was about protecting South Vietnam, which was a client regime of the United States of America, and it was the United States of America that was opposed to reunification elections in Vietnam due to the strong possibility that Ho Chi Minh would win the election (similar to the situation on the Korean Peninsula in which Washington opposed reunification elections because Kim Il Sung would've won).

If the United States of America cares about democracy, then they should care about self-determination of people and listen to the will of the people, even if they don't agree.

American in Afghanistan and Iraq
And while on the subject of the United States of America projecting their hegemony on the world, the world has found out the costs of the so-called "War on Terror" (which is about getting rid of independent governments and building an American Empire), which is US$1.6 trillion (https://www.globalresearch.ca/how-much-has-the-american-government-paid-for-its-invasions-of-iraq-and-afghanistan/5628168), which could've gone towards making education free and universal health care among other good things that could've been done with the money that instead went to death and suffering for people around the world.

“The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11”

Amy Belasco, Specialist in U.S. Defense Policy and Budget, December 8, 2014

Summary 

With enactment of the FY2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act on January 1, 2014 (H.R. 3547/P.L. 113-73), Congress has approved appropriations for the past 13 years of war that total $1.6 trillion for military operations, base support, weapons maintenance, training of Afghan and Iraq security forces, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the war operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks. Of this $1.6 trillion total, CRS estimates that the total is distributed as follows: 

$686 billion (43%) for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) for Afghanistan and other counterterror operations received; 

$815 billion (51%) for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation New Dawn (OND); 

$27 billion (2%) for Operation Noble Eagle (ONE), providing enhanced security at military bases; and 

$81 billion (5%) for war-designated funding not considered directly related to the Afghanistan or Iraq wars.

As would be expected, the majority of the FY2015 request is for the war in Afghanistan with 

$58.1 billion for Afghanistan/OEF; 

$5.0 billion for Iraq/OIF/OND; 

$100 million for enhanced security; and 

$10.4 billion for other war-designated costs that are not directly part of war operations or aid to Afghanistan or Iraq. 

By Agency 

Splitting the cumulative total of $1.6 trillion (excluding OIR) appropriated by agency: 

$1.5 trillion was appropriated to DOD; 

$92.7 billion to State/USAID, and 

$17.6 billion to the Veterans Administration (VA) for medical treatment15 (15 This figure does not include the cost of benefits for OEF/OIF/OND veterans, which is not available from the VA.) (Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) largely for the Afghan war; Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) for Iraq.)

And very soon, we will be seeing a war on North Korea over its alleged nuclear weapons program, even though there was a conference on banning nuclear weapons which the United States of America boycotted and North Korea attended. At the conference, North Korea (the only nuclear country that attended the United Nations conference) voted YES to banning nuclear weapons (http://www.globalresearch.ca/122-nations-create-treaty-to-ban-nuclear-weapons/5598230). And as reported by Press TV, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Washington's reliance on nuclear arms violates the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) (http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/02/03/551179/iran-us-zarif-tweet-npt), and while Washington lectures countries about the NPT, Washington ignores it (and even gives nuclear weapons to Israel, which is not a party to the NPT). This has to stop

Another article you can check out is "When Is There Going to be Accountability for US Wars and Aggression?" from Global Research you can check out at the following address: https://www.globalresearch.ca/when-is-there-going-to-be-accountability-for-us-wars-and-aggression/5628151.


This is it for the week. We will be back next Saturday (as normal).