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August 18th, 2022

Family Members of 9/11 Victims Tell Biden to Return Frozen Funds to Afghans

A group of family members of 9/11 victims has sent a letter to President Biden urging him to return the $7 billion in frozen Afghan reserves held by the US Federal Reserve to the Afghan people.

 

Earlier this year, President Biden signed an executive order that would make $3.5 billion of the Afghan funds available to 9/11 families. But in the letter that was sent Tuesday, 77 family members of 9/11 victims said receiving that money would be "morally wrong."

 

The letter reads: "Any use of the $7 billion to pay off 9/11 family member judgments is legally suspect and morally wrong. We call on you to modify your Executive Order and affirm that the Afghanistan central bank funds belong to the Afghan people and the Afghan people alone."

 

US officials said this week that the Biden administration has decided not to return any of the $7 billion to Afghanistan and suspended talks with the Taliban on the issue. One year since the Taliban's takeover of the country, Afghanistan is facing a dire humanitarian crisis, with millions of Afghans facing starvation.

By Dave DeCamp 

Will China Mess With US Warships Headed for Taiwan Strait?

The US has thrown down the gauntlet. A showdown may come "in the coming weeks," if sanity does not prevail.

 

White House and Pentagon spokesmen keep insisting, as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl did on Aug. 14:

 

"What’s important for us right now is to make sure that Beijing understands that our forces in the region will continue to operate, to fly, to sail wherever international waters allows. That includes the Taiwan Strait.

 

"I think you should expect that we will continue to do Taiwan Strait transits, as we have in the past, in the coming weeks. …"

 

What About President Biden?

 

Not to worry. To the degree it matters, he seems relaxed. On Aug. 8, after China announced new post-Pelosi-visit military drills in the seas and airspace around Taiwan, Biden expressed mild concern about China's deployments, but spoke reassuringly to reporters:

 

“I’m concerned they (the Chinese) are moving as much as they are,” but I don’t think they’re going to do anything more than they are.”

By Ray McGovern

 

Read the full story >

Turkey Invades Syria After Killing 17 in Drone Strikes

A flurry of Turkish drone strikes in and around Kobane continued apace Tuesday, with at least 17 reported killed so far. This includes three Syrian soldiers and an unspecified number of Kurdish militia members.

That's just the start of the Turkish action, as following the strikes, Turkish military forces crossed the border and started taking up positions inside northern Syria.

Turkey has been threatening a new round of offensives against the Kurds, saying it could begin "at any time."

This would be just the latest in years of Turkish invasions of Iraq and Syria, almost always centered on going after Kurdish groups. Warnings from local mosques and social media warned residents not to leave their homes, and reiterated the view that the Kurds are in "terrorist organizations."

By Jason Ditz

Read the full story >

Nuclear Catastrophe Is Gaining Momentum in Ukraine

It is beginning to appear that beyond the increasingly likely exchange of nuclear weapons strikes between the US and Russia there is yet another scenario for a nuclear catastrophe that in recent days has presented itself in Ukraine.

 

According to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, "the shelling at Europe's largest nuclear power plant Zaporizhya underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond."

 

The obvious question is who is responsible for this shelling?

As expected, Zelensky and his Western backers, including a complicit media, immediately accused Russia of this shelling, while Moscow is accusing Ukraine.

By Edward Lozansky

Israel Admits to Killing Five Children at Cemetery in Gaza

Israeli military officials have admitted that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for killing five Palestinean children at a cemetery in Gaza during Israel's recent three-day bombing campaign against the besieged enclave.

 

The Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Faluja Cemetery next to the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on August 7. After the incident, Israeli officials claimed the children could have been killed by a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

 

But Israeli military officials told Haaretz that an Israeli Army inquiry into the incident found that Israel was to blame. The victims' ages ranged from four to 17 and most were from the same family. They were killed as they sat next to their grandfather’s grave in the cemetery.

By Dave DeCamp

In Rebuke of the Dishonorable David Petraeus

In a recent article for The Atlantic David Petraeus came to the conclusion that American soldiers should still be in Afghanistan today. Two thousand, three hundred twenty-four American servicemen killed, $2.3 trillion dollars and over 20 years later convicted criminal and adulterer David Petraeus concludes"In essence, then, from the beginning through to the end – but especially at the end – American commitment was lacking." Petraeus made vague statements regarding the success he achieved while in command of American forces in Afghanistan. He referred to what he believes the American decision makers should have done differently while rarely offering details.

 

David Petraeus seems to still believe that his counter insurgency (COIN) strategy was a successful and just needs more time, perhaps even a "generational commitment."

By Shane McCarver

Henry Kissinger: US Responsible for Bringing Itself to 'Edge' of War With China and Russia

Daniel Davis on the Myth that Victory in Afghanistan Was Possible

Is There a Red Line Biden Won't Cross?

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