Category Archives: News and Analysis

Some interesting charts about the world

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Dylan Matthews, “40 charts that explain the world,” The Washington Post, 15 January 2014

… So we searched for charts that would tell not just the story of how the world is — but where it’s going. Some of these charts are optimistic, like the ones showing huge gains in life expectancy in poorer nations. Some are more worryisome — wait till you see the one on endangered species. But together they tell a story of a world that’s changing faster than at arguably any other time in human history.
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Putting Development to Rights

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David Mepham, “Putting Development to Rights,” Human Rights Watch

… For the most part, development policy and programs have ignored the critical interdependence of economic and social rights with civil and political rights, and so have failed to challenge systemic patterns of discrimination and disadvantage that keep people in poverty. As a result, many poor people have been excluded, or have failed to benefit, from development programs. More disturbingly still, people have been harmed by abusive policies carried out in the name of development: forced from their land to make way for large commercial investors, compelled to toil long days for low pay in dangerous and exploitative conditions, or exposed to life-threatening pollution from poorly regulated industries.
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240 Wars in 237 Years

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Yuri Skidanov, “240 Wars in 237 Years: USA Wages War More Often than Just Annually,” RINF Alternative News, 21 January 2014

The United States, an example of public and social order for the countries of the “golden billion,” has a unique history. In the 237 years of its existence, it has been either at war, or preparing for a new attack, looking for victims. During the period from 1798 to 2012 Washington used military force abroad 240 times, more frequently than annually.
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$400 billion F-35 jets generated one job per $3 million spent but are not even ready for combat training

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Pat Garofalo, “The F-35: Mo’ Money, Fewer Jobs,” U.S. News & World Report , 23 January 2014

If there were a Congressional Boondoggle Hall of Fame, the F-35 fighter jet program would surely merit entry. Officially the most expensive weapons system in history, the cost of manufacturing the jets has increased a whopping 75 percent from its original estimate, and is now closing in on $400 billion. Over its lifetime, the F-35 program is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $1.5 trillion, between construction and maintenance of the jets, if they ever all materialize.

Oh, and did I mention that the plane doesn’t really work?
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F-35’s software “failed to meet even basic requirements.”

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“Bombs away: Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can’t escape software problems,” RT, 24 January 2014

The Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, Michael Gilmore, provided an in-depth look at the F-35’s technical features, emphasizing what he calls the “unacceptable” characteristics of the aircraft’s software, according to a draft obtained by Reuters.  …
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Toxic chemicals found in children’s clothing

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“Toxic chemicals are the little monsters in children’s clothing,” Greenpeace, 14 January 2014

… latest investigation has revealed the presence of hazardous chemicals in clothing made by 12 very well known brands; from the iconic kid’s label Disney, to sportswear brands like Adidas, and even top-end luxury labels like Burberry.

The shocking truth is that no matter what type of kid’s clothes we shop for, there’s no safe haven – all of the tested brands had at least one product containing hazardous toxic monsters.
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Resisting Militarism in Japan

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John Feffer, “The Sun Also Rises: Resisting Militarism in Japan,” Truthout, 20 January 2014

… Japan’s current prime minister, however, is not big on apologies. Shinzo Abe is a right-wing nationalist who wants to revive Japan as a “normal” military power. He has been brusque in his rhetoric and his actions. At the end of December, his government announced a major increase in military spending of 5 percent over the next five years, which will include purchases of 28 U.S. F-35s and two Aegis-equipped destroyers. Japan under Abe has more aggressively asserted sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands that China also claims, pledging to use force against Chinese patrols and rejecting any compromise on the islands’ status. On the home front, his administration has pushed through textbook revisions that offer the same airbrushed treatment of Japanese history that the Yushukan displays. …
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US nuclear missile force faces questions about their discipline, their professionalism and even the rationale for their job

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Robert Burns, “When do nuclear missteps put security in jeopardy?,” AP, 18 January 2014

The disclosures of disturbing behavior by nuclear missile officers are mounting and now include alleged drug use and exam cheating. Yet Air Force leaders insist the trouble is episodic, correctible and not cause for public worry. …
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Despite nationalism’s many virtues, it can also be a profound source of national stupidity

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Stephen M. Walt, “National Stupidity,” Foreign Policy, 14 January 2014

From Sea to Chinese Sea

… But that same force is also leading China to engage in a number of foolish and self-defeating behaviors. In particular, its aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea, its recent unilateral declaration of an offshore “air defense identification zone,” and its hard-line stance in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute have discredited Beijing’s earlier assurances about a “peaceful rise” and alarmed many of its Asian neighbors. Whatever one may think of China’s claims, this behavior is dumb, because it encourages China’s neighbors to balance more vigorously and makes them eager for more U.S. protection. It would be smarter for Beijing to play the long game and refrain from such demands until China is much stronger than it is today. But given national feeling in China itself, it is not clear that China’s leaders can maintain such a wise and patient approach.
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Trends in U.S. Military Spending

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Dinah Walker, “Trends in U.S. Military Spending,” Council on Foreign Relations, 30 July 2013

The following charts present historical trends in U.S. military spending and analyze the forces that may drive it lower.

These charts draw on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Both data sets include spending on overseas contingency operations as well as defense. This distinguishes them from data used in the U.S. budget, which separates defense spending from spending on overseas operations.

Download Trends in US Military Spending 2013 [pdf].

USA’s defense budget in charts

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Brad Plumer, “America’s staggering defense budget, in charts,” The Washington Post, 7 January 2013

The United States spends far more than any other country on defense and security. Since 2001, the base defense budget has soared from $287 billion to $530 billion — and that’s before accounting for the primary costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

1) The United States spent 20 percent of the federal budget on defense in 2011. 

budget-defense
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7 ways the Pentagon mismanages its massive budget

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Timothy McGrath, “7 incredible ways the Pentagon mismanages its massive budget,” GlobalPost, 19 November 2013

In November, Reuters published the second part of its series on the Pentagon’s management (or lack thereof) of its $565.8 billion budget. And it’s a doozy. …

1) The Pentagon cooks the books

The agency in charge of the Pentagon’s accounting is called the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). It seems that a lot of what they do is make things up. The official mechanism for making things up is called an “unsubstantiated change action,” more commonly known as a “plug.” …

2) Those “plugs” add up to a lot of money
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Big money behind war

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Jonathan Turley, “Big money behind war: the military-industrial complex,” Al Jazeera, 11 January 2014

Eisenhower warned that “an immense military establishment and a large arms industry” had emerged as a hidden force in US politics and that Americans “must not fail to comprehend its grave implications”. The speech may have been Eisenhower’s most courageous and prophetic moment. Fifty years and some later, Americans find themselves in what seems like perpetual war. No sooner do we draw down on operations in Iraq than leaders demand an intervention in Libya or Syria or Iran. While perpetual war constitutes perpetual losses for families, and ever expanding budgets, it also represents perpetual profits for a new and larger complex of business and government interests.
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On Ending War

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E. Douglas Kihn, “On Ending War,” Truthout, 21 January 2014

We are compelled to end warfare, or sooner or later warfare will end us. The great physicist Albert Einstein, one of the architects of the Bomb, said it first: “World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones,” assuming of course that anybody survives World War III and the nuclear winter that would inevitably follow. …
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Reducing the defence budget is not the end of Britain

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Joe Glenton, “Reducing the defence budget is not the end of Britain. It could be part of our rebirth,” The Independent, 17 January 2014

The tantrums which are emerging from the offense camp should be ignored. Britain has one of the largest military budgets in the world. As part of our swollen offense portfolio this small nation wields a preposterously expensive standing military which lacks utility (see Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya) and a nuclear arsenal which has no practical value beyond masculine prestige. There are three factors to consider.
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Renewables Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels in Australia

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“Renewables Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels in Australia,” Environmental News Network, 8 January 2014

A study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in Australia has discovered that renewable energy is cheaper to produce than the old conventional fossil fuel sources, and that is without the subsidies.
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Nun Faces up to 30 Years for Breaking Into Weapons Complex

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Josh Harkinson, “Nun Faces up to 30 Years for Breaking Into Weapons Complex, Embarrassing the Feds,” Mother Jones, 15 January 2014

Nestled behind a forested ridgeline on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee, is the sprawling Y-12 National Security Complex, America’s “Fort Knox” of weapons-grade uranium. The complex’s security cameras and machine gun nests are designed to repel an attack by the world’s most feared terrorist organizations, but they were no match for Sister Megan Rice, an 83-year-old Catholic nun armed with nothing more than a hammer and bolt cutters.
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Why is Europe obsessed with drones?

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David Cronin, “Why is Europe obsessed with drones?,” Al Jazeera, 19 December 2013

Despite the economic crisis, the EU is facing serious lobbying to boost its defence spending.

Every time the West contemplates going to war, it’s a safe bet that “defence analysts” will pop up in the press bemoaning how Europe is militarily weaker than the United States. …

The 28-country bloc is under pressure from the arms industry to boost investment in drones.  If this doesn’t occur “it’s quite inevitable that the defence base will further deteriorate,” Tom Enders, head of the Franco-German weapons producer EADS has warned. …
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