The Ministry of Defence told the Sunday Herald that it will not investigate reports of deaths on the ground in Syria and Iraq – from anyone but UK military personnel, and ‘local forces’ deemed friendly.
The UK Government is being urged to launch an immediate investigation after independent monitoring group Airwars reported between 72 and 81 civilian deaths in Iraq could be linked to British air strikes.
Category Archives: The 5% Campaign
News and analysis
Safety issues with F-35’s ejection seat won’t be resolved until 2018
The US Air Force won’t lift weight restrictions on F-35 pilots until 2018 — at the earliest — as more testing needs to be done to address safety issues with the jet’s ejection seat, Defense News has learned. …
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China’s Stealth Jet Fleet
When the squadron has enough planes and trained pilots and maintainers, the air force can declare the first J-20 unit “combat-ready”—a milestone most analysts expect sometime in 2017. At that time, China will join an exclusive club—as only the second country to field a fleet of frontline radar-evading jets. The American F-117, the world’s first stealth warplane, entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1983. The U.S. B-2 stealth bomber followed in 1997, the supersonic F-22 stealth fighter in 2005, and the F-22’s smaller cousin the F-35 in July 2015.
By the 2030s, the Pentagon could possess as many as 1,700 F-35s plus 180 or so F-22s and 20 B-2s.
No other country has war-ready stealth warplanes, although Russia is working on one—and eight U.S. allies have ordered the F-35, with several more planning on also buying the plane in the near future. But while it’s pretty certain China will soon deploy J-20s, it’s not clear why—or how effectively—it will do so. Continue reading
A Realist worldview
A good brief summary of Realism approach to foreign policy by Stephen Walt:
To remind you: Realism sees power as the centerpiece of political life and sees states as primarily concerned with ensuring their own security in a world where there’s no world government to protect them from others. Realists believe military power is essential to preserving a state’s independence and autonomy, but they recognize it is a crude instrument that often produces unintended consequences. Realists believe nationalism and other local identities are powerful and enduring; states are mostly selfish; altruism is rare; trust is hard to come by; and norms and institutions have a limited impact on what powerful states do. In short, realists have a generally pessimistic view of international affairs and are wary of efforts to remake the world according to some ideological blueprint, no matter how appealing it might be in the abstract.
anti-ISIS bombing campaign is not working
This is quite remarkable:
Here’s a summary of the anti-ISIS bombing campaign: 30,000 fighters – 20,000 killed = 30,000 fighters…
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CAAT: £5.6 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia since 2010
David Cameron’s governments have overseen the sale of over £5.6 billion of military licences to Saudi Arabia since 2010, according to new research published by Campaign Against Arms Trade.
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How the US blew $17 billion in Afghanistan
ProPublica pored over more than 200 audits, special projects and inspections done by SIGAR since 2009 and built a database to add up the total cost of failed reconstruction projects. Looking at the botched projects collectively — rather than as one-off headlines — reveals a grim picture of the overall reconstruction effort and a repeated cycle of mistakes.
- In just six years, the IG has tallied at least $17 billion in questionable spending. This includes $3.6 billion in outright waste, projects teetering on the brink of waste, or projects that can’t — or won’t — be sustained by the Afghans, as well as an additional $13.5 billion that the average taxpayer might easily judge to be waste. Exhibit A for “You be the judge”: $8.4 billion was spent on counter-narcotics programs that were so ineffective that Afghanistan has produced record levels of heroin — more than it did before the war started.
5% — January 2016
‘Kill-Em-All With Airstrikes’ Is Not Working
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/01/kill-em-all-airstrikes-not-working/124946/
Why Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Want Your Vote
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-bernie-sanders-fundraising/
F-35 Ejection Seat Fix Delayed to 2018; Pilot Restrictions Continue
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2016/01/08/f-35-ejection-seat-fix-delayed-2018-pilot-restrictions-continue/78519892/
UK should prepare for use of drones in terrorist attacks, says thinktank
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/11/drones-terrorist-attacks-security-thinktank
Revealed: British government refusing to accept evidence of civilian fatalities in UK air strikes
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14193998.Revealed__British_government_refusing_to_accept_evidence_of_civilian_fatalities_in_UK_air_strikes/
Revealed: UK military doesn’t know the number of people it has killed in airstrikes
https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3121/revealed-uk-military-doesn-t-know-the-number-of-people-it-has-killed-in-airstrikes
What Would a Realist World Have Looked Like?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/08/what-would-a-realist-world-have-looked-like-iraq-syria-iran-obama-bush-clinton/
The IMF Confirms That ‘Trickle-Down’ Economics Is, Indeed, a Joke
http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/trickle-down-economics-is-indeed-a-joke
Note To Joe Stiglitz: Banks Originate, Not Intermediate, And That’s Why Aggregate Demand Is Stuffed
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevekeen/2016/01/06/note-to-joe-stiglitz-banks-originate-not-intermediate-and-thats-why-aggregate-demand-is-stuffed/
Congress offers Christmas cheer to F-35 and F/A-18 programmes
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/congress-offers-christmas-cheer-to-f-35-and-fa-18-p-420170/
Is Britain a nation of debt bingers? History tells a different story
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/12/britain-nation-debt-bingers-history-household-credit
Will a Basic Income turn us all into entrepreneurs?
https://www.crunch.co.uk/blog/small-business-advice/2016/01/11/will-a-basic-income-turn-us-all-into-entrepreneurs/
The man who exposed the lie of the war on drugs
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/26/man-who-exposed-lie-war-on-drugs-roberto-saviano-ed-vulliamy
Britain Has Sold £5.6 Billion Of Arms To Saudi Arabia Since David Cameron Came To Power
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/britain-has-sold-ps56-billion-of-arms-to-saudi-arabia-since#.aa70bBL3r
UK, US buying made-in-Pakistan weapons
http://nation.com.pk/islamabad/12-Jan-2016/uk-us-buying-made-in-pakistan-weapons
Airbnb lists properties in illegal Israeli settlements
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/12/airbnb-listings-illegal-settlements-israel-palestine-west-bank
UK government misses own green targets
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/11/uk-government-misses-own-green-targets
Hard Evidence: this is the Age of Dissent – and there’s much more to come
https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-this-is-the-age-of-dissent-and-theres-much-more-to-come-52871
BoE official oversaw FCA retreat from inquiry into banking culture
https://next.ft.com/content/414f6e0c-b918-11e5-b151-8e15c9a029fb
Renew Trident? It’d make more sense to put Dad’s Army on the case
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/renew-trident-dads-army-jeremy-corbyn-labour
Made in Britain
http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2016/01/13/elliot-murphy/made-in-britain/
Davos and Its Threat to Democracy
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/01/17/davos-and-its-threat-democracy
Blimey: TfL to take over most of London’s rail network, says government
http://www.citymetric.com/transport/blimey-tfl-take-over-most-londons-rail-network-says-government-1765
Just Who Exactly Benefits Most from the Global Giving of Billionaires Like Bill Gates?
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/20/just-who-exactly-benefits-most-global-giving-billionaires-bill-gates
Ultra-Rich ‘Philanthrocapitalist’ Class Undermining Global Democracy: Report
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/15/ultra-rich-philanthrocapitalist-class-undermining-global-democracy-report
Philanthropy: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/01/15/philanthropy-looking-gift-horse-mouth
Is Britain’s media biased against the left?
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/greg-philo/is-britains-media-biased-against-left
Dark Money review: Nazi oil, the Koch brothers and a rightwing revolution
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/17/dark-money-review-nazi-oil-the-koch-brothers-and-a-rightwing-revolution
It is wrong to blame China for the global economy’s woes
http://www.primeeconomics.org/articles/3wytec2ja3q7ulxrgrlqeuam5tykbb
No, it’s not time for Britain to be intensely relaxed over household debt
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/no-it-s-not-time-for-britain-to-be-intensely-relaxed-over-household-debt-a6817926.html
Richest 62 people as wealthy as half of world’s population, says Oxfam
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-population-combined
Meet Chengdu’s Ace Fighter Designer
http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/meet-chengdus-ace-fighter-designer/
UK most unequal country in the West
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk-most-unequal-country-in-the-west-1329614.html
We’ve been conned by the rich predators of Davos
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/19/davos-super-rich-wealth-inequality
The Return of Public Investment
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/public-infrastructure-investment-sustained-growth-by-dani-rodrik-2016-01
Big Pharma’s worst nightmare
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/26/big-pharmas-worst-nightmare
UN report into Saudi-led strikes in Yemen raises questions over UK role
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/27/un-report-into-saudi-led-strikes-in-yemen-raises-questions-over-uk-role
You Won’t Like It, But Here’s the Answer to ISIS
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176091/tomgram%3A_peter_van_buren%2C_how_to_resolve_the_isis_crisis
Type 45 destroyers: UK’s £1bn warships face engine refit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35432341
The Forgotten Benefits of Offshore Balancing
http://lobelog.com/the-forgotten-benefits-of-offshore-balancing/
Cameron desperate to stop scandal as secret plans to sell the NHS are discovered
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/01/27/conservatives-block-access-secret-nhs-privatisation-documents/
Brimstone missiles target the British public, not Islamic State
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/brimstone-missiles-target-british-public-not-islamic-state-1698303657
More Bad News for the Snakebit F-35
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/01/29/More-Bad-News-Snakebit-F-35
The U.S. May Build 500 Jets Before Finding Out If the F-35 Works
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-29/pentagon-risks-building-500-f-35s-before-completing-combat-tests
We came, we saw, he died
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n03/jackson-lears/we-came-we-saw-he-died
The World’s Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/the-world-s-favorite-new-tax-haven-is-the-united-states
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations Overlook His Critiques of Capitalism and Militarism
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/18/martin-luther-king-jr-celebrations-overlook-his-critiques-of-capitalism-and-militarism/
Dr. King’s Antiwar Legacy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-hartung/dr-kings-antiwar-legacy_b_9014048.html
Henry A. Giroux | Gun Culture and the American Nightmare of Violence
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34349-gun-culture-and-the-american-nightmare-of-violence#14549852864731&action=collapse_widget&id=0&data=
How does NHS spending compare with health spending internationally?
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2016/01/how-does-nhs-spending-compare-health-spending-internationally
Behold: How the US blew $17 billion in Afghanistan
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-12-18/behold-american-taxpayer-what-happened-nearly-half-billion-your-dollars
Cartel Corporation Cocaine Capitalism
A new book by Roberto Saviano:
The realisation that cocaine capitalism is central to our economic universe made Escobar the Copernicus of organised crime, argues Saviano, adding: “No business in the world is so dynamic, so restlessly innovative, so loyal to the pure free-market spirit as the global cocaine business.” It sounds simple, but it isn’t – it is revolutionary and, says Saviano, it explains the world. …
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Congressional Rsearch Service annual report: arms sales 2014
Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost $10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new congressional study has found.
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U.S. military aid and endless war
The reason lies with the incentives that U.S. military aid creates.
Limitless and beyond the view of the public, U.S. military aid is a tap foreign governments don’t want to turn off. The longer they’re “fighting terrorists,” the more “security assistance” they get. There’s no reason for them to actually defeat terrorists, because if they did, the cash would go away. Instead, foreign security partners are incentivized to maintain a form everlasting instability, wherein nobody wins and everybody loses.
Extra F-35s and F/A-18s in US Budget 2016
The $1.15 trillion spending package would fund the government in Fiscal 2016 if passed by both chambers of Congress. It includes $572.7 billion for defence, of which $111 billion procures new hardware and $69.8 funds research and development.
If passed, the spending deal would bless the F-35 programme with $1.33 billion in additional procurement money for an extra three F-35As, six F-35Bs and two F-35Cs, just as production ramps up in Fort Worth, Texas.
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SIPRI: Rising arms exports from Germany and Russia
The first development which has to be pointed out is the fact that the total sales of the world’s top 100 arms producing companies are quite stable. They have gone down a bit over the past two years, but not that much. We are also seeing a more regional, or more national development – and one of them is very clear: Russian companies have seen a very steep increase in their total sales. So, the companies in the top 100 based in Russia have increased their revenues from 2013 to 2014 by almost 50 percent. That is a very significant change. By contrast, there was a fall in revenues of companies in the US and western Europe.
Illegal weapons can be easily bought on Amazon online
Banned and dangerous weapons, many of them disguised as everyday items, are being routinely and illegally sold to online shoppers on Amazon.co.uk, a Guardian investigation has found.
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United States Air Force may reduce F-35 purchases
The United States Air Force may have to reduce the amount of F-35s it buys over the next 10 years as aircraft research and procurement threatens to overwhelm an already tight military budget, according to a Congressional research report released earlier this week. The Air Force is looking at the possibility of cutting back on the 60 F-35 purchases a year that are currently proposed over the next decade.
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British Nuclear Arsenal’s many safety problems
For the British Parliament and much of the media, the problem is mainly the vast amounts of money spent to keep it going. According to the U.K. Ministry of Defense, the program’s total cost is £15-20 billion. Anti-nuclear campaigners give a figure of around £100 billion, give or take. At least, that’s how much it should rack up in costs over its 40 year lifespan.
However, what is less talked about is how both the submarines and the bases that maintain them have suffered from a series of glaring safety mishaps. …
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William Perry: a new nuclear arms race
Two decades later, Perry has written a new book, “My Journey at the Nuclear Brink,” in which he offers a dire warning: “Far from continuing the nuclear disarmament that has been underway for the last two decades, we are starting a new nuclear arms race.” …
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A good analysis of the rise of ISIS
War and imperialism, on one side, and the growing reach of jihadist terrorism, on the other, are said to be locked together in a mutually reinforcing embrace of violence and destruction. “Imperialist cruelty and Islamist cruelty feed each other,” the French Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) argued shortly after the Paris attacks. In order to break this nihilistic death grip, we need to oppose foreign intervention, put an end to imperialist violence, and halt the ongoing plunder of wealth from countries in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere.
The basic logic of this argument is undoubtedly sound. But in terms of explanatory value, this kind of analysis does not go far enough. It suffers from too much generality and abstractness — telling us little about the specificity of this particular moment, or the nature of ISIS as a movement. By attributing a kind of automaticity or natural mirror between ISIS and imperialism, we can miss the all-important context and history that has shaped the remarkably rapid rise of the organization.
5% — December 2015
Hilary Benn’s ‘Internationalism’
http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2015/12/03/michael-chessum/hilary-benns-internationalism/
Defense Contractors Cite “Benefits” of Escalating Conflicts in the Middle East
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/04/defense-contractors-cite-benefits-of-escalating-conflicts-in-the-middle-east/
Osborne reliant on rising immigration levels to achieve budget surplus
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/01/osborne-reliant-on-rising-immigration-levels-to-achieve-budget-surplus
Finland plans to give every citizen 800 euros a month and scrap benefits
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-plans-to-give-every-citizen-800-euros-a-month-and-scrap-benefits-a6762226.html
The ISIS Fight Is Reshaping US Arms Exports to Its Partners
http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/12/isis-fight-reshaping-us-arms-exports-its-partners/124161/
Why Russia needs China to buy its weapons
http://www.dw.com/en/why-russia-needs-china-to-buy-its-weapons/a-18870472
UK flooding, austerity and the media
http://mainlymacro.blogspot.be/2015/12/uk-flooding-austerity-and-media.html
NHS trust urges staff to ration stationery and stamps as cash crisis plumbs new depths
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-trust-urges-staff-to-ration-stationery-and-stamps-as-cash-crisis-plumbs-new-depths-a6762741.html
None Of The Seven Foiled UK Terror Plots Was Directed From Syria, Senior MPs Claim
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34962228/army-chief-were-still-failing-to-attract-enough-young-recruits
UK To Boost Investment in Technology Innovation
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/2015/12/07/uk-boost-investment-technology-innovation/76927888/
Do little, hide the evidence: the official neglect that caused these deadly floods
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/07/hide-evidence-storm-desmond-floods-paris-talks
The Isis papers: leaked documents show how Isis is building its state
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/07/leaked-isis-document-reveals-plan-building-state-syria
The fall of Jersey: how a tax haven goes bust
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/08/fall-of-jersey-how-tax-haven-goes-bust
NHS rationing ‘is denying patients care’ as cash crisis deepens
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/08/nhs-rationing-denying-patients-care-cash-crisis-survery-doctors
Osborne will miss target of doubling exports
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/osborne-will-miss-target-of-doubling-exports-9907273.html
Blair’s frail legacy shows why Labour must win arguments as well as votes
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/11/blair-frail-legacy-labour-corbynistas
The Unbearable Lightness of America’s War Against the Islamic State
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-americas-war-against-the-islamic-state-obama-san-bernardino-us/
James Hansen, father of climate change awareness, calls Paris talks ‘a fraud’
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/12/james-hansen-climate-change-paris-talks-fraud
Defense Contractors Cite “Benefits” of Escalating Conflicts in the Middle East
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/04/defense-contractors-cite-benefits-of-escalating-conflicts-in-the-middle-east/
Paris climate negotiations won’t stop the planet burning
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/paris-climate-negotiations-won-t-stop-planet-burning-1543258788
UK looks at nuclear option over Rolls-Royce crisis
https://next.ft.com/content/41a4756a-a1a2-11e5-bc70-7ff6d4fd203a
British parties are suffering a slow death. What’s left are elites and cults
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/14/british-party-democracy-long-slow-death-elites-cults
The new nuclear arms race
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-nuclear-arms-race/2015/12/11/83445bc0-a021-11e5-bce4-708fe33e3288_story.html
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp: Finland’s basic income: a test case for our global economic future?
http://www.thenational.scot/comment/gordon-macintyre-kemp-finlands-basic-income-a-test-case-for-our-global-economic-future.11067
GO SEE “THE BIG SHORT” RIGHT NOW — AND THEN READ THIS
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/14/go-see-the-big-short-right-now-and-then-read-this/
Britain’s Nuclear Arsenal Is a Hazardous Mess
http://warisboring.com/articles/britains-nuclear-arsenal-is-a-hazardous-mess/
NHS faces unprecedented funding black hole, warns National Audit Office
http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/nhs-faces-unprecedented-funding-black-hole-warns-national-audit-office-11364029103635
US Defense Spending: Amid Tight Military Budget, Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Military Purchases May Need To Be Reduced
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-defense-spending-amid-tight-military-budget-air-force-f-35-joint-strike-fighter-2226281
Revealed: Cuadrilla and leading fracking firms’ tax haven ownership
https://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/12/16/revealed-cuadrilla-and-leading-fracking-firms-tax-haven-ownership/
NHS Hospitals Forced To Take Out Emergency Loans To Pay Doctors And Nurses, HuffPost UK Reveals
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/12/15/nhs-hospitals-loans-salaries-staff-doctors-nurses_n_8811780.html
The Corporate Takeover of the Red Cross
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-corporate-takeover-of-the-red-cross
By Funding Foreign Militaries, the U.S. Is Spreading Terrorism
http://fpif.org/funding-foreign-militaries-u-s-spreading-terrorism/
The Big Short, the Housing Bubble and the Financial Crisis
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/the-big-short-the-housing-bubble-and-the-financial-crisis
A Brief History of ISIS
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/12/isis-syria-iraq-war-al-qaeda-arab-spring/
Dutch city plans to pay citizens a ‘basic income’, and Greens say it could work in the UK
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/26/dutch-city-utrecht-basic-income-uk-greens
U.S. Foreign Arms Deals Increased Nearly $10 Billion in 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/world/middleeast/us-foreign-arms-deals-increased-nearly-10-billion-in-2014.html
Security-led approach to climate change and complex emergencies
Dystopian preparations by the state are reflected in the corporate arena. Where we see a future climate crisis, many companies see only opportunity: oil firms looking forward to melting ice caps delivering new accessible fossil fuels; security firms touting the latest technologies to secure borders from ‘climate refugees’; or investment fund managers speculating on weather-related food prices – to name but a few. In 2012, Raytheon, one of the world’s largest defence contractors, announced “expanded business opportunities” arising from “security concerns and their possible consequences,” due to the “effects of climate change” in the form of “storms, droughts, and floods”. The rest of the defence sector has been quick to follow. Continue reading
Tipping Point North South 