The review promises nine new maritime patrol aircraft for surveillance, two new Army strike brigades, an additional F-35 Lightning II squadron, and extending the service of Typhoon jets by 10 years through to 2040. …
The MOD will spend £178 billion on equipment over the next decade, an increase of £12 billion on previous plans. The Defence budget will increase by 0.5% above inflation for the rest of this Parliament allowing investment in people, equipment and the MOD estate.
Category Archives: The 5% Campaign
News and analysis
5% — November 2015
How too much medicine can kill you
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/01/drugs-pharma-doctors-patients
When markets fail, sometimes only the regulator’s axe will do
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/when-markets-fail-sometimes-only-the-regulator-s-axe-will-do-a6717186.html
The gathering financial storm is just one effect of corporate power unbound
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/03/financial-crisis-corporate-power-george-monbiot
George Osborne has reached the point where his cuts can no longer be denied or defended
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/02/osborne-austerity-cuts-tax-credit-cuts
The great reinvention of Manchester: ‘It’s far more pleasant than London’
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/03/the-great-reinvention-of-manchester-its-far-more-pleasant-than-london
Pentagon spent $43m on ‘world’s most expensive gas station’ in Afghanistan
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/02/afghanistan-gas-station-pentagon-natural-gas
Watchdog Accuses Pentagon of Evading Questions on $800 Million Afghanistan Program
https://www.propublica.org/article/watchdog-accuses-pentagon-evading-questions-800-million-afghanistan-program
EPA USED MONSANTO’S RESEARCH TO GIVE ROUNDUP A PASS
https://theintercept.com/2015/11/03/epa-used-monsanto-funded-research/
America’s labour market is not working
https://next.ft.com/content/4dcb5c58-818d-11e5-8095-ed1a37d1e096
The Most Militarized Universities in America: A VICE News Investigation
https://news.vice.com/article/the-most-militarized-universities-in-america-a-vice-news-investigation
Guilty as charged: Irish standup festival puts economics in the dock
http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/nov/08/guilty-as-charged-kilkenomics-irish-standup-festival-puts-economics-in-dock
‘My Body Was Not Mine, but the U.S. Military’s’
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/sex-industry-military-bases-213311
Until it ends its war on drugs, Britain will keep going backwards
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/until-it-ends-its-war-on-drugs-britain-will-keep-going-backwards-a6726511.html
Labour’s postwar chancellor makes Corbynomics look Thatcherite – what can he teach us?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/08/labours-postwar-chancellor-makes-corbynomics-look-thatcherite-what-can-he-teach-us
Housing is the next target in David Cameron’s dismantling of the welfare state
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/10/housing-target-david-cameron-dismantling-welfare-state
David Cameron hasn’t the faintest idea how deep his cuts go. This letter proves it
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/david-cameron-letter-cuts-oxfordshire
Free Trade Is Elites Betraying Their Own Populations
http://www.ianwelsh.net/free-trade-is-elties-betraying-their-own-populations/
2015 Hottest Year on Record So Far
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/2015-hottest-year-on-record-so-far
Never mind pointless apps – our best minds should be solving real problems
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/laundry-ninjas-free-market-science
Survey finds 41 per cent of young Jews would back sanctions against Israel to advance peace
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/149128/survey-finds-41-cent-young-jews-would-back-sanctions-against-israel-advance-peac
Poll of British Jews finds widespread unease with Israel’s policies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/12/poll-of-british-jews-finds-widespread-unease-with-israels-policies
How the Bushes Misunderstood Cheney
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-bushes-misunderstood-cheney
Terrorism Is Booming Almost Everywhere But in the United States
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/19/terrorism-is-booming-almost-everywhere-but-in-the-united-states-state-department-report/
Paris attacks: Middle East’s wars arrive in Europe
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/paris-attacks-middle-easts-wars-arrive-europe/25934
Interview with Pierre Conesa: ‘We’ve declared war first in the Middle East’
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/interview-pierre-conesa-we-ve-declared-war-first-middle-east-1191917196
What if Labour’s pessimists are right
http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/what-if-labours-pessimists-are-right.html
City of London police economic crime inquiries fall
https://next.ft.com/content/7a0f9756-8b84-11e5-a549-b89a1dfede9b
We don’t need to sell handbags if we want decent healthcare
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/11/16/we-dont-need-to-sell-handbags-if-we-want-decent-healthcare/
What would the world look like if we defeated Isis?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/16/isis-military-france-paris-attacks-nato-article-5
Challenging the Myth of Chinese Land Grabs in Africa
http://www.chinafile.com/library/china-africa-project/challenging-myth-chinese-land-grabs-africa
Stock Prices of Weapons Manufacturers Soaring Since Paris Attack
https://theintercept.com/2015/11/16/stock-prices-of-weapons-manufacturers-soaring-since-paris-attack/
George Osborne’s latest wheeze leaves the taxpayer £125m worse off every year. Here’s why
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/11/george-osbornes-latest-wheeze-leaves-taxpayer-125m-worse-every-year-heres
If police have to make these cuts, what exactly should they stop doing?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/17/britain-police-cuts-theresa-may
Israel to annex Golan Heights after ‘billion barrel’ oil find
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2986289/israel_to_annex_golan_heights_after_billion_barrel_oil_find.html
Mindless terrorists? The truth about Isis is much worse
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/15/terrorists-isis
Intelligence, not bombs, is the key in the fight against Isis
http://www.theguardian.com/news/defence-and-security-blog/2015/nov/17/intelligence-not-bombs-is-the-key-in-the-fight-against-isis
We accept that Russian bombs can provoke a terror backlash. Ours can too
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/17/russian-bombs-terror-vladimir-putin-syria-david-cameron
I was held hostage by Isis. They fear our unity more than our airstrikes
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/16/isis-bombs-hostage-syria-islamic-state-paris-attacks
Don’t Give ISIS What It Wants
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/16/dont-give-isis-what-it-wants-united-states-reaction/
Opaque military justice system shields child sex abuse cases
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c7c2772ba05c4241a9bcebcf745d1c71/opaque-military-justice-system-shields-child-sex-abuse
Postcapitalism lecture: London School of Economics
https://medium.com/@paulmasonnews/postcapitalism-lecture-london-school-of-economics-580c68efef83
Shoot-to-kill won’t make us safe from terror – just sorry
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/18/shoot-to-kill-terror-fear-prejudice-jean-charles-de-menezes
Despite Atrocities, US Approves $1.29 Billion Deal To Re-Arm Saudi Arabia
http://www.mintpressnews.com/despite-atrocim-saudi-arabia/211418/
Mothers of ISIS
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/mothers-of-isis/
Bernie Sanders just gave the most powerful speech of his campaign: Why his socialism address was a defining moment
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/20/bernie_sanders_just_gave_the_most_powerful_speech_of_his_campaign_why_his_socialism_address_was_a_defining_moment/
Turkey could cut off Islamic State’s supply lines. So why doesn’t it?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/18/turkey-cut-islamic-state-supply-lines-erdogan-isis
Isis: In a borderless world, the days when we could fight foreign wars and be safe at home may be long gone
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-in-a-borderless-world-the-days-when-we-could-fight-foreign-wars-and-be-safe-at-home-may-be-long-a6741146.html
Osborne pays out for 138 stealth jets
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Defence/article1636215.ece
Paris: The War ISIS Wants
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/nov/16/paris-attacks-isis-strategy-chaos/
The future’s at stake: the left must show it could create an iPad
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/23/socialism-innovation-ipad-john-mcdonnell
Why the UK’s Fiscal Charter is doomed to fail: An analysis of Austerity Economics during the First and the Second Cameron Governments
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/11/23/why-the-uks-fiscal-charter-is-doomed-to-fail-an-analysis-of-austerity-economics-during-the-first-and-the-second-cameron-governments/
RAF accused over multi-billion pound Voyager contract
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18020809
Does Eleven Plus One Equal Sixty?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-turse/us-military-bases-in-africa_b_8582468.html
Caroline Lucas: The Prime Minister’s narrow focus risks our security
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2015/11/caroline-lucas-prime-ministers-narrow-focus-risks-our-security
PM should order inquiry into funding of jihadism, Paddy Ashdown says
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/24/pm-should-order-inquiry-funding-jihadism-isis-paddy-ashdown
My five tests for backing military action in Syria
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/23/five-tests-military-action-syria-david-cameron-islamic-state
We’ll all pay for the huge mistakes we’re making in the UK housing market
http://uk.businessinsider.com/uk-interest-rates-rise-interest-only-mortgage-and-out-of-control-rent-will-kill-the-housing-market-2015-9
Which Labour MPs support Trident?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-mps-back-trident-20-6892038
We have not heard enough to justify a new war in Syria
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/for-cameron-read-blair-for-syria-read-iraq-a6745741.html
F-35 Too Expensive: US Air Force Might Buy 72 New F-15 or F-16 Fighter Jets
http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/f-35-too-expensive-us-air-force-might-buy-72-new-f-15-or-f-16-fighter-jets/
Defence shares rise as United Kingdom government outlines armed forces plan
http://rapidnewsnetwork.com/defence-shares-rise-as-united-kingdom-government-outlines-armed-forces-plan/305601/
Bibliometricians are really the curse of the age
http://labtimes.org/editorial/e_659.lasso
Consume more, conserve more: sorry, but we just can’t do both
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/24/consume-conserve-economic-growth-sustainability
Cameron doesn’t know what he’s doing so he shouldn’t go to war
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/cameron-doesnt-know-what-hes-doing-so-he-shouldnt-go-war-1307233108
End of austerity? A silent crisis in local services tells the true story
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/26/end-austerity-local-services-osborne-council-cuts
Autumn statement: Osborne isn’t fixing the roof, he’s eroding the foundations
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/25/autumn-statement-osborne-deficit-fixes-eroding-economic-stability
Air strikes in Syria: David Cameron’s strategy can only repeat our mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/air-strikes-in-syria-david-cameron-strategy-can-only-repeat-our-mistakes-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-a6750601.html
U.S. working to keep up with surging weapons demand: Pentagon
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/25/us-usa-arms-idUSKBN0TE0B920151125
Do we really want the military spending our aid budget?
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/nov/25/do-we-really-want-the-military-spending-our-aid-budget
I know Isis fighters. Western bombs falling on Raqqa will fill them with joy
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/27/bomb-isis-west-learned-nothign-from-war-terror-defeat-muslim-world-equal-partner
Britain’s bloated defence spending is at odds with austerity
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/24/britains-bloated-defence-spending-is-at-odds-with-austerity
War on Islamic State Brings $50 Billion Europe Defense Boost
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-24/war-on-islamic-state-brings-50-billion-european-defense-boost
The Facts About Terrorism
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-facts-about-terrorism
Punish errant bankers – or we are doomed to repeat the past
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/punish-errant-bankers-or-we-are-doomed-to-repeat-the-past-a6752411.html
Factcheck: Media reacts to Prince Charles’s comments on Syria and climate change
http://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-media-reacts-to-prince-charles-comments-on-syria-and-climate-change
Syria air strikes debate: David Cameron warned that bombing Isis is a knee-jerk reaction to Paris attacks and would hit civilians
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/syria-air-strikes-debate-bombing-isis-is-a-knee-jerk-reaction-to-paris-attacks-and-would-hit-a6750246.html
RAF base may be legitimate target for Isis, says ex-Nato commander
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/25/raf-base-may-be-legitimate-target-isis-ex-nato-commander
Cameron’s cunning plan for bombing Isis in Syria
https://next.ft.com/content/4d31c8bc-941c-11e5-b190-291e94b77c8f
Is Vladimir Putin right to label Turkey ‘accomplices of terrorists’?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/vladimir-putin-turkey-isis-terrorists-warplane-analysis
Another ‘Dodgy Dossier’ for war
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/timmon-wallis/another-dodgy-dossier-for-war
Islamic State’s Plan, and the West’s Trap
http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers_and_reports/islamic_state’s_plan_and_west’s_trap
Labour Cannot Risk Being Tarred as a Party of Illegal and Irrational War Once Again
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/len-mccluskey/labour-syria-bombing-vote_b_8676026.html
Jeremy Corbyn is delivering a message Labour lost long ago
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/02/jeremy-corbyn-labour-party-austerity
Why Degrowth has out-grown its own name
https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/why-degrowth-has-out-grown-its-own-name-guest-post-by-kate-raworth/
A Raqqa of the Mind
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n24/james-meek/a-raqqa-of-the-mind
With US help, Saudi Arabia is obliterating Yemen
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6696395/2015/11/30/yemen-conflict-saudi-arabia-airstrikes-war-crimes-united-states
Bombing Hasn’t Worked. Bombing Won’t Work. And Yet, We Will Bomb
http://www.thenation.com/article/bombs-over-brains/
We need to be shocked into action about why wealth still dictates life expectancy
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/30/we-need-to-be-shocked-into-action-about-why-wealth-still-dictates-life-expectancy
Thomas Piketty might have the most controversial theory for what’s behind the rise of ISIS
http://uk.businessinsider.com/thomas-piketty-might-have-the-most-controversial-theory-for-whats-behind-the-rise-of-isis-2015-11
Drones and the 2015 SDSR
http://dronewars.net/2015/11/24/drones-and-the-2015-sdsr/
Does ISIS Direct Attacks or Inspire Them?—And Why That Matters
https://reason.com/blog/2015/11/17/does-isis-control-attacks-or-inspire-the
5% — October 2015
The Record U.S. Military Budget
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicolas-j-s-davies/the-record-us-military-bu_b_8227820.html
Ministers ‘are hiding details of £2bn NHS cash crisis’
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/03/ministers-hiding-details-nhs-cash-crisis
Thanks to Corbyn the country can now, at last, properly debate issues like Trident
http://tomdlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/thanks-to-corbyn-country-can-now-at.html
Continue reading
5% and New Economy
Violent Gaming
Film: We Are Many
Tipping Point Film Fund was the first film funder of We Are Many, in late 2010; it was a lead partner on a Kick-starter campaign that raised $92k for the production costs and it worked with Amir throughout the fundraising, production, editing and NGO outreach period.
Amir Amirani’s film We Are Many was in the research and making for more than nine years. It addresses the illegality of the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent undermining of democratic processes, set alongside the power of public protest and mass mobilisations of the anti-Iraq war movement – a movement that was to inspire the Egyptian uprising of 2011.
5% Digest (week 06/04/15)
Director of Central Intelligence John Brennan stated,
“It’s a long war, unfortunately. But it’s been a war that has been in existence for millennia, at the same time—the use of violence for political purposes against noncombatants by either a state actor or a subnational group.
Terrorism has taken many forms over the years. What is more challenging now is, again, the technology that is available to terrorists, the great devastation that can be created by even a handful of folks, and also mass communication that just proliferates all of this activity and incitement and encouragement. So you have an environment now that’s very conducive to that type of propaganda and recruitment efforts, as well as the ability to get materials that are going to kill people. And so this is going to be something, I think, that we’re always going to have to be vigilant about. There is evil in the world and some people just want to kill for the sake of killing…This is something that, whether it’s from this group right now or another group, I think the ability to cause damage and violence and kill will be with us for many years to come.”
Micah Zenko summarised Brennan’s whole speech:
To summarize, the war on terrorism is working, compared to inaction or other policies. But, the American people should expect it to continue for millennia, or as long as lethal technologies and mass communication remain available to evil people.
Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – Northeast Asia Statement on the Occasion of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the division of the Korean Peninsula. Yet full peace and reconciliation is far from being achieved in Northeast Asia.
Tensions between Japan, China, and the Koreas over territorial disputes, historical issues and nuclear weapons programs, exacerbated by overall regional trends of nationalism and militarism, are triggering an arms race and creating a climate of increasing mistrust among key Northeast Asian countries. The security environment in the region has been additionally complicated by the US “rebalancing” to Asia, including its strengthening of alliance in Northeast Asia. Ongoing efforts by the current Japanese administration to revise the country’s war-renouncing constitution play a further detrimental role in this regard.
Continue reading
22 German MPs call for “Stop the new arms race – disarmament for a sustainable future!”
Appeal to Members of the German Bundestag:
Stop the new arms race – disarmament for a sustainable future!
Already in 2010 Ban Ki-Moon warned us: “the world is over-armed and peace is under-funded”. For 2013 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) calculated global military expenditures of over $1.7 trillion. Hundreds of billions will be spent for the modernization of nuclear arsenals and the NATO summit in Wales decided to raise the level of its demand on member states’ military spending to 2% of their GDP. For Germany that would amount to €53 billion per year – nearly two thirds more than today. China, Russia, Brazil, India and many other states are upgrading their defence capacity as well. The global arms race enters a new round.
Continue reading
European Groups Support Global Campaign On Military Spending
“The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded.” — Ban Ki-moon
Statement on the Global Day Against Military Spending (GDAMS), 13 April 2015, part of the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS). The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of military spending and alternatives.
Across the EU, governments spend a total of 255 Billion euro on the military. This is grossly excessive and contributes to insecurity for many people around the world.
Continue reading
Military investment is still a significant global problem
On this Global Day of Action on Military Spending, 13 April 2015, Pax Christi International expresses deep concern about the scandal of excessive military spending in a world where human and ecological well-being are in dire need of investment. Figures recently published by SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, estimate world military expenditures in real terms for 2014 at roughly $ 1.8 trillion, a significant increase from the already shocking $ 1.75 trillion spent in 2013.
Continue reading
5% Digest (week 30/03/15)
Physicians for Social Responsibility’s (PRS) study concluds that the death toll from 10 years of the “War on Terror” since the 9/11 attacks is at least 1.3 million, and could be as high as 2 million.
It is heavily critical of the figure most widely cited by mainstream media as authoritative, namely, the Iraq Body Count (IBC) estimate of 110,000 dead. According to the PSR study, the much-disputed Lancet study that estimated 655,000 Iraq deaths up to 2006 (and over a million until today by extrapolation) was likely to be far more accurate than IBC’s figures.
total deaths from Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan since the 1990s – from direct killings and the longer-term impact of war-imposed deprivation – likely constitute around 4 million (2 million in Iraq from 1991-2003, plus 2 million from the “war on terror”), and could be as high as 6-8 million people when accounting for higher avoidable death estimates in Afghanistan.
5% Digest (Week 23/03/15)
Gregory D. Johnsen wrote a detailed account of the rise of Huthis in Yemen. Adam Baron argued that the power struggle is primarily local and foreign intervention will be a very bad idea.
But what is abundantly clear at the moment is that this remains, by and large, an internal Yemeni political conflict—one that, despite frequent sectarian mischaracterizations and potential regional implications, remains deeply rooted in local Yemeni issues.
And if history is a guide, foreign intervention will only stand to exacerbate the situation. Ironically, talk now centers on a potential Saudi Arabian and Egyptian military intervention in Yemen, a scenario that immediately brought to mind the memory of North Yemen’s 1960s Civil War which saw both sides intervene—albeit on different sides—in a matter which only appeared to draw the conflict out further. This is not to say that there isn’t a place for foreign powers to aid Yemeni factions in negotiating some new political settlement. But any nation that aims to make Yemen’s fight their own is more than likely to come out on the losing side.
5% Digest (week 16/03/15)
According to SIPRI’s latest report, there is a 16% increase in the volume of arms transferred around the world. The world’s biggest arms exporters in the past five years were the US, Russia, China, Germany and France. China’s exports of major arms rose by 143% in the five years to 2014 from the previous five years. Germany’s arms exports fell by 43% and France’s dropped 27% in the same time frame.
India was the world’s largest single arms importer. Four other Asian countries, China, Pakistan, South Korea and Singapore, are also among the top 10 largest arms importers.
Continue reading
5% Digest (week 09/03/15)
British MPs voted in favour of keeping defence spending at 2% of GDP. Just 40 MPs voted and the result carries no legal force.
Rory Stewart, Conservative MP for Penrith and the Border and chairman of the defence select committee, warned MPs that Britain could not continue to rely on the military might of America and be a “freeloader”. “This 2% is needed because the threats are real. The world is genuinely getting more dangerous,” he said.
5% Digest (week 02/03/15)
In Seumas Milnes’s piece ‘The demonisation of Russia risks paving the way for war‘, he argues that “Ukraine – along with Isis – is being used to revive the doctrines of liberal interventionism and even neoconservatism, discredited on the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan.” Hundreds of US troops are arriving in Ukraine and Britain is sending 75 military advisers of its own. This is a direct violation of last month’s Minsk agreement, negotiated with France and Germany – Article 10 requires the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Ukraine.
But when the latest Minsk ceasefire breaks down, as it surely will, there is a real risk that Ukraine’s proxy conflict could turn into full-scale international war.
5% Digest (January 2015)
It is reported by Guardian that the Pentagon’s internal watchdog has questioned the air force’s increased spending on drones, suggesting its $8.8 billions spending on 46 armed Reaper drones is a waste of money.
As purchases of General Atomics’s MQ-9 Reaper ballooned from 60 aircraft in 2007 to the current 401, air force officials did not justify the need for an expanding drone fleet, the Pentagon said.
During that time, costs for purchasing one of the signature counter-terrorism weapons of Barack Obama’s presidency increased by 934%, from $1.1bn to more than $11.4bn, according to a declassified September report by the Pentagon inspector general. Purchasing costs are a fraction of what the drones cost to operate and maintain over their time in service: in 2012, the Pentagon estimated the total costs for them at $76.8bn.
January Reading List
- Sir Peter to take on new role in the defence sector
- Breaking Taboos, BDS Gains Ground Among Academics
- No, Chancellor, 0.5% inflation is not “welcome news”
- It is ‘impossible’ for today’s big oil companies to adapt to climate change
- Leave fossil fuels buried to prevent climate change, study urges
- The wealth that failed to trickle down: The rich do get richer while poor stay poor, report suggests
- Rate of environmental degradation puts life on Earth at risk, say scientists
- Why we must reject the dangerous delusions of Davos
- Is USAID Helping Haiti to Recover, or US Contractors to Make Millions?
- New Oxfam report says half of global wealth held by the 1%
- Revealed: how the wealth gap holds back economic growth
- Old ice in Arctic vanishingly rare
- Pentagon says air force’s ‘expanding drone fleet’ is unjustified and wasteful
- Tory and Labour seats face fracking and groundwater concerns
- Fossil fuel firms accused of renewable lobby takeover to push gas
- As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes
- They Pretend to Think, We Pretend to Listen
- George Osborne urges ministers to fast-track fracking measures in leaked letter
- Social conscience is key to cutting household energy
- In depth: Infrastructure bill amendments on fracking, fossil fuels, and zero carbon homes
- MPs have given the thumbs up to fracking – but this one’s far from over
- Winning an Election Does Not Mean Winning Power
- How the CIA made Google
- Why is terror Islamist?
- The Myth of the Terrorist Safe Haven
- Their mantra was ‘Hope begins today’: the inside story of Syriza’s rise to power
- A State Licence to Rob the Public
- Can Cool Pope Francis Change the Catholic Church?
- Any Government Must Fund The NHS Properly
- Claims that climate models overestimate warming are “unfounded”, study shows
- 33 Latin American and Caribbean states endorse Austrian Pledge and call for negotiations on a ban treaty
- Islamic State: the unknown war
- Why Is an Israeli Defense Contractor Building a ‘Virtual Wall’ in the Arizona Desert?
- Five Years After: Long Live Howard Zinn
- Pentagon Seeks 13% Weapons Increase as Obama Urges End to Cuts
- How America Could Collapse
- Fracking set to be banned from 40% of England’s shale areas
- Put the Pentagon On a Real Budget
- Don’t Blame Islam
- Cameron’s five-year legacy: has he finished what Thatcher started?
November Reading List
- Fracking could carry unforeseen risks as thalidomide and asbestos did, says report
- This headline will subtly mislead you and science says that probably matters
- 5 Key Takeaways From the Latest Climate Change Report
- Why Ebola hit West Africa hard
- Nuclear Arms Control in China Today
- Texas oil town makes history as residents say no to fracking
- The secular stagnation hoax
- The Pentagon’s Arguments for Runaway Arms Trading Are Indefensible
- World’s first solar cycle lane opening in the Netherlands
- Raytheon acquires cyber firm for $420 million
- America’s New Mercenaries
- What’s the environmental impact of modern war?
- Petraeus joins pro-fracking choir at Harvard’s Belfer Center
- Stakes are high as US plays the oil card against Iran and Russia
- Foundation of US nuclear system showing cracks
- Midterms 2014: The Red Wedding for Democrats
- Can (green) energy policy create jobs?
- Death Wears Bunny Slippers
- It is the 0.01% who are really getting ahead in America
- The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and UK healthcare
- Is neoliberalism at last unravelling in Britain?
- For Whom the Wall Fell? A balance-sheet of transition to capitalism
- Ministers’ shale gas ‘hype’ attacked
- Some Very Initial Thoughts on the US-China Deal
- The social, political and ecological pathologies of the Ebola Crisis cannot be ignored
- F’d: How the U.S. and Its Allies Got Stuck with the World’s Worst New Warplane
- Spied on by BP
- How did the first world war actually end?
- Don’t Throw Billions at an Obsolete Nuclear Arsenal
- Hard Evidence: are we facing another financial crisis?
- Growth: the destructive god that can never be appeased
- Cameron is right to warn of another recession, but wrong to blame the world
- The Top 5 Foreign Policy Lessons of the Past 20 Years
- The .01 Percent Blow Their Fortunes on Yachts, Personal Jets and America’s Politicians
- How much is owed to Gaza? Does anyone know? This is not a rhetorical question. I’m really asking!
- International arms firm Lockheed Martin in the frame for £1bn NHS contract
- We Love the Pentagon’s ‘Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure’
- Massive Rail Deal Gives China’s Push Into Africa a Major Win
- Exaggeration Nation
- Barclays boycotted over Israel arms trade shares
- Firms invested £17bn in companies making cluster bombs, report says
- There is Nothing Natural about Gentrification
- 41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes – the facts on the ground
- The ‘crass insensitivity’ of Tower’s luxury dinner for arms dealers, days after poppy display
- Fracking firm’s plans to look for gas in North Yorkshire criticised by environmental groups
- House Republicans just passed a bill forbidding scientists from advising the EPA on their own research
- Justifying War: “Just” Wars
5% Digest (October 2014)
After the Cold War, the Pentagon needs to find a new way to justify its wasteful spending and the defense and security contractors need to find a new cause to make profits. Bob Hennelly tells the story:
In 1998, President Bill Clinton tasked former Senators Gary Hart, a Colorado Democrat, and the late Warren Rudman, a New Hampshire Republican, to chair the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. The Commission panel was a cross-section of the military-industrial-media complex. Its members included Leslie Gelb, longtime New York Times correspondent and editor; Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed-Martin; and Army General John Galvin.
The panel gave its report and recommendations in January 2001. Both Senators Rudman and Hart concluded that it was not a matter of “if” the U.S. would suffer a mass-casualty terrorist strike but “when.” Among the panel’s recommendations was the massive integration of all of the nation’s domestic security, disaster planning and recovery functions into one behemoth called the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Continue reading
Tipping Point North South 