Alternatives to Empire » International Law

Review: The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s By Andrew Feldman, August 20, 2010

andrew — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:51:24 +0000

Since the attacks of September 11, protection from terrorism has become the United States’ national obsession. Demands for security from the terrorists that seemingly menace the country at every turn have led the U.S. military to occupy two countries and expand the hundreds of bases that it maintains in dozens of foreign nations.

Reflection on why people in the United States have consented to such a radically expansive military response has been as absent from the process as funding for wars has been limitless. Which is why Tom Engelhardt’s observations on these monumental changes in The American Way of War arrive none too soon.

In this edited collection of articles originally published online, Englehardt depicts the fundamental reshaping of U.S. perceptions of the world and presents his own thesis of the causes of current U.S. thought on terror. A combination of fear and divorce from the realities of war, he argues, allows people in the United States to live in peace at home while at war abroad.

Source from Foreign Policy in Focus: http://www.fpif.org/articles/review_the_american_way_of_war_how_bushs_wars_became_obamas

Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis.

andrew — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:54:32 +0000

With the Copenhagen climate summit two weeks away, best-selling journalist Naomi Klein examines the grass-roots movement behind the climate debate proposal that argues all the costs associated with adapting to a more hostile ecology?everything from building stronger sea walls to switching to cleaner, more expensive technologies?are the responsibility of the countries that created the crisis. Klein also discusses the 10th anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests and the 10th anniversary of her first book, ?No Logo.?

For More Read: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/23/naomi_klein_on_climate_debt_why

Is America Hooked on War? by Tom Engelhardt

andrew — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:04:15 +0000

“War is peace” was one of the memorable slogans on the facade of the Ministry of Truth, Minitrue in “Newspeak,” the language invented by George Orwell in 1948 for his dystopian novel 1984. Some 60 years later, a quarter-century after Orwell’s imagined future bit the dust, the phrase is, in a number of ways, eerily applicable to the United States.

Israeli use of white phosphorus ‘undeniable’: Amnesty

andrew — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:54:12 +0000

The Age

21 January 2008

AMNESTY International has said that Israel’s use during the Gaza offensive of white phosphorus ? banned under international law for use near civilians ? was “clear and undeniable”.

Tension eased in Gaza early yesterday as a fragile ceasefire entered its third day. There were no reports of shooting or rockets for the first time since Israel launched its massive assault on the besieged territory on December 27.

“Amnesty International delegates visiting the Gaza Strip found indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely-populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north,” the rights group said.

Israel May Face UN Court Ruling on Legality of Gaza Conflict

andrew — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:20:23 +0000

By Afua Hirsch

The Guardian, Wednesday 14 January 2009

Israel faces the prospect of intervention by international courts amid growing calls that its actions in