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The United Nations Development Program projects that the war in Yemen will have killed at least 377,000 people by the end of this year. That projection represents an increase of more than 140,000 over the previous year's report. As in previous years, 60% of the war's casualties have been caused by indirect causes of disease and starvation. According to the report, a staggering 70% of the total casualties are children under the age of five. The youngest and weakest members of the population are most at risk when a country is wracked by mass starvation and multiple epidemics, and they are the ones dying in huge numbers. These are the victims of an unnecessary military intervention and a man-made famine, and most of these deaths could have been prevented if Yemen's humanitarian crisis had been dealt with the urgency that its severity required. Despite the much greater loss of life in Yemen in just the last year, the conflict and humanitarian crisis there have received even less attention than before. Yemen has long been one of the most ignored stories in the world despite being one of the most important. One example of this is the total neglect of the war on Yemen by MSNBC in the last year. According to Adam Johnson, that network has not run a single segment on the war itself since last year's presidential election. |
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On Friday, a US drone strike in NW Syria killed an unnamed "senior" al-Qaeda figure. At the time, the US conceded that it was possible civilians were wounded. By Sunday, the US admitted it was possible civilians were killed as well.
The Pentagon is making these concessions, but also being extremely evasive with details about the matter. There have been reports from local doctors that a family of six civilians were wounded, though the deaths aren't clear yet. The drone strike hit a man on a motorcycle, and the US very much wants to avoid saying who that was beyond a senior figure.
Recent US strikes mostly ended with a single statement, and a claim that there was no immediate indication of civilian casualties. That was it, and evidence tended to be ignored because it contradicted the official account. |
The head of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet called for an increased presence of US and allied aircraft carriers in the Asia Pacific to counter Russia and China. Vice Adm. Karl Thomas made the call from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson as the US concluded 10 days of exercises in the Philippine Sea with Japan, Australia, Canada, and Germany. Over the past year, there has been a regular presence of US aircraft carriers in the region, including in sensitive areas like the South China Sea. In October, two US aircraft carriers joined the UK's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for drills in the region. |
| Israeli officials will urge the Biden administration to take military action against Iran during talks in Washington this week, three Israeli TV broadcasters reported on Sunday night. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and David Barnea, the head of the Mossad spy agency, are headed to Washington this week. The TV reports said the two officials will push for the US to develop a plan B on Iran that involves harsher sanctions and military action. Last week, the US and Iran resumed indirect negotiations to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. The talks concluded Friday and are expected to continue sometime this week. But the US has been claiming Iran is not serious about the process, and the Israelis see an opportunity to convince the US to take a harder line. |
On December 9-10 President Biden will preside over an online "Summit for Democracy," which claims it will "bring together leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action." What a joke. This is not about promoting democracy. Its really about undermining democracy worldwide with US interventionist foreign policy. Yes, the conference is anti-democracy, not pro-democracy. |
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Japan's new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, vowed to strengthen the country's military and explore the option of giving Japan the ability to launch attacks on military bases in other countries. Under Japan's post-World War II constitution, Tokyo is only allowed to take military action in self-defense. "In order to safeguard the peoples lives and livelihoods, we will examine all the options, including the capability to attack enemy bases and fundamentally strengthen our defense posture with a sense of speed," Kishida said in a speech to Japans parliament on Monday. In order to allow the military to conduct strikes on other countries, Kishida would need to revise Japan's constitution. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who left office at the end of 2020, began laying the groundwork for such a move and the possible development of missiles that could reach North Korea and China. |
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