Obama and Throwing Money at Nukes

Throwing Money at Nukes - NYTimes.com
The United States has about 180 B61 gravity nuclear bombs based in Europe... tactical weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to protect NATO allies from the once-feared Soviet advantage in conventional arms. But the cold war is long over, and no American military commander can conceive of their ever being used. Even so, President Obama has put $537 million in his 2014 budget proposal to upgrade these bombs. When all is said and done, experts say, the cost of the rebuilding program is expected to total around $10 billion — $4 billion more than an earlier projection.

5 Ways President Obama Has Doubled Down on Bush's Most Tragic Mistakes

5 Ways President Obama Has Doubled Down on Bush's Most Tragic Mistakes | Alternet
Obama has kept the U.S. on a permanent war footing, from drone strikes and proxy detentions to warrant-less wiretapping and the continued operation of Guantanamo.

How the U.S. Government Became the Largest Federally Licensed Weapons Dealer on the Planet

A Global NRA: Our Government Is the Largest Federally Licensed Weapons Dealer on the Planet | Alternet
The White House and the Pentagon -- with a helping hand from the State Department -- ensure that the U.S. remains by far the leading purveyor of the “right to bear arms” globally. 

The Untold Story: How America Became a Dangerous Empire

The Untold Story: How America Became a Dangerous Empire | Alternet

Director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick offer a major reexamination of modern American history in “The Untold History of the United States.”

January 3, 2013

Disaster on Autopilot: The New Limits of U.S. Military's Tic Response

Tomgram: Engelhardt, Disaster on Autopilot | TomDispatch

Think of it as the American imperial paradox: everywhere there are now “threats” against our well-being which seem to demand action and yet nowhere are there commensurate enemies to go with them.  Everywhere the U.S. military still reigns supreme by almost any measure you might care to apply; and yet -- in case the paradox has escaped you -- nowhere can it achieve its goals, however modest.

... the more dominant the U.S. military becomes in its ability to destroy and the more its forces are spread across the globe, the more the defeats and semi-defeats pile up, the more the missteps and mistakes grow, the more the strains show, the more the suicides rise, the more the nation’s treasure disappears down a black hole -- and in response to all of this, the more moves the Pentagon makes.

How the U.S. Spends $2.16 Trillion on Violence Annually

Rep. Mike Honda: Shocker: America Spends $2.16 Trillion on Violence Annually
From the Wisconsin shooting to the war in Afghanistan, we all know that violence costs our society, whether it's domestic violence, a homicide, a war, or something as simple as a security system. We also know that there are direct and indirect costs associated with violence, whether it's the immediate medical, court and police costs that stem from violent crime, or the long-term loss of economic productivity that stems from the loss of an American worker's life.
What we don't know, however, is how much that violence costs our society -- in total. A new report out this week, by the Institute for Economics and Peace, shows just how much, and it is an overwhelming amount.

Cluster Nasty: Banks back 'civilian killer' bombs?

Obama’s Scramble for Africa

Nick Turse: Obama’s Scramble for Africa

They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia, even if today’s “spice road” has nothing to do with cinnamon, cloves, or silks.  Instead, it’s a superpower’s superhighway, on which trucks and ships shuttle fuel, food, and military equipment through a growing maritime and ground transportation infrastructure to a network of supply depots, tiny camps, and airfields meant to service a fast-growing U.S. military presence in Africa.

Offensive technology: Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus

Offensive technology: Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus

Terminator Planet: How America Became an Empire of Drones | World | AlterNet

Terminator Planet: How America Became an Empire of Drones | World | AlterNet

Chomsky: America's Rank Hypocrisy -- Why Is it Only an "Atrocity" When Other Countries Do It? | World | AlterNet

Chomsky: America's Rank Hypocrisy -- Why Is it Only an "Atrocity" When Other Countries Do It? | World | AlterNet

CBC broadcast on HAARP weather control