(2021-08-30). Robert M. Gates: Poster Child for Bureaucratic Deceit. counterpunch.org From 2001 to 2015, the number of U.S. servicemen and women in Afghanistan exceeded 100,000, although four secretaries of defense (Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel) conceded privately that the war was not winnable and that no strategy would alter our glide path to defeat. In 2019, the last soldier to die in Afghanistan from Ft. Carson in Colorado was Sgt. Maj. James G. Sartor, who was on his seventh combat deployment in Afghanistan. All four of these secretaries presumably signed at least one deployment order for Sgt. Sartor, one of many victims of deceit as the Pentagon played Russian Roul…
(2021-08-30). 'Refugee Movements Are Not Illegal': EU Rebuked for Plan to Curb Flow of Vulnerable Afghans. commondreams.org The Americans, like the British and the Soviets before them, dug their own graveyard in Afghanistan.
(2021-08-30). The End of the OAS? Mexico Leads Movement to End Almagro's Term. orinocotribune.com On Saturday, August 28, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexican secretary for foreign affairs, announced that Mexico is creating a body to replace the Organization of American States (OAS). | "What is Mexico's proposal? Goodbye OAS, in its interventionist, hegemonic sense, and let another organization come that we will build politically in agreement with the United States, for the 21st century," explained Ebrard. "It is no longer the 19th century, the 20th century, or the Cold War," he highlighted—in apparent ignorance of the fact that empires do not concede. He made these comments on Saturday during his participation in t…
(2021-08-30). North Korea has apparently restarted its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, IAEA says, citing satellite imagery. rt.com 
North Korea appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at Yongbyon after an almost three-year pause, the UN's nuclear watchdog said in its annual report on the country. | Monitoring of the site through satellite imagery showed indications that the five-megawatt reactor was put back in operation as of early July after apparently being idle since December 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its
(2021-08-30). We Can't Prevent Future Nuclear Wars Unless We Imagine Them Today. commondreams.org Over 50 lawmakers argue the "harmful and wasteful" giveaways "simply enhance the profits" of polluters while harming U.S. taxpayers, industry workers, racial justice, and the planet. | It is now more important than ever to anticipate what the future might hold due to the uncertainty surrounding tomorrow's strategic environment.
(2021-08-30). Hurricane Ida Hits Oil Industry in Black & Native Communities on Louisiana Coast Amid Climate Crisis. democracynow.org 
Two-thirds of Louisiana's industrial sites lie in the path of Hurricane Ida, including oil refineries, storage tanks and other infrastructure like oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana's Gulf Coast is a major oil and gas hub, with 17 oil refineries, two liquefied natural gas export terminals, as well as a nuclear power plant and many Superfund sites. Oil spills and chemical releases due to climate change-intensified storms are a "worsening, consistent problem" in Louisiana's Gulf Coast, says Antonia Juhasz, a longtime oil and energy investigative journalist. Communities of color living on the Gulf Coast…
(2021-08-30). Far-Right Ideology Has Cemented Itself In Ukraine Under Zelensky. southfront.org 
"Democratic" torch march in KievZelensky is incapable or unwilling to deal with the Ukrainian Far-Right. | Written by Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst | Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was believed to be a reformer and a liberal when he took over the presidency from Petro Poroshenko. The billionaire former president is part of the corrupt oligarchy who from 2014 relied on neo-Nazis to fight and kill Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens in Donbass (Eastern Ukraine). Zelensky, a comedian and actor before b…
(2021-08-29). Russian Warplanes Attack Militant Positions In Greater Idlib For Tenth Day In Row (Photos). southfront.org 
FILE PHOTO: Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft before departing for its permanent base in Russia from Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. © Vadim Grishankin / Sputnik | For the tenth day in a row, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) carried out a series of airstrikes on the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib. | The airstrikes, which took place in the morning of August 29, targeted the outskirts of the towns of al-Bara and Kansafra in the al-Zawiya Mount in the southern countryside of Idlib. Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'
(2021-08-29). Bennett Had A "Great Meeting" With "Sleepy Joe" Amid Approaching Resumption Of Nuclear Talks. southfront.org
