Sanctions businesses

The US Treasury Dept has allowed many US businesses to trade with Iran and other blacklisted countries. The total amount of trade amounts to billions of dollars.

Nixon war drugs

Nixon's drug war was fake according to fintan otoole.

Wikileaks Afghan drugs

Costa said that the Taliban were hoarding heroin stocks to keep prices high on Western streets, Wikileaks cable reveal.

Top Secret America

A follow up on the Washington Post's series on Top Secret America, this time on the domestic intelligence gathering apparatus designed to supposedly prevent home-grown terrorism, but in fact gathers intelligence about US citizens.

Irish economic crisis

Article on Ireland's economic crisis and a link to Andy Storey's paper calling for default.

Also here is a piece by Walden Bello, comparing Ireland's rise and fall to that of the East Asian Tigers and China.

Afghanistan reconciliation

Matthew Hoh says that the US was not interested in talks with the Taliban before, although the Taliban gave signs they were; and that as of now, the US is promoting talks, but that's just because it fits Washington's timeline, namely that now we're into the surge and the military can say they've made progress over the Taliban.

Afghanistan health care

The claim that 85% of Afghans have access to health care has been much repeated but is not true. It is based on the fact that 85% of districts in Afghanistan have a health facility, but it doesn't mean that all Afghans in the district have access to it.

Liu Xiaobo and Nobel Peace Prize

Excellent article on Liu Xiaobo's views: he endorsed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, etc. Of course, the Nobel Peace Prize doesn't mean anything.

Kosovo

Good article on the US and NATO attack on Kosovo in 1999 and the recent report on the human organs trade.

Afghan peace movement

Afghans for Peace.

NHL Discrimination

Discrimination in the NHL against francophone, European and American players.

Afghanistan peace movement

Peace demonstration in Afghanistan about human rights.

US and Central Asia

Wikileaks on US support for Central Asian dictators in order to establish and foothold in Eurasia in competition with China and Russia.

US Egypt

Good article on US support for Egypt although it is a dictatorship.

US recruited Nazis in post war

The US recruited Nazis after World War 2 for their knowledge of communist countries, new documents reveal.

Israel and drugs

Wikileaks says Israel organized crime is an important contributor to the drug trade, in particular to Europe and the US.

Afghanistan drugs CIA

Another captured Afghan drug lord was a CIA informant.

Afghan peace group

A letter from the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers here.

Saudi royals party drugs

Wikileaks reveals that Saudi elites drink alcohol and use drugs in their wild parties, while those activities are illegal in the country.

Iran wikileaks

Gareth Porter and Jim Lobe on Iran and Wikileaks saying that Arab countries do not really want military strikes against Iran.

Sahimi Iran

Sahimi n Iran and wikileaks.

EU Afghanistan

The EU does not believe in the Afghanistan campaign and is just there out of deference to the US, according to the wikileaks cables.

Saudia Arabia largest funding source for terrorists

Wikileaks cables show that the US State Dept recognizes that Saudi Arabia is the world's most significant funding source for Sunni terrorists.

Iran drugs harm reduction

Two articles here and here about Iran's move toward harm reduction, which is now threatened by Ahmadinejad. This brought great benefits to Iran's addicts.

wikileaks pakistan drones

The Wikileaks cables reveal that Pakistani leaders acquiesce in using drones even if in public they protest:

The WikiLeaks documents also lay bare the Pakistani leadership's acquiescence to the use of U.S. drone aircraft to target suspected militants in its tribal area, with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani telling the American ambassador: "We'll protest in the National Assembly (parliament) and then ignore it." Pakistani leaders, including Gilani, claim they're pressing Washington to stop them.

Ireland and Israel wikileaks

Wikileaks revealed that the Irish government, in the face of popular pressure, had restricted the shipping of US weapons to Israel via Shannon airport.

Obama protected Bush against torture probe

In Spain.

EU subsidies to corporations

The main website is here from the FT.

EU funds are allocated to tobacco companies in Europe, against WHO regulations.

And McDonald's too benefits from the EU gravy train.

And some companies get funds as they relocate from Western to Eastern Europe to cut labor costs.

Wikileaks Amano IAEA

The wikileaks cables show that the US and Amano are very close on policy.

Wikileaks drugs Karzai Afghanistan

The memo said that in April 2009 Karzai pardoned five Afghan policemen caught with 273 pounds (124 kilograms) of heroin because they were related to two heroic figures of the Afghan civil war fought in the mid-1990s.

The policemen were tried, convicted and each was sentenced to 16 to 18 years in prison, but Karzai "pardoned all five of them on the grounds that they were distantly related to two individuals who had been martyred during the civil war," the memo said.

According to the document, Karzai also intervened in the narcotics case of Haji Amanullah, the son of a wealthy businessman and one of the president's supporters.

"Without any constitutional authority, Karzai ordered the police to conduct a second investigation which resulted in the conclusion that the defendant had been framed," Ricciardone wrote.

He wrote that intelligence reports indicated Karzai was also planning to release Ismail Safad, a drug trafficker sentenced to 19 years in jail. Safad was a priority target for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency who was arrested in 2005 with large quantities of heroin and weapons.

Abdul Makhtar, deputy director of the Afghan prison department, said Safad was still incarcerated at Pul-i Charkhi prison, the main detention facility in Kabul.