Afghanistan

America is a nation divided, not only upon the means we should use to attain our ends in the world, but upon the ends themselves.

What if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq in 2003? How would things be different in the Middle East today? Was Iraq, in the words of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the "worst foreign policy blunder" in American history? Let's take a big-picture tour of the Middle East and try to answer those questions. But first, a request: after each paragraph that follows, could you make sure to add the question “What could possibly go wrong?”

Trump embodies the American zeitgeist, circa 2015 – its virtues, its vulgarity, its inchoate mixture of common sense and incoherence. You may not like Donald Trump, for any one of a number of reasons, but anti-interventionists have to give him some credit for opening up the presidential debate to a critique of US foreign policy that hasn’t been seen or heard since the Ron Paul campaign.

"The gratuitous labeling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil” by President Bush combined with strong U.S. criticisms of Iran’s nascent nuclear program and its meddling in Iraq led Tehran to the view that Washington had embarked on a course of confrontation in the region that would soon set a kinetic focus on Iran. Even Iran’s positive engagement in helping repair the post Taliban political environment in Afghanistan was met with indifference by Washington."

If you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution (namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), you have just been promoted to the top of the government’s terrorism watch list.

With the ink still damp on voter slips, newly crowned elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wasted no time in fulfilling the first of his liberal "hope" and "change" promises. As AFP reports, hours after defeating Stephen Harper, Trudeau has told US President Obama that he will withdraw Canadian fighter jets from Syria and Iraq, though giving no timeline. So far, the US response is a mutedly diplomatic but tinged with guilt, "We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadian armed forces... in Iraq and Afghanistan," from the US State Department.

...isn’t it a little bit scary to consider that the government’s #1 asset is its ability to steal money from you?

The world sits at a very precarious point once again in time. There is a very real possibility, as well as an ever-increasing chance one wrong unintended or misunderstood event could trigger an all out war of global proportions. For the matter at hand, the players involved, the possibilities of doing just the slightest of wrong moves whether intentional or not, at precisely the wrong time; has the inherent risk of triggering world events in ways and at magnitudes not seen since WW2. And if you think that’s hyperbole – you’ve just not been paying attention.

As Russia continues its relentless air campaign in support of the Assad regime in Syria. CNN's Fareed Zakaria wants you to know that's it's enough already with the Vladimir Putin worship...

Until Putin’s speech the world was intimidated by the Washington Bully. Resistance to Washington brought swift retribution. In the Middle East and Africa it brought economic sanctions and military invasions that destroyed entire countries. In France and other US vassal states it brought multi-billion dollar confiscations of bank net worth as the price of not following Washington’s policies toward other countries. Other countries felt powerless in the face of the arrogant hegemonic Unipower, which from time to time replied to noncompliance with threats. President Putin of Russia brought all that to end on September 28. He stood up before the world in the presence of the overflowing hubris of the hegemon and belled the cat.

“President Obama’s decision to prolong the U.S. led war in Afghanistan only ensures U.S. responsibility for more death and destruction. Veterans For Peace condemns the decision and calls on the U.S. public to say no to more war..."

If you’re the U.S. military and you killed 22 people while intentionally bombing a Doctors Without Border hospital in Afghanistan, what do you do next? First, you deny all requests for an independent investigation. Check. Second, you go to the scene of the war crime and destroy evidence. Check mate.

May Even Be More Widespread Than BEFORE the War STARTED