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Why the Right's 'defence lobby' wants another war

Canadian C-17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2006. (Photo: lafrancevi / flickr)

The generals have a big problem. The fighting in Afghanistan is over for Canada, and the thousands of recruits they armed, and the fleets of planes, helicopters and tanks they bought, have nowhere to go but home.

Since 9/11 the military budget has ballooned to its highest level since the Second World War, surpassing the height of the Cold War in adjusted dollars.

How much longer will Canadians be willing to keep picking up the military's enormous tab with no war to fight or troops in harm's way to support?

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Afghanistan anti-war Canadian politics defence Drones F35 jets federal politics foreign policy Libya Mali military spending war

Leaked 'kill rules' memo sparks debate over Obama administration's use of drone attacks

A leaked memo has sparked renewed debate over the Obama administration's use of drones. (Photo: Chris Woods)

Related rabble.ca story:

Chilling parallels to the Bush administration: Leaked memo justifies U.S. drone killings
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Codepink Drones Obama US politics
rabble news

Chilling parallels to the Bush administration: Leaked memo justifies U.S. drone killings

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A "profoundly disturbing" Justice Department document -- with "chilling" parallels to the Bush torture memos -- obtained by NBC News outlines when the U.S. can put its own citizens on a "kill list" to be targeted in drone strikes.  

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Drones foreign policy US politics

Who won the U.S. election and what can we celebrate?

By
Carleen Pickard
| November 14, 2012

Did you feel it too? A nervous anticipation hung in the Global Exchange office Nov. 6 as we wondered what the outcome of the U.S. election would be -- the President, the Congress, the state level initiatives and of course our local resolutions.

Now that we have the results -- who won?  

Barack Obama

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U.S. drone strikes counterproductive: Edward Corrigan

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has called on the US to immediately end its "unlawful" and "counterproductive" assassination drone strikes in her country.

The foreign minister made the statement in an interview with Press TV, after arriving in the Iranian capital Tehran for the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

The killing of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, in drone strikes has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington, prompting Pakistani officials to send warnings to the US administration over the assaults.

The UN and the Pakistani government have condemned the US use of combat drones as a blatant violation of international law.

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drone warfare Drones obama administration US War Crimes
Columnists

Canadian War Department drones on with summer splurge

Rim of the Pacific war exercises, July 2012. Photo: U.S. Pacific Fleet/Flickr

With student activists away for summer vacation, it was the perfect occasion in late July for Carleton University to celebrate a new $40-million war-training contract. In partnership with war manufacturer CAE, Carleton's Visualization and Simulation Centre will enable Canadian Forces to better practice, in the coarse but memorable phrase of former Canadian warlord Rick Hillier, the fine art of killing people.

In a moment that would have done Orwell proud, Carleton President Roseann O'Reilly Runte gushed: "This is about saving lives. This is about saving money." On hand for the announcement was Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who boasted this war-training partnership will advance "Canada's security interests and...Canadian values around the world."

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weapons warfare war security state Peter MacKay Drones drone warfare canadian military Bombs
Columnists

Cases of misplaced shock: Drone killings and bad soccer calls

Image: cosimoilvecchio/Flickr

I don't think there's anything shocking or implausible about Canadian Olympic athletes Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi suggesting the ref in their soccer semifinal was in the tank for the U.S. and would wear an American jersey to bed that night. She called what amounted to a non-existent foul at a crucial point. You have to go back to 2002 to find another instance. There's no good explanation for it, which amounts to a licence to speculate on why she really made the call.

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2012 Olympics drone warfare Drones kill list obama administration soccer sports U.S. politics
Gerry Caplan

Obama's drone attacks and Tuesday death club

By
Gerry Caplan
| July 16, 2012

Both Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among the Friends of Syria who met in Paris last week to demand that Russia and China end their support for Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime. Both Russia and China have decided it's in their national interest to help Assad stay in power and they refuse even to pressure him to end the terrible brutality against his own people.

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Aw@l
Aw@l

Smash the State Report for June 29, 2012: Alex to jail, Red Square Rising, and more!

July 13, 2012
| A G20 report, with Alex Hundert in jail, Red Square Rising in Quebec, silencing of scientists and cartoonists in Canada, hacking drones, being stimulated by Greece, and supporting Mahjoub!
Length: 02:02 minutes

Drone Me Down on the Killing Floor

Drone Me Down on the Killing Floor  -  by Pepe Escobar

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31593.htm

"..Any self-respecting jurist would have to draw the inevitable conclusion; the United States of America is now outside International law - as rogue a state as they come, with the Drone Empire enshrined as the ultimate expression of shadow-war.."

all about drones - 'killer', 'predator', 'reaper' etc..

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Drones drone warfare Drone Empire
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