Country Intelligence and Analysis
Ten thousand dead and counting: Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city that’s deadlier than Afghanistan REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez Forensic workers are seen at a crime scene where an ambulance had been attacked earlier by gunmen in Ciudad Juarez December 7, 2011. Tens of thousands of people have abandoned Ciudad Juarez, a city wrecked by Mexico’s drug…
Today, OWS protesters are still battling MacArthurism. MacArthurism is local, state and national security forces using dramatic displays of militancy against peaceful activists-like beatings, pepper-spray, destroying encampments, caging protesters for hours without food and water-mainly to justify their massive budget expenditures and to propagate the need for more police forces, more training, and more…
Every time a Blackwater centurion discharged his weapon in Iraq, the company filed a written report with the U.S. State Department. Blackwater shot Iraq to shit. Here are the reports. Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism, announced yesterday that it has changed its name…
What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, Colombia was the Greece of Latin America in the eyes of investors. Young people were desperate to emigrate. The well-off, afraid they’d be kidnapped, avoided traveling between Bogota and Medellin. When they did, it was best to travel the 240 kilometers that separate the two…
A protester waves Egypt’s flag as riot police fire tear gas during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo; a plea for donations is made at the Occupy London camp outside St. Paul’s Cathedral
What’s at stake in Syria goes well beyond the mere fate of a local dictatorship – however deadly it may be. What is at stake, and is on the brink of collapse, is a major strategic alliance in the Middle East. The Syrians who have been challenging Bashar al-Assad’s regime since March – many paying…
Second phase of Afghan security handover to be announced next month Oct 26, 2011 Kabul – Afghanistan is set to take security responsibility from NATO-led forces for 17 provinces in the second phase of transition, officials announced Wednesday. All or parts of 17 of the 34 provinces likely to be handed over, said…
Al-Awlaki Killed In Yemen Ho New / Reuters The killing of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki is another big counter-terrorism triumph for a President once derided for “palling around with terrorists.” Even by the time SEAL Team Six dispatched Osama bin Laden, the notion that Obama wasn’t up to fighting al Qaeda had, of course,…
Syria army defector Hussein Harmoush in TV ‘confession’ Col Harmoush accused activists of “empty promises” Syria Crisis Cracks showing Why the world has waited Who are the shabiha? Deadlock as pressure builds A top Syrian officer who defected from the army and fled to Turkey has turned up in Damascus, retracting key claims about the…