WIKILEAKS I haven't been able to read much more about the Vault 7 CIA hacking data dump today, and at any rate I readily admit that cybersecurity is out of my purview, but I think Herb Lin makes a good point here in arguing that from the CIA's perspective, the damage wrought by this leak--at … Continue reading Conflict update: March 8 2017

WIKILEAKS WikiLeaks, the organization whose involvement in the Edward Snowden affair, the Chelsea Manning affair, and last summer's DNC/Podesta hack launched the careers of a thousand self-declared national security experts, has released a whole new batch of classified information, this time from the CIA: The new documents appear to be from the CIA’s 200-strong Center … Continue reading Conflict update: March 7 2017

DO OVER Donald Trump launched the world premiere of Muslim Ban, Episode 2: Attack of the Clods today, and, well, it hasn't been struck down by a court yet so I guess that's something. The revised travel ban removes Iraq from the list of proscribed nations altogether, so at least one country in which we … Continue reading Conflict update: March 6 2017

GOVERNMENT OF THE MARKS There's long been this narrative on the right that America spends vast sums of money helping feed and clothe the poor around the world while our own people/military/deficit starve/wastes away/balloons. This is, of course, a giant pile of bullshit, maybe the most bullshit of all the bullshit stories the right has … Continue reading Conflict update: March 2-5 2017

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S GENERALS Donald Trump is reportedly planning to substantially hand control over military operations to his defense secretary, recently retired General James Mattis: The Daily Beast’s Kim Dozier writes that Trump “wants to operate more like the CEO he was in the private sector in such matters, and delegate even more power to … Continue reading Conflict update: March 1 2017

SYRIA Today's big story happened not in Syria, nor in Geneva, but in New York, where Russia and China both vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have sanctioned Damascus over its military's use, per a UN investigation, of chemical weapons on at least three separate occasions in 2014 and 2015. I don't want … Continue reading Conflict update: February 28 2017

FOREVER WAR President Trump would like to increase the Pentagon's budget by $54 billion next year, an amount that, if you're keeping score at home, is all by itself equal to roughly 4/5 of Russia's entire military budget. This would boost America's capacity to shovel huge piles of money at defense contractors fight MOAR WARS, … Continue reading Conflict update: February 27 2017

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION New Trump National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster has only been on the job a few days, but I wonder if he shouldn't already be looking for the exits: President Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser has told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a … Continue reading Conflict update: February 25-26 2017