State Department

John Kerry and the restraint of American power in U.S. foreign policy

by News Sources 02.01.2013

Stephen Kinzer writes: In some parts of the world, especially in the volatile region that stretches from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia, [newly confirmed Secretary of State, John] Kerry is already a familiar figure in the corridors of power. He has also established an evidently strong working relationship with Obama. Even the fact that [...]

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How the State Dept has wasted hundreds of millions on training programs Iraq doesn’t want

by News Sources 05.13.2012

The New York Times reports: In the face of spiraling costs and Iraqi officials who say they never wanted it in the first place, the State Department has slashed — and may jettison entirely by the end of the year — a multibillion-dollar police training program that was to have been the centerpiece of a [...]

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United States condemns latest murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist

by News Sources 01.11.2012

The New York Times reports: As arguments flare in Israel and the United States about a possible military strike to set back Iran’s nuclear program, an accelerating covert campaign of assassinations, bombings, cyberattacks and defections appears intended to make that debate irrelevant, according to current and former American officials and specialists on Iran. The campaign, [...]

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Iranian exile terrorist group has bipartisan support in Washington

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2011

The New York Times reports: At a time of partisan gridlock in the capital, one obscure cause has drawn a stellar list of supporters from both parties and the last two administrations, including a dozen former top national security officials. That alone would be unusual. What makes it astonishing is the object of their attention: [...]

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On Iran, the U.S. has a broken national security process

by News Sources 11.10.2011

Reza Marashi writes: After weeks of hyping intelligence on the military aspects of Iran’s nuclear program, the Obama administration’s public statements on the recently released International Atomic Energy Agency report are curiously moderate. Off the record, U.S. officials say that not all of America’s intelligence findings were included in the I.A.E.A. report — which aims [...]

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Americans warned about global threat posed by used-car salesmen

by Paul Woodward 10.12.2011

Manssor Arbabsiar — used-car salesman cum terrorist-mastermind — is in detention and no longer poses a threat to the world, but the State Department wants Americans to take care when traveling overseas: there could be other dumb hustlers out there hatching dastardly plots, so the US government urges all Americans to exercise caution when traveling [...]

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State Dept funding neocon-Zionist propaganda outfit

by News Sources 08.13.2011

Ali Gharib reports: On Thursday, the U.S. State Department announced a $200,000 grant to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Middle East media watchdog closely aligned with U.S. neoconservatives and Israel’s hawkish security establishment and rightist Likud Party. The grant was awarded “to conduct a project that documents anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and Holocaust [...]

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State Dept blocks oversight of its mercenary army in Iraq

by News Sources 07.22.2011

Danger Room reports: By January 2012, the State Department will do something it’s never done before: command a mercenary army the size of a heavy combat brigade. That’s the plan to provide security for its diplomats in Iraq once the U.S. military withdraws. And no one outside State knows anything more, as the department has [...]

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Does the US getting into a fight with Syria help the Syrian opposition or the regime?

by News Sources 07.12.2011

Joshua Landis writes: “Bashar al-Assad is not indispensable and the United States has no interest in his regime staying in power,” US Secretary of State Hillary stated on Monday after Syrian crowds pelted the Damascus Embassy with stones, calling Ambassador Ford a “dog.” While Clinton turned up the rhetorical head a notch, President Assad must [...]

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Syria: U.S. presses for opposition dialogue with Assad

by News Sources 07.02.2011

The Guardian reports: The US is pushing the Syrian opposition to maintain dialogue with Bashar al-Assad’s regime as details emerge of a controversial “roadmap” for reforms that would leave him in power for now despite demands for his overthrow during the country’s bloody three-month uprising. Syrian opposition sources say US state department officials have been [...]

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How the GOP and America’s Arab allies support slavery

by News Sources 06.28.2011

Time magazine reports: Three days before the congressional elections last fall, Hillary Rodham Clinton stood halfway around the world, pledging to young victims of human trafficking at Cambodia’s s Siem Reap Center that they would continue to enjoy the support of the U.S. State Department, which then provided some $336,000 to the shelter. The acclaimed [...]

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Passengers on the US boat to Gaza speak out

by News Sources 06.26.2011

As the Israeli government does everything it can to prevent the second flotilla to Gaza from setting sail and while the US State Department has effectively given Israel a green light to use any means — peaceful or violent — to prevent the flotilla from reaching its destination, passengers on board the American boat, The [...]

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No effort being spared by Israel to sink the flotilla

by Paul Woodward 06.26.2011

“Dear IDF: If you end up shooting any Americans on the new Gaza flotilla — well, most Americans are cool with that. Including me” — a provocative tweet from Joshua Treviño, co-founder of the popular conservative blog RedState. “How do you feel about the IDF shooting journalists on board the flotilla?” asks Joseph Dana (@ibnezra) [...]

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Complaint against US boat threatens Gaza voyage

by News Sources 06.25.2011

Mya Guarnieri reports: Organizers of the second Freedom Flotilla say that an administrative complaint has been filed against the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope, claiming that the vessel is not seaworthy. This could delay or altogether prevent the ship from leaving Athens. The harbor master received notification of the complaint Thursday afternoon, [...]

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Bahrain stability in jeopardy

by News Sources 06.24.2011
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U.S. ‘concerned’ at Syria border move

by News Sources 06.24.2011

Al Jazeera reports: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that her country is concerned by reports that Syria is massing troops near the border with Turkey, which could escalate the crisis in the region, and is discussing the issue with Turkish officials. Clinton said the reported move by Syria to surround and target [...]

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Hillary Clinton adviser compares internet to Che Guevara

by News Sources 06.22.2011

“There was no person more feared by the company [the CIA] than Che Guevara because he had the capacity and charisma necessary to direct the struggle against the political repression of the traditional hierarchies in power in the countries of Latin America.” Philip Agee “On October 9th, 1967, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was put to death [...]

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Clinton hails female Saudi driving activists

by News Sources 06.21.2011

Al Jazeera reports: Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has praised Saudi women fighting for the right to drive in their country as “brave” but said it was up to Saudi society to determine the way forward. “What these women are doing is brave and what they are seeking is right,” Clinton said. Clinton [...]

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Saudi women to Hillary Clinton: ‘Where are you?’

by News Sources 06.20.2011

Saudi Women for Driving, a coalition of leading Saudi women’s rights activists, bloggers and academics campaigning for the right to drive, sent the following letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday. A similar letter was sent to Clinton’s EU counterpart Catherine Ashton. Dear Secretary Clinton, On June 3 we wrote a letter [...]

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Bahraini blogger: State Dept knew ‘all the details’ of violent crackdown, stayed silent

by News Sources 06.16.2011

Ali Gharib reports: A Bahraini journalist and blogger spoke at the Netroots Nation conference today about how her country’s protest movement has been beaten back, the personal costs of supporting the uprising, and how the U.S. State Department remained silent. Lamees Dhaif said that she supported the protest movement that became widespread in Bahrain following [...]

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Liberation technology or full-spectrum dominance?

by Paul Woodward 06.12.2011

To hear it from the New York Times (and Hillary Clinton), the US government’s latest efforts to support overseas dissidents are nothing more nor less than the noble expression of the American love of freedom. Perhaps that’s why this article makes no reference to Wikileaks (or Haystack) but does in part rely on information derived [...]

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How Obama turned on a dime toward war

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Foreign Policy reports: At the start of this week, the consensus around Washington was that military action against Libya was not in the cards. However, in the last several days, the White House completely altered its stance and successfully pushed for the authorization for military intervention against Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi. What changed? The [...]

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Obama’s indecision on Libya has pushed Clinton over the edge

by News Sources 03.17.2011

The Daily reports: Fed up with a president “who can’t make his mind up” as Libyan rebels are on the brink of defeat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is looking to the exits. At the tail end of her mission to bolster the Libyan opposition, which has suffered days of losses to Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s [...]

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CIA killer gets “pardoned” in exchange for $2 million blood money

by Paul Woodward 03.16.2011

In order to make sure Hillary Clinton can enjoy cordial exchanges with her counterparts in Pakistan during her upcoming visit, CIA contractor Raymond Davis just got “pardoned” by the families of the men he killed in late January. Dawn reports: The US government did not pay any compensation to the families of two Pakistanis killed [...]

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