SPY EYES ANALYSIS

Asif Haroon Raja “In the coming days the American people will learn that the (US) Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib.”   –  Former DIA Col Patrick Lang  The civil war was triggered in Syria in March 2011 by the Syrian rebels supported by the US, NATO, Saudi led Gulf States and Turkey. The war has wrought havoc and the country lay utterly ruined. Nearly 470,000 people including 50,000 children have died in the conflict and 4.8 million have fled the country. The cities and infrastructure are destroyed, there is very little electricity, 80% are living in poverty, and economy has shrunk by 55%. Syria war is the worst man-made disaster since 2 nd  World War. But for the Iranian and Hezbollah ground support and Russian air intervention in September 2015 in support of the beleaguered Bashar al Assad regime, a regime change would have occurred long time back and Assad would have met the fa...

By Neve Gordon  After 9/11, hate began colonizing new spheres, operating as a social and political force that manipulates and mobilizes entire publics in very specific ways. In order to understand the recent events in Gaza you should read  Niza Yanay’s  new book,  The Ideology of Hatred: the Psychic Power of Discourse,  which may very well change the way we think about hatred and its role in politics. A few days before the war on Gaza I interviewed her in New York City in an effort to better understand her arguments. Hate as ideology When thinking of hatred, we usually think of a very strong personal feeling or emotion. What do you mean by the ideology of hatred? Can hatred be an ideology? Let’s begin with the concept of hatred. Before 9/11, the words hate and hatred were used mostly to describe an emotional reaction or by-product of racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia and the like. One would say that white supremacists, for exam...

By S. M. Hali Pakistan has been presenting arguments demonstrating the fallout of drone attacks on its territory but its pleas have fallen on deaf ears; meanwhile the collateral damage continues with each attack. A new research and investigation report by leading US institutions rejects the US State Department’s view regarding the use of drones in Pakistan and concludes that the strikes are counterproductive and damaging; kill innocent civilians, constantly terrorizing the people of tribal areas, depriving children of education and even targeting rescuers. The study titled: ‘Living under Drones’, released earlier this week, the product of extensive nine months’ research, conducted by the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic of Stanford Law School (Stanford Clinic) and the Global Justice Clinic at New York University School of Law (NYU Clinic), seeking a review of the drone policy, concludes that: “The number of high-level militants killed as a percen...

The discovery of a very large consignment of adult pampers in a consignment meant for US troops in Afghanistan has led to laughter all around especially among their hosts—the Afghans. Apparently the pampers are used by troops so that they do not have to get out of their bunkers at night and so that they are not caught in vulnerable positions by enemies lurking all around them. Earlier a video had surfaced showing US Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. Such desecration is particularly repugnant to Islam and such treatment of the enemy dead is seen as cowardly and immoral. The US has indicated that the Marines involved in such shameful behavior have been identified. Even if they are punished the damage is done because it shows a mind set and reflects poorly on discipline and training of US personnel. There was also the much publicized case of Western troops cutting off body parts of dead Taliban to take home as trophies. This had sent a surge of hatred and viole...