The New Dark Age

21 December 2011 — williambowles.info

Maybe updated as the day wears on…

21 December 2011
US and Iran: From enemies to partners
Asia Times Online Today at 11:00
The United States and Iran are closer to the brink of a dangerous confrontation, as a result of which it is fair to describe the situation as ‘pre-war’. One advantage of this potentially ruinous scenario is that it could spur actions to sue for peace, if only the protagonists would realize the need to create viable scenarios for this to happen. – Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Dec 21, ’11)

The life and death of American drones
Asia Times Online Today at 11:00
The crash of an American drone airplane is a game-changer. No, it wasn’t the super-secret RQ-170 Sentinel that ended up in the hands of the Iranians, but an older Predator, that hunter-killer workhorse of the Afghan and Pakistan wars, that fell in Kandahar in Afghanistan. The vulnerabilities of remotely piloted missions are ever more regularly coming to light. – Nick Turse (Dec 21, ’11)

Iran ends 2011 with a blaze of intelligence
Asia Times Online Today at 11:00
The detention of alleged Central Intelligence Agency spy Amir Hekmati marks the latest notch in a raft of apparent counter-intelligence successes for Iran against the backdrop of steadily deteriorating relations with Western powers. Following on from the capture of an American ‘eye in the sky’ drone, the arrest adds to the credible picture of Iran as a major counter-espionage, electronic and cyber-warfare hub. – Mahan Abedin (Dec 21, ’11)

Pentagon considering plan of attacking Iran
Strategic Culture Foundation Today at 03:43

Stop NATO news: December 21, 2011
Stop NATO Today at 03:22

The ‘Iranian Schindler’ who saved Jews from the Nazis
BBC News Today at 00:58
The Muslim diplomat who saved Jews from the death camps

20 December 2011
US is Losing the War Against IEDs
The Greanville Post Yesterday at 22:24
A Counter-Productive Strategy in Afghanistan
by SHERWOOD ROSS
Even though it has spent at least $60 billion to destroy them, the Pentagon is losing the battle to combat the Improvised Explosive Devices(IEDs), which have accounted for two out of every three U.S. casualties in Iraq and Iran. This won’t stop the Pentagon, though, from spending another $10.1 billion on them next year as it struggles to reduce the human toll the IEDs are taking in its longest-ever war.

A Better World’s In Birth (Maybe)
The Greanville Post Yesterday at 21:03
David Michael Green
If it feels to you a bit reminiscent of 1968 these days, that’s because it is. And that’s a good thing.

A Third-Rate Intelligence Agency for a Failing Super-Power: The CIA’s Global Demise
Strategic Culture Foundation Yesterday at 20:00
On November 26, a U.S. air strike killed 24 Pakistani military personnel on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan. The incident, which frayed already poor relations between the United States and Pakistan, resulted in the U.S. being expelled from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan, one from which CIA drones were launched… The debacle that resulted in the loss of the Shamsi drone base was followed by the biggest intelligence failure to date, the downing by accident or hostile action, including through possible electronic warfare ‘spoofing,’ of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth-enabled drone over Iran…