Meantime

Hopefully, I'll be able to get back into the swing of things soon.

* According to USA Today, airstrikes in Iraq are up 400% over the past year, with a concurrent 64% increase in Afghanistan. Beyond this, unfortunately, the bulk of the article is resigned to catapulting military claims about the amazing "accuracy" and "precision" of the weapons, which have been repeatedly shown to be BS. As a foil, see Bob Parry's remarks about the establishment in both countries of "near free-fire zones."

* This WaPo piece is framed through the lens of "soldiers want to go home." With a different reading, it could easily be framed through one of "gosh, the Americans sure have fucked up Iraq."

* Some of the latest on Iran: concerns about modifications to B-2 bombers and hangars at Diego Garcia; Juan Cole on the absurdity and danger of IRGC sanctions; and ruminations about the fallout from the Larijani replacement.

* Israel announces war crimes; Israel delivers war crimes. Anything new here?

* One of the worst things you can do to get a grasp of the I-P conflict is read Ha'aretz. Too much truth leaks out. I'm surprised Israel's apologists have been relatively slow to pick up on this.

* Regarding Israel's bombing of Syria a few weeks ago, Paul Woodward asks: "what do we really know at this point?"

* Funny how one of the "leading" civil libertarians (*snicker*) in this country is in favor of suppressing publication of books. Particularly, ya know, ones that out him as a fraud and serial plagiarizer.

* The Higazy confession. Don't know much about it? You should.

* More And Better Dems™. Uh-huh.

* Why was SCHIP vetoed? Lee Sustar provides some useful background.

* UNEP has issued another report pointing out the inconvenient fact that our current and beloved "way of life" is not sustainable.

* Again, does it matter if we kill off half the planet?

* In case you missed it, the LA Times has much of its coverage of last week's SoCal fires collated here.

* Naomi Klein has been running into the same problem with the business press that Chomsky's been crowin' about for decades: you cite it, and you're hated for doing so.

* Michael Klare lays out "a portrait of the global energy situation after the peak of conventional petroleum, with troops being rushed from one oil-producing hot spot to another and a growing share of our transportation fuel being supplied by nonpetroleum liquids of one sort or another."

* Ed Herman weighs in on the neglected problem of "genocide inflation."