September 12, 2016 – Astute News

September 12, 2016

How Israel Stole the Bomb

In 1968, CIA Director Richard Helms was presented with a disturbing National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) stating that Israel had obtained atomic weapons, a dangerous development that occurred earlier than the CIA had anticipated. It was particularly dangerous because just the year before, the Six Day War had marked the beginning of open hostilities between the Israelis and Arab nation states....

Military Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

25 Years Since Collapse of USSR, 25 Years of Global Instability

Yes, you have read the title of this article correctly. And no, this is not a press release by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. What this is, however, is an article documenting what has happened on the international stage since, and as a consequence of, the USSR’s demise, 25 years ago – an event which continues to affect...

Opinion Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

Will the U.S.-Russia Deal Bring Syria Peace? Don’t Hold Your Breath

There’s little trust among the diplomats in Geneva, in fact, and far, far less among the fighters on the ground. In the late summer of 2011, President Barack Obama declared the reign of Bashar al-Assad “illegitimate” and told him the time had come to “step aside.” In the early fall of 2015, U.S. officials laughingly dismissed Vladimir Putin’s unexpected direct...

Middle East/Opinion Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry

This unaccountable oligarchy of spies controls the information that guides our military and civilian leaders. The recent integration of two military contractors into a $10 billion behemoth is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions that have transformed America’s privatized, high-tech intelligence system into what looks like an old-fashioned monopoly. In August, Leidos Holdings, a major contractor for...

North America/Opinion Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

F-35 May Never Be Ready for Combat

Testing Report Contradicts Air Force Leadership’s Rosy Pronouncements The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is the most expensive procurement program in Pentagon history. It’s been plagued by schedule delays, gross cost overruns, and a slew of underwhelming performance reviews. Last month the Air Force declared its variant “ready for combat,” and most press reports lauded this as a signal that...

Military Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

Forces of Opposition Commander Take All Three Key Libyan Oil Ports

Libyan National Army forces loyal to a controversial eastern Libyan commander have seized all three of Libya’s oil ports, ruining the plans of the Tripoli-based UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to put them back into operation. Colonel Ahmad Mesmari, a Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman, reported that LNA forces had taken control over the ports of Ras Lanuf and...

Africa Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

Silk Road: ‘Iran Seeks Closer Cooperation With Russia, China and India’

With Iran supporting the revival of the Great Silk Road that once connected East Asia with Europe, Sputnik asked Moscow-based Oriental-affairs expert Vladimir Sazhin to about the role Tehran will play in this major geopolitical project. “Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, confirmed Tehran’s backing for the Beijing-proposed New Silk Road project and...

Asia Comments: 0

September 12, 2016

Israeli Victory is the Only Way to Advance Peace Process

At his first security briefing, Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s Defense Minister, declared that Israel no longer has “the luxury of conducting drawn-out wars of attrition.” 100 days into his term, with no sign of the decades-long conflict slowing, it is clear that the time has come to apply that principle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In order for there to be...

Middle East/Opinion Comments: 0

Daily Archive: September 12, 2016

How Israel Stole the Bomb

25 Years Since Collapse of USSR, 25 Years of Global Instability

Will the U.S.-Russia Deal Bring Syria Peace? Don’t Hold Your Breath

5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry

F-35 May Never Be Ready for Combat

Forces of Opposition Commander Take All Three Key Libyan Oil Ports

Silk Road: ‘Iran Seeks Closer Cooperation With Russia, China and India’

Israeli Victory is the Only Way to Advance Peace Process