Jason Ditz

US Seeks UN Permission To Board, Capture North Korean Ships

The US plan is to militarily board North Korean ships, and officials are conceding that’s almost certainly a recipe for military confrontation.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
A journalist sits near the North Korean cargo ship Mu Du Bong, anchored in the port of Tuxpan, Mexico. Despite North Korea's protests, a panel of experts that monitors sanctions against Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs asked the Mexican government not to release the boat. (AP/Felix Marquez)

Despite Russian opposition already having effectively killed the chances of a total oil ban on North Korea being enforced, the US is still pushing the plan at the UN Security Council. It’s not just a ban, however. The US wants permission to militarily enforce it. The resolution includes broad language allowing the US Navy and Air Force to

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UN Envoy: Syrian Rebels Need To Accept That They Didn’t Win War

“For the opposition, the message is very clear: if they were planning to win the war, facts are proving that is not the case. So now it’s time to win the peace.”

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
The loosely-knit coalition of Syrian rebel groups known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are armed, trained and backed by the U.S. The group is currently engaged in the early stages of battle in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

Commenting today in the lead-up to ceasefire talks in Kazakhstan, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said it’s time for the rebel forces to recognize that they didn’t win the six and a half year long Syrian War. Mistura is pushing a proposal in which, as soon as the rest of ISIS territory gets overtaken by various factions, a nationwide

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UN Warns US Inflicting ‘Unacceptable’ Civilian Casualties In Syria

According to the UN, the US may be contravening international law with their intense air strikes on the Syrian city of Raqqa, which have left over 150 civilians dead in the month of August alone

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
Black smoke rises from a US airstrike on the eastern side of Raqqa, Syria, July 26, 2017. (AP/Hussein Malla)

The US recently spurned a call by the UN to temporarily halt airstrikes on the Syrian city of Raqqa to allow civilians to flee. That call had come after multiple instances of US strikes killing civilians in and around the city. Today, UN officials are warning that the city’s population is paying an “unacceptable price” from the US airstrikes,

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Trump Says Dialogue With North Korea Is ‘Not The Answer’

President Trump declared yesterday that talking with North Korea is not the answer” and claimed the US has been “paying them extortion money for 25 years.”

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
A man watches a television screen showing President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 10, 2017. (AP/Ahn Young-joon)

Continuing to ratchet up the rhetoric on North Korea, President Trump once again disavowed assurances from his cabinet that the goal is a diplomatic solution, declaring yesterday that “talking is not the answer” and claiming the US has been “paying them extortion money for 25

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US Ground Troops Attacked By CIA-Armed Syrian Rebels

The Syrian rebels attacking the U.S. troops are the same rebel forces that the U.S. was directly arming through CIA arms smuggling operations for years.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

U.S. ground troops were attacked outside of the Syrian city of Manbij today, according to coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon. They came under fire from Syrian rebels allied with Turkey, and US forces returned fire before fleeing back into Manbij. This is a fight that many have feared was coming for months and is particularly significant

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US Airstrikes Killing Hundreds of Civilians in Syria’s Raqqa

Strikes are meant to ‘support’ Kurdish invasion of Syrian city occupied by ISIS.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
Black smoke rises from Raqqa where U.S.-forces are battling ISIS militants, in, northeast Syria, Thursday, July 27, 2017. (AP/Hussein Malla)

Heavy US airstrikes in densely populated residential areas have, throughout the ISIS war, proven a recipe for massive civilian casualties. This is increasingly the prevailing theme in the ISIS capital of Raqqa, where US strikes are killing many hundreds of civilians. Earlier this week, at least 100 civilians were killed in a span on 48 hours in

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Nearly 3,500 Israeli Settlement Homes Built On Private Palestinian Land

The structures could soon be made legal under Israeli law pending the passage of Israel’s controversial ‘land-grab’ law.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
Palestinian protesters carry national flags and plant olive trees facing the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit during a protest marking Land Day, in the village of Wadi Fukin, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, March 30, 2015.

Data from Israel’s Civil Administration has revealed that some 3,455 settler homes in the occupied West Bank were illegally built on privately-owned Palestinian land. Of those, roughly 45% are built on land whose owners are well-established, with the rest built on definitely Palestinian lands, but whose specific owners the Israeli government

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