Gorgon Stare: A “Persistent Eye in the Sky” May Be Coming to a City Near You

The military and the drone manufacturers, principally General Atomics, are arguing that the technology has advanced far enough that flying 79-ft. wingspan, six-ton drones over populated areas and alongside commercial air traffic is safe.

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
US Drones Feature photo

Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we're looking at, and we can see everything. That same persistent eye in the sky may soon be deployed over U.S. cities. At the time he made that comment about surveillance drones over Afghanistan, Maj. General James Poss was the Air Force's top

Read Full Article

How the UK is Violating International and Domestic Law

In a new exposé, historian Mark Curtis revealed 17 separate and ongoing British government policies that contravene both international and domestic law.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
UK Iraq War Feature photo

During a discussion at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies yesterday, United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper claimed that North Korea and Iran ­– two countries that have drawn the ire of Washington in recent weeks – were “rogue states” that require our “constant vigilance.” The Oxford English Dictionary describes a

Read Full Article

For Fourth Year Saudi Barrages Bring Death and Loss to Yemeni Families on Eid

For the fourth consecutive year, Eid al-Fitr has done little to bring quiet to Yemen’s war-weary residents. In Hodeida, airstrikes have been replaced with a new norm: snipers, artillery shells, and missiles.

Ahmed Abdulkareem
By Ahmed Abdulkareem
Yemen | Eid al-Fitr

HODEIDA, YEMEN -- "This is our Eid gift from Saudi Arabia," a visitor to a private hospital in Hodeida told MintPress as he pulled back a blood-soaked blue plastic cover draping the lifeless body of his child. The girl, whose torso and arms were dotted with holes from high-caliber bullets, did not make it to her second birthday -- she was killed in

Read Full Article

Yemeni Military Successes May Boost Secret Peace Negotiations with Saudis

Ansar Allah leader Al-Houthi revealed secret negotiations between Ansar Allah and the Saudi regime to end the Saudi war against Yemen, but hinted that ending the war would require serious will from the Saudi regime to change its vision towards Yemen’s relationship with the kingdom after the war.

Ahmed Abdulkareem
By Ahmed Abdulkareem
Yemen | Houthis

AL-BAYDA, YEMEN -- For the past two weeks, Yemeni military forces loyal to the Houthis have been waging a fierce campaign to rid the country’s southern al-Bayda and al-Dali provinces from al-Qaeda, ISIS and Saudi Coalition fighters. Dozens of cities, villages, and military sites in the provinces have been captured in the campaign, which was sparked

Read Full Article

Drones Will Soon Use Artificial Intelligence to Decide Who to Kill

Once complete, these drones will represent the ultimate militarisation of AI and trigger vast legal and ethical implications for wider society.

Peter Lee
By Peter Lee
UK Drone operators

The US Army recently announced that it is developing the first drones that can spot and target vehicles and people using artificial intelligence (AI). This is a big step forward. Whereas current military drones are still controlled by people, this new technology will decide who to kill with almost no human involvement. Once complete, these

Read Full Article

Trump’s Drone Kill Rate 80 Times Greater than Under Bush

It took Trump only seven months to surpass the number of civilian deaths in foreign nations that occurred during Obama’s entire eight-year presidency, according to non-profit monitoring group Airwars.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Whitney Webb , President Donald Trump touches a drone during a tour of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border equipment at their airport hanger at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Yuma, Ariz. , President Donald Trump touches a drone during a tour of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border equipment at their airport hanger at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Yuma, Ariz. , President Donald Trump touches a drone during a tour of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border equipment at their airport hanger at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Yuma, Ariz. (AP/Alex Brandon

During the 2016 election, Donald Trump – quite successfully – managed to convince a sizable portion of the electorate that he would take a much more anti-interventionist stance, in terms of U.S. military entanglements abroad, than would his contender Hillary Clinton. Yet, throughout his first year as president, such differences have been few and

Read Full Article