Four Years After The Haiti Earthquake, What Have Billions In US Aid Bought?

The United States spent $2.8 billion to help Haiti rebuild, but the results have been a disaster of a different kind.

Jacob Kushner
By Jacob Kushner

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (GlobalPost) — In the four years since Haiti’s disastrous earthquake, the United States has promised $3.6 billion in aid, at least $2.8 billion of which has already been spent. Has it helped? GlobalPost examined more than one dozen studies and audits to estimate how much of that money made it through US government and NGO

Read Full Article

Guantanamo Hunger Strikes Remain At High Level: Report

Testimony has asserted that guards at the prison have used techniques beyond force-feeding to break the protest.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

Despite previous assertions by prison representatives that hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay have ended, a recent report has indicated that hunger strikes have actually doubled since December 2013. The report, compiled by human rights advocate Reprieve, has found that 33 detainees are currently striking, with 16 being force-fed. At the height of

Read Full Article

Activists Announce Day To ‘Fight Back’ Against NSA

Ultimately, the goal of February’s protest is to push for the passage of the USA Freedom Act.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Surveillance

Next month, freedom of information and digital rights activists are joining to generate awareness for the mass surveillance the federal government has conducted on Americans in hopes of inspiring the public to push lawmakers for change. News of the protest was announced on Jan. 10, the day before the one-year anniversary of the death of digital

Read Full Article

Washington Leading The Way In The New Nuclear Arms Race

Plans call for five nuclear submarines, 72 bombers and 240 land-based missile systems.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
nuclear weapon ban

Despite more than 40 years of progress in disarmament talks, the U.S. has proposed a new wave of spending that threatens to restock and restart the nation’s nuclear arms program at a time that the Congress is considering renewing sanctions against Iran for its alleged nuclear development, and shortly after President Barack Obama announced his

Read Full Article

Debate Rages Over Exporting American Oil

Is the U.S. ready to lift its own ban on exporting oil to foreign nations? Even Republican members of Congress are calling for an end to the law.

Les Neuhaus
By Les Neuhaus
Total Petrochemicals Port Arhtur refinery is shown Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009 in Port Arthur, Texas. Over the past several years, Total Petrochemical's sprawling oil refinery in southeast Texas has sprayed tons of sulfuric acid and carbon monoxide into the sky. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

With U.S. oil reserves predicted to surpass that of giants like Saudi Arabia, a nearly 40-year ban on the selling of domestic oil abroad is being reexamined by congressional and business leaders, according to various reports Wednesday. Top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a speech at the Brookings Institution

Read Full Article

Britons Rail Against Laws That Ban Protests Near Military Bases

Protests have escalated since it was revealed that the Royal Air Force has carried out more than 2,000 missions with “borrowed” U.S. drones in Afghanistan

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

In the U.K., a set of laws that protects American bases from protesters has become the target of criticism. These laws -- passed without the consent of Parliament under the 120-year-old Military Lands Act of 1892 -- have many arguing that the “outrageous and undemocratic” act has been done to curry favor from the U.S. Since the Ministry of

Read Full Article