Drones / drone warfare
All topics-
U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
Joe Biden and the West's betrayal of the Hindu Kush
The USA and NATO plan to withdraw from Afghanistan by September. The operation is risky, the outcome uncertain. Many Afghans fear civil war. The quake on the Hindu Kush will also impact Germany, writes Stefan Weidner in his commentary
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War crimes on the Hindu Kush?
Death by drone – the United States' vicious Afghan legacy
The United States carried out more drone attacks on Afghanistan in 2019 than in any other year since Pentagon records began in 2006. The victims of this questionable military tactic, portrayed as precision strikes to kill alleged militants, are frequently innocent civilians, yet no one seems to care. Emran Feroz reports
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Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities
Hitting Saudi Arabia where it hurts
After the drone attacks on two oil plants in Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Trump warned that the USA was ready with a "loaded" weapon to react to the attacks. But against whom is his warning directed? By Karim El-Gawhary
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US Middle East foreign policy
West versus the rest
Trump′s policy attempts to apply a tourniquet to the perceived ′Muslim problem′ that has been manufactured and now exacerbated by the West′s wayward dealings in the Middle East. An analysis by Mishana Hosseinioun
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Military force and drone warfare
Post-truth victims
During the Obama era, the world witnessed what could be referred to as the 'dronification' of killing. Gone are combatant status, war goals and the option of negotiation. No prisoners are taken; people are just killed and anyone who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time just gets killed along with them. By Charlotte Wiedemann
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Noam Chomsky in interview
Obama's sangfroid
Former MIT professor and philosopher Noam Chomsky is widely regarded as one of the world's leading intellectuals. Undoubtedly, Chomsky's word has weight. Emran Feroz interviewed him on Barack Obama's political legacy in the Middle East, the deal with Iran and the refugee crisis
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The Taliban′s spring offensive
Over one million displaced Afghans
The most recent suicide attack on the outskirts of Kabul shows once again that in Afghanistan, battles are not only being fought between the army and the rebels. Anyone can find themselves targeted and civilians are the ones suffering the most. By Matthias Lauer
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Book review: "The Drone Eats with Me" by Atef Abu Saif
A war without distinct edges
Throughout history, countless literary accounts of war and the suffering it brings have been written. Gazan author Atef Abu Saif has added something new to this body of literature, namely an account of civilian life during the Gaza conflict in 2014 that describes the war and the impact of drone warfare from the viewpoint of a non-combatant. By Marcia Lynx Qualey
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Interview with journalist Chris Woods on drone warfare
"It's not risk-free war, it's displaced war"
For more than a decade now, the US has been using drones in warfare. During this time, thousands of people, especially civilians, have been killed by the unmanned machines. In this interview, Chris Woods, one of the leading investigative journalists on drone warfare, explains to Emran Feroz why use of drones is on the rise and what the consequences are
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Media portrayals and geopolitics in the Near and Middle East
Who shapes our image of the world?
In this commentary, Charlotte Wiedemann considers how press freedom and the media are tethered to Western geopolitics
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Drone war in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Living in the shadow of the "angels of death"
While the world is spellbound by the atrocities perpetrated by the organisation "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria, the killing in another region of the world goes on unremarked. The daily lives of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan are affected less by the murders committed by bearded extremists than by unmanned killing machines. By Emran Feroz
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Interview with the Pakistani Lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar
Fighting the Injustice of the US Drone Programme
Pakistani lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar defends victims of American drone strikes in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, not hesitating to press charges against employees of the CIA. Marcus Michaelsen spoke with him