The Open Society Foundation has published a new report, “Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition,” which is the most detailed study of the interrogation program of the US during the Bush Administration. It focused on the process of “extraordinary rendition” which is the euphemism used to describe the program of kidnapping suspects and torturing them in other countries (54 identified in the report) because the torture would have been illegal on American soil. It is a very sordid story, but the report is the first relatively comprehensive understanding of this long-secret program.
The process of globalization has led to one of the most extraordinary economic booms of human history. The price of this boom, however, is the extraordinary stress we are putting on the global environment. The economist, Jeffrey Sachs, suggests that we are pushing far beyond the safe limits of what the global environment can support.
In 2011 Iran claimed to have shot down an American drone, a top-of-the-line RQ-170. At the time, the US was quite embarrassed but flatly asserted that the Iranians could never decrypt the software in the drone. Today, the Iranians posted to YouTube what they allege is the video from the drone. If the video is genuine, then the Iranians have proven that they are adept at cracking the US software. Here is the video–the comments section is interesting.
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