Eric Peters

How long will it be before they actually start shooting us from helicopter gunships à la The Running Man? In that movie, Arnold Schwarzennegger plays Ben Richards – pilot of a gunship who actually refuses to spray a crowd of helpless people with his mini-gun. For his refusal to be brutal, he is turned into a contestant on The Running Man, where he must fight for his life against a series of gladiators for the amusement of the crowd.

Is it not amazing how predictive so many mass-market films have proved to be? Only in this case, the real-life ‘copter pilots are itching to mow us down. See, for instance, the recent “drills” in Florida and Texas – video seen below, for instance- where civilian areas were overflown by military choppers firing blanks. To train them. More precisely, to acclimate them to the idea of raining death down on Americans.

And here’s the latest: In this video, a woman is seen committing the highly suspect and probably terroristic act of taking a walk in the San Bernardino, CA desert, just off a major highway….from the vantage point of Officer Unfriendly in his taxpayer-funded whirlybird. The airborne enforcer menaces the woman from above, repeatedly buzzing her at treetop (if there were any trees) altitude before setting his ‘bird down like it’s Vietnam all over and the only thing missing is speakers blaring Ride of the Valkyries. He struts forward authoritatively – suited up just like Lt. Col. Kilgore in his special costume. You know, the one that gives him sanction to brutalize people.

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Joseph Kishore

The Obama administration is discussing the expansion of its drone program into Algeria and other countries in northwest Africa, according to media reports. The preparations to extend the military and CIA “kill lists” takes place amidst proposals to more securely institutionalize the global program of assassination.

According to a front-page report in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal headlined “Push to Expand US ‘Kill List,’” the immediate target of the extension of the drone program is Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who has claimed responsibility for the operation to seize control of a natural gas facility in Amenas, Algeria in January. An Algerian military raid on the compound—a critical energy facility operated in collaboration with multinational companies—led to the death of 69 people.

According to the Journal, “Some US officials are pressing for a more direct involvement in the hunt for Mr. Belmokhtar, whether with drones, other aircraft or American forces. Such an effort could rely on the military’s special-operations units, with help from the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said.”

Assassinations have thus far focused on Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and the northeast African nation of Somalia. The expansion of drone killing to northwest Africa is part of an intensified focus of all the major imperialist powers on northern Africa—including the US-led war in Libya in 2011 and the French-led operation currently underway in Mali. The US government has already secured a status of forces agreement to establish a drone base in Niger, which is bordered by Algeria on the North and Mali on the West.

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Stephen Lendman

In May 2010, Israeli commandos committed premeditated murder. They killed nine humanitarian activists in cold blood. They did so in international waters. They were trying to bring vitally needed aid to besieged Gazans. Israel wants them isolated. It wants them suffocated. Slow-motion genocide is longstanding policy.

A Human Rights Council investigation followed. It criticized

Israel's "outrageous attack on aid ships attempting to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip." It called doing so "piracy, (an) act of aggression, (a) brutal massacre, (an) act of terrorism, (a) war crime, (a) crime against humanity, unprovoked....unwarranted....atrocious, (and) brutal." It said onboard humanitarian activists were "peaceful, innocent, noble, unarmed, (and) defenseless." Attacking them "was unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive, inappropriate and resulted in the wholly avoidable killing and maiming of a large number of civilian passengers." "Israel made "a deliberate attempt....to suppress or destroy evidence." Its own version of events was fabricated. Fake videos and other falsified materials were used.

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