Afghanistan War: Everyone loses, except the American military-industrial complex

By Xin Ping Published: Sep 07, 2021 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1233560.shtml

 

When the last C-17 Globemaster cargo plane sneaked out in darkness from Kabul airport on August 30, the longest war triggered by the US eventually finally bid The Long Goodbye. 

Twenty years have passed, yet nobody has dared to stand on the rostrum, except for a vulture hovering above and coveting dead bodies. 

The US has become a global laughing stock instead of a victor. There is already an international consensus that the chaotic and disastrous retreat of the US marked a huge failure of its foreign policy, military enforcement, and even intelligence services. "The images of despair at Kabul airport shame the political West," said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The Afghan people are certainly not the winner. They are deprived of almost everything, from the hope to survive to the survival of hope. This is all due to the US that once vowed to bring them democracy and prosperity. According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 18 million Afghans need aid to survive. One in three does not know where their next meal will come from. Over half of all children under age 5 are expected to become "acutely malnourished" next year. 

Afghanistan has become extremely vulnerable to the resurrection of terrorism due to the disorderly American retreat. The recent terrorist attack targeting Kabul airport is clear evidence that the US war on terror has failed to eradicate terrorism. Neighboring countries, and indeed most European countries, are facing an urgent humanitarian problem with the sudden influx of Afghan refugees. Then again, ironically, the Republicans in Capitol Hill vetoed the entrance of Afghan refugees into their land. This is creating a chance for their beloved European allies to enjoy the déjà vu of the Syria refugee crisis.

The American people would vote a firm NO. The American taxpayers lost their beloved ones and were financially exploited by the immense military expenses. From 2001 to 2021, the US annual defense budget kept skyrocketing, and the war in Afghanistan alone has cost $2.3 trillion so far according to the latest survey by Brown University. That's $241 million per day or $6,949 per capita per US citizen. Should the money be better used against COVID-19, those poor and elderly who couldn't afford the treatment would have no longer needed to perish in desperation. 

What was the war all about and who is the beneficiary? Here comes the vulture: the American military-industrial complex (AMIC), an iron triangle made up of arms dealers, congressmen, and the Pentagon. 

Countless greenbacks were turned into Black Hawks, Scan Eagles, Humvees, and Carbines to kill human lives. They also added to profits on the balance sheets of giant defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics, and so on. Within the past two decades, the stocks of these top five contractors increased 10 times or more, outperforming the stock market overall by 58 percent. The war only made these "legitimate killers" build up their bloody empire on the pillars of Afghan skeletons.

Part of this colossal profit was used for lobbying or political contributions, becoming pocket money for congressmen. This could explain why the revision and approval of the defense budget went through in such a smooth manner. 

Supporters of medical care or gun-control acts can only dream about such ease of politics. Some congressmen tend to find jobs in these big-money-making companies. The old tricks of their former colleagues on the Hill simply go on and on.  

Regarding the Pentagon, it always obtains the weaponry it needs to propel the chariot while chanting it is "protecting human rights or defending democracy." They purportedly safeguarded universal values. But what they really defend is the endless money flow from constant wars. When the defense secretary becomes the hidden CEO of an arms contractor and congressmen become undocumented stakeholders through the revolving door, death looms. Neither the taxpayers' financial burden nor the casualties of his fellow Americans become issues of concern.  

Blaming the US army for their lack of strategy in Afghanistan could be construed as wrong. But they do have an alternative. As a former Air Force fighter pilot put it, "Don't interrupt the money flow, add to it." 

Like a vulture, the AMIC has devoured the last bits of flesh from the crippled body of Afghanistan. It has raised its head to spot the next target. When their Eagle Eyes squint and fixate on another prey, we have no idea who's going to suffer. Yet we know for sure that somebody's got to make other big bucks.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, CGTN, China Daily, and so on. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com

 Afghanistan withdrawal is a shock to the Israel lobby

Military occupations excite violent resistance throughout history. The U.S. has given up the fantasy of transforming Afghanistan. This removes Israel's cover for its occupation and is generating panic among Israel's friends.

BY PHILIP WEISS  AUGUST 31, 2021 

https://mondoweiss.net/2021/08/afghanistan-withdrawal-is-a-shock-to-the-israel-lobby/

As we reflect on the Afghan withdrawal, I remember well the ideological thrill experienced by Israeli supporters in the sadness and shock of 9/11. Now you know what it is like to live in Israel. The U.S. and Israel is in the same boat. Our tough neighborhood has come to your shores. Let us advise you on how to deal with radical Islamist terror.

In the years that followed, the Israeli mindset and model were adopted by American policymakers. We occupied two Muslim countries and set about to reform their societies and governance. We dedicated ourselves to fighting the terrorists that hated us for who we are, a democracy. Yes, I know there were some Good Old American reasons to undertake these militant imperial activities; but the role of Israel and its lobby were significant. Netanyahu and AIPAC and the leading think tanks urged the U.S. to go into Iraq. The neoconservatives who populated the Bush administration and had Rumsfeld’s ear had a near-religious faith in the use of American force (in a world of one superpower) to transform the Middle East.

From the start, the causes of terrorism were never thoughtfully considered by our media. Only leftwingers and realists discussed Robert Pape’s exhaustive research in “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” showing that many suicide terrorists through history were seeking to rid their lands of occupiers.

Alongside that blindness was the failure by the media and the government’s 9/11 Commission to consider a primary motivation of the 9/11 attackers: hatred of America’s role in oppressing Palestinians. That motivation got a few uncomfortable lines in the massive 9/11 report. But because Israel support is actually an article of faith in Washington– “unwavering commitment”, in Biden’s words; we support Israel even “if the Capitol crumbled to the ground,” in Pelosi’s words– such support must never be made to seem problematic. So the media and politicians distort the facts.

Just as the media and political establishment today ignore the fact that the leading human rights groups have labeled Israel an apartheid state.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has delivered a shock to the U.S. identification with Israel. The Israel lobby liked the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Israel lobbyists said that the occupation could go on indefinitely and the occupation was a lot better than the alternative: a terrorist state created by the people who live there who hate America and the west. For the Israel lobby, the U.S. occupation is in the image of the Israeli occupation, which the Israel lobby wants to go on forever even as it laments its presence and wishes this were not necessary.

Now the United States has withdrawn from Afghanistan amid scenes reminiscent of France leaving Algeria or the U.S. leaving Vietnam, and Afghanistan is for the Afghans.

Palestine must never be for the Palestinians. And that is the shock.

The decolonization of Afghanistan damages the Israeli-American identification since 9/11, and removes a geopolitical justification for Israel’s neverending occupation of Palestinian lands. But the neverending occupation is Israel’s only answer to the Palestinian question. If a Palestinian state is created, it will just be a terror state, the Israeli leaders always say; and the Israel lobby echoes the propaganda. And says, Afghanistan will become a terror state.

You could see the panic in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s meeting with Joe Biden last week. Bennett gave a long/bush-league/biblical lecture to the president. He spoke with evident angst about all the terror groups that surround Israel, from Hamas to Islamic Jihad to Hezbollah. He urged the U.S. to stay in Syria. He described Iran as a terror state outside civilized parameters and said Israel will continue to take it on– presumably by continuing to murder Iranian scientists.

It was the same old war on terror, being sold to Americans who polls show overwhelmingly want an end to the Afghanistan war. And the Israel lobby exulted over the summit meeting, saying it shows that the bipartisan consensus for Israel that Trump wrecked has been restored. A rightwing PM became “close friends” with a Democratic president, who all but endorsed the use of force against Iran.

Being idealistic, I say the good times at the White House can’t last. The paradigm has shifted on the war on terror, and Israel as an apartheid state.

Israel will continue to experience terror attacks and will deliver terror ten-fold back to Palestinians– so long as it constitutes itself as a majority “Jewish” state that grants higher rights to Jews and forces rights-less Palestinians into cantons. No one in the Israeli government has challenged these concepts of governance. Israel is in national mourning today for a sniper who was shot at the wall of the Palestinian ghetto of Gaza by a Palestinian who is confined to that space. The Israel lobby tells Americans that a “Hamas terrorist” killed a good soldier.

The Israel lobby doesn’t care that 2 million Palestinians can’t move outside a tiny area whose water is undrinkable. It doesn’t care that Israeli snipers maim and kill Palestinians who protest their imprisonment.

When liberal Zionists say the occupation is unsustainable, they leave out the inevitable sequel: Palestinians who want a better future are always going to resist Israeli rule, by whatever means.

That’s why Israel is a security state surrounded by terrorists. It’s not a democracy.

This was all foreseen. Hannah Arendt said during the Nakba in 1948 that Israel was doomed to “degenerate” into a Spartan warrior state so long as it ignored the desires of its neighbors. In the same year, State Department advisers warned the White House that helping to implant a Jewish state in Palestine would result in decades of unrest. Both predictions have come to pass. Nobel Peace Prize-winner Obama bombed 7 Muslim-majority nations.

The Israel lobby has worked tirelessly to overcome these brutal realities by projecting the Israeli experience and saying the Israeli condition is the American condition, and everything bad about its neighborhood also threatens America. So Israel is our great ally. The lobby has repackaged that ally again and again through the Cold War and the war on terror and on Iran too. “Both of us… is a lighthouse in a very, very stormy world,” Bennett told Biden.

The Afghanistan withdrawal reminds us that the U.S. and the so-called Jewish state have very different interests in the Middle East. If only we could discuss it.

 El suicidio del PAN y los retos de la 4T

John M. Ackerman

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/09/06/opinion/019a2pol

El pacto entre dirigentes del PAN y el partido neofascista español Vox, firmado la semana pasada en las instalaciones del Senado de la República, implica el fin de cualquier fantasía con respecto a la supuesta vocación democrática de este partido opositor creado en 1939 para combatir las políticas revolucionarias del general Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.

Y el circo mediático armado por Lía Limón y otros alcaldes electos del PAN en las inmediaciones del Congreso de la Ciudad de México, evidencia la desesperación de una oposición capitalina que si bien tuvo victorias electorales importantes en las elecciones pasadas no cuenta con una visión de futuro ni proyecto político propio.

El PAN está destinado a convertirse en un partido marginal que agrupa un pequeño porcentaje de la población convencido de la necesidad de defender sus privilegios y prebendas de las supuestas políticas populistas o comunistas de los gobiernos de Morena.

La principal oposición a la Cuarta Transformación (4T) durante los próximos años no provendrá de la esfera partidista o electoral, sino de las instituciones heredadas del viejo régimen. Por ejemplo, la elección del fiel calderonista, Reyes Rodríguez Mondragón, como presidente de la sala superior del TEPJF, así como las nuevas multas del INE a Morena y el PT, señalan el recrudecimiento de las estrategias de guerra jurídica, o lawfare, contra el obradorismo.

Mientras, el PRI va encaminado a ser el nuevo partido satélite de Morena. La negociación reciente que colocó a Rubén Moreira como presidente de la Junta de Coordinación Política de la Cámara de Diputados demuestra que este viejo partido de Estado prefiere formar parte de la coalición gobernante encabezada por López Obrador a aliarse con los neofascistas del PAN. El descalabro de los dinosaurios en las últimas elecciones los ha dejado en una situación de debilidad extrema que los obliga a pactar con el poder para sobrevivir.

Se configura entonces una situación de polarización política cada vez más pronunciada entre Morena y sus aliados del PT, PVEM, PES y PRI, por un lado, y el PAN junto con sus aliados de la oligarquía empresarial, como Claudio X. González, y del golpismo institucional, como Reyes Rodríguez y Lorenzo Córdova, por el otro.

El obradorismo saldrá avante. Las altas tasas de popularidad para López Obrador, de entre 60 y 70 por ciento, aseguran que el Presidente mantendrá la sartén por el mango con respecto al manejo de los escenarios político, económico y mediático durante los próximos años. No hay mayor duda con respecto a su victoria en el ejercicio de revocación de mandato en marzo de 2022 y todo parece indicar que Morena tiene en la bolsa el triunfo en las elecciones presidenciales de 2024.

Sin embargo, no queda claro cuál sería el papel del pueblo mexicano en esta lucha histórica. Hasta hoy hemos tenido un rol importante pero pasivo. Respondemos a encuestas, nos desahogamos en las redes sociales y acudimos a las urnas para expresar nuestras opiniones.

Sin embargo, el nuevo sistema político todavía no ofrece espacios para la confluencia, el debate, y la discusión pública de los grandes temas nacionales. Tampoco existen nuevos mecanismos para la toma de decisiones de manera participativa y popular desde las bases. Brillan también por su ausencia las grandes manifestaciones populares en las calles en favor de la 4T y su agenda de reformas políticas, económicas y sociales.

En suma, todavía no se consolida el sujeto histórico que pueda garantizar la continuidad del proyecto de transformación más allá del sexenio actual. Esta ausencia preocupante es resultado del burocratismo, el elitismo y la operación de sectas y grupos de poder dentro de Morena. El tan anhelado y anunciado partido-movimiento se ha quedado en puro discurso, sin hechos que lo respalden.

La mayoría de los gobiernos de Morena también nos han quedado a deber. Las consultas populares constituyen un buen paso, pero no dejan de ser ejercicios electorales en que la población es convocada a opinar de manera coyuntural sobre un tema específico. Hace falta impulsar procesos más constantes e integrales de participación para generar un verdadero empoderamiento popular.

Este inmovilismo es también responsabilidad de la falta de mayor trabajo organizativo desde la misma sociedad civil, desde luego. En lugar de esperar las convocatorias de Morena o del gobierno, las organizaciones sociales (estudiantiles, campesinas, obreras, urbanas, magisteriales, etcétera) tendrían que abrazar el momento histórico para construir directamente el poder popular desde abajo.

Los espectaculares éxitos de la gestión de López Obrador merecen tener continuidad en los próximos sexenios. Pero ello no ocurrirá por arte de magia. Tenemos tres años para construir entre todos una fuerza social con suficiente poder para obligar a los futuros gobiernos de Morena a mantenerse fieles a la causa de la 4T.

www.johnackerman.mx

 U-turn in bilateral ties unrealistic regardless of next Japanese PM – until China regains Tang Dynasty strength over Japan: Global Times editorial

By Global Times Published: Sep 03

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1233287.shtml

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made a surprise announcement on Friday, claiming he will not seek reelection as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It means he is giving up the chance to continue serving as prime minister of Japan. The Japanese political arena will face a new shockwave. Since Suga became prime minister after Shinzo Abe resigned last September, he must call a general election and lead the LDP by November 28, meaning his tenure can last at most one year and two months. Many people suspect that Japan will once again enter a period of political turmoil in which the prime minister changes frequently. 

The fundamental reason for Suga to give up the LDP's reelection is probably that he feels that his days are gone. The possibility of LDP's various factions supporting him in the reelection is extremely low. His plan to adjust high-level personnel in the LDP has suffered a setback, and he will hardly ace the game in the upcoming election. So he could only make a quick retreat. 

Suga's biggest failure was in the fight against COVID-19. Japan's daily COVID-19 cases surpassed 20,031 on Wednesday. Japanese society is much more anxious about the virus than European and US societies. Such anxiety has overwhelmed the joy of holding the Tokyo Olympics. 

The COVID-19 epidemic is raging, and it is impossible that the Japanese economy will stay unaffected. Suga has almost nothing to maintain his approval ratings at a high level. As a result, Suga made the announcement on Friday. The Japanese stock market rose sharply.

Former Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida, former Japanese internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi, Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono and former Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba are currently though the front runners in the election as well as the future new prime minister. Japan is struggling with many difficulties, yet it lacks both practical motivation and political solidarity to get rid of the predicament. The prime minister will face a tough job. The prediction that Japan will fall into a new period of political turmoil is not baseless.

China-Japan relations under the Suga administration this year have been terrible, slipping all the way to a deep gulf from the evaluation of getting "back on a normal track" in 2018. No matter who becomes the new president of the LDP and takes over as prime minister, a big U-turn in China-Japan relations is considered unrealistic. This is because the atmosphere of China in Japan is becoming increasingly unfriendly. The US strategy of containing China also has a great influence on Japan. Japan does not have the conditions to promote a new route toward China, whether domestically or internationally.

However, the power comparison between China and Japan has changed historically. During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Japan's GDP was still ahead of China. In 2020, China's GDP is about three times that of Japan, which is about the similar economic gap between the Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan at the end of the 20th century. More specifically, China's vehicle sales in a year are four to five times that of Japan. The length of China's high-speed railway is about 13.7 times that of Japan's Shinkansen high-speed railway. The geopolitical implication of Japan's tough China policy is also changing quietly.

It seems difficult for the hearts of China and Japan to get closer in the short and medium-term. Japan has really thrown itself down at the US, and can even neutralize the hatred of being attacked by atomic bombs and the humiliation of being occupied by the US military until today. Unless China can take a comprehensive lead over Japan as it was during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), Japan will not genuinely respect China, nor will it show mutual respect to China in a short period of time. Japan's attitude toward China will be awkward for a long time.

However, it is very difficult for Japan to pose a fundamental threat to China anymore. Japan's long-term role will be as an accomplice of the US. We should be aware of that. We should deal with Japan with the new power structure as a starting point. We should accurately grasp the Japanese society's mentality toward China, objectively assess Japan's threats, and determine how to deal with this neighboring country.

China-Japan economic and trade cooperation is huge, and this should be regarded as the most substantial part of the two countries relations. No matter who the next Japanese prime minister is, and whether Japan will have more tough voices against China, the two countries' economic ties as being mutually beneficial and the scale of trade will hardly be impacted. It is also unlikely that Japan will take the lead in a showdown against China. These facts show that China actually has room to calmly deal with its relations with Japan.

Whoever becomes the next Japanese prime minister and whether Japan will go further on the path of being tough against China, China is capable to deal with possible challenges. China will grow increasingly stronger than Japan. The one that will suffer more from deteriorating bilateral relations will definitely be Japan. 

 Pueblos y territorios frente al Tren Maya

Gilberto López y Rivas

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/09/03/opinion/020a2pol

En Tepoztlán, Morelos, mañana sábado, a las 13 horas, se presentará el libro de autoría colectiva: Pueblos y territorios frente al Tren Maya: escenarios sociales, económicos y culturales (Centro Interdisciplinar para la Investigación de la Recreación AC, 2021), coordinado por Giovanna Gasparello y Violeta Núñez Rodríguez, que incluye una introducción conjunta, sendos capítulos de ambas, así como contribuciones de Alicia Castellanos Guerrero, Jesús Antonio Machuca, Luis Alberto Martos y Eliana Acosta Márquez.

Esta rigurosa y oportuna obra, financiada parcialmente por el Sindicato Nacional de Profesores de Investigación Científica y Docencia del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Snpicd-INAH), se adscribe a una ciencia social que establece espacios colectivos de análisis a partir de un diálogo continuo con organizaciones de base y la sociedad civil, que se constituyen, a su vez, en actores y sujetos de la realidad estudiada.

Los autores responden a la urgente necesidad de hacer un diagnóstico y una proyección a futuro de las posibles consecuencias del megaproyecto llamado Tren Maya en la vida de los pueblos que habitan en los territorios invadidos por esta megaobra paradigmática del gobierno actual, que, paradójicamente, considera estar llevando a cabo una cuarta transformación histórica del país, del calado de la Independencia, la Reforma y la Revolución.

Los investigadores que participan en este logrado esfuerzo de un quehacer antropológico al servicio de los pueblos, al declararse comprometidos con el respeto de la dignidad y los derechos de todos los seres vivos, responden a interrogantes que plantean y se constituyen en los ejes hipotéticos y temáticos de la pesquisa misma: “¿Quiénes serán los beneficiarios del desarrollo económico que promete el discurso oficial sobre el Tren Maya? ¿Cuál es el costo social de la turistificación de territorios y culturas y su mercantilización en beneficio de quienes pueden comprar su remanso de ocio y esparcimiento? ¿Cuáles consecuencias tendrá el nuevo ordenamiento territorial para el sistema de propiedad social vigente en el sureste mexicano y para las territorialidades comunitarias, indígenas y campesinas? Frente al incremento de múltiples violencias en las urbes hiperturísticas del Caribe mexicano, ¿es oportuno proyectar nuevos centros urbanos con vocación turística? ¿Cuál es la valoración otorgada al patrimonio histórico y arqueológico, y a la población que históricamente lo ha cuidado, por la racionalidad del desarrollo turístico?”

A los autores de los trabajos compendiados los respaldan reconocidas trayectorias en sus respectivas disciplinas: antropología, sociología, economía, arqueología, y sus textos se fundamentan en repetidas, intensas y prolongadas estancias de investigación de campo, que han proporcionado un conocimiento de primera mano de los procesos en curso, a partir, también, de una actualizada y amplia bibliografía sobre cada uno de los temas tratados, y con base en una exhaustiva revisión de fuentes documentales de variada procedencia, ante la falta de información y la opacidad por parte de las autoridades sobre el proyecto iniciado, pero, sobre todo, de un oído receptivo a lo que las comunidades piensan sobre este proceso de recolonización militarizada y necropolítica que caracteriza al gobierno actual y contra el cual oponen una firme resistencia.

A contracorriente de la retórica del progreso, la ingeniería de conflictos y la antropología de la disuasión social que acompaña al Tren Maya, el libro reseñado pone al descubierto el carácter integral de una obra de alto impacto, que no es sólo una vía ferroviaria, sino, en realidad, un reordenamiento integral del territorio de la península para beneficio de un turismo potencialmente depredador, asimilacionista y etnocida. Un ordenamiento turístico del territorio opuesto, en los hechos, a los principios de sustentabilidad que difunde la narrativa oficial sobre el proyecto.

El actual gobierno no asume las experiencias de destinos turísticos consolidados, donde han prosperado la economía mafiosa, la necropolítica y las violencias directa y estructural, así como la conexión entre el incremento de la incidencia delictiva, el incremento demográfico, el crecimiento urbano y el crecimiento económico, como variables concomitantes en el incremento de las desigualdades, la exclusión y la explotación.

El libro incluye reflexiones críticas sobre el carácter destructivo para el patrimonio arqueológico, histórico, natural y social, para su adecuada conservación y manejo por parte de un proyecto de corte totalmente neoliberal, que ­conlleva desintegración comunitaria, mercantilización y cosificación de la cultura de los pueblos originarios.

Obra imprescindible y de urgente difusión en tiempos aciagos de una crisis que amenaza la continuidad de pueblos indígenas y campesinos que defienden y luchan por la vida.

 US-led global 'war on terror' has killed nearly one million people

The 'forever wars' waged by the US since the 9/11 attacks have so far cost more than $8 trillion, according to a new report by Brown University

By 

MEE staff

Published date: 1 September 2021

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-led-global-war-terror-has-killed-nearly-one-million-people

The US-led "war on terror" has killed nearly one million people globally and cost more than $8 trillion since it began nearly two decades ago, according to a report from Brown University's Costs of War Project.

The landmark report, which was published on Wednesday, examines the tolls of wars waged by the US in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and other regions where the US military is engaged in conflicts referred to as "forever wars".

"It's critical we properly account for the vast and varied consequences of the many US wars and counter-terror operations since 9/11, as we pause and reflect on all of the lives lost," said the project's co-director, Neta Crawford, in a statement accompanying the report. 

"Our accounting goes beyond the Pentagon's numbers because the costs of the reaction to 9/11 have rippled through the entire budget."

The report estimates that the war on terror, which will mark its 20th anniversary on 11 September, had directly killed 897,000 to 929,000 people - including at least 387,072 civilians.

Crawford said this was "likely a vast undercount of the true toll these wars have taken on human life."

The US invaded Afghanistan and drove the Taliban from power in retaliation for the 11 September 2001 attacks, which had been planned while al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, was living in the country under Taliban protection.

The number of deaths caused by post-9/11 conflicts has been a source of intense controversy, as politics and inexact science have intersected in a heated debate of conflicting interests. In 2015, the Nobel Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility estimated that more than one million people had been killed both directly and indirectly in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan alone. 

The economic costs tallied by the Costs of War report include $2.3 trillion spent by the US on military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, $2.1 trillion in Iraq and Syria, and $355 billion in Somalia and other regions of Africa.

In a report released last year, Costs of War estimated the war on terror had displaced at least 37 million people on top of the hundreds of thousands of people killed in direct violence.

The US tracks its own military deaths and physical injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq - but there are no conclusive government statistics on casualties and deaths among enemy combatants and civilians. This omission, critics say, is by design.

Authorities have also sometimes deliberately falsified details about deaths by US forces: "The U.S. Department of Defense’s short-lived (2001/02) Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) is one stark example of government-generated mis- and dis-information meant to influence public opinion in supporting its Iraq policies," note the authors of "Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the 'War on Terror".

'What have we truly accomplished?'

The US finalized its withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday and is reckoning with the consequences of the 20-year conflict. The final stages of the withdrawal occurred with the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan and tens of thousands clambering to get out of the country.

Though the US no longer has a troop presence in Afghanistan, the "war on terror" seems set to continue, with the Biden administration signaling it will continue to target the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K), Afghanistan and Central Asia franchise of the Islamic State group, via drones and other means.

On Sunday, a US drone strike against a suspected suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed a number of civilians. According to local media, the strike near Kabul airport, killed 10 members of one family, including six children.

The US also continues to have a military presence in Iraq and Syria, among other countries, and in recent weeks has conducted multiple airstrikes against al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, in Somalia.

"What have we truly accomplished in 20 years of post 9/11 wars, and at what price?" asked Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War Project.

"Twenty years from now, we'll still be reckoning with the high societal costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars - long after US forces are gone."

 Cepal: tomará hasta 2029 recuperar ingreso per cápita previo a la crisis

Dora Villanueva

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/09/01/economia/022n2eco

 

Periódico La Jornada
Miércoles 1º de septiembre de 2021, p. 22

México transita una década pérdida en la capacidad de la economía para soportar el crecimiento de su población. La actividad económica en el país comenzó a mejorar de manera gradual a partir del tercer trimestre de 2020, pero una recuperación total, para regresar a un nivel similar al de 2018, se alcanzará en 2023; e incluso el producto interno bruto (PIB) por habitante no se recuperará hasta 2029, estima la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (Cepal).

El organismo prevé que la actividad económica en México crecerá 6.2 por ciento este año, recargada en el impulso de las exportaciones hacia Estados Unidos y, en menor medida, en la recuperación gradual del mercado interno; lo cual marca un alza respecto al pronóstico previo de 5.8 por ciento. Para 2022 se mantiene la perspectiva de un crecimiento de 3.2 por ciento, muestra el Estudio Económico de América Latina y el Caribe.

Sobre estos pronósticos existen riesgos a la baja y al alza, vinculados con el ritmo de la recuperación del crecimiento económico mundial y con la evolución de la salida de la crisis sanitaria, sustentada en la disponibilidad de vacunas contra el Covid-19 y en el avance del proceso de vacunación, puntualiza la Cepal.

Para América Latina se prevé un crecimiento de 5.9 por ciento en 2021, lo que se explica fundamentalmente por el arrastre estadístico, recalcó en conferencia de prensa Alicia Bárcena, secretaria ejecutiva de la Cepal, y para 2022 la expansión seguiría con 2.9 por ciento.

Detalló que América Latina es la región más afectada por la crisis en curso, tanto en lo referente a la actividad económica como al empleo. Sólo el año pasado, el PIB cayó 6.8 por ciento y el empleo lo hizo 9 por ciento, casi tres veces más que en cualquier otra parte del mundo.

Antes de la crisis, la región venía creciendo a su menor ritmo en más de un siglo y, más allá de 2021, el gran desafío es revertir esta dinámica. En el sexenio entre 2014 y 2019, creció a una tasa promedio de 0.3 por ciento, menor al 0.9 por ciento registrado en el sexenio que se dio en la Primera Guerra Mundial, expuso la secretaria ejecutiva.

En ese contexto se dio la crisis de coronavirus y para 2021 se estima que sólo nueve países recuperen el nivel de PIB previo a la pandemia, mostró Bárcena. Agregó que 60 por ciento del incremento de la actividad se sustenta en el impulso del consumo privado, ayudado por las transferencias monetarias, remesas y mayor movilidad; sin embargo, la inversión y las exportaciones muestran un dinamismo acotado.

La baja inversión y productividad, así como la informalidad, pobreza y desigualdad ya eran un problema estructural en la región, una característica histórica en nuestros procesos de crecimiento económico, pero ahora se agravaron. Así como limitaban el crecimiento de la región antes de la pandemia, condicionan la posibilidad de sostener una recuperación más allá del rebote de la actividad económica en 2021, explicó Bárcena.