A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• The way to expand the US system of control
• Who really runs US foreign policy? Mad people
• How much death can billions buy?

The way to expand the US system of control 08 Oct 2010 How much do you know about the US empire and the countless global bases to maintain it?

Who really runs US foreign policy? Mad people 08 Oct 2010 Love this logic. Israel is a US client state and now we have confirmation that Washington essentially begged Tel Aviv to continue the illusion of a “settlement freeze” over the moribund “peace talks”. God help the Middle East.

How much death can billions buy? 08 Oct 2010 War is Business blog unpacks the true cost of our conflicts: At the start of the Iraq invasion, the US military spent twice as much on its own personnel as it did on procurement from private sources. Within a few years’ time, the military was spending three times as much on outside contractors as on its own men and women in uniform. That’s one tidbit from a 57-page report on escalating war spending by US Congressional researchers I mentioned in a post last week, but only got around to reading this morning. Here’s another: Increased military contracting costs accounted for half of the total rise in war spending between the second half of 2003 and 2008. In that period, the report says, procurement spending increased from $7.2 billion to nearly $62 billion.