LATEST NEWS FROM OFF-SITE

• Hezbollah, Syrian government forces advance in border town| Reuters May 25, 2013
  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah launched a fierce campaign to seize more rebel territory in the border town of Qusair on Saturday, sources on both sides of the conflict said. […]
• Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan May 24, 2013
  Hunting militants through morally and legally questionable bombing missions hardly provides real justice to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The same international laws are broken by the drone program purportedly intended to protect American soil from foreign enemies seeking to eliminate its citizens. […]
• Has Obama tightened US drone strike policy, or not? - CSMonitor.com May 24, 2013
  Administration officials had said Thursday's address by President Obama would contain big changes on drone attacks. But some sections were so carefully worded as to be 'opaque,' according to one expert. […]
• Would a US 'drone court' to authorize drone strikes be a good idea? - CSMonitor.com May 24, 2013
  President Obama this week tentatively opened the door to the establishment of a drone court, to provide greater accountability for drone strikes on Al Qaeda affiliates abroad. The idea is drawing mixed reviews. […]
• Obama defends CIA’s drone program - Taipei Times May 24, 2013
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• Pakistan says U.S. drone strikes violate sovereignty May 24, 2013
  Pakistan on Friday opposed U.S. drone strikes hours after President Barack Obama defended the use of controversial drone mission as self-defense against the militants. Addressing the National Defense University in Washington on Thursday, President Obama defended the use of drones and said, "We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as […]
• Obama limits drone strikes May 24, 2013
  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday defended America’s controversial drone attacks but announced new restraints on targeted killings, saying civilian casualties haunt him and that Washington is in the process of rebuilding relations with Pakistan. In a major speech to military and political leaders at the National Defence University, Obama announ […]
• 4 Americans killed by drones, US confirms May 24, 2013
  WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Wednesday US drones killed four Americans in airstrikes in Pakistan and Yemen. The disclosure came in a letter US Attorney General Eric Holder sent to congressional leaders, The New York Times reported. Holder said the administration deliberately targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric and American citizen […]
• The Able Archer 83 War Scare: “NATO requested initial limited use of nuclear weapons” | UNREDACTED May 24, 2013
  This posting also appears on ForeignPolicy.com. According to a declassified National Security Agency history, American Cryptology During the Cold War, the “period 1982-1984 marked the most dangerous Soviet-American confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis.” The secret history recounts that “Cold War hysteria reached its peak” in the autumn of 1983 with a […]
• Obama reveals conflicted thinking on drone strikes - latimes.com May 24, 2013
  In a major speech, President Obama tries to answer critics of drone strikes but also raises his own questions. WASHINGTON — At times defensive, solemn, lawyerly and personal, President Obama on Thursday offered a rare glimpse of the burden that the nation's fight against terrorism has placed on the man who leads it.      […]
• Obama puts restrictions on drone program - latimes.com May 24, 2013
  Setting a new tone on U.S. counter-terrorism policy, he also lifts the ban on sending Guantanamo prisoners home. WASHINGTON — Reining back the aggressive counter-terrorism strategy he has embraced for five years, President Obama declared clear, public restrictions for the first time on using unmanned aircraft to kill terrorists, a shift likely to significant […]
• Kerry calls for “hard decisions” in Israel - while Hizballah-al Qaeda forces build up in Syria May 24, 2013
  After 48 hours in Jerusalem and Ramallah, trying to talk Israeli and Palestinian leaders into returning to peace diplomacy, US Secretary of State John Kerry’s exit line, May 24, called for “hard decisions.” debkafile: As he spoke, two rival terrorist groups, Al Qaeda and Hizballah, continued pouring fighting strength into Syria – both of them, enemies of Isr […]
• Syrian rebels: We downed Iranian plane landing in Damascus May 24, 2013
  Syrian rebels claimed to have downed an Iranian plane landing at Damascus airport Thursday and suspected of carrying weapons and ammunition for the Syrian army. They released a video they said showed the plane crashing and exploding upon landing after being hit by an anti-aircraft weapon. The claim denied by Syrian state media could not be independently veri […]
• Obama to change rules of anti-terrorist drone war May 24, 2013
  US President Barack Obama prepares to announce a fundamental change in the rules of drone warfare against terrorists. They will be confined to “a continuing, imminent threat to Americans,” instead of attacks on potentially dangerous terrorist strongholds as hitherto.   […]