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Donald Trump’s First Year Set a Record for Use of Special Operations Forces

Nick Turse December 14, 2017 Nick Turse

Credit: Staff Sgt. Osvaldo Equite/U.S. Army

“We don’t know exactly where we’re at in the world, militarily, and what we’re doing,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in October. That was in the wake of the combat deaths of four members of the Special Operations forces in the West African nation of Niger. Graham and other senators expressed shock about the deployment, but the global sweep of America’s most elite forces is, at best, an open secret.

Earlier this year before that same Senate committee—though Graham was not in attendance—General Raymond Thomas, the chief of US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), offered some clues about the planetwide reach of America’s most elite troops. “We operate and fight in every corner of the world,” he boasted. “Rather than a mere ‘break-glass-in-case-of-war’ force, we are now proactively engaged across the ‘battle space’ of the Geographic Combatant Commands… providing key integrating and enabling capabilities to support their campaigns and operations.” read more

Thousands of Hondurans took to the streets of Tegucigalpa on December 10 to protest electoral fraud and US interference. Photo by Sandra Cuffe

Made in the USA: The Honduran Political Crisis, Rebooted

Sandra Cuffe December 11, 2017 Sandra Cuffe

The crisis in Honduras is escalating. More than two weeks after general elections, the country is still without a president-elect. Nationwide marches, highway blockades, and neighborhood and community rallies continue to pop up around the country. As evidence of electoral fraud mounts, so does attention to the US role in the crisis.

The Unlikely Industry Empowering Women in Afghanistan

Ruchi Kumar December 11, 2017 Ruchi Kumar

In this deeply conservative society, these women are busting stereotypes every day.

Women seen confronting Israeli troops in Gaza during the first intifada. After this photo was taken the women were assaulted and dispersed with truncheons and tear gas. [Credit: Robert Croma / maryscullyreports.com]

The Last Martyr: Reflecting on Thirty Years Since the First Palestinian Intifada

Ramzy Baroud December 11, 2017 Ramzy Baroud

The Intifada was a transformational period that saved a generation from being entirely lost, and Palestine from being forgotten. It offered a new world, that of solidarity, camaraderie and wild youth who needed no one to speak on their behalf.

A meeting of residents of the Sierra Norte de Puebla. Locals complained an influx of mining and other natural resource initiatives in the region had disrupted their communities and damaged the environment. Photo by Ryan Mallett-Outtrim

Mexico’s Death Projects: Local Activists Denounce Mining and Dam Boom in Puebla

Ryan Mallett-Outtrim December 5, 2017 Ryan Mallett-Outtrim

Natural resource corporations are flocking to the mountainous Sierra Norte of Mexico’s Puebla state. In recent years, this remote area has seen an explosion of investment, and today is considered the next frontier for everything from gold mining to hydraulic fracturing and hydroelectricity. Leftist and environmental activists in this region of Central Mexico say the companies are bringing drugs, crime, and ruining the ancestral lands of indigenous Mexicans.

Syrian internally displaced people walk in the Atme camp, along the Turkish border in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, on March 19, 2013. Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

The Roots of Global Migration: Why Are People Compelled to Leave Their Homes?

Baher Kamal November 21, 2017 Baher Kamal

There has been a surge in international migration in recent years, reaching a total of 244 million individuals in 2015. Forced displacement has also reached a record high, with 65.3 million individuals displaced worldwide by the end of 2015 – including refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers.