EA Animated Video: A 4-Point Guide to Obama's Not-Quite-War-On-Terror

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On 23 May, President Obama set out what he claimed what was a new US approach to threats abroad: "We must define our effort not as a boundless 'global war on terror' – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America."

So what is this not-quite-War-on-Terror? Your 4-point animated guide....

1. A War By Any Other Name is Just as Deadly
2. We Are Killing Them To Bring Your Boys Home and To Prevent Attacks on You
3. The Fear Will Never Stop
4. Where Did Our Values Go?

EA Video Analysis: Iran and the American Lasers of Doom

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Last week the Pentagon announced that a new laser weapon will be placed aboard a destroyer, the USS Ponce, to deter Iranian boats from attacking the US fleet in the Persian Gulf.

I assess the propaganda angle: "The Pentagon needed to thump its chest" after the current US budget dispute prompted the withdrawal of one of two American aircraft carriers from the Gulf.

There's the tactical angle: if Israel were to attack Iranian nuclear installations, a likely response from Tehran would be the deployment of the small boats in the Gulf.

And then there's some advice for our American propaganda warriors, given that a "ponce" is a man who living off the earnings of women of ill repute:

Guys, you just put your experimental laser aboard a Pimp Ship.

EA Video Analysis: The "Al Qa'eda Myth" and Syria

>Syria Special: The Media Creates the "Al Qa'eda Myth"

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Complementary to Joanna Paraszczuk's analysis of this week's media coverage of a supposed merger between "Al Qa'eda in Iraq" and the Syrian insurgent faction Jabhat al-Nusra, I offer an eight-minute critique of how the "Al Qa'eda myth" has entrenched itself in US foreign policy and is now being promoted by the media to explain developments in Syria.

EA Video Analysis: Iraq, 10 Years Later --- 5 Points About the "Intelligence" Factor

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Extracts from an interview with Steve Hewitt, one of the world's top specialists on intellilgence services and counter-terrorism, about "intelligence" and the 2003 Iraq War:

1. Is "Intelligence" Important?
2. Did Intelligence Services, Before the War, Have A Good Sense About Iraq and WMDs?
3. Did Politicians Manipulate the Intelligence to Declare that Saddam Had WMDs?
4. Was the Truth Deliberately Distorted?
5. Could Intelligence Be Used This Way Again, to Take Us Into Military Conflict?

The full interview will be posted over the weekend.

EA Video Analysis: What Does Obama Visit to Israel and Palestine Mean? (Very Little.)

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A five-minute forecast, filmed just before President Obama arrived in West Jerusalem, of his visit to Israel and Palestine....

So far I think I've got it right: "President Obama will not have the political will --- I might even say courage --- to do anything significant."

But there is more:

There will be very little said because the fact of the matter is that the US is no longer at the centre of these Middle East questions. The US is no longer the power that can wave a magic wand or carry out shuttle diplomacy. ...

The Israeli leaaderhip will do what it wishes to do while hoping that Washington is alongside, but not necessarily depending on it. The Palestinians will try to persist and obtain a meaningful State, even if that is a halting process, whether or not Washington supports that.

EA Video Analysis: Syria, 2 Years On --- The Kaleidoscope of Civil War

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On the second anniversary of the uprising against the Assad regime, thoughts about the current situation:

1. NOSTALGIA ABOUT THE PAST

"There are still the protests. There are still the signs that make us think that there need not be sectarian violence, that there has to be some way forward beyond the bloodshed, a way forward for all Syrians. But it seems almost Utopian."

2. THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF A CIVIL WAR

"There is no way to reduce this to a good v. bad scenario, even if you think one should be imposed."

3. YOU CANNOT CONTROL A KALEIDOSCOPE, AND YOU CANNOT CONTROL THE CONFLICT

4. WHERE NOW?

"There is going to be uncertainty, there is going to be a range of outcomes --- not all of them good --- whatever you advocate."

EA Video Analysis: Obama Re-Brands the War on Terror to "Associates of Associates of Al Qa'eda"

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Five minutes --- prompted by a Washington Post article, fed by the Obama Administration, which received far too little attention --- on how the Obama Administration is expanding the authorisation for the use of deadly force to "associates of associates of Al Qa'eda":

So President Obama, his military, his CIA --- they don't have to go out anymore and say, "Will the real Al Qa'eda please stand up?" They just have to say, "Whether you're standing up of sitting down, you're a target."

EA Video Analysis: Drones, President Obama, and Rand Paul's Filibuster --- "More Macbeth Than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

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Six minutes taking apart Wednesday night's drama of Senator Rand Paul, nominally opposing the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director, speaking for 13 hours --- the ninth-longest filibuster in history --- about the Obama Administration's use of drone warfare....

Was it really significant?

"Here's what the media didn't recognise. Rand Paul's statements, his show, his declarations, his posturing didn't do a damn thing....This wasn't Mr Smith Goes to Washington. This was Mr Macbeth: a 13-hour speech full of sound and fury, but signifying nothng."

EA Video Analysis: Iran --- 7-Point Beginner's Guide to the Nuclear Talks

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With Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) meeting next Tuesday in Kazakhstan --- the first high-level discussion of Tehran's nuclear programme since last June --- a 7-Point Beginner's Guide to what is involved and what is likely to happen.

1. THE ISSUES
2. WHERE ARE WE RIGHT NOW?
3. SO WHAT ARE NEXT WEEK'S TALKS? AND WHAT WILL THEY BRING?
4. WILL THEY SUCCEED? (OF COURSE NOT.)
5. SO WHY ARE THEY BEING HELD?
6. WHAT'S NEXT?

7. SO EVERYTHING WILL BE SOLVED IN SEPTEMBER?

And be sure to stick around for the closing line....

EA Video Analysis: Syria --- How and Why the US is Arming the Insurgents

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A six-minute guide to how and why the US --- despite public denials --- are involved in the supply of weapons to the Syrian insurgents, and what it means for the future of the conflict:

Washington wants to provide the insurgents with enough weapons to put pressure on the Assad regime, possibly leading to a coup, but not enough to bring about a final bloody conflict and the decimation of Damascus.