Antiwar.com Weekly Newsletter for April,21 2021

Your source for foreign policy news. 

April 21st, 2021

Biden Declares National Emergency: US and NATO Brand Russia an International Pariah

The thirty-member North Atlantic Council, the political decision-making body of NATO consisting of the ambassadors of all member states, posted a statement supporting the Joe Biden administration's declaration of a national emergency attributed to Russian actions, real or fancied.

Biden began a letter accompanying an executive order sent to the U.S. Congress today with this announcement:

"Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States posed by specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation."

By Rick Rozoff

The War in Afghanistan Has Cost Over $2.26 Trillion

The US government has spent over $2.26 trillion on its failed war in Afghanistan, according to the latest numbers from Brown University's Costs of War Project. The report also estimates that the war has directly killed 241,000 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The $2.26 trillion in spending was broken down into five categories. The single greatest expense was $933 billion, which was covered by the Defense Department's Overseas Contingency Operations Budget. The second-highest cost is the estimated interest accrued by borrowing money for the war, which accounts for $530 billion.

The Pentagon's base budget saw increases over the years for the war in Afghanistan that accounts for the third-highest expense at $443 billion. Care for veterans of the war comes in fourth at $296 billion, a number that will continue to rise for decades to come. The State Department's budget for Afghanistan comes in fifth at $59 billion.

By Dave DeCamp

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Vienna Talks Reveal Biden Team's Attachment to Sanctions That Would Torpedo Iran Deal

The Biden administration signaled once again at the April 9 Vienna meeting on the Iran nuclear deal that it intends to maintain Trump-era Iran sanctions in an effort to win political and military concessions going well beyond the original deal itself. Team Biden continued to insist during the conference that Iran return to full compliance with the nuclear agreement without any reciprocal US commitment to remove the sanctions President Donald Trump imposed after abandoning the agreement in 2018.

The Biden administration's stance on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has already provoked a forceful response from Iran. Rather than enriching uranium at the 20 percent level that was used before Washington began making its new demands, Tehran has begun enriching to 60 percent purity.

By Gareth Porter

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Uranium Enrichment Doesn't Get Them Close to Making a Bomb

With Israel looking to sabotage Iran left and right, and the Iranian parliament looking to make tangible changes to the nuclear program in retaliation, Iranian officials struggle to make sure that they comply enough to keep parliament happy, while avoiding anything that's going to hinder future peace talks.
Iran has long emphasized that everything they've done in this regard is reversible. Still, moves like enrichment of uranium to 60% are new milestones for Iran, and sound scary because they're bigger numbers.
As far as a threat toward weaponization, not so much. It's not at all clear what Iran would do with 60% enriched uranium, beyond likely dilute it back down to 20% or less. It's still well short of the 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium, and with Iran continuing to be very transparent about what they're doing, it's just a proof of concept.

By Jason Ditz

As Castro Rule Fades in Cuba, Americans Should Engage the Cuban People

The Castro brothers ruled Cuba for more than six decades. The results have not been pretty. An island impoverished in body and mind. Even artists have been protesting of late, punished by the security forces for having the temerity to question the communist authorities.

However, change is in the offing. Fidel died in 2016. A petty tyrant compared to the 20th Century's murderous triad of Hitler-Mao-Stalin, he still oppressed millions. Raul, longtime defense minister before succeeding his brother as president and communist party head, quit the former three years ago and resigned the latter last week. Although his children are influential, they will not succeed him. Cuba will no longer belong politically to the Castro family. He said he would turn power over to younger officials "full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit," meaning willing to continue holding the Cuban people in brutal bondage.

By Doug Bandow

Oh, No! Al-Qaeda Out of Cave on 9/12!

The current discussion on the planned withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan centers on a benighted belief that my former CIA analyst-colleague Paul Pillar exposed 12 years ago. Paul called it the "key tenet that Afghanistan must not be allowed to again become a haven for terrorist groups, especially al-Qaeda".

With Sunday's Washington Post "Sky Is Falling"-type warning, and the NY Times's Maureen Dowd saying No it isn't, where does one turn for some sensible informed expertise?

By Ray McGovern

Frozen Farce: Russia Alarmism - Arctic Edition

William Arkin: Why America Can't End its 'Forever Wars'

SecDef Austin Hints at Continued US Military Involvement in Afghanistan

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