Headlines:
- US Hands Stained with the Blood of Civilians
- India’s Currency Crisis
- CIA Agents Killed in Jordan
US Hands Stained with the Blood of Civilians
The Pentagon has today released that 64 civilians have been killed due to airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Pentagon spokesmen called it an “unfortunate incident” and reaffirmed the efficiency of “precision” strikes. The figures did not include other incidents such as the deadly airstrikes in Manbij earlier in the year which killed dozens of people. Other human rights groups have disputed the Pentagon release, such as amnesty, who claim that 300 people have been killed over a 2 year period as opposed to the 114 claimed by the Pentagon. All this shows that whilst the USA justifies its wars based on human rights, valuing life and saving them, its wars in the short term have killed innocent civilians and have destabilised the entire region in the long term.
India’s Currency Crisis
Earlier this week, Indian President Nerendra Mohdi implemented a ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes in order to combat corruption in India’s growing black market. The abrupt decision to remove high-valued currency from circulation has been met with public outrage. Most people keep cash as opposed to storing it in a bank account, furthermore, as the ban is on higher valued rupees, it has become very difficult for the poor to break what currency they own so as to purchase basic goods and services. This has led to exhausting cues outside of banks, which are endless and almost always slow to move. Many are currently angered by such a decision that was made with absolutely no consent, and although it may be to combat corruption, it has only done damage to the poor in India. Although these higher valued rupees will be replaced with new currency, in addition to more security features, it is clear that the notorious corruption within India is a systemic problem, one that will certainly not be solved by monetary and fiscal tinkering.
CIA Agents Killed in Jordan
On November 4, Jordanian troops shot and killed three US special forces soldiers who were described as “military trainers” at the time. The troops were killed at a checkpoint at the al-Jafr Air Base, and Jordanian officials said they didn’t stop like they were supposed to. The situation is looking a lot more complicated now, with officials conceding that the US troops killed in the incident were actually working with the CIA in a program to train “moderate” rebels. Jordan is still insisting it was a simple checkpoint shootout gone wrong, one of those things that just happens at checkpoints. Instead of claiming the US troops didn’t stop, they’re now claiming one of their guns went off by mistake, and the Jordanian troops killed them because of heightened security. The incident is said to be the single deadliest incident involving a CIA team since December 2009, when seven were killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan’s Camp Chapman. The attacker in that case was also working for the Jordanian government, having become a “triple agent” after being sent to infiltrate al-Qaeda.