From the magazine
Blackwater security contractors in Iraq have been involved in nearly 200 “escalation of force” incidents in Iraq since 2005, including several previously unreported killings of Iraqi civilians, congressional investigators reported this week. Blackwater has been under intense scrutiny since a recent shootout in Baghdad that left at least 17 Iraqis dead. That incident, it turns out, was hardly an isolated one. The firm’s 1,000 employees have engaged in “frequent and extensive” use of force, the report said, usually without provocation. Blackwater, along with the State Department, is also accused of covering up several ugly incidents, including the 2005 murder of an Iraqi bodyguard by a drunken Blackwater employee.
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Putin’s threat to fracture Ukrainefeature Fears that Russia was building a pretext for an invasion of eastern Ukraine grew, as pro-Kremlin protesters occupied government buildings in three cities.
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Curbing NSA surveillance
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Downsizing the military
feature A new budget plan for the Pentagon would save hundreds of billions of dollars by taking the military off its post-9/11 war footing.
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Putin ratchets up pressure on Ukraine
feature Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 troops at the Ukraine border on high alert and cut off $15 billion in financial aid.
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Ukraine on the brink of civil war
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Ukraine at the breaking point
feature An alliance of opposition groups vowed protests would continue until President Viktor Yanukovych is removed from power.
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Dim prospects for Syrian talks
feature A long-awaited Syrian peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland, quickly degenerated into a cross fire of bitter accusations.
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The fight over jobless benefits
feature A bill to restore federal benefits for the long-term unemployed advanced when six Republican senators voted with Democrats.