The United States has reportedly "slammed the brakes" on the UN resolution which calls for a limited ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid in Yemen, according to CNN. Citing sources close to the negotiations, CNN reports the latest decision is the opposite of what US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has been promising since she supported the resolution weeks ago. The White House has declined to comment further. Many say the delay is due to the White House's concern of angering Saudi Arabia, which strongly opposes the resolution. What's really going on here?
Three US soldiers are dead in Afghanistan after a Taliban bombing Tuesday. The fatal incident happened when a roadside bomb went off near Ghazni City, in the southeastern province of the same name, killing special forces soldiers three months after they were sent to save that city from falling to the Taliban. This latest incident brings up the question: why is America still in Afghanistan? The Pentagon declared an end to American combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, so why are we still losing American soldiers in a land we were supposed to have "liberated?" Is Afghanistan the Achilles' heel for America?
Google employees have renewed their public protests toward the company's Chinese search engine project, named Project Dragonfly. It aimed to reintroduce a censored version of the Google Search app to the Chinese market. A group of over 170 employees have teamed up with Amnesty International and written a letter on Medium entitled, "We are Google employees. Google must drop Dragonfly." Part of it states: "Our opposition to Dragonfly is not about China: we object to technologies that aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable, wherever they may be. The Chinese government certainly isn't alone in its readiness to stifle freedom of expression and to use surveillance to repress dissent. Dragonfly in China would establish a dangerous precedent at a volatile political moment, one that would make it harder for Google to deny other countries similar concessions… We join with Amnesty International in demanding that Google cancel Dragonfly. We also demand that leadership commit to transparency, clear communication and real accountability. Google is too powerful not to be held accountable. We deserve to know what we're building, and we deserve a say in these significant decisions." Do employees have that much power to shut things down?
GUESTS:
Elisabeth Myers — Editor-in-Chief of Inside Arabia.
Dr. Marvin Weinbaum — Scholar-in-residence and director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies.
Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist.
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