The UN has vague concerns and John Bellinger, former Legal Adviser to the United States Secretary of State during the Bush administration, very specific ones about the way in which we’re using cover of a war on terrorism (which has, after all, been renamed a war against violent extremism, with no specificity to al Qaeda or terrorism) to target people we’ve got no legal basis targeting.

“The problem with the United States is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators (which are) particularly prominently used now in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan,” UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference.

  A major story out of Afghanistan, with implications for the US strategy in the region. The United Nations’ Electoral Complaints Commission has completed their work on the Afghan elections, tossing out so many fraudulent votes to bring Hamid Karzai under 50% in the first round of voting, necessitating a runoff. However, the UN commission [...]