through the screen doors of discretion

The United States is in the midst of its most expensive election season ever.

It is not what Washington pundits mean when they say that this year’s presidential race will be won or lost on the economy.

From Al Jazeera English’s long-form documentary program Fault Lines, “Price of the Party.”

If you don’t know Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines program yet, and/or if you managed to avoid watching the livestream of the GOP and DNC conventions, this episode is worth twenty minutes of your time.

(via hpoffthebus)

ajfaultlines:

Here’s the full Fault Lines episode that aired on Al Jazeera English tonight on drones and the future of the US military.

Our final episode of the season, “Chile Rising,” airs next Monday, January 2nd, at 2230 GMT/ 5:30p EST.

Synopsis:

Over the past decade, the US military has shifted the way it fights its wars, deploying more unmanned systems in the battlefield than ever before. Today there are more than 7,000 drones and 12,000 ground robots in use by all branches of the military.

These systems mean less American deaths. They also mean less political risk for the US when it takes acts of lethal force – often outside of official war zones.

But US lethal drone strikes in countries like Pakistan have brought up serious questions about the legal and political implications of using these systems.

Fault Lines looks at how these new weapons of choice are allowing the US to stretch the international laws of war and what it could mean when more and more autonomy is developed for these lethal machines. 

I’m really biased—Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines pays me to manage their online presence when they are airing new episodes—and this is a really important episode on drones, bots, US military, tech, and future wars. I wouldn’t work for them if I didn’t believe they were the real deal as journalists.

All the Fault Lines episodes are over here; the team just won a duPont Award, which is kind of a big deal in journalism circles. First one for Al Jaz English.