[Link] Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule

Read: 4/11/2021 www.theguardian.com

Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join Nato but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line “with a lot of countries that don’t matter”, according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance.

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[Link] ‘The court of God will be waiting for him’: Iraqis react to Colin Powell’s death

Read: 19/10/2021 www.theguardian.com

For many Iraqis, Colin Powell was the face of the US invasion which caused an estimated 200,000 deaths, unleashing nearly two decades of domestic chaos and precipitating chaos throughout the region.

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[Link] Colin Powell’s UN speech: a decisive moment in undermining US credibility

Read: 19/10/2021 www.theguardian.com

Colin Powell will be most remembered for the act he most regretted, his 2003 presentation to the UN security council laying out US evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist.

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[Link] Pentagon Wrongly Admitted Killing 21 Civilians in Iraq and Syria

Read: 7/8/2021 theintercept.com

The Defense Department has been forced to withdraw a key part of an official report to Congress, after wrongly claiming responsibility for killing 21 civilians in Iraq and Syria who were actually slain by close U.S. allies.

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[Link] Australian mathematician discovers applied geometry engraved on 3,700-year-old tablet

Read: 4/8/2021 www.theguardian.com

An Australian mathematician has discovered what may be the oldest known example of applied geometry, on a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet. Known as Si.427, the tablet bears a field plan measuring the boundaries of some land.

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