Stephen Zunes : Trump Foreign Policy
Politicians Are Not Going to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable
9 January 2019
DESPITE THE manifold horrors inflicted by the Saudi regime over the years, it was not until the grisly murder of a well-connected exiled journalist in early October that public attention has finally been given to the monarchy’s savagery.
Despite Everything, U.S. Troops Should Leave Syria
3 January 2019
Donald Trump’s sudden decision to remove U.S. forces from Syria appears to have been impetuous and ill-considered — apparently a result of a conversation with Turkey’s autocratic president Recep Erdo?an. That doesn’t mean, however, that the United States should remain in that country.
Trump’s Dangerous Abrogation of the Iran Deal
9 May 2018
The Trump Administration’s decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the United States—strikes a dangerous blow against arms control and international security and even more firmly establishes the United States as a rogue nation.
Mike Pompeo: Trump Is Handing the State Department Over from Exxon Mobil to the Tea Party
14 March 2018
On Tuesday, President Trump abruptly fired Rex Tillerson and announced CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his choice to become the next Secretary of State. This decision serves as another disturbing development in the increasingly dangerous foreign policy turn taken by the current administration.
Trump’s Middle East Policy: The Ironies of Hawkishness
8 March 2018
Donald Trump ran for president declaring that he would take a more cautious and less-interventionist approach to the Middle East, take a more even-handed approach to Israel and Palestine, and avoid being tied down in endless wars. As an outsider with few ties to the foreign policy establishment, some hoped he might bring a more […]
Both Parties Pushed Trump Toward Reckless Action on Jerusalem
6 December 2017
President Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy would be moved to that multi-ethnic and multi-faith city. No other government in the world formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or has its embassy there, instead basing their diplomatic offices in Tel Aviv.
Why Democrats Don’t Want to Talk about Flynn’s First Meeting with the Russians
5 December 2017
The guilty plea by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn for lying to FBI investigators centers around two meetings with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. One of those meetings—a December 29, 2016, gathering to discuss new sanctions by the Obama Administration over Russian interference in the presidential election—has received much attention.
Trump’s Support for Punishing Qatar Is Misguided
16 June 2017
The decision by the Saudis and allied dictatorships to sever ties with Qatar and impose draconian sanctions on the tiny nation has precipitated a major regional crisis, and President Trump’s support for this provocative move has made matters even worse.
