Alternet: Posted on January 30, 2009, by Stephen Zunes
In disc golf, there’s a shot known as “an Obama” — it’s a drive that you expect to veer to the left but keeps hooking right. In no other area has this metaphor been truer than Barack Obama’s foreign policy and national security appointments. For a man who was elected in part on the promise to not just end the war in Iraq but to “end the mindset that got us into war in the first place,” it’s profoundly disappointing that a majority of his key appointments — Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Dennis Blair, Janet Napolitano, Richard Holbrooke and Jim Jones, among others — have been among those who represent that very mindset…
Month: January 2009
Holbrooke: Insensitive Choice for a Sensitive Region
Foreign Policy in Focus, January 30, 2009 [source]
Obama’s choice for special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arguably the most critical area of U.S. foreign policy, is a man with perhaps the most sordid history of his largely disappointing foreign policy and national security appointments. Richard Holbrooke got his start in the Foreign Service during the 1960s, in the notorious pacification programs in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. This ambitious joint civilian-military effort not only included horrific human rights abuses but also proved to be a notorious failure in curbing the insurgency against the U.S.-backed regime in Saigon. [Also at OurCampaigns.com]
Is Mitchell Up to the Task?
Huffington Post January 28, 2009, by Stephen Zunesa [ source]
Obama’s appointment of George Mitchell as special Middle East envoy may signal a step in the right direction regarding U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there remain questions as to whether Mitchell is up to the task and whether the Obama administration is willing to put some muscle into the process.
Debate: Israel’s War on Gaza (audio)
BlogTalkRadio, January 24, 2009 [begins at 30:00]
Professor Stephen Zunes, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of San Francisco, debates Professor Jason Steck, Department of Political Science, Creighton University, on the topic of Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza.
Daring to Hope on the Washington Mall
Huffington Post, January 23, 2009, by Stephen Zunes [source]
I dared to hope. I even felt a little patriotic. I was among the two million people who assembled on the Washington Mall to witness the moment. I was willing to come all the way from California, pay the air fare — and leave the carbon footprint — in order to join my daughter Kalila, a student at Earlham College in Indiana, in watching history being made. I have written a series of articles raising concerns about various positions Obama had staked out during the campaign and, in particular, raising questions about some of the appointments Obama has made. I will no doubt write more such articles over the next four to eight years.
Interview: The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza (audio)
KBOO-FM January 1, 2009 with Stephen Zunes
Gaza: a humanitarian catastrophe in making. A live interview with Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco, and Isaac Luria, JStreet. [Listen here]
Virtually the Entire Dem-Controlled Congress Supports Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza
Alternet January 13, 2009, by Stephen Zunes [source]
In a direct challenge to the credibility of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross and other reputable humanitarian organizations, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress has gone on record supporting President George W. Bush’s position that the Israeli armed forces bear no responsibility for the large and growing numbers of civilian casualties from their assault on the Gaza Strip. As of this writing, at least 400 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces, primarily using U.S.-supplied weaponry.
Interview: Obama’s foreign policy appointments (audio)
Rabble Radio, Canada, Jan. 11, 2009 [source is no longer available]
Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton supported the Iraq War from Day One and has denounced Obama’s intention to negotiate with Iran. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is an advocate of continuing the war in Iraq. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is known for his unswerving support of Israel. We speak with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco…
Democrats Back Bush, Reject Human Rights Groups, in Support for Israeli Assault on Gaza
Huffington Post January 7, 2009 by Stephen Zunes [source]
The Democratic leadership’s strident support for the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip underscores how the Democrats suffer from the same illusions as the outgoing Republican administration: that placing an Arab territory under debilitating sanctions that punish the population as a whole, bombarding heavily populated civilian areas — resulting in widespread casualties among innocent people — and invading and occupying territories with a long history of resistance to outsiders will somehow lead to greater moderation from those afflicted.
Interview: U.S. Policy and the Rise of Hamas (audio)
Free Radio Santa Cruz Hear and download here, Jan. 5, 2009.
America’s Hidden Role in Hamas’s Rise to Power
Huffington Post Feb 5, 2009 |Updated May 25, 2011, by Stephen Zunes
Also by Global Research, Alternet & The South African Civil Society Information Service
No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America’s sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics. The United States bears much of the blame for the ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and nearby parts of Israel. Indeed, were it not for misguided Israeli and American policies, Hamas would not be in control of the territory in the first place.
Israel initially encouraged the rise of the Palestinian Islamist movement as a counter to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the secular coalition composed of Fatah and various leftist and other nationalist movements. Beginning in the early 1980s, with generous funding from the U.S.-backed family dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, the antecedents of Hamas began to emerge through the establishment of schools, health care clinics, social service organizations and other entities that stressed an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, which up to that point had not been very common among the Palestinian population. The hope was that if people spent more time praying in mosques, they would be less prone to enlist in left- wing nationalist movements challenging the Israeli occupation.