Foreign Policy December 20, 2012, by Stephen Zunes
[Also at Truthout.org and International Center for Nonviolent Conflict]
While a growing number of people are calling for increased military aid to armed insurgents or even direct military intervention, as the French government has said it will consider, to support the armed opposition would likely exacerbate the Syrian people’s suffering and appear to validate the tragic miscalculation by parts of the Syrian opposition to supplant their bold and impressive nonviolent civil insurrection with an armed insurgency…
Month: December 2012
U.S. policy on Gaza crisis rife with contradiction
National Catholic Reporter December 19, 2012
The Obama administration’s reaction to last month’s Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip is emblematic of its policy contradictions.
The No State Solution (video)
Alternative Focus video September 10, 2012
The No State Solution is the latest contribution from Alternate Focus to examine the Israeli-Palestine conflict. This 28-minute video first explores political barriers to any solution, and then possible resolutions. The video features interviews with Dr. Stephen Zunes (Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco), Miko Peled (author of “The General’s Son”), and Jeff Warner (Jewish peace activist in Los Angeles and author of this review), interleaved with the filmmakers narrative are abundant modern and archival clips… [Also at YouTube]
Susan Rice Would Have Been a Bad Secretary of State Anyway
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies,
December 17, 2012, By Stephen Zunes.
The mainstream media was too willing to focus on spurious criticisms of Susan Rice from the right while ignoring legitimate criticisms from the left. U.S. UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s announcement she would withdraw her name from consideration to be the next Secretary of State is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it marks yet another example of the Obama administration’s failure to defend its appointees [and] On the other hand, Rice’s lack of support for international humanitarian law and her willingness to state demonstrable falsehoods…
Syrian Government and Rebels Up the Ante, While US Raises Implications of Chemical Weapons (audio)
Uprising Radio December 10, 2012. The source link and recording for this item are no longer available. Find best related links.
Egyptian President Morsi Backs Down But Declares Martial Law, As Protests Continue (audio)
Uprising Radio December 10, 2012. The source link and recording are no longer available. Find best related links.
U.S. policy at U.N. hurts prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Full Article. [Source is no longer available. Related links].
Up until the mid-20th century, the time at which nonwhite, non-Western nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be gained through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and approved representatives of the conquered peoples. It was not the purview of the UN or any other international legal authority to adjudicate such matters, since the rights of those in the colonies were limited to what was willingly agreed to by the colonizers.