admin, Author at Stephen Zunes

Klobuchar Has Pushed Extreme Right-Wing Policy on Israel/Palestine

February 14, 2020 By admin

In recent days, much of the mainstream media has been focusing on the rise of centrist Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar as a serious contender in the Democratic presidential primary. Many in the more progressive wing of the party have been criticizing her positions on climate change and broader environmental concerns, as well as her stances on economic inequality, social welfare and the criminal legal system. However, attention also needs to be brought to her surprisingly right-wing foreign policy perspectives.

Trump “Peace Plan” Too Extreme Even for Former Right-Wing Israeli Prime Minister

February 12, 2020 By admin

In an extraordinary joint press conference at the United Nations on Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert outlined their objections to Donald Trump’s so-called “peace plan” between Israel and Palestine. The plan would allow Israel to annex large swathes of territory conquered in the 1967 war that it has since illegally colonized with Israeli settlers. Trump’s proposal, made without Palestinian participation and unilaterally announced last month, would leave small noncontiguous enclaves of remaining Palestinian territory surrounded by a greatly expanded Israel and allowed only limited autonomy.

INTERVIEWS: Trump ‘Peace Plan,’Middle East Update with Stephen Zunes

January 27, 2020 By admin

A “peace plan” for Israel-Palestine? War on Iran? A way out of Afghanistan? East-West Conflict Over Syria? Numerous tinderbox situations in the region are all made more dangerous by Trump’s impulsive, ill-informed actions.We take an authoritative look at the region’s…

Interview: Today’s US-Iran Crisis Is Rooted in the Decision to Invade Iraq

January 19, 2020 By admin

The ramifications of the illegal, unnecessary and predictably tragic U.S. decision to invade Iraq are still with us. This includes the ongoing crisis with Iran, which brought us perilously close to all-out war in early January, resulted in the tragic downing of a civilian airliner and remains in a hair-trigger situation.

Interview: Proof that Soleimani killed hundreds of Americans is “groundless”

January 10, 2020 By admin

According to our next guest– the claim that Soleimani and the Iranian government are somehow responsible for the deaths of “hundreds of Americans” in Iraq—which has been repeated by Republicans, some Democrats and the mainstream media—appears to be groundless.

Our guest today is STEPHEN ZUNES, a professor of politics and coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco.

He’s written a new piece for The Progressive Magazine saying there is zero evidence that Soleimani killed hundreds of Americans….

There Is Zero Actual Evidence Iran Is Responsible for Killing Hundreds of Americans

January 7, 2020 By admin

The assertions being repeated today seem based on apparently groundless claims from twelve years ago by the same people who said Iraq possessed weapons, weapons programs, and weapons systems that were such a grave threat that they ignited the U.S.-Iraq war.

Trump’s Recognition of Israeli Settlements Is Rooted in Bipartisan Support

November 21, 2019 By admin

Three previous U.S. administrations all ignored the gross power asymmetry between the Palestinians under occupation and the Israeli occupiers—an imbalance compounded by the fact that as the chief mediator in negotiations, the U.S. is also the primary military, economic, and diplomatic supporter of the occupying power.

House of Representatives Finally Recognizes Armenian Genocide

November 20, 2019 By admin

It is shocking that it has taken this long for even one house of the U.S. Congress to recognize this historic tragedy. Somehow it is always a “bad time” to upset the government of Turkey.

Biden’s Support of Iraq War Shows How He Would Run the White House

November 12, 2019 By admin

Supporters of presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden are probably hoping that Democratic voters will see his key role in pushing through the Iraq War authorization as simply a “mistake” which should not be a factor in the 2020 presidential race. Indeed, Biden now claims that, “From the moment [the invasion] started … I was opposed to the effort, and I was outspoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress” despite his statements at the time and subsequently that he supported Bush’s decision to invade even after inspectors returned and no “weapons of mass destruction” were found.
Not only was Biden one of the most important Democratic supporters of the Iraq War, but that support says much about the kind of president he would be.

Biden Has Defended US Allies’ Use of Lethal Force Against Civilians

November 4, 2019 By admin

On an October evening in 2002, while quietly embroidering on the porch of her home in Nablus in the West Bank, 60-year-old Shaden Abu Hijleh was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces. A grandmother and community activist involved in promoting the arts, women’s and children’s advocacy, serving the needy and nonviolent resistance to the occupation, she had no links to any violent or extremist organizations. No protests or other violent disturbances were taking place nearby, and her killing is widely believed to have been a targeted assassination.

Interview: BBC on Trump Impeachment

October 14, 2019 By admin

BBC October 14, 2019 (4 minutes).

This Isn’t the First Time the US Has Abandoned the Kurds

October 10, 2019 By admin

President Trump’s decision to give a green light for a Turkish invasion of Kurdish-populated regions of northern Syria has been faced with swift bipartisan opposition

Biden Is Doubling Down on Iraq War Lies

August 8, 2019 By admin

For the second consecutive Democratic debate, Joe Biden has failed to come to terms about his critical role in supporting the illegal, unnecessary, and predictably disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq….

Trump’s Threats towards Iran Aren’t Working. Here’s Why.

July 17, 2019 By admin

The Trump Administration has imposed sanctions against more than 1,000 Iranian entities, including Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, targeting almost every significant sector of that nation’s economy. But recently it reversed course, backing off its threat to sanction a top Iranian diplomat, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in response to concerns that it would foreclose any diplomatic recourse…..

The Threat of War with Iran

May 15, 2019 By admin

The White House has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group off the coast of Iran and a fleet of bombers have flown to U.S. air bases near that country, while preliminary plans are apparently underway to send 120,000 U.S. troops to the region.

How Sudan’s Pro-Democracy Uprising Challenges Prevailing Myths about Civil Resistance

April 22, 2019 By admin

A powerful pro-democracy civil insurrection in Sudan which has ousted a longstanding dictator and his successor is still in progress, but Sudanese are hopeful for a full democratic transition.

Trump’s Controversial Decision on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

April 17, 2019 By admin

There is little question that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is bad news. Some of its units have engaged in severe repression of nonviolent dissidents, supported Assad’s brutal counter-insurgency operations in Syria, backed hardline Islamist militia in several foreign countries, and more.

INTERVIEW: Why Sudan’s Dictator Fell and What Comes Next?

April 12, 2019 By admin

LINK:
https://www.risingupwithsonali.com/2019/04/12/why-sudans-dictator-fell-and-what-comes-next/

DOWNLOAD AUDIO (MP3):
https://ia601505.us.archive.org/27/items/20190412StephenZunes/2019_04_12_Stephen_Zunes.mp3

The Other Reason Biden Shouldn’t Run

April 2, 2019 By admin

Anyone wondering about former Vice-President Joe Biden’s fitness for the presidency ought to be concerned about the recent allegations of inappropriate touching. But there is another issue that deserves consideration: his key role in making possible an inappropriate and utterly disastrous war.

U.S. Recognition of Israel’s Golan Annexation a Threat to World Order

March 25, 2019 By admin

The Trump Administration’s decision to recognize Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights—Syrian territory seized in the June 1967 war—marks a serious violation of fundamental principles of international law.