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Hillary and Bernie Part Ways on Israel

April 18, 2016 By admin

The foreign policy divide between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could not have been more obvious than in last week’s debate in Brooklyn when the moderator brought forward the issue of Israel and Palestine. The answers they gave not only revealed differing emphases among two politicians who both strongly identify as being “pro-Israel,” it revealed a striking contrast regarding the role the United States should play as a mediator in international conflicts and attitudes towards international humanitarian law.

Hillary Clinton’s Iraq War vote still appalls

April 14, 2016 By admin

In 2002, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York voted to authorize the Iraq War; her rival for the Democratic nomination for president, Bernie Sanders, opposed it. Clinton’s vote continues to haunt her on the campaign trail – and for good reason.

Hillary Clinton’s double standards on human rights

April 11, 2016 By admin

During the 1980s, the United States was seriously divided over U.S. policy toward Central America. The Reagan administration was propping up a brutal military-backed regime in El Salvador that was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including priests, nuns and catechists, along with labor, student and human rights leaders, as well as peasants who happened to live in areas supporting the opposition.

The US role in the Honduras coup and subsequent violence

March 14, 2016 By admin

On March 3, Berta Cáceres, a brave and outspoken indigenous Honduran environmental activist and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize [1], was gunned down in her hometown of La Esperanza. Erika Guevara-Rosas [2], Americas director for Amnesty International, noted how “For years, she had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment and threats to stop her from defending the rights of indigenous communities.”

Syria after the Ceasefire

March 2, 2016 By admin

The partial ceasefire in Syria announced by the United States and Russia on February 23 has been met with less than overwhelming optimism, and, after so much bloodshed and the entrenchment of hardline positions, it is not hard to see why. The accord stipulates that the Syrian government and allied groups, including Russia, end attacks against opposition forces that are party to the agreement and these opposition forces suspend military operations. Both sides must refrain from seizing additional territory and allow “rapid, unhindered and sustained access” to humanitarian agencies.

Bipartisan Congressional efforts to support Israeli settlements and expansionism

February 26, 2016 By admin

Following earlier Congressional initiatives to effectively recognize Morocco’s illegal annexation of the occupied nation of Western Sahara, a bipartisan effort has been launched in Congress in support of Israel’s colonization of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and greater East Jerusalem, effectively recognizing Israeli annexation of territories seized in the 1967 war.

Hillary the Hawk

February 14, 2016 By admin

Despite Hillary Clinton’s reputation as a liberal, the record suggests her presidency would push America toward a more militaristic approach to the region.

On Hillary Clinton, Sexism, and U.S. Foreign Policy

February 12, 2016 By admin

Feminists who oppose Hillary Clinton’s imperialism can’t just challenge her foreign policy. We have to challenge the sexist attacks against her, too.

The Five Lamest Excuses for Hillary Clinton’s Vote to Invade Iraq

January 26, 2016 By admin

Clinton supporters want Democratic voters to forgive their candidate’s support for the most disastrous foreign policy decision in decades. They shouldn’t.

Hillary Clinton’s strident opposition to the International Criminal Court

January 20, 2016 By admin

Supporters of international law have expressed consternation that the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president — like most of her potential Republican rivals — strongly supported the illegal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Hillary Clinton’s support for the Bush administration’s request for war authorization effectively placed her in opposition to the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg Principles forbidding such wars of aggression. Ironically, these important international legal standards were in large part designed by officials from administrations of the very political party she hopes to represent in the contest for the White House.

Panel discussion on top five international stories of 2015

December 31, 2015 By admin

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Republican Candidates Defend Killing Civilians to Fight Terrorism—and So Do Democrats

December 23, 2015 By admin

There’s a bipartisan effort to justify the killing of civilians in the “war on terrorism.”

The U.S. and the Rise of ISIS

December 10, 2015 By admin

The rise of ISIS (also known as Daesh, ISIL, or the “Islamic State”) is a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. While there are a number of other contributing factors as well, that fateful decision is paramount….

What We Can Expect From Hillary Clinton on Israel/Palestine

December 5, 2015 By admin

Supporters of the international legal framework – which has, with mixed success, governed international affairs since the end of World War II – have long expressed concerns over the prospect of former senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton becoming president. Her support for the US invasion of Iraq (a flagrant violation of the UN Charter), as well as her hostility toward the International Criminal Court, her support for international recognition of Morocco’s illegal annexation of occupied Western Sahara, and her attacks against the United Nations and a number of its key agencies raise concerns that her election would bring a return to the Bush administration’s neoconservative rejection of longstanding international legal principles.

Chancellor’s opposition to student resolution problematic

December 4, 2015 By admin

UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal, in an all-campus mailing sent out Nov. 19, expressed his opposition to a recently passed resolution by the Student Union Assembly in a manner which has raised serious concerns among supporters of corporate responsibility and academic freedom. It is virtually unprecedented for a chancellor or other high-level administration to criticize student representatives for participating in a democratic process of debate and decision making, even on contentious issues…

Nobel Peace Prize spotlights National Dialogue Quartet

November 20, 2015 By admin

Bloody civil wars, the rise of the so-called “Islamic State,” the continued rule by absolute monarchs and other despots, and the ongoing Israeli and Moroccan occupations have left many skeptical of the prospects of peace, democracy and stability in the Arab world….

Obama’s Escalation in Syria

November 5, 2015 By admin

President Obama’s announcement that he would send up to 50 U.S. Special Forces to “train, advise and assist” armed militia fighting forces of the so-called “Islamic State” in Syria marks an escalation in U.S. military involvement in that country.

Netanyahu’s Incendiary Speech Blames Palestinians for Holocaust (audio)

October 27, 2015 By admin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he supports revoking the travel rights of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. The announcement came amid furor over comments that he made recently over who was really responsible for the Holocaust.

Why Netanyahu Needs Holocaust Revisionism and Israeli-Palestinian Violence

October 27, 2015 By admin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October 20 speech claiming that Hitler had not planned to exterminate Jews until a prominent Palestinian cleric pressured him to do so, while outrageous, is consistent with the longstanding narrative of the right-wing government and its U.S. supporters.

Bipartisan Attacks Against Anti-occupation Divestment Campaigns

September 14, 2015 By admin

In April, the student senate at Earlham College, a Quaker liberal arts institution in Indiana, approved a resolution by consensus recommending the college endowment divest from three U.S. companies (Motorola, Hewlett Packard and Caterpillar) which are directly supporting the Israeli occupation in violation of international law. The resolution (thus far ignored by the college’s board of trustees) follows decisions by a number of Quaker-affiliated organizations — as well as the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and other nonprofit groups — to divest from these companies…