Truthout, Feb. 27, 2022 and Tikkun March 10, 2022 [source]
Part of the decades-long tradition of the U.S. propping up Arab dictatorships that suppress pro-democracy struggles while justifying support for Israel, calling it the region’s “sole democracy.”
Category: Europe
Eastern Europe
Russian aggression, US hypocrisy and is UAE a safe haven for oligarchs?
The Progressive, March 1, 2022: There’s No Justification for Russia’s Aggression, But U.S. Double Standards on Illegal War Are Hard to Stomach: Nothing can excuse Putin’s invasion, but the hypocrisy could hardly be more striking.
Al Jazeera quotes Zunes March 7, 14 and 29
*The limits of Iran’s influence on Yemen’s Houthi rebels
*Analysis: Can the UAE be a safe haven for Russian oligarchs?
*Can Russia return to the world stage as other aggressors have?
Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
Radio Islam International: Ukraine Crisis
US Support for Invasions Should Disqualify It From Leading on Russia-Ukraine
Truthout, January 26, 2022: The U.S. is in no position to lead any international effort in defense of the right to self-determination.
US Western Sahara stance emboldens Putin
The Progressive Jan. 6, 2022, by Stephen Zunes [source]
The threat of further Russian aggression against Ukraine is very real. Unfortunately, the Biden administration is in a weak position to lead an international response. Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
KTVU News: Ukraine
13 August 2021: Video is no longer available,
but see Dr. Zunes on KTVU Feb. 21, 2022.
Resisting Stolen Elections: Lessons from the Philippines, Serbia, Ukraine, and Gambia
ICNC October 23, 2020: Recent precedents we can learn from about how to stop attempts to overturn election results include… one in Southeast Asia, one in Africa and two in Eastern Europe… through large-scale nonviolent direct action. This article looks at these cases, and identifies key lessons.
Putin’s U.S. Defenders
The Progressive September 15, 2016
After experiencing decades of rightwing attacks for being “soft” on Moscow, progressives may be feeling a bit of whiplash as they witness prominent conservatives—with Donald Trump in the lead—heaping praise upon an autocratic Russian leader. Trump has praised President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB operative who tolerates little dissent, for his “very strong control over a country.” Putin has returned the favor by strongly endorsing Trump.
The Good News and the Bad News About Turkey’s Attempted Coup
Huffington Post & CommonDreams.org July 19, 2016
The survival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Welfare Party of an attempted coup last week is a mixed blessing. Despite the ultra-conservative policies and creeping authoritarianism of the Erdogan regime, Turks from across the political spectrum opposed the coup, which was attempted by a faction of the Turkish military… The good news is the coup’s failure may be a sign that, for the first time in history, Turkey’s elected government has successfully imposed civilian rule over the military… The bad news is that the apparent success in resisting the military may not be used for democratic ends…
Turkey’s Creeping Authoritarianism: Is the Resistance Enough?
The Progressive May 13, 2016: Turkey’s march towards authoritarianism took another dangerous turn with the forced resignation of moderate Islamist Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, apparently at the insistence of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan… And he is becoming ever more autocratic.
China Radio International – Iran Nuclear Negotiations Resume (Audio)
[The source link and recording for this item are
no longer available. Find best related links.]
China Radio International – Minsk Peace Talks on Ukraine Crisis Concludes (Audio)
The source link and recording for this item are
no longer available. Find best related links.
U.S. Leadership Against Russia Crippled By Its Own Hypocrisy
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 15, 2014
[Republished by Common Dreams and Transnational.org]
A Nonviolent Alternative for Ukraine
Foreign Policy May 28, 2014
On May 15, thousands of unarmed residents and steelworkers of the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol did nonviolently what a bloody attack by Ukrainian troops six days earlier was unable to: rid the region’s second-largest city of armed pro-Russian separatists who had held key buildings and other parts of the city for weeks. Smaller protests have taken place in other cities…
Straight Talk on the U.S. and Ukraine
Foreign Policy In Focus, March 13, 2014
Given the limits of its power and its own compromised relationship with international law, the U.S. isn’t in a position to do much about Ukraine.
Interview: Talking about Boston Marathon Bombings & Background on Chechnya
The source link and recording for this item are
no longer available. Find best related links.
Interview: Reaction to Boston Tragedy
The source link and recording for this item are no longer available. Find best related links.
U.S. in No Position to Condemn Alleged Russian Transfer of Helicopter Gunships to Syrian Regime
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, June 13, 2012.
Republished by National Catholic Reporter & ZNetwork
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has claimed that “there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria,” though the Russian government denies the accusation. If true, it would be highly disturbing, given the Syrian regime’s widespread use of such weapons against unarmed civilians. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have called for an immediate end of arms transfers to the Syrian regime, particularly of weapons that have been used to target civilians… Thousands of Salvadoran civilians are believed to have been killed by U.S.-supplied helicopter gunships during the 1980s…
US Outrage Over Syria Veto at UN Rife With Hypocrisy
Truthout, February 8, 2012, also by The Israel Palestine Project
Official Washington has been rife with condemnation at the decision by the governments of Russia and China to veto an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the ongoing repression in Syria and calling for a halt to violence on all sides; unfettered access for Arab League monitors; and “a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs.” Human rights activists were outraged…
Syrian Repression, the Chinese-Russian Veto, and U.S. Hypocrisy
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, February 7, 2012
Also Eurasia Review, Global Policy Focus, Middle East Spectator, The Indypendent, Democratic Underground, Mulay Smara, Alternatives International Journal and Transnational Blog
Just as France shields Morocco from accountability for its ongoing occupation and repression in Western Sahara, and just as the U.S. shields Israel from having observe international humanitarian law, Russia and China have used their permanent seats on the UN Security Council to protect the Syrian regime from accountability for its savage repression against its own citizens. Although inexcusable, the self-righteous reaction by U.S. officials betrays hypocrisy on a grand scale…