Expert Analyst: International Politics, Middle East & Nonviolent Action
Eastern Europe
Truthout Feb. 28, 2024, by Stephen Zunes [source]This month marks the 10th anniversary of the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, which ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and in turn prompted the Russian seizure of Crimea and the Russian-backed secessionist movement in…
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.”
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…
Russia Ukraine War – Long drawn out conflict or peace soon? What stance will the US take if Russia goes to War with Ukraine?
The United States and Russia are heading toward a dangerous showdown over Ukraine, as the U.S. has 8,500 troops on high alert, ready to deploy to Eastern Europe should Russia invade Ukraine, and a new round of arms shipments have begun arriving in Ukraine.
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.
13 August 2021: Video is no longer available, but see Dr. Zunes on KTVU Feb. 21, 2022.
Discussion has grown for months about how the upcoming U.S. election results could be contested and possibly subverted.
No one knows for certain what will happen, but there are precedents we can learn from about how attempts to overturn election results have been stopped.
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.…
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.
Turkey’s march towards authoritarianism took another dangerous turn this past week with the forced resignation of moderate Islamist Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, apparently at the insistence of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.
On KPFA radio network program “Up Front,” about Netanyahu’s speech before Congress and U.S.-Israeli relations. In a segment which begins at the 36-minute mark, Professor Zunes discusses the influence by AIPAC and the so-called “Israel Lobby,” which I argue is often exaggerated.
A ten-minute interview on CRI about President Obama’s request for Congress for authorization of force against the so-called “Islamic State.” The segment with Professor Zunes begins at the 18:30 mark of the Global Talks section
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 15, 2014 [Republished by Common Dreams and Transnational.org]
Ukraine faces a rising tide of violence in the restive east. Here’s why nonviolent activism is the best strategy for fighting back. Written with Erica Chenoweth.
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.
Political Jones
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…
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.”