August 22, 2018 in The Progressive, and Common Dreams: While many express concern that Vice-President Mike Pence, a Christian supremacist with more consistently hard right wing views than Trump, could replace him, Zunes argues Trump will likely be forced from office and this would be a positive development…
Category: Elections
Electoral Politics
The Role of Civil Resistance in Bolivia’s 1977-1982 Pro-Democracy Struggle
July 2018 Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies, V.2(1), and International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and Research Gate:
Despite being the poorest and least developed country in South America, Bolivia was the first to emerge from the period of military dictatorships that dominated the continent from the mid-1960s into the 1980s. This article examines the role of civil resistance in that country’s seemingly improbable early end to military rule, noting how a broad coalition of unions, intellectuals, the Catholic Church, and opposition parties succeeded in bringing down a series of military leaders, eventually ushering in elected civilian governance…
Villaraigosa still haunted by role as 2012 DNC chair
The Californian May 4, 2018: Despite endorsements from Luis Alejo, Simón Salinas, and other leading Monterey County Democrats, gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has been struggling to gain traction statewide…
Democrats’ skepticism of Feinstein well-founded
The Californian, April 27, 2018, by Stephen Zunes
The stunning rejection of Dianne Feinstein’s expected endorsement for another term as California’s senior U.S. Senator the Democratic State Convention in February was based not just upon concerns about her age and her centrist domestic agenda, but over her ability to challenge Trump’s dangerous foreign policy agenda…
Civil Resistance Against Coups: A Comparative and Historical Perspective
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, December 2017:
This monograph presents in-depth case studies and analysis intended to improve our understanding of the strategic utility of civil resistance against military takeovers; the nature of civil resistance mobilization against coups; and the role of civil resistance against coups.
Mike Pompeo: Trump Is Handing the State Department Over from Exxon Mobil to the Tea Party
In These Times March 14, 2024: President Trump abruptly fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo [who] will only reinforce Trump’s most dangerous, reckless and militaristic instincts…
Global Journalist: Egypt’s Staged Election
[Zunes’ segment begins at 14 mins.]
Global Journalist March 8, 2018: President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, who led a 2013 coup against Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, is expected to be handily re-elected. That’s because el-Sissi’s government has arrested or intimidated all viable potential opponents…
Overcoming Bitterness and No Longer Assuming the Worst of Democrats
National Catholic Reporter November 28, 2016
For decades, I have been obsessed with exposing the Clintons and like-minded Democratic politicians’ dangerous foreign policies, challenging liberal naiveté that ignores or excuses such hawkish proclivities, and underscoring the need to withhold support until they embrace more responsible positions. What I am belatedly discovering, as this campaign season is drawing to a close, is that while such concerns are not without merit, such efforts have ended up contributing to what may be an even bigger problem: the anger, frustration, cynicism, self-righteousness, isolation and other self-defeating tendencies on the left.
Millennial Apathy and a Possible President Trump
The Progressive September 28, 2016: Despite Hillary Clinton’s shellacking of Donald Trump in Monday’s debate, polls show the presidential race remains disturbingly close.
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.
Pick Your Poison: Clinton Vs. Trump on Foreign Policy
The Progressive June 15, 2016: Following the Orlando night club massacre, Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for refusing to label the violence carried out by a mentally-disturbed American-born gunmen of Muslim background as a manifestation of “radical Islam”… To her credit, Clinton rejected such bigotry. However, she called for returning to the “spirit of 9/12,” ignoring how that reaction to 9/11 resulted in a major crackdown on civil liberties and preparation for war…
Hillary and Bernie Part Ways on Israel
The Progressive April 18, 2016: In last week’s debate… Bernie Sanders reiterated both his longstanding position condemning Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and supporting Israel’s right to self-defense. But he also declared that the killing of nearly 1,500 Palestinian civilians by Israel during that fifty-day conflict represented a “disproportionate” use of force… But Hillary Clinton refused to acknowledge Israel had done anything wrong.
Hillary Clinton’s Iraq War vote still appalls
Hillary Clinton’s double standards on human rights
The US role in the Honduras coup and subsequent violence
The National Catholic Reporter March 14, 2016: Thousands of indigenous activists, peasant leaders, trade unionists, journalists, environmentalists, judges, opposition political candidates, human rights activists, and others have been murdered since a 2009 military coup ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya [who had] raised the minimum wage and provided free school lunches, milk for young children, pensions for the elderly, and additional scholarships for students. He built new schools, subsidized public transportation, and even distributed energy-saving light bulbs.
Hillary the Hawk
The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Winter 2016: Her hawkish views go well beyond her strident support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent occupation and counter-insurgency war. From Afghanistan to Western Sahara, she has advocated for military solutions to complex political problems, backed authoritarian allies and occupying armies, dismissed war crimes, and opposed political involvement by the UN and its agencies. TIME magazine’s Michael Crowley aptly summed up her State Department record in 2014…
On Hillary Clinton, Sexism, and U.S. Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy In Focus February 12 2016
After Bernie Sanders’ strong early primary showings, a few high-profile supporters of his rival Hillary Clinton have seized upon an explanation: sexism…
The Five Lamest Excuses for Hillary Clinton’s Vote to Invade Iraq
In These Times February 1, 2016: Also published in:
Common Dreams, Counterpunch, Consortium News, Democratic Underground, News.Alayham.com, Antiwar.com, Foreign Policy in Focus, My Trust In Conflict, Portside.org, RINF.com, Reddit, The Scott Horton Show radio, and referenced in other media. e.g., Mondoweiss.net.
The primary reasons Clinton gave for supporting President George W. Bush’s request for authorizing that illegal and unnecessary war have long been proven false. As a result, many Democratic voters are questioning — despite her years of foreign policy experience — whether Clinton has the judgment and integrity to lead.
Hillary Clinton’s strident opposition to the International Criminal Court
National Catholic Reporter January 18, 2016: Hillary Clinton’s support for Iraq war authorization effectively placed her in opposition to the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles forbidding such wars of aggression.