Expert Analyst: International Politics, Middle East & Nonviolent Action
Democratic Party Foreign Policy
News Lines Magazine October 8, 2024[Dr. Zunes urges readers to please circulate this important article widely, particularly to those in swing states who are reluctant to vote for Harris because of the Biden administration’s Middle East policy.] A detailed analysis…
Truthout August 29, 2024Despite indications Harris will have a better foreign policy than Biden, the Democratic Party’s platform’s segment on the Middle East — written primarily by Biden’s team — is very disappointing…
“Flashpoints” on KPFA-FM and affiliated stations (20-minute interview begins at the 13:15 mark): Dr. Zunes contrasts blatant censorship and violent police suppression of Gaza War campus protests with anti-apartheid protests of the 1980s.
The Progressive, May 1, 2024: Unlike apartheid-era South Africa, many universities aren’t even recognizing Israel’s human rights abuses. A wave of sit-ins and encampments have swept college and university campuses… led—as in past anti-war campus protests in 1968—by Columbia University.…
Truthout May 5, 2024: This phrase was never about killing Jews. It emerged in the 1960s as a call for equal rights within a democratic state. The wave of pro-Palestinian protests sweeping American campuses was triggered by Columbia University President…
Truthout, Feb. 14, 2024 [source] Historically, would-be authoritarians of various stripes have used the threat of other forms of authoritarianism to consolidate their own power. We saw this during the Cold War, when the alleged threat of communism led to…
U.S. Attacks on the ICJ Are a Declaration of Empire Common Dreams Feb. 1, 2024Biden’s Backing of Israel War Crimes Carries on a Sordid U.S. Tradition Truthout Oct. 30, 2023
Biden’s Failure on Gaza Could Cost Democrats the 2024 Election The Progressive, October 26, 2024 [source] [T]he Biden Administration and Congressional leaders of both parties are actively supporting the ongoing carnage Israel is unleashing on the residents in Gaza, opposing…
Counterpunch interview of Professors Zunes and international legal scholar Professor Richard Falk [Princeton] on Israel, Gaza, and U.S. policy [source]
Truthout, February 10, 2022: This is indicative of the Democratic Party’s shift to the right on foreign policy in recent decades…
WRFI February 18, 2022: Amnesty International published the extensive report “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians” which concluded that decades of systematic discrimination and oppression of Palestinians and violation of their rights amounts to the crime of apartheid. We discuss why the…
The death of former Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada has brought forth praise for his parliamentary skills, which helped make possible some critically important legislation, as well as preventing the passage of a number of seriously problematic bills. However, on the foreign policy front, it should be noted that Reid not only failed to challenge dangerous Republican initiatives that violated fundamental principles of international law and human rights, he was often among their most prominent supporters.
Truthout, Oct. 19, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [source] While the death of former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell has elicited praise-filled eulogies in the mainstream media and officials in Washington, many Americans still carry bitter feelings over…
Jacobin June 14, 2021: The US military spends trillions on death abroad that could be spent on improving life back home…
The Californian: Commentary: As the ceasefire takes hold ending the fighting between Hamas and Israel, central coast voters are raising questions over controversial statements he made.
Truthout, May 3, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [ source] In an apparent response to growing calls for making US aid to the Netanyahu government conditional on Israeli adherence to human rights law, 330 members of the US House of Representatives…
Now with a working majority, the Democrats have named Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This has rung alarm bells for advocates of peace, human rights and international law, given that Menendez has opposed the Iran nuclear agreement, repeatedly attacked the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, supported unconditional military aid to governments that have used the weapons in the commission of war crimes, and taken other positions far closer to those of Republicans than rank-and-file Democrats.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has faced widespread international condemnation for his recent assertions that illegal Israeli settlements constructed in the occupied West Bank are somehow legal and part of Israel, and that products from these colonies on confiscated Palestinian land should be labeled as “Made in Israel.” What fewer are discussing, however, is that while these proclamations are unprecedented in their scope, they are in fact the culmination of decades of bipartisan support for Israeli expansionism.
President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Antony Blinken for secretary of state is a worrying sign. Despite Biden owing his election to the Democratic Party’s progressive base and left-leaning independents, he has nominated someone The Washington Post has described as having “a centrist view of the world” and who has “supported interventionist positions.”
While a likely Republican-controlled Senate could limit many of the progressive domestic policies President-elect Joe Biden has promised to enact, presidents have far more leeway to advance their agenda in the realm of foreign policy. As a result, Biden — who has perhaps the most extensive background in foreign affairs of any new president in U.S. history — has the ability to make a positive difference. While he will certainly be an improvement over Donald Trump, Biden’s record is well to the right of most Democratic voters.