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 the Donbas. It also marks the second anniversary of the Russian invasion eight years later. Western anti-imperialists have correctly recognized a number of provocative actions and other missteps by the United States and NATO which are a necessary part of the context for the ongoing tragedy. However, it is essential for us to get our criticisms right…
Category: Foreign Policy
U.S. Support for Israel Bolsters its Own Interests
The Progressive February 27, 2024: The Biden Administration cast its third veto in four months to block a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, one of forty-eight vetoes in which U.S. was the only dissenting vote… Congress rarely questions the more than $3 billion in military aid sent annually to Israel… far more than to any other country… [source]
Lecture: US Policy and Israel’s Gaza War at USF
December 4, 2023 University of San Francisco Lecture on
how US policy produced the current ongoing tragedy
[1 hour, 26 min.; source is no longer available.]
Interviews: Israel’s War on Gaza:
October-December 2023
- On Al-Jazeera English: Biden’s policy on Israel’s war on Gaza (Zunes begins at the four-minute mark.)
- KPFA and affiliated stations [Source link currently unavailable.
45-minutes, Zunes starts just before the ten-minute mark.
There’s ten minutes of failed Internet, but then he returns.] - Al-Jazeera English: U.S. support for Israel’s terror bombing of Gaza is not unique, given it has long supported other allies committing war crimes.
Israel’s War on Gaza: 11 Zunes’ articles published Oct. 7-Dec. 31, 2023
- Applying International Law to Israel’s War and Hamas’ Attack; Yesmagazine.org/Trithout Oct. 18, 2023 [Video & Transcript]
- Political Costs of Biden’s Support for Israel’s War Mount [Source]
- U.S. Attacks on the ICJ are a Declaration of Empire [Source]
- Biden’s Gaza Failure Could Cost Democrats 2024 Election [Source]
- Scholars Weigh in on Gaza-Israel Conflict Counterpunch interview of Professors Zunes and international legal scholar Richard Falk [Princeton] on Israel, Gaza, and U.S. policy, 10/13/2023 [Source]
- How U.S. Policy Failures Have Helped Hamas [Source]
- Hamas, Israel and the U.S. Have Learned Nothing [Source]
- Biden’s Backing Israel War Crimes Carries on Sordid U.S. Tradition [Source]
- O Globo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, on Israel’s war on Gaza (English translation and original Portuguese transcript) [Source]
- Dr. Zunes is quoted in this Al-Jazeera article: Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine? [Source]
- More Articles and interviews on the Gaza Crisis
US Actions in Yemen Helped Create Current Crisis
The Progressive 02/06/2024: Plus Five Background Articles:
- Yemen: Adding Fuel to Fire, Sojourners, June 2017: US military strikes in Yemen are feeding the rise of al-Qaeda [and] exemplify the failed U.S. policy in the region.
- Powerful Nonviolent Resistance to Armed Conflict in Yemen: 2015 article on nonviolent resistance by Yemenis against Houthis’ takeover
- How the U.S. Contributed to Yemen’s Crisis: A more detailed overview of U.S. efforts to thwart Yemen’s democratic revolution, also from 2015
- Yemen On The Edge: A critical overview of Obama administration policy during the midst of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising
- Yemen: The Latest U.S. Battleground: A 2010 article on the U.S. bombing of Yemen against alleged Al-Qaeda activists
Crackdown on Palestinian Solidarity Exceeds Reagan-era Activist Repression
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 everything from McCarthyism in the United States to right-wing military coups in Latin America. We are seeing this again today…
U.S. Attacks on the ICJ Are a Declaration of Empire and Biden’s Backing of Israel War Crimes Carries on a Sordid U.S. Tradition
U.S. Attacks on the ICJ Are a Declaration of Empire
Common Dreams Feb. 1, 2024
Biden’s Backing of Israel War Crimes Carries on a Sordid U.S. Tradition Truthout Oct. 30, 2023
Biden’s Gaza Failure Could Cost Democrats 2024 Election
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 international calls for a ceasefire, and pledging more military aid to Israel to better enable the right-wing government’s relentless assault on that crowded urban enclave. This could have serious political repercussions at home [and did in Democrats’ historic defeat November 2024]…
How U.S. Policy Failures Helped Hamas
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, October 31, 2023
By Stephen Zunes [source]
Hamas, Israel and U.S. Have Learned Nothing
Scholars Weigh in on Gaza-Israel Conflict
Counterpunch interview of Professors Zunes and international legal scholar Professor Richard Falk [Princeton] on Israel, Gaza, and U.S. policy [source]
U.S. policy resulted in current ongoing tragedy
Interviews: Al Jazeera on Trump and Biden support for Israel’s war on Gaza
Al-Jazeera Video: Biden’s policy supports Israel’s war on Gaza
(Feb. 2024; Dr. Zunes begins at the four-minute mark.)
Three more quoting Dr. Zunes November 2023:
- For 20 years, this AIDS relief plan enjoyed broad US support. What changed? Nov. 14, 2023
- Israel-Hamas war updates: Al-Shifa Hospital under threat, Nov. 9, 2023
- Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine? Nov. 8, 2023
Middle East Crisis Webinar
Middle East Crisis Webinar with Dr. Stephen Zunes,
Steve Chase and Michael Beer Dec. 6, 2023 [or Audio]
Sponsor: Movement for a New Society
Interview: Two-State Solution, Pacifica
KPFA and Pacifica affiliates, Nov. 17, 2023
[45 mins. Note Zunes’s segment starts at 9:50, interrupted by a ten-minute Internet gap, after which Zunes returns.]
Bipartisan Bill for Middle East Peace Will Enable Dictatorships and Occupation
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.”
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.
Interview: Speaking of Palestine: The Occupations of Western Sahara and Palestine
KBBF Radio: Zunes on the occupation of Western Sahara and much more, plus Palestine Update and some poems by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
Democrats Attack Amnesty Report on Israel to Justify US Complicity in Human Rights Abuses
Truthout, February 10, 2022: This is indicative of the Democratic Party’s shift to the right on foreign policy in recent decades…