Category: Foreign Policy

Harry Reid’s Hawkish Foreign Policy

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The Progressive Jan. 3, 2022, by Stephen Zunes [source]
The death of former Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada has evoked praise for his parliamentary skills passing some critically important legislation and preventing passage of some seriously problematic bills. However, Reid not only failed to challenge dangerous Republican foreign policy initiatives that violated fundamental principles of international law and human rights, he was often among their most prominent supporters.

Biden and Other Democrats Helped Colin Powell Spread George W. Bush’s Iraq Lies

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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 Powell’s support for the illegal, unnecessary and predictably disastrous war in Iraq. In particular, critics cite his February 2003 speech before the UN Security Council in which he put forward a litany of demonstrably false statements in making the case that Iraq had compiled a dangerous arsenal of “weapons of mass destruction” and was actively supporting the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Infographic: What you need to know about Israel’s military

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Al Jazeera June 3, 2021, quotes Stephen Zunes:
Regarding the spike in US military aid in 2003, Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at San Francisco University, noted that the increase “was part of an overall increase in US arms transfers to the Middle East and US military spending” in the wake of the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on the US, the US-led war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq.
  “US aid to Israel has always been primarily in relation to how Israel could assist in advancing perceived US strategic objectives, not about Israeli security needs,” he told Al Jazeera.
With respect to the surge in US military aid in 2000, Zunes noted that the US had agreed in the 1998 Wye River Memorandum to boost aid to Israel “in return for [relatively minor] Israeli concessions in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks”.
  “Since budgets are put forward the year prior, this was the first budget subsequent to that meeting and was therefore probably a result of that,” he said.
Israel is the most significant recipient of total US foreign military financing (FMF) – a programme that provides grants and loans to US allies to acquire “US defense equipment, services and training”. During the past two decades, 55 percent of all US FMF was dedicated to Israel, more than the rest of the world combined, according to Security Assistance Monitor, part of the Center for International Policy, a Washington DC-based think-tank.

125 Democrats Say Military Aid to Israel Shouldn’t Depend on Human Rights Record

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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 signed a letter late last month insisting that the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States provides Israel remain unconditional.

If Biden Wants to Protect Troops, He Should Bring Them Home — Not Bomb Syria

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Truthout, March 2, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [source]
The US has bombed Syria more than 20,000 times over the past eight years, so last week’s attack on a border post in northeastern Syria, which killed 22 militiamen and apparently no civilians, may not seem surprising to some… it is nevertheless disappointing that President Biden appears determined to continue the failed policies of his predecessors… Some members of Congress challenged Biden’s authority to order such an attack, which contravenes both international law and the US Constitution.