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Category: Foreign Policy
Stephen Zunes, co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of book ‘Western Sahara’
See WSahara.stephenzunes.org for reviews, related articles, audio and video, and to order the book.
Will Biden Admin Reverse Trump’s “Dangerous” Recognition of Morocco’s Occupation of Western Sahara?
DemocracyNow! Feb. 5, 2021, full transcript and video
President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months as part of a regional push by the Trump administration to strengthen Israel without addressing the Palestinian conflict. Now the Biden administration must weigh whether to reverse Trump’s decision…. “The United Nations Charter is very clear expansion of territory by military force is illegitimate.”
See Zunes’s website and book Western Sahara.
One of the Democrats’ Biggest Hawks Is Now Senate Foreign Relations Chair
Truthout, Jan.26, 2021 [source]
Democrats have named Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee… 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…
New Zealand radio station (hosted by an American expat) on threats to American democracy from Trump and the far right.
Recording is no longer available.
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Nonviolent Activists Laid the Groundwork to Oppose a Coup. They May Have Saved the Republic
Yes! Jan. 20, 2021 by Stephen Zunes.
Activists prepared for months, expecting Trump to steal the election. They were right, and he failed.
Trump’s deal on Morocco’s Western Sahara annexation risks more global conflict
Washington Post December 13, 2020: Last week, President Trump formally recognized Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara as part of a deal to get Morocco to normalize relations with Israel. But Morocco’s claim on Western Sahara is rejected by the United Nations, the World Court, the African Union and a broad consensus of international legal scholars that consider the region a non-self-governing territory that must be allowed an act of self-determination. This is why no country had formally recognized Morocco’s takeover — until now…
Trump Recognized Morocco’s Illegal Occupation to Boost the Israeli Occupation
Truthout: On December 10, the US became the only country to formally recognize Morocco’s illegal annexation of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony forcibly seized by Moroccan forces in 1975. Trump’s proclamation is directly counter to a series of UN Security Council resolutions and a landmark World Court ruling calling for self-determination. Trump’s decision was a quid pro quo…
A Dangerous Move to Crack Down on Protests Against Israel
The Progressive, Dec. 4, 2020: Late last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. government finds the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign to be inherently “anti-Semitic.” He pledged to “immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw U.S. government support for such groups”…
Pompeo Embraced Israeli Settlements, But Democrats Also Paved the Way for It
Truthout, November 28, 2020: 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”…unprecedented [but] the culmination of decades of bipartisan support for Israeli expansionism… Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention — to which both Israel and the United States are signatories — prohibits any occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Biden’s Pick for Secretary of State Has a Record of Militarism
Truthout, November 24, 2020: Despite Biden owing his election to the Democratic Party’s progressive base and left-leaning independents, he has nominated Antony Blinken whom The Washington Post has described as having “a centrist view of the world” and who has “supported interventionist positions”…
Most Dem Voters Are to the Left of Biden on Foreign Policy. Can He Be Moved?
Truthout, November 16, 2020: While he will certainly be an improvement over Donald Trump, Biden’s record is well to the right of most Democratic voters. Scores of foreign policy officials from the Bush administration and allied pundits endorsed Biden. This is not surprising in light of his support for Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Arab dictatorships and the Israeli occupation…
INTERVIEW: What Explains Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy?
Fair Observer October 20, 2020: Trump has placed an emphasis on unilateralism and the rejection of international organizations and treaties as the hallmarks of his foreign policy. Trump has assumed an aggressive modus operandi in dealing with US partners worldwide and alienated many allies. He repealed US participation in the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, the Treaty on Open Skies, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Even in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, he pulled the US out of the World Health Organization…
DNC Platform Condemns BDS But Not Israel’s Occupation of Palestine
Truthout August 7, 2020: The Biden-led Democratic Party’s foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine may more closely resemble that of Republicans than the Democratic rank-and-file… representatives on the committee were solid in their continued U.S. backing for Israel’s corrupt right-wing government… nearly 4 to 1…
Congressional Democrats Supported Violent Force Against Protesters in 2010
Truthout June 19, 2020: Congressional Democrats have begun speaking out against police-perpetrated killings as well as the use of excessive force against protesters and journalists… Democrats have even rejected the notion that if some members of an initially nonviolent crowd fight back when attacked by security forces, it legitimates the targeting of protesters or those recording the incident, much less justifying lethal force. However, 10 years ago this week, a majority of congressional Democrats defended Israel’s killing of 10 passengers and crew on the Mavi Marmara sailing as part of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israelis shot and killed 10 people aboard the ship, including five not resisting… most in the head.
INTERVIEW: The Sudanese Ousted a Dictator Last Year—Why Is Washington Still Imposing Sanctions?
The Nation and Rethinking Foreign Policy, March 20, 2020:
Middle East scholar Stephen Zunes… January 2020, traveled to Sudan to learn about the protest movement that ousted longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir last year. While the military regime Bashir headed is still a powerful force in Sudan, it has been pressed into sharing power with a civilian government in formation. Sudan’s future remains undecided… Sudan is still under strict US sanctions [d]espite now having a moderate, secular, civilian-led government… still listed as a state sponsor of terror. The U.S. spends billions to prop up a military dictatorship in Egypt and sells billions in arms to the Saudis and Emiratis in the Gulf, while a nearby democratic experiment is being punished by sanctions.
INTERVIEW: Biden’s Sponsorship of the Invasion of Iraq
The Scott Horton Show, Mar 12, 2020
[Skip ahead to 29:30 for Zunes’ segment]
Stephen Zunes talks about Joe Biden’s shameful history helping to advocate for the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. These days he claims he was caught up in the aftermath of 9/11 and was simply mistaken about the intelligence, like everyone else who voted for the war. But Zunes reminds us that Biden was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at that time, with a Democratic-majority congress. With his influence, he probably could have stopped the war singlehandedly. If that weren’t enough, Zunes says that Biden was actually advocating “boots on the ground” to depose Saddam Hussein before 9/11. On this issue alone, Biden should be disqualified from the presidency…
Worth the Price? Joe Biden and the Launch of the Iraq War
Joe Biden and the Launch of the Iraq War is a documentary short reviewing the role of then-Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) in leading the U.S. into the most devastating foreign policy blunder of the last 20 years. This 19-Minute documentary features observations by Dr. Stephen Zunes
[from minute 4:00-5:30; Posted Feb 21, 2020 by Mark Weisbrot.]
Trump “Peace Plan” Too Extreme Even for Former Right-Wing Israeli Prime Minister
Truthout, February 12, 2020: In an extraordinary joint press conference at the UN, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert outlined their objections to Trump’s so-called “peace plan” [to] allow Israel to annex large swathes of territory conquered in the 1967 war that it has since illegally colonized with Israeli settlers [and] leave small noncontiguous enclaves of remaining Palestinian territory surrounded by a greatly expanded Israel…
INTERVIEWS: Trump ‘Peace Plan,’Middle East Update with Stephen Zunes
A “peace plan” for Israel-Palestine? War on Iran?
A way out of Afghanistan? East-West Conflict Over Syria?
Numerous tinderbox situations in the region are all made more dangerous by Trump’s impulsive, ill-informed actions.We take an authoritative look at the region’s many hot spots.
March 5, 2020 (58-min. video): Other Voices TV, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, hosted by Paul George, Director Emeritus, with Midpen Media Center, Palo Alto.
To the Brink of War with No Upside, January 17, 2020,
WhoWhatWhy.org Podcast interview with Stephen Zunes
Zunes debunks the Trump administration’s changing rationale for assassinating Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s response, and the risk of war. Among Zunes’s intriguing claims:
- Too little is said about Democrats’ role in the hostilities
- Exactly the same beefs the US has with Iran apply equally to many American allies
- Evidence does not support Trump’s key assertions about the Iranian general whose death he ordered.