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On Rising Up with Sonali April 18, 2018: After President Donald Trump declared “Mission Accomplished” in Syria in the wake of US air strikes last week, the question about the veracity of reports on the chemical attack in Douma has taken on a new urgency. Inspectors with the Organization For the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are still awaiting access to the sites of the attack. Is it possible to accept that Syria’s government really did attack civilians and still be against U.S. militarism in Syria? Dr. Zunes posits it absolutely is.
Category: Foreign Policy
Why the United States Can’t Lead on Syria’s Chemical Weapons Atrocities
The Progressive April 11, 2018: The repeated use of these horrific and illegal weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s repressive regime deserves a strong international response. Unfortunately, given its history of politicizing the issue, the U.S. is in no position to lead…
Remembering Martin Luther King, the Radical for Peace
The Progressive April 3, 2018: King challenged the draining of our national resources for the military, opposed the Vietnam War and other aspects of U.S. foreign policy and questioned an economic system that created enormous poverty amid great wealth. He was assassinated while organizing the Poor People’s March…
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…
Trump’s Middle East Policy: The Ironies of Hawkishness
Al Jazeera Report March 8, 2024: Despite broken campaign promises, Trump has pursued reckless and militaristic policies, deepening U.S. military involvement, backing the Israeli colonization and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, deepening ties to Arab autocrats, and threatening war with Iran.
With ISIS In Retreat Why is the Syria War Expanding?
Rising Up with Sonali, February 14, 2018: Instead of the Syrian war winding down, there seems to be an escalation involving an ever-growing number of countries: Iran, Turkey, Russia, Israel, the U.S….
In Retrospect: Public Intellectuals and Activists Weigh In on the Tet Offensive 50 Years Later
Truthout January 31, 2018:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive. On January 30, 1968, thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers and their Viet Cong support organized a sweeping attack of multiple cities in South Vietnam. The event is said to have reinforced the United States opposition to the Vietnam War. The following is a compilation of thoughts across a diverse spectrum of academics, activists, organizers and progressive thinkers on the significance of this event in history…
Trump’s actions on Jerusalem come with Democratic support
San Francisco Chronicle December 7, 2017:
President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the United States formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy would be moved to that multiethnic and multifaith city once again places the United States at odds with the rest of the international community. No other government in the world formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or has its embassy there, instead basing their diplomatic offices in nearby Tel Aviv.
Both Parties Pushed Trump Toward Reckless Action on Jerusalem
[Full Article] Published in The Progressive, Huffington Post,
Common Dreams & Transcend Media Service:
President Trump’s plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there risks a violent and destabilizing reaction targeting U.S. interests globally. The 1947 UN partition plan was to divide Palestine between a Jewish and Arab state, with Jerusalem and surrounding areas designated as an international territory under U.N. administration. Instead–as a result of the first Arab-Israeli War–by 1949 Israel had annexed the western part of the area and Jordan the eastern part, but the international community refused to acknowledge either claim. Following the Israeli conquests of 1967, Israel annexed Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem and surrounding lands as well…
Why Democrats Don’t Want to Talk about Flynn’s First Meeting with the Russians
The Progressive and The Huffington Post December 5, 2017
Key points are rendered in this 5-minute video.
Interview: How Syria Divides the Left
Truthout July 10, 2017Interviewed Dr. Zunes
SZ: “Most credible academics and journalists on the
left, while varying to some degree in their analyses, generally agree
that the Syrian regime is horrifically repressive and not particularly
progressive by any measure. There is also a consensus that the bulk of
the armed opposition is dominated by reactionary Salafist
extremists and that the largely nonviolent movement that first emerged
in 2011 had strong progressive and democratic elements, but has largely
been crushed. Further, the U.S. and other outside powers (Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, Qatar, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Britain, France, etc.) should
not be bombing, sending arms, providing troops or contributing to the
carnage….”
Trump’s Support for Punishing Qatar Is Misguided
The Progressive & Huffington Post June 16, 2017: The decision by the Saudis and allied dictatorships to sever ties with Qatar and impose draconian sanctions on the tiny nation has precipitated a major regional crisis, and President Trump’s support has made matters even worse.
Trump’s Dangerous and Cynical Attack on Syria
The Progressive & Huffington Post April 7, 2017: Trump’s proposed budget would make major cuts to programs that provided relief to Syrian refugees and has tried to bar any refugees from entering the U.S.
Trump Alludes To Force In Responding To Syria Chemical Attack
In Trump’s America, who’s protesting and why?
Washington Post April 24, 2017: For March 2017, we tallied 585 protests, demonstrations, marches, sit-ins and rallies with at least one in every state and the District. Our conservative guess is that 80,000 to 90,000 people showed up. Because mainstream media often neglect to report nonviolent actions — especially small ones — it is probable that we did not record every event that occurred.
The United States and Israel: An Alliance or a Protection Racket
Trump’s Far-Right Israel Stance Creates an Opening for the Left
But congressional Democrats won’t act without a push.
In These Times & The Huffington Post February 17, 2017
Panel discussion on Trump’s foreign policy agenda
[This audio recording is no longer available.]
The president says the world is in trouble, and the US is going to straighten it out. The EU says the new administration is putting into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy. There are at least question marks over relations with China, Iran and other Muslim-majority countries, Russia, Japan, Mexico, and now Australia. There is the prospect of better relations with Russia, Israel and the UK. Trump meanwhile says that virtually every country in the world is taking advantage of the US. What does this all mean in practice? Will the US realign its place in the world, and is that a good thing? Is there a ‘grand strategy’?