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.
Category: Foreign Policy
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
More than a hundred people were killed in a chemical attack in Khan Shaikhoun, Syria this week. Among the dead are a dozen or so children. Turkish doctors have conducted autopsies confirming that chemical weapons were used in the worst such attack in years. [This item’s no longer available.]
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’?
Possible Iraqi retaliation to Trump immigration restrictions
[This item’s no longer available.]
Iraq’s parliament has voted in favor of demanding the government respond in kind to the US visa ban on Iraqi nationals.
Panetta’s first foreign policy vote sides with Trump
Once Again, Democrats Blow It on Middle East Peace
Foreign Policy In Focus January 11, 2017: In the first major foreign policy vote of the new Congress, most Democrats sided with Trump — and against international law — on Israeli settlements.
Hope fades for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
National Catholic Reporter January 10, 2017 The election of Donald Trump may mark the end of any realistic hope of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And don’t expect the Democratic Party to try to save it, it appears.
Fidel Castro left Cuba a green legacy
National Catholic Reporter December 9, 2016
While he no longer held any formal position of power since his resignation as president for health reasons eight years ago, Fidel Castro’s death last month marks the passing of an era. In his nearly 50 years in power, few individuals have had had such a profound influence on a country for good or ill — and Castro left plenty of both.
New Lebanese president’s career highlights US inconsistencies
National Catholic Reporter November 28, 2016
There are more than a few ironies regarding the Oct. 31 election by the Lebanese parliament of former Gen. Michel Aoun, a Maronite Catholic who received his military training in the United States, as the country’s new president. One of the most striking is his shifting allegiances and the inconsistencies of U.S. policy toward Lebanon.
Overcoming Bitterness and No Longer Assuming the Worst of Democrats
National Catholic Reporter November 28, 2016
For decades, I have been obsessed with exposing the Clintons and like-minded Democratic politicians’ dangerous foreign policies, challenging liberal naiveté that ignores or excuses such hawkish proclivities, and underscoring the need to withhold support until they embrace more responsible positions. What I am belatedly discovering, as this campaign season is drawing to a close, is that while such concerns are not without merit, such efforts have ended up contributing to what may be an even bigger problem: the anger, frustration, cynicism, self-righteousness, isolation and other self-defeating tendencies on the left.
Millennial Apathy and a Possible President Trump
The Progressive September 28, 2016: Despite Hillary Clinton’s shellacking of Donald Trump in Monday’s debate, polls show the presidential race remains disturbingly close.
Uzbekistan’s Karimov: The Death of One of Washington’s Favorite Tyrants
Republicans, Democrats alike still level threats at Iran
National Catholic Reporter, August 15, 2016
(Also in the Huffington Post and Common Dreams)
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal should have curbed the longstanding bellicose rhetoric coming from Republican and Democratic political leaders toward the Muslim country. Signed by Iran, the U.S. and five other nations and ratified by the UN Security Council, the comprehensive agreement strictly limits Iran’s nuclear capabilities and subjects Iran to the most rigorous inspection regime in history. The result has been dramatically reduced regional tensions and the elimination of any potential threat to U.S. national security.
Interview: ‘Most Progressive Dem Platform in History’ Hawkish on Foreign Policy
The Progressive, Reddit, BillMoyers.com, July 27, 2016.
Also on WORTFM.org, August 4, 2016
(40-min., Zunes’s analysis segment begins at 11:00)
Stephen Zunes’ Testimony before the UN conference on decolonization
freedomsupport June 29, 2016: My interest in the dispute over Western Sahara is based not simply upon my belief in justice for that country’s people, but its implications in regard to international law and the principles upon which the United Nations organization is founded. These include the right of self-determination…
Pick Your Poison: Clinton Vs. Trump on Foreign Policy
The Progressive June 15, 2016: Following the Orlando night club massacre, Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for refusing to label the violence carried out by a mentally-disturbed American-born gunmen of Muslim background as a manifestation of “radical Islam”… To her credit, Clinton rejected such bigotry. However, she called for returning to the “spirit of 9/12,” ignoring how that reaction to 9/11 resulted in a major crackdown on civil liberties and preparation for war…