Uprising Radio August 12, 2013: Obama has escalated the U.S. unspoken war on the Gulf Arab state of Yemen with 9 drone bombing raids in 10 days killing about 3 dozens Yemenis… apparently in response to an Al Qaeda terrorist threat which both the U.S. and Yemeni governments have cited in recent days, at the same time as the closures of American embassies in the Middle East and North Africa. But the people of Yemen are puzzled and more than a little angry…
Category: Foreign Policy
Crisis in Syria: What’s Happening Now and What Next? (audio)
United for Peace & Justice July 7, 2013
The war in Syria is worsening and President Obama has pledged to help arm the opposition to President Assad. At this point even though the vast majority of U.S. citizens do not want to intervene, President Obama has promised small arms. But war-hawks want to go further…
Eighty more Syria articles and interviews by Stephen Zunes, 1999-present.
The war in Syria is worsening and President Obama has pledged to help arm the opposition to President Assad. At this point even though the vast majority of U.S. citizens do not want to intervene, President Obama has promised small arms. But war-hawks want to go further…
Eighty more Syria articles and interviews by Stephen Zunes, 1999-present.
Progressives Flock to Ed Markey’s Senate Campaign Despite Hawkish Record
Truthout.org, June 5, 2013
[Republished by the Huffington Post & Reddit]
Congressman Ed Markey’s senate campaign has received an unprecedented level of support from progressives, despite Markey’s foreign policy record well to the right of the majority of Democrats.
US policy weakens Iran’s pro-democracy movement
[Santa Cruz Sentinel & Transnational.org, Also National Catholic Reporter,
May 31, 2013, updated Sept. 11, 2018
While there are contending factions vying for the country’s relatively weak presidency, the narrow ideological spectrum within which candidates are allowed to run offers little hope for change.
Despite Horrific Repression, the U.S. Should Stay Out of Syria
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies May15, 2013
[Republished by Common Dreams, Huffington Post and Truthout]
The desperate desire to “do something” has led to increasing calls for the U.S. to provide military aid to armed insurgents or even engage in direct military intervention…
Israel, Syria and the United States
Truthout May 13, 2013: Zunes’s review of the last decade of Israel, Syria and US relations — culminating in Israel’s latest bombing raid on Syria — details cross-purposes and missed opportunities.
More Zunes Syria articles.
More Zunes Syria articles.
Syria: U.S. involvement could make things even worse
May 3, 2013: The source is no longer available. More Syria articles.
The U.S. and Chemical Weapons: No Leg to Stand On
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, May 2, 2013
[Republished by Alternet, Ander Niews Week (Netherlands), Common Dreams, Greanville Post, Huffington Post and the Middle East Institute]
Don’t Blame the Iraq Debacle on the Israel Lobby
Santa Cruz Sentinel March 29, 2013 | UPDATED: Sept. 11, 2018
[Republished by Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies and Truthout] This month’s 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq raised the question why the U.S. made such a tragic choice. As many of us argued in the lead-up to the war, claims that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” the Iraqi government had operational ties to al-Qaida were false. Similarly, the corrupt and repressive sectarian government the U.S. helped establish in Baghdad has undermined any pretense the war was about promoting democracy.
10 years after the Iraq invasion, Washington still hasn’t learned
National Catholic Reporter, March 27, 2013
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of up to half a million Iraqis, mostly civilians, and the displacement of millions of others. Sectarian and ethnic tensions remain high and violence and terrorism — despite being less pervasive than a few years ago — are endemic. The current Iraqi government is notoriously corrupt and repressive, guilty of widespread torture and extrajudicial killings of opponents. A whole new generation of Islamist terrorists radicalized by the invasion and insurgency is now active worldwide. Almost 4,500 Americans were killed and thousands more received serious physical and emotional injuries…
Democrats Share the Blame for Tragedy of Iraq War
Truthout.org March 17, 2013: On this tenth anniversary of the Iraq War, it is important to remember the 4,500 Americans killed, the far larger number permanently wounded, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed and millions maimed or displaced, the trillion dollars of US taxpayers’ money squandered (and the resulting cutbacks through sequestration), the continued costs of the war through veterans’ benefits and interest on the national debt, and the anti-American extremism in reaction to the invasion and occupation which has spread. All could have been avoided if the Democratic-controlled Senate hadn’t voted to authorize this illegal and unnecessary war and occupation.
Interview: Yemen (audio)
China International Radio February 28, 2013
[The source link and recording for this item are
no longer available. Find best related links.]
Hillary Clinton’s Legacy as Secretary of State
Truthout February 7, 2013
Hillary Clinton leaves her position as Secretary of State with a legacy of supporting autocratic regimes and occupation armies, opposing enforcement of international humanitarian law, undermining arms control and defending military solutions to complex political problems. During her eight years in the U.S .Senate she was an outspoken supporter of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, lied about Iraq’s military capabilities to frighten the public into supporting the illegal war, unleashed repeated attacks against the UN, opposed restrictions on land mines and cluster bombs, defended war crimes by allied right-wing governments and largely embraced Bush’s unilateralist agenda.
Interview: The Case Against Kerry (video)
The Real News Network, January 14, 2013
Also see associated articles and Zunes’s interviews on CBS-KDKA Pittsburgh, the Peter Collins Show, and two Zunes articles from Institute for Public Accuracy: Clinton and Kerry (February 1, 2013) and Kerry’s Judgment Questioned Because of Pro-War Vote (December 21, 2012)
With all the attention on the nomination by President Obama of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, there hasn’t been quite as much discussion about his nomination of John Kerry for Secretary of State. I guess that’s partly because he seems rather beloved by the Republicans and is likely to get passed without much issue. But there are issues, according to our next guest, Stephen Zunes… [YouTube]
The Case Against Kerry
Foreign Policy In Focus January 3, 2013
[Republished by Antiwar.com, Common Dreams, the Institute for Historical Review, Transnational.org; and associated interviews]
President Obama’s selection of John Kerry as the next secretary of state sends the wrong signal. His record in the U.S. Senate, where he currently chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, has included spurious attacks on the International Court of Justice, unqualified defense of Israeli occupation policies and human rights violations, and support for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Furthermore, his false claims about Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction” and his repeated denials of well-documented human rights abuses by allied governments raise serious questions about his credibility.
U.S. policy on Gaza crisis rife with contradiction
National Catholic Reporter December 19, 2012
The Obama administration’s reaction to last month’s Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip is emblematic of its policy contradictions.
The No State Solution (video)
Alternative Focus video September 10, 2012
The No State Solution is the latest contribution from Alternate Focus to examine the Israeli-Palestine conflict. This 28-minute video first explores political barriers to any solution, and then possible resolutions. The video features interviews with Dr. Stephen Zunes (Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco), Miko Peled (author of “The General’s Son”), and Jeff Warner (Jewish peace activist in Los Angeles and author of this review), interleaved with the filmmakers narrative are abundant modern and archival clips… [Also at YouTube]
Susan Rice Would Have Been a Bad Secretary of State Anyway
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies,
December 17, 2012, By Stephen Zunes.
The mainstream media was too willing to focus on spurious criticisms of Susan Rice from the right while ignoring legitimate criticisms from the left. U.S. UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s announcement she would withdraw her name from consideration to be the next Secretary of State is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it marks yet another example of the Obama administration’s failure to defend its appointees [and] On the other hand, Rice’s lack of support for international humanitarian law and her willingness to state demonstrable falsehoods…
Syrian Government and Rebels Up the Ante, While US Raises Implications of Chemical Weapons (audio)
Uprising Radio December 10, 2012. The source link and recording for this item are no longer available. Find best related links.
U.S. policy at U.N. hurts prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Full Article. [Source is no longer available. Related links].
Up until the mid-20th century, the time at which nonwhite, non-Western nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be gained through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and approved representatives of the conquered peoples. It was not the purview of the UN or any other international legal authority to adjudicate such matters, since the rights of those in the colonies were limited to what was willingly agreed to by the colonizers.