Category: Republican

Republican Foreign Policy

Quoted: Will US Opposition to UN’s Socio-Economic Goals Play a Decisive Role in the Vote for Next Secretary-General?

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Inter Press Service [UN] June 18, 2026
Zunes is quoted in this analysis on the influence Trump will have on the choosing of the next UN Secretary General. He told IPS under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the United States has blocked the election of candidates for Secretary General, even when they had the support of the fourteen other members of the Security Council. “Given how Trump has been even more prone to attack the United Nations and bully member states, including ostensible U.S. allies, it is likely that the United States will make it even more difficult this round for the UN to choose its next administrator.”

On Iran, Trump Has Backed Himself — and Much of the World — Into a Corner

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Truthout May 5, 2026: The same kind of US hubris that led to the tragic wars in Vietnam and Iraq is manifesting itself with Iran today. U.S. efforts to force an end to the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz by attempting to escort a few U.S.-flagged ships through the Iranian closure will not only fail to relieve the worsening global fuel crisis and disruption of supply chains, it risks a resumption of full-scale war. The Trump administration has rejected Iran’s suggestion for negotiating an end to the blockade followed by a resumption of talks on other outstanding issues, insisting that Iran first agree to eliminate its nuclear program.

Has Senator Cruz been Misinformed About Western Sahara or What?

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Counterpunch, April 27, 2026: by Bill Fletcher Jr. – Stephen Zunes
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), along with Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rick Scott R-FL), have introduced a bill targeting what they call the “Iranian Regime’s Polisario Front,” designating that popular North African nationalist movement as a “terrorist organization”… Since the early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario) has led a fight initially for independence from Spain and subsequently for freedom from Morocco’s efforts to forcibly annex the territory.  The Polisario is a moderate secular movement whose leadership is democratically elected by refugees…

This Isn’t Just Trump’s War on Iran. Both Parties Paved the Way for Disaster

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Truthout, April 17, 2026: Democrats share responsibility with the GOP for creating the climate that made such a war possible. Unlike the invasion of Iraq, which received the support of a sizable minority of congressional Democrats, Donald Trump’s war on Iran has received near-universal criticism. Still, the party has focused primarily on process-style critiques — such as the legality of declaring the war under the Constitution and the war’s economic impact — rather than the humanitarian consequences and flagrant violations of international law.

Operation Epstein Fury Part 8. Is It Finally Over?

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Zunes quoted in Wyoming Star, April 10, 2026, by Joe Yans:
“Despite US and Israeli claims to the contrary, Pakistani mediators and others have confirmed that the agreement for a two-week halt to the fighting and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was contingent on a ceasefire in Lebanon. European leaders and other US allies have underscored the importance of the ceasefire applying to Lebanon as well. Israel’s US-backed air strikes have gone well beyond Hezbollah military targets to include heavy bombing of crowded urban neighborhoods.”

Iran: America’s War of Choice is Israel’s War of Necessity

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Counterpunch, March 10, 2026, by Daniel Falcone (quotes Zunes):
Stephen Zunes remarked just after the attack, “An Omani mediator said a nuclear agreement with Iran was within reach [and] in response, the United States and Israel started bombing… schools, hospitals, city parks, and cultural sites are being targeted in the United States and Israeli bombing of Tehran… This is not a preemptive war. A preemptive war is in response to an imminent attack. This is a war of aggression. A flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter.” Alarmingly, Trump stated over a month before the invasion that “I don’t need international law,” as he currently creates new norms. Zunes previously stated, “this war isn’t about nonproliferation, it’s about inflicting as much damage as possible on a country that isn’t willing to accept U.S. hegemony in the region.”