For decades, Washington has denied, downplayed and rationalized atrocities by its allies News Line Magazine Feb. 14, 2025: By Rejecting Evidence of Genocide in Gaza, the US Is Following a Familiar Pattern
Category: Republican
Republican Foreign Policy
Joe Biden’s Tragic Failure to Learn from the Past
The Progressive January 18, 2025: On Biden’s foreign policy legacy, comparing his support for a far right Middle Eastern government engaging in massive war crimes with Reagan’s support for far right Central American governments engaged in massive war crimes… [source]
Reaction to ICC Indictment Reveals US Bipartisan Contempt for International Law
The Progressive, December 5, 2024 by Stephen Zunes:
Examines Washington’s hysterical and dishonest reaction to the International Criminal Court’s indictments of two Israeli leaders for war crimes [Source]
3 Interviews on the ICC indictments of 2 Israeli Leaders and US Response
- An eight-minute interview for the main Singapore television news on the impact of the indictments
- Al-Jazeera English half hour conversation with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese and Israeli scholar Ori Goldberg on the ramifications of the ICC’s indictments (also a Daily Telegraph “Quotable” one-minute clip which has been making the rounds)
- On an Arab Organization for Human Rights panel addressing U.S. and Israeli efforts to undermine the authority of the International Criminal Court (Dr. Zunes’ segment starts at 31:30 plus additional remarks starting at 1:16:20 and 1:32:50.)
Lectures and 11 Interviews Nov. 2024 on Trump’s Election and the Middle East
First view Dr. Zunes’ 5-minute animated summary (scroll down to third video), of his research on coup resistance; then his Lecture at the University of San Francisco on how to prepare for the aftermath of the election in the event of an attempted coup or legitimate victory by Trump.
- Lecture before the Unitarian Universalists of San Francisco on what a Trump administration would mean to the Middle East (1 hour 20 mins.)
- Al-Jazeera English: [source link may be unavailable.]:
Interview on recent developments involving Israel, Lebanon, Gaza and the US (24 mins.) - Al-Jazeera English [source link may be unavailable.]:
4-minute interview on new developments in Syria - I’m one of three professors interviewed on AJE’s “Inside Story” about Biden’s responsibility in Harris’s defeat
- A half-hour interview for a Wisconsin radio station on Trump’s cabinet appointments and the effect a Trump regime may have on the Middle East
- A 25-minute interview with Kris Welch on KPFA-FM on the impact of the election on the Middle East (segment starts at the 32-minute mark)
- A 50-minute interview for a New Zealand radio show and podcast about the U.S. election and its broader implications
- A 45-minute interview for a San Francisco NPR affiliate on the U.S.-backed war on Gaza and the impact of the U.S. election
- I gave this brief analysis on the election and the Middle East for a San Francisco Bay Area network affiliates
- Interviewed briefly on KPFA-FM’s evening news about how U.S. policy in support of Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon could be impacted by Trump’s election victory (segment begins at the 13:55 mark)
- On Pacifica Radio’s “Flashpoints” (KPFA) talking about the then-upcoming election and foreign policy
- KPFA radio news interview on Israel’s attacks on Iran, the ongoing war crimes in Gaza, and the impact on the then-upcoming US election (segment starts at the 16:15).
Will Biden Cost Harris the Election?
News Lines Magazine October 8, 2024
[Dr. Zunes urges readers to please circulate this important article widely, particularly to those in swing states who are reluctant to vote for Harris because of the Biden administration’s Middle East policy.]
A detailed analysis of how Kamala Harris is seriously constrained by her role as sitting vice-president from breaking with the Biden administration’s hard-line support for Israel, but would likely take a significantly more moderate position and would likely end the wars once she became president.
George H W Bush’s Legacy and US Wars in the Middle East
Yes! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali
Download the Audio or Video (24 min.)
The 41st U.S. president, George H. W. Bush has died at 94. The media’s usual posthumous praise does not begin to capture Bush’s ugly legacy, particularly in Middle East foreign policy…
Impeach Away! Thoughts on a Possible President Pence
August 22, 2018 in The Progressive, and Common Dreams: While many express concern that Vice-President Mike Pence, a Christian supremacist with more consistently hard right wing views than Trump, could replace him, Zunes argues Trump will likely be forced from office and this would be a positive development…
Pompeo’s Iran Speech a Prelude to War?
The Progressive, May 23, 2018: The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech targeting Iran may have created a new benchmark for hypocritical, arrogant, and entitled demands by the U.S. on foreign governments…
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…
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
The Democrats and Iraqi WMDs: Bush is Right, Sort of…
URUKnet.info, November 27, 2005 By Stephen Zunes [Source]
Now that some Democrats are finally speaking out against the administration’s phony claims about Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction,” conservative talk show hosts, columnists and bloggers have been dredging up scores of pre-invasion quotes by Democratic leaders citing non-existent Iraqi WMDs. These defenders of the administration keep asking the question, “If President Bush lied, does that mean that the Democrats lied too?” The answer, unfortunately, is a qualified “yes.” Based on my conversations with Democratic members of Congress and their staffs in the weeks and months leading up to the invasion, there is reason to believe that at least some in the leadership of the Democratic Party is also guilty of having misled the American public regarding the supposed threat emanating from Iraq. At minimum, it could be considered criminal negligence. As a result, though the Republicans have undoubtedly been hurt by their false statements on the subject, the Democrats are not likely to reap much benefit…
House Republicans and Democrats Unite Linking Iraq with 9/11
Foreign Policy In Focus, Oct. 1, 2005
By John Gershman, Stephen Zunes [source]
On the eve of the third anniversary of 9/11, the U.S. House of Representatives–by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of 406-16–passed a resolution linking Iraq to the al-Qaida attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This comes despite conclusions reached by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, a recent CIA report, and the consensus of independent strategic analysis familiar with the region that no such links ever existed…