From Gaza to Aleppo: A Handy Guide for Defending War Crimes admin, October 7, 2016July 7, 2024 In These Times, Huffington Post & ZNetwork.org October 7, 2016 Given the United States’ disastrous record in the Middle East—most critically the invasion and occupation of Iraq—and the manifold lies coming out of Washington to justify its policies, many Americans are understandably skeptical about U.S. interventions and the rationalizations… Continue Reading
Discerning Real from False Claims of Anti-Semitism in the Pro-Palestinian Movement admin, July 18, 2016August 14, 2024 National Catholic Reporter & Huffington Post July 18, 2016 Continue Reading
Turkey’s Creeping Authoritarianism: Is the Resistance Enough? admin, May 13, 2016August 14, 2024 Turkey’s march towards authoritarianism took another dangerous turn this past week with the forced resignation of moderate Islamist Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, apparently at the insistence of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. Continue Reading
Berrigan’s witness to nonviolence challenged church and nation admin, May 9, 2016August 14, 2024 Jesuit Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who died at the end of April, not only challenged the conscience of the Catholic church and the nation on the dangers of militarism and the need to affirm Christ’s teachings of nonviolence, he challenged those who oppose war to engage in direct action to stop it. Continue Reading
Hillary Clinton’s strident opposition to the International Criminal Court admin, January 20, 2016August 14, 2024 Supporters of international law have expressed consternation that the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president — like most of her potential Republican rivals — strongly supported the illegal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Hillary Clinton’s support for the Bush administration’s request for war authorization effectively placed her in opposition to the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg Principles forbidding such wars of aggression. Ironically, these important international legal standards were in large part designed by officials from administrations of the very political party she hopes to represent in the contest for the White House. Continue Reading
The U.S. and the Rise of ISIS admin, December 10, 2015June 19, 2024 The rise of ISIS (also known as Daesh, ISIL, or the “Islamic State”) is a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. While there are a number of other contributing factors as well, that fateful decision is paramount…. Continue Reading
Why Netanyahu Needs Holocaust Revisionism and Israeli-Palestinian Violence admin, October 27, 2015August 15, 2024 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October 20 speech claiming that Hitler had not planned to exterminate Jews until a prominent Palestinian cleric pressured him to do so, while outrageous, is consistent with the longstanding narrative of the right-wing government and its U.S. supporters. Continue Reading
Bipartisan Attacks Against Anti-occupation Divestment Campaigns admin, September 14, 2015August 15, 2024 In April, the student senate at Earlham College, a Quaker liberal arts institution in Indiana, approved a resolution by consensus recommending the college endowment divest from three U.S. companies (Motorola, Hewlett Packard and Caterpillar) which are directly supporting the Israeli occupation in violation of international law. The resolution (thus far ignored by the college’s board of trustees) follows decisions by a number of Quaker-affiliated organizations — as well as the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and other nonprofit groups — to divest from these companies… Continue Reading
Bipartisan Assault on Middle East Peace admin, May 30, 2012August 15, 2024 29 May 2012 Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies Also: Huffington Post, Antiwar.com, Rise Up Times, Salem News (Oregon) and interviewed on The Scott Horton Show. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed 411-2 a dangerous piece of legislation (H.R. 4133) which would undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,… Continue Reading
Mali’s Struggle: Not Simply of Their Own Making admin, May 9, 2012August 15, 2024 In examining the political crises which have gripped Mali in recent months, it is important not to fall into simplistic analyses of dysfunctional or “failed” African states. Indeed, the Malian people have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to mobilize civil society and build stable democratic governance despite a history of enormous poverty, ethnic divisions, and foreign intervention. Continue Reading
Military Intervention in Syria Is a Bad Idea admin, April 2, 2012August 16, 2024 Although the impulse to try to end the ongoing repression by the Syrian regime against its own people through foreign military intervention is understandable, it would be a very bad idea. Empirical studies have repeatedly demonstrated that international military interventions in cases of severe repression actually exacerbate violence in the short term and can only reduce violence in the longer term if the intervention is impartial or neutral. Other studies demonstrate that foreign military interventions actually increase the duration of civil wars, making the conflicts longer and bloodier, and the regional consequences more serious, than if there were no intervention. In addition, military intervention would likely trigger a “gloves off” mentality that would dramatically escalate the violence on both sides. Continue Reading
Democracy Imperiled in the Maldives admin, March 15, 2012August 16, 2024 Well before the launch of the Arab Spring, the people of the Maldives, a Muslim nation located on a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, were engaged in widespread nonviolent resistance against the 30-year reign of the corrupt and autocratic president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The growing civil insurrection forced the dictator to finally allow for free elections in October 2008, which he lost. Continue Reading
Iran Threat Reduction Act Actually Enhances Threat of War admin, November 14, 2011July 16, 2024 Congress is taking up dangerous legislation which appears to be designed to pave the way for war by taking the unprecedented step of effectively preventing any kind of U.S. diplomatic contact with Iran. Continue Reading
Obama’s Mideast Speech: Two Steps Back, One Step Forward admin, May 22, 2011August 21, 2024 Although President Barack Obama’s May 19 address on U.S. Middle East policy had a number of positive elements, overall it was a major disappointment. His speech served as yet another reminder that his administration’s approach to the region differs in several important ways from that of his immediate predecessor, but he failed to consistently assert principled U.S. support for human rights, democracy, or international law. Continue Reading
The Killing of Bin Laden and the Threat of Al Qaeda admin, May 5, 2011September 1, 2024 The killing of Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama bin Laden is not likely to have a profound impact one way or the other in the struggle against the terrorist organization and its allied groupings. On the one hand, Al-Qaeda may face a potential leadership void and internal divisions. On the other hand, the organization has decentralized in the ten years since the United States and allied forces drove them from their sanctuaries in Afghanistan and terrorist cells operate independently from bin Laden’s leadership and a whole new generation of terrorists subscribing to the apocalyptic and genocidal ideology has sprung up as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Continue Reading
Libya: Was Armed Revolt and Western Intervention the Only Option? admin, March 31, 2011August 30, 2024 The decision by the United States and its Western allies to intervene militarily against the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi may have averted a massacre, but it is fraught with serious risks of eventually costing even more lives. Furthermore, it could undermine the remarkable and overwhelmingly nonviolent pro-democracy movements which have been sweeping the Arab world in recent months. As will be described below, had Libya’s popular uprising maintained its largely nonviolent discipline of its early days, there probably would not be the bloody stalemate and other dangers now emerging in the conflict. Continue Reading
Libya, the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and Double Standards admin, March 28, 2011August 30, 2024 Reasonable people can disagree on the appropriateness of the decision by the United States and its NATO allies to attack Libya in the wake of the Gadaffi regime’s offensive against rebel-held cities under the doctrine of “the responsibility to protect.” Though the intervention likely prevented a slaughter, there is no guarantee that it won’t simply protract a bloody military stalemate that could result in at least as many civilian deaths. There are any number of other legitimate concerns raised by those distressed over the fact that there is now a third country in the greater Middle East in which the United States has found itself at war. At the same time, there are also legitimate arguments being made by prominent human rights advocates arguing that there is still a moral imperative for the use of force to avoid a large-scale massacre by a criminal regime. Continue Reading
Obama’s Veto on Israeli Settlements Demonstrates Contempt for International Humanitarian Law admin, March 21, 2011August 30, 2024 The US veto of a mildly worded United Nations Security Council resolution supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and reiterating the illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied territories leaves little doubt that, in certain critical respects, President Barack Obama shares his predecessor’s contempt for international law. All fourteen of the other members of the Security Council voted for the resolution — which was cosponsored by a nearly unprecedented majority of UN members — not only situating the United States as an extreme outlier in the international community, but placing President Obama to the right of the conservative governments of Great Britain and France. Continue Reading
Libya, the United States, and the Anti-Gaddafi Revolt admin, February 25, 2011August 21, 2024 Since the 1969 coup that overthrew the unpopular pro-Western monarchy of King Idris, Libya has been ruled by Col. Muammar Gaddafi (also spelled Qaddafi, Gadhafi, Khaddafi and other transliterations). Though long considered emotionally unstable, he was also considered politically stable, destined to maintain his iron grip on the country until he died a natural death. Now, even as he unleashes extreme and sometimes lethal violence against the growing pro-democracy uprising, his own days may be numbered. Continue Reading
Obama’s Shift on Egypt admin, January 31, 2011September 3, 2024 There has been a major shift within the Obama administration over the weekend regarding its policy toward Egypt. President Obama appears to have finally realized that reform within the regime, as the administration had been advocating until Sunday, will not placate the Egyptian people. The administration has yet to issue an explicit call for the authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, at least in public. However, yesterday, for the first time, Secretary of State Clinton and other officials began calling for “an orderly transition” to democracy. Continue Reading