Counterpunch interview of Professors Zunes and international legal scholar Professor Richard Falk [Princeton] on Israel, Gaza, and U.S. policy [source]
Category: Middle East
Middle East Overview
U.S. policy resulted in current ongoing tragedy
Interviews: Al Jazeera on Trump and Biden support for Israel’s war on Gaza
Al-Jazeera Video: Biden’s policy supports Israel’s war on Gaza
(Feb. 2024; Dr. Zunes begins at the four-minute mark.)
Three more quoting Dr. Zunes November 2023:
- For 20 years, this AIDS relief plan enjoyed broad US support. What changed? Nov. 14, 2023
- Israel-Hamas war updates: Al-Shifa Hospital under threat, Nov. 9, 2023
- Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine? Nov. 8, 2023
Middle East Crisis Webinar
Middle East Crisis Webinar with Dr. Stephen Zunes,
Steve Chase and Michael Beer Dec. 6, 2023 [or Audio]
Sponsor: Movement for a New Society
Interview: Two-State Solution, Pacifica
KPFA and Pacifica affiliates, Nov. 17, 2023
[45 mins. Note Zunes’s segment starts at 9:50, interrupted by a ten-minute Internet gap, after which Zunes returns.]
Bipartisan Bill for Middle East Peace Will Enable Dictatorships and Occupation
Truthout, Feb. 27, 2022 and Tikkun March 10, 2022 [source]
Part of the decades-long tradition of the U.S. propping up Arab dictatorships that suppress pro-democracy struggles while justifying support for Israel, calling it the region’s “sole democracy.”
Russian aggression, US hypocrisy and is UAE a safe haven for oligarchs?
The Progressive, March 1, 2022: There’s No Justification for Russia’s Aggression, But U.S. Double Standards on Illegal War Are Hard to Stomach: Nothing can excuse Putin’s invasion, but the hypocrisy could hardly be more striking.
Al Jazeera quotes Zunes March 7, 14 and 29
*The limits of Iran’s influence on Yemen’s Houthi rebels
*Analysis: Can the UAE be a safe haven for Russian oligarchs?
*Can Russia return to the world stage as other aggressors have?
Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
Interview: Speaking of Palestine: The Occupations of Western Sahara and Palestine
KBBF Radio: Zunes on the occupation of Western Sahara and much more, plus Palestine Update and some poems by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
Democrats Attack Amnesty Report on Israel to Justify US Complicity in Human Rights Abuses
Truthout, February 10, 2022: This is indicative of the Democratic Party’s shift to the right on foreign policy in recent decades…
WRFI Human Rights Show: Amnesty International Report and U.S. Reaction
WRFI February 18, 2022: Amnesty International published the extensive report “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians” which concluded that decades of systematic discrimination and oppression of Palestinians and violation of their rights amounts to the crime of apartheid. We discuss why the U.S. refuses to acknowledge that Israel violates a wide range of human rights.
KZFR Peace and Justice: U.S. and Western Sahara
KZFR public radio, Chico, CA, 11 February 2022
[Audio’s no longer available. Find more at Western-Sahara.org]
Amnesty International Report and U.S. Reaction
Parallaxviews podcast, Feb. 8, 2022.
Zunes analysis of the recent Amnesty International report (begins at 1:29:00; also at Amnesty.org) arguing Israel is in engaging in the practice of apartheid against Palestinians, especially in the Occupied Territories. Dr. Zunes will also give his thoughts on the reaction of the U.S. media and Congress to the report.
Harry Reid’s Hawkish Foreign Policy
The Progressive Jan. 3, 2022, by Stephen Zunes [source]
The death of former Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada has evoked praise for his parliamentary skills passing some critically important legislation and preventing passage of some seriously problematic bills. However, Reid not only failed to challenge dangerous Republican foreign policy initiatives that violated fundamental principles of international law and human rights, he was often among their most prominent supporters.
The Pentagon Doesn’t Care About Civilian Casualties
The Progressive, Nov. 26, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [source]
In August 2019, thousands of refugees, prisoners, and families of ISIS fighters crowded into an encampment in the border town of Baghuz in eastern Syria, one of the last territories controlled by the so-called Islamic State. The US, supported on the ground by an allied Kurdish and Arab militia, launched a massive air assault on the enclave.
Biden and Other Democrats Helped Colin Powell Spread George W. Bush’s Iraq Lies
Truthout, Oct. 19, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [source]
While the death of former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell has elicited praise-filled eulogies in the mainstream media and officials in Washington, many Americans still carry bitter feelings over Powell’s support for the illegal, unnecessary and predictably disastrous war in Iraq. In particular, critics cite his February 2003 speech before the UN Security Council in which he put forward a litany of demonstrably false statements in making the case that Iraq had compiled a dangerous arsenal of “weapons of mass destruction” and was actively supporting the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
WBAI: Colin Powell’s Legacy
18 October 2021: Item is no longer available. See
Biden and Other Democrats Helped then Secretary of State
Colin Powell Spread
George W. Bush’s Iraq Lies about WMDs.
WORT: 9/11 Anniversary
September 9, 2021: Recording is no longer available.
[Find best related links.]
WMNF: US and Afghanistan
2 September 2021: Recording is no longer available.
[Find best related links.]
Interview: KPFA Talkies and Sunday Show, US and Afghanistan
KPFA and Pacifica Radio affiliates, August 31, 2021
A bomb kills Marines and Afghans trying to flee the Taliban—and the bomber was NOT Taliban. Lessons from the past, analysis of the present, and a peer into the future with Stephen Zunes. Hosted by Kris Welch (starting at 9:45). See also Tazeen Hasan: Afghanistan
Tazeen Hasan: Afghanistan
August 20, 2021 [Recording is no longer available]
Find best Afghanistan links and TazeenHasan.net