Category: Middle East

Middle East Overview

Congressional Democrats Supported Violent Force Against Protesters in 2010

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Truthout June 19, 2020: Congressional Democrats have begun speaking out against police-perpetrated killings as well as the use of excessive force against protesters and journalists… Democrats have even rejected the notion that if some members of an initially nonviolent crowd fight back when attacked by security forces, it  legitimates the targeting of protesters or those recording the incident, much less justifying lethal force. However, 10 years ago this week, a majority of congressional Democrats defended Israel’s killing of 10 passengers and crew on the Mavi Marmara sailing as part of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israelis shot and killed 10 people aboard the ship, including five not resisting… most in the head.

INTERVIEW: Biden’s Sponsorship of the Invasion of Iraq

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The Scott Horton Show, Mar 12, 2020
[Skip ahead to 29:30 for Zunes’ segment]
Stephen Zunes talks about Joe Biden’s shameful history helping to advocate for the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. These days he claims he was caught up in the aftermath of 9/11 and was simply mistaken about the intelligence, like everyone else who voted for the war. But Zunes reminds us that Biden was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at that time, with a Democratic-majority congress. With his influence, he probably could have stopped the war singlehandedly. If that weren’t enough, Zunes says that Biden was actually advocating “boots on the ground” to depose Saddam Hussein before 9/11. On this issue alone, Biden should be disqualified from the presidency…

Sudan’s Democratic Revolution: How They Did It

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Reposted April 2020 from Inside Arabia by ICNC,
Nonviolence International and The Conversation
Conditions under Sudan’s oppressive autocratic regime did not fit into what Western analysts see as the right ones for a successful pro-democracy civil resistance movement and yet they have emerged victorious—for now. Among other things, its success points to perhaps the single most important factor: nonviolent discipline…

Klobuchar Has Pushed Extreme Right-Wing Policy on Israel/Palestine

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Truthout February 14, 2020; reposted at Portside.org: Much of the media has been focusing on the rise of centrist Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar as a serious contender in the Democratic presidential primary. Many progressives criticize her positions on climate change, environment, economic inequality, social welfare, the criminal legal system and her surprisingly right-wing foreign policy perspectives.

Trump “Peace Plan” Too Extreme Even for Former Right-Wing Israeli Prime Minister

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Truthout, February 12, 2020: In an extraordinary joint press conference at the UN, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert outlined their objections to Trump’s so-called “peace plan” [to] allow Israel to annex large swathes of territory conquered in the 1967 war that it has since illegally colonized with Israeli settlers [and] leave small noncontiguous enclaves of remaining Palestinian territory surrounded by a greatly expanded Israel…

INTERVIEWS: Trump ‘Peace Plan,’Middle East Update with Stephen Zunes

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A “peace plan” for Israel-Palestine? War on Iran?
A way out of Afghanistan? East-West Conflict Over Syria?
Numerous tinderbox situations in the region are all made more dangerous by Trump’s impulsive, ill-informed actions.We take an authoritative look at the region’s many hot spots.
March 5, 2020 (58-min. video): Other Voices TV, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, hosted by Paul George, Director Emeritus, with Midpen Media Center, Palo Alto.

To the Brink of War with No Upside, January 17, 2020,
WhoWhatWhy.org Podcast interview with Stephen Zunes
Zunes debunks the Trump administration’s changing rationale for assassinating Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s response, and the risk of war. Among Zunes’s intriguing claims:

  • Too little is said about Democrats’ role  in the hostilities
  • Exactly the same beefs the US has with Iran apply equally to many American allies
  • Evidence does not support Trump’s key assertions about the Iranian general whose death he ordered.

Trump’s Recognition of Israeli Settlements Is Rooted in Bipartisan Support

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The Progressive, November 21, 2019: Three previous U.S. administrations all ignored the gross power asymmetry between the Palestinians under occupation and the Israeli occupiers—an imbalance compounded by the fact that as the chief mediator in negotiations, the U.S. is also the primary military, economic, and diplomatic supporter of the occupying power. [T]he illegality of the settlements couldn’t be clearer. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention…