Gaza and the Bipartisan War on Human Rights
During and after Israel’s war on Gaza, bipartisan congressional majorities have worked to undermine war crimes investigations by the United Nations and human rights groups.
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U.S. Leadership Against Russia Crippled By Its Own Hypocrisy
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 15, 2014 [Republished by Common Dreams and Transnational.org]
Netanyahu’s Ugly Game in Gaza
The Progressive and Transnational.org July 9, 2014The right-wing Israeli government took advantage of the murder of three Israeli teen members of an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Back to whip up ultra-nationalist sentiments, engage in a new wave of…
The United States’ Tragic Role in Iraq
The dramatic rise of the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)—which even al-Qaeda deemed too extreme to remain part of its network—is a tragedy by any measure. It would also be tragic if we allowed the very forces that created this mess to explain it away.
Understanding Elections, Democracy, and Prospects for Peace in the Arab World
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Hinckley Forum: The Kerry Initiative
KUER: NPR Utah, March 21, 2014, featuring Stephen Zunes:The Kerry Initiative: Hope for Resolution of the Israel – Palestine Conflict?Co-sponsored by Peace Advocacy Coalition (PAC) and the Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy.
U.S. Culpability in the Failure of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
The failure of John Kerry’s Israeli-Palestinian peace talks showed just how extreme U.S. policy on the conflict has become.
A Nonviolent Alternative for Ukraine
Ukraine faces a rising tide of violence in the restive east. Here’s why nonviolent activism is the best strategy for fighting back. Written with Erica Chenoweth.
Why Nonviolent Resistance Wins
Because nuns, folk singers and dockworkers have the better track record for helping countries achieve democracy. Nearly 70 countries have shown us how.
Straight Talk on the U.S. and Ukraine
Foreign Policy In Focus, March 13, 2014 Given the limits of its power and its own compromised relationship with international law, the U.S. isn’t in a position to do much about Ukraine.
Egypt’s military government increases repression amid growing paranoia
Since the military coup in Egypt against the unpopular but democratically elected government of Mohammed Morsi last July, more than 1,000 regime opponents have been killed, thousands more have been hauled before military courts on political charges, and a repressive anti-protest law has been enacted, severely limiting the right of peaceful assembly.
Egyptian Junta Claims U.S. Conspiracy While Accepting U.S. Support
y claiming that the secular pro-democratic left is somehow in cahoots with both of Washington and the Muslim Brotherhood to undermine the nation, the Egyptian military is trying to have it both ways: appealing to the foreign policy establishment in Washington by suppressing both the Islamists and the left, while playing the pseudo-nationalist card for the Egyptian masses.
How to discredit your democratic opponents in Egypt
The brutal crackdown on both Islamist and secular oppositionists by the US-backed Egyptian military junta has taken on a bizarre twist: using government-controlled media to promote long-discredited conspiracy theories originally put forward by ultra-left fringe groups.
Barker’s Bizarre Attacks against Progressive Scholars and Proponents of Nonviolent Resistance
Michael Barker, in an article posted on this site a few days ago, takes offense at my labeling him as someone “notorious” for “conspiracy-mongering.” However, a careful reading of his article and its links actually reinforces that argument.
How the state Assembly tries to limit what I can teach
In preparing my syllabus for my introductory course on the Middle East this semester, it gives me pause that the California Assembly is still on record declaring that discussing certain well-documented historic incidents in modern Middle Eastern history should “not be tolerated in the classroom.” This unprecedented attack on academic freedom came in the form of a resolution (HR 35), co-sponsored by 66 of the 88 Assembly members, which passed by a voice vote in 2012.
The US role in Iraq’s upsurge in violence
The tragic upsurge of violence in Iraq in recent months, including the temporary takeover of sections of two major Iraqi cities by al-Qaida affiliates, is a direct consequence of the repression of peaceful dissent by the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad and, ultimately, of the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation.
U.S. shares responsibility for plight of Arab Christians
It was the second week in January of 1991. I was in the sanctuary of a large Catholic Church in Baghdad. Every votive candle in the place was lit, no doubt in support of prayers for loved ones in anticipation of the massive U.S. bombing campaign, which was to be known as Operation Desert Storm, which was soon to commence.
Mandela’s utilitarianism and the struggle for liberation
In the time since his death at age 95, Nelson Mandela’s thinking on the strategic direction of the liberation struggle in South Africa has been oversimplified by proponents of nonviolent and armed resistance alike. His leadership in the relatively peaceful end to the brutal apartheid system was indeed critical, as was his leadership three decades earlier in the shift from nonviolent to armed resistance by the African National Congress (ANC). Yet many analysts have largely ignored the critical events in South Africa which took place in between, during his nearly three decades in prison.
The Truth About Nonviolent Movements
“Mandela was a great leader because he recognized that the movement had become a civil insurrection, a largely nonviolent struggle. A great leader is one who recognizes where the movement is and leads them accordingly, not one who says, ‘Do it my way!’”