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US Outrage Over Syria Veto at UN Rife With Hypocrisy

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Truthout, February 8, 2012, also by The Israel Palestine Project
Official Washington has been rife with condemnation at the decision by the governments of Russia and China to veto an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the ongoing repression in Syria and calling for a halt to violence on all sides; unfettered access for Arab League monitors; and “a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs.” Human rights activists were outraged…

Syrian Repression, the Chinese-Russian Veto, and U.S. Hypocrisy

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, February 7, 2012
Also Eurasia Review, Global Policy Focus, Middle East Spectator, The Indypendent, Democratic Underground, Mulay Smara, Alternatives International Journal and Transnational Blog
Just as France shields Morocco from accountability for its ongoing occupation and repression in Western Sahara, and just as the U.S. shields Israel from having observe international humanitarian law, Russia and China have used their permanent seats on the UN Security Council to protect the Syrian regime from accountability for its savage repression against its own citizens. Although inexcusable, the self-righteous reaction by U.S. officials betrays hypocrisy on a grand scale…

Unarmed resistance still Syria’s best hope

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26 January 2012 National Catholic Reporter
Also Huffington Post, and Znetwork.org
The Syrian pro-democracy struggle has been both an enormous tragedy and a powerful inspiration. Unlike Tunisia and Egypt, where the opposition was relatively united and was able to take advantage of divisions within the ruling circles, the elites in Syria have been united against a divided opposition. Decades of human rights abuses, sectarian divisions, suppression of independent civil society institutions, ubiquitous secret police, and an overall culture of fear have made it difficult to build a unified opposition movement.

Iraq: Remembering Those Responsible

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Truthout Published 1 January 2012: Also at Common Dreams, Transnational.org, Peace and Justice Post and ZNetwork
The formal withdrawal of US troops from Iraq this month has led to a whole series of retrospectives on the invasion and the eight and a half years of occupation that followed as well as a host of unanswered questions.. of critical importance at this juncture is that we not allow the narratives on the war to understate its tragic consequences or those responsible for the war — both Republicans and Democrats — to escape their responsibility…

Leaving Iraq (audio)

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KQED Forum 15 December 2011
The U.S. military engagement in Iraq is almost over, following the orderly exit of tens of thousands of American troops from the country. Just a few thousand soldiers remain, and those are expected to be gone in two and a half weeks, leaving behind some U.S. advisers and contractors. In this hour, we discuss what’s next for Iraq, and the political, economic and social impact of the pull-out.
Guests:

  • John Arquilla, professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School Michael Nacht, Thomas and Alison Schneider professor of public policy at UC Berkeley
  • Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and chair of middle eastern studies at the University of San Francisco
  • Stephen Farrell, foreign correspondent for The New York Times
  • Jane Wales, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council. Former director of the National Security Council.

Obama Ad Condemns Israel Aid Opponents

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies
December 14, 2011 and at Common Dreams.
An ad on my Facebook page from barackobama.com reads, “Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich say they would start foreign aid to Israel at zero. Reject their extreme plan now!”
This struck me as odd for two reasons: First, it is disingenuous and misleading… Secondly, millions of Americans—particularly younger voters—support zeroing out aid to Israel on human rights grounds.

Obama to Aid Uzbek Dictatorship

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies November 9, 2011, By Stephen Zunes. Also: Eurasia Review, Truthout, Huffington Post, Antiwar.com and Scott Horton Show: The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, in a move initiated by the Obama administration, has voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan, one of the most brutal and repressive regimes on the planet…