Bipartisan Bill for Middle East Peace Will Enable Dictatorships and Occupation admin, March 8, 2022August 14, 2024 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.” [FULL LINK] Continue Reading
Democrats Attack Amnesty Report on Israel to Justify US Complicity in Human Rights Abuses admin, February 28, 2022March 13, 2024 This is indicative of the Democratic Party’s shift to the right on foreign policy in recent decades… [FULL LINK] Continue Reading
US Support for Invasions Should Disqualify It From Leading on Russia-Ukraine admin, January 26, 2022March 14, 2024 The United States and Russia are heading toward a dangerous showdown over Ukraine, as the U.S. has 8,500 troops on high alert, ready to deploy to Eastern Europe should Russia invade Ukraine, and a new round of arms shipments have begun arriving in Ukraine. Continue Reading
Biden’s Dangerous Refusal to Reverse Trump’s Western Sahara Policy admin, January 21, 2022April 3, 2024 In his final weeks in office, President Donald Trump stunned the international community in formally recognizing Western Sahara as part of Morocco. Morocco has occupied much of its southern neighbor since 1975, when it invaded and annexed the former Spanish colony in defiance of the United Nations Security Council and a landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice. Continue Reading
US Western Sahara stance emboldens Putin admin, January 7, 2022April 3, 2024 The threat of further Russian aggression against Ukraine is very real. Unfortunately, the Biden administration is in a weak position to lead an international response. Continue Reading
Harry Reid’s Hawkish Foreign Policy admin, January 3, 2022August 14, 2024 The death of former Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada has brought forth praise for his parliamentary skills, which helped make possible some critically important legislation, as well as preventing the passage of a number of seriously problematic bills. However, on the foreign policy front, it should be noted that Reid not only failed to challenge dangerous Republican initiatives that violated fundamental principles of international law and human rights, he was often among their most prominent supporters. Continue Reading
The Pentagon Doesn’t Care About Civilian Casualties admin, November 26, 2021August 15, 2024 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 United States, supported on the ground by an allied Kurdish and Arab militia, launched a massive air assault on the enclave. Continue Reading
Biden and Other Democrats Helped Colin Powell Spread George W. Bush’s Iraq Lies admin, October 19, 2021March 16, 2024 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… Continue Reading
US Policy Toward Afghanistan Was a Recipe for Collapse From the Start admin, August 17, 2021August 14, 2024 We must not allow the tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan to be used to rewrite history and teach the wrong lessons. Continue Reading
Have ‘Human Shields’ Accusations Become an Excuse for War Crimes? admin, June 17, 2021August 14, 2024 photos of dead Palestinian children on the front page of The New York Times to gripping accounts of people digging through the wreckage of high-rise apartment complexes and office buildings, evidence of last month’s horrific death toll from Israel’s eleven-day bombing campaign was hard to deny. Continue Reading
United States’ Imperial Foreign Policy Is the Deadly Enemy of Progress at Home admin, June 14, 2021August 14, 2024 Jacobin June 14, 2021: The US military spends trillions on death abroad that could be spent on improving life back home… Continue Reading
Professor Stephen Zunes on Gaza, the US, and Israel admin, June 1, 2021August 14, 2024 Tikkun: “The extreme disproportionate firepower of the Israelis is really staggering. We’re looking at a 20:1 ratio just in terms of casualties… the U.S. bears special responsibility…” Continue Reading
Commentary: Panetta out of touch with constituents in his support for Netanyahu admin, May 27, 2021August 14, 2024 The Californian: Commentary: As the ceasefire takes hold ending the fighting between Hamas and Israel, central coast voters are raising questions over controversial statements he made. Continue Reading
From Aleppo to Gaza: A Handy Guide for Defending War Crimes admin, May 26, 2021August 14, 2024 Foreign Policy In Focus May 26, 2021: The U.S. strident defense of Israel’s recent military onslaught on the Gaza Strip… sounds remarkably similar to that to defend the Assad regime in Syria during their bloody attacks on Aleppo, Idlib, and other rebel-held areas… here’s a summary — based on real… Continue Reading
125 Democrats Say Military Aid to Israel Shouldn’t Depend on Human Rights Record admin, May 3, 2021March 16, 2024 In an apparent response to growing calls for making US aid to the Netanyahu government conditional on Israeli adherence to human rights law, 330 members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter late last month insisting that the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States provides… Continue Reading
Sudan’s 2019 Revolution The Power of Civil Resistance admin, April 28, 2021April 3, 2024 Stephen Zunes’ April 2021 report* reviews the chronology of the resistance struggle in Sudan, the critical role of nonviolent discipline, other factors contributing to the movement’s success, and the current political situation. It seeks to explain how the movement was able to succeed despite enormous odds against it and what… Continue Reading
If Biden Wants to Protect Troops, He Should Bring Them Home — Not Bomb Syria admin, March 2, 2021May 20, 2024 Truthout, March 2, 2021: The US has bombed Syria more than 20,000 times over the past eight years, so last week’s attack on a border post in northeastern Syria, which killed 22 militiamen and apparently no civilians, may not seem surprising to some… it is nevertheless disappointing that President Biden… Continue Reading
One of the Democrats’ Biggest Hawks Is Now Senate Foreign Relations Chair admin, January 26, 2021August 14, 2024 Now with a working majority, the Democrats have named Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This has rung alarm bells for advocates of peace, human rights and international law, given that Menendez has opposed the Iran nuclear agreement, repeatedly attacked the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, supported unconditional military aid to governments that have used the weapons in the commission of war crimes, and taken other positions far closer to those of Republicans than rank-and-file Democrats. Continue Reading
Nonviolent Activists Laid the Groundwork to Oppose a Coup. They May Have Saved the Republic admin, January 20, 2021August 14, 2024 Activists prepared for months, expecting Trump to steal the election. They were right, and he failed. Since President-elect Joe Biden’s decisive win in November, there has been understandable consternation at the efforts by President Trump and his supporters to steal the election. It is also important to understand why, so far, and despite the recent violence in Washington, his attempts have been unsuccessful. Continue Reading
When a Ceasefire is Not Enough admin, January 1, 2021August 14, 2024 THE WAR BETWEEN Armenia and Azerbaijan this past autumn was an avoidable tragedy. The disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region has been populated since at least the second century B.C.E. by Armenians, one of the world’s oldest Christian civilizations. The Muslim Azeris and others have lived there and in neighboring areas for centuries as well, and the region was ethnically mixed (albeit majority Armenian) when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Continue Reading