The Progressive, May 23, 2018: The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech targeting Iran may have created a new benchmark for hypocritical, arrogant, and entitled demands by the U.S. on foreign governments…
Tag: not audio
Trump’s Dangerous Abrogation of the Iran Deal
The Progressive, May 9, 2018: Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the U.S.—strikes a dangerous blow against arms control and international security and more firmly establishes the U.S. as a rogue nation.
Villaraigosa still haunted by role as 2012 DNC chair
The Californian May 4, 2018: Despite endorsements from Luis Alejo, Simón Salinas, and other leading Monterey County Democrats, gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has been struggling to gain traction statewide…
Democrats’ skepticism of Feinstein well-founded
The Californian, April 27, 2018, by Stephen Zunes
The stunning rejection of Dianne Feinstein’s expected endorsement for another term as California’s senior U.S. Senator the Democratic State Convention in February was based not just upon concerns about her age and her centrist domestic agenda, but over her ability to challenge Trump’s dangerous foreign policy agenda…
History Shows Hypocrisy of US Outrage Over Chemical Weapons in Syria
Truthout April 24, 2018: There are serious legal and strategic concerns regarding the decision by the U.S., along with France and Great Britain, to bomb Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma…
Civil Resistance Against Coups: A Comparative and Historical Perspective
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, December 2017:
This monograph presents in-depth case studies and analysis intended to improve our understanding of the strategic utility of civil resistance against military takeovers; the nature of civil resistance mobilization against coups; and the role of civil resistance against coups.
Why the United States Can’t Lead on Syria’s Chemical Weapons Atrocities
The Progressive April 11, 2018: The repeated use of these horrific and illegal weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s repressive regime deserves a strong international response. Unfortunately, given its history of politicizing the issue, the U.S. is in no position to lead…
Remembering Martin Luther King, the Radical for Peace
The Progressive April 3, 2018: King challenged the draining of our national resources for the military, opposed the Vietnam War and other aspects of U.S. foreign policy and questioned an economic system that created enormous poverty amid great wealth. He was assassinated while organizing the Poor People’s March…
Mike Pompeo: Trump Is Handing the State Department Over from Exxon Mobil to the Tea Party
In These Times March 14, 2024: President Trump abruptly fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo [who] will only reinforce Trump’s most dangerous, reckless and militaristic instincts…
Trump’s Middle East Policy: The Ironies of Hawkishness
Al Jazeera Report March 8, 2024: Despite broken campaign promises, Trump has pursued reckless and militaristic policies, deepening U.S. military involvement, backing the Israeli colonization and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, deepening ties to Arab autocrats, and threatening war with Iran.
Power’s Prophet: Remembering Gene Sharp
The Progressive February 1, 2018: Dr. Gene Sharp, a Harvard University-based scholar, through his through analysis of centuries of nonviolent struggle, made a convincing case on utilitarian grounds that nonviolent struggle was a more effective and successful means of resistance than violence…
[Related article & Petition]
In Retrospect: Public Intellectuals and Activists Weigh In on the Tet Offensive 50 Years Later
Truthout January 31, 2018:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive. On January 30, 1968, thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers and their Viet Cong support organized a sweeping attack of multiple cities in South Vietnam. The event is said to have reinforced the United States opposition to the Vietnam War. The following is a compilation of thoughts across a diverse spectrum of academics, activists, organizers and progressive thinkers on the significance of this event in history…
Trump’s actions on Jerusalem come with Democratic support
San Francisco Chronicle December 7, 2017:
President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the United States formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy would be moved to that multiethnic and multifaith city once again places the United States at odds with the rest of the international community. No other government in the world formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or has its embassy there, instead basing their diplomatic offices in nearby Tel Aviv.
Both Parties Pushed Trump Toward Reckless Action on Jerusalem
[Full Article] Published in The Progressive, Huffington Post,
Common Dreams & Transcend Media Service:
President Trump’s plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there risks a violent and destabilizing reaction targeting U.S. interests globally. The 1947 UN partition plan was to divide Palestine between a Jewish and Arab state, with Jerusalem and surrounding areas designated as an international territory under U.N. administration. Instead–as a result of the first Arab-Israeli War–by 1949 Israel had annexed the western part of the area and Jordan the eastern part, but the international community refused to acknowledge either claim. Following the Israeli conquests of 1967, Israel annexed Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem and surrounding lands as well…
Why Democrats Don’t Want to Talk about Flynn’s First Meeting with the Russians
The Progressive and The Huffington Post December 5, 2017
Key points are rendered in this 5-minute video.
Trump’s Dangerous Appointment to Key Civil Rights Position: Kenneth Marcus
Banning Palestinian Speaker at Friends Central School
Sa’ed Atshan is generally considered one of the most highly-respected young Quaker scholars in the United States. A graduate of Ramallah Friends School and Swarthmore College with a doctoral degree from Harvard, he is currently an assistant professor in Swarthmore’s Peace and Conflict Studies program. A committed pacifist, he serves on the board of Pendle Hill, is an active member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and has worked with a wide range of organizations in conflict resolution and reconciliation. [More links about this]
Liberal UCSC alumni may pay price for donations
Santa Cruz Sentinel September 29, 2017
It seems that UC Santa Cruz now reserves the right to bring in ultra-conservative speakers as a condition of accepting in-kind donations from those with left-of-center views.
Resistance Builds to Proposed Israeli Boycott Bill
The Progressive & Huffington Post August 1, 2017
A disturbing number of Congressional Democrats have joined their Republican counterparts in co-sponsoring a bill (S. 720/H.R. 1697) effectively criminalizing support for boycotts against Israel or companies doing business in the country or its occupied territories. If passed, the legislation would make it a crime to support or even furnish information about a boycott directed at Israel or the Israeli occupation supported by any entity of the United Nations, the European Union, or other “international governmental organization.” And the penalties are draconian…
Trump’s Support for Punishing Qatar Is Misguided
The Progressive & Huffington Post June 16, 2017: The decision by the Saudis and allied dictatorships to sever ties with Qatar and impose draconian sanctions on the tiny nation has precipitated a major regional crisis, and President Trump’s support has made matters even worse.