Foreign Policy In Focus, December 20, 2013
Late last month, President Barack Obama met with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in Washington for their first face-to-face meeting. The result was a bitter disappointment for supporters of human rights and international law.
Tag: not audio
Mandela’s utilitarianism and the struggle for liberation
Open Democracy, December 13, 2013
Republished by Huffington Post, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, Scoop Independent News, New Zealand, and Dawson College Inspire Solutions Project.
While many western governments argued that the supposedly benevolent influence of western capital would lead to liberalization and an eventual end to South Africa’s apartheid system, and many on the left argued that liberation would come only through armed revolution, in fact it was largely unarmed resistance by the black majority and its supporters, both within South Africa and abroad, which proved decisive.
Analysis of STRATFOR Leaks Misrepresents Nonviolent Movements
The Real News Network, December 11, 2013
First published on WarIsACrime.org. Republished by In These Times, Medcom-Taiwan, Transcend.org
Ruthless regimes not impervious to civil resistance: A reply to Maged Mandour
Open Democracy, November 1, 2013
Republished by International Center for Nonviolent Conflict
There is little systematic evidence to suggest that “ruthlessness” is itself a critical variable. Maged Mandour’s article on OpenDemocracy, “Beyond Civil Resistance: The Case of Syria”, argues that civil resistance has been marginalized in the Syrian insurrection because it doesn’t work against “ruthless” regimes. But history doesn’t support that conclusion…
Congress vs. Obama on Iran: Washington’s Warmongers Take Aim At Iran Diplomacy
Foreign Policy In Focus, “Z” and Alternet
Hardliners in Tehran are not happy with the recent rapprochement between the United States and Iran and the related progress in negotiations to address Western concerns about the Iranian nuclear program. But the bigger threat may come from hardliners in the Washington, including prominent Democrats. [See the FPIF LINK, or Alternet, and the follow-up op-ed, Congress seeks to undermine Obama’s rapprochement with Iran in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Nov. 15, 2013.]
US Invasion of Grenada: A 30-Year Retrospective
Truthout October 25, 2013 and republished by
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW21)
On this anniversary, it would be worth looking back at the Grenadian revolution, the U.S. invasion, its aftermath and the important precedent it set for “regime change” through U.S. military intervention…
The Maldives: a serial coup in progress?
Open Democracy October 15, 2013
Should Britain, the United States and others who claim to be concerned, stand by and allow reactionary forces to stage-manage a phony election, this sends yet another inconsistent and disheartening message to those struggling for peaceful democratic change in the Islamic world and beyond. In the latest episode of what appears to be a serial coup in the Maldives, the country’s Supreme Court… threw out the results of the first round of presidential elections just hours before the scheduled date of the second round in which pro-democracy leader Mohamed Nasheed was expected to win handily…
The Nobel Committee’s Rebuke to Washington’s Unilateralism
Foreign Policy In Focus October 11, 2013
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), one of the most effective instruments for international arms control, sends an important message to those who have insisted that unilateral military action is the best means to eliminate and prevent the use of these deadly agents.
On Syria, most thoughtful people are torn
Open Democracy, October 5, 2013
Indeed, with the exception of some neo-conservatives and other hawks who apparently have never seen an opportunity for western intervention they didn’t like and some on the far left who assume that any regime hostile to western imperialism must be progressive, I’ve generally been impressed with the maturity of the debate around Syria. Most thoughtful people are torn on these questions, myself included. Once again, however, Hashemi misrepresents me…
What Obama Didn’t Say in his UN Speech
The Progressive September 24, 2013
[Republished by Common Dreams and PeaceandJustice.org]
President Obama addressed Russian and Chinese obstructionism on Syria. Their abuse of veto power has, in the words of U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, held the Security Council “hostage.” But the President wasn’t willing to acknowledge U.S. obstructionism and abuse of its own veto power…
Opposition to intervention in Syria utilitarian, not ideological
Open Democracy September 23, 2013. Republished by
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict & SeenThis.net
In this reply to a critique by Nader Hashemi, Dr. Zunes explains that: “Whether or not a movement is primarily violent or nonviolent, what is important is whether it employs strategies and tactics that can maximize its chances of success.”
Apparent Fraud in Maldivian Elections Threatens Prospects for Democracy
Open Democracy, September 7, 2013
Dr. Zunes talks about a number of troubling indicators that major fraud may have occurred in the election held on September 7, which raises questions regarding the integrity of the September 28 runoff…
The US Has No Credibility Dealing With Chemical Weapons
Truthout September 9, 2013; Also in Third World Network and
Blog.Transnational.org. This is an updated and expanded version
of “The US and Chemical Weapons: No Leg to Stand On,”
originally posted in Foreign Policy in Focus, May 2, 2013.
If, as alleged, the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it would indeed be a serious development, constituting a breach of the Geneva Protocol of 1925… which banned the use of chemical weapons… Syria is one of only eight of the UN’s 193 member countries not party to the convention. However, U.S. policy regarding chemical weapons has been so inconsistent and politicized, that the U.S. is in no position to take leadership in response to any use of such weaponry by Syria…
Eight Arguments Against Going to War With Syria
Truthout September 4, 2013 [Versions were also published by Future of Freedom Foundation, ZNetwork, and Santa Cruz Sentinel]
Ten reasons why the U.S. should not attack Syria. The decision by President Barack Obama to first seek congressional approval of any US military action against Syria is good and important, not only on constitutional grounds, but because it gives the American people an opportunity to stop it. It is critically important to convince members of Congress not to grant the president that authority.
US government hypocrisy undercuts demand for Snowden’s extradition
National Catholic Reporter, August 29, 2013
Reasonable people can disagree on whether former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden
should be celebrated as a whistleblower for revealing widespread U.S. government spying or whether he should
be tried and punished for leaking classified documents. However, the Obama administration’s extraordinary hypocrisy in demanding his immediate extradition to the United States, despite the lack of an extradition treaty with Russia, while refusing to extradite far worse criminals to countries with which the United States has such treaty obligations, denies the U.S. government any credibility…
Washington and the Egyptian Tragedy
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 20, 2013
[Republished by Huffington Post, PeaceandJustice.org, Shoah.org.UK,
Transcend Media Service, Transnational.org, and Znetwork.org]
The vast majority of Egyptians killed since the coup have been unarmed protesters killed by American-made weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
Restless Nation: The Real Meaning of Iran’s Elections
[YES!, Transcend.org and Transnational.org Blog, August 13, 2013]
Iran inaugurated its new president, Hassan Rouhani—clearly the most moderate candidate in the running. This outcome illustrates the growing desire for change among the people of Iran. The situation resembles Eastern Europe in the 1970s: The people are not yet at a point where they can bring down the regime, but the ideological hegemony that kept the system intact is gone.
Attacks against anti-occupation activism increase
National Catholic Reporter, July 22, 2013
A version was also published by the Santa Cruz Sentinel July 12 as “California legislators attack UC anti-occupation activists.”
Banned in Phoenix: How the Arizona State Bar Association Considers Analysis of International Law in the Middle East Too Controversial
Truthout, June 25, 2013: No one in the organization’s leadership could explain anything objectionable in the paper, which they had not actually read, but were apparently convinced by a right-wing campaign that I was “anti-Israel” and “anti-American.”
Progressives Flock to Ed Markey’s Senate Campaign Despite Hawkish Record
Truthout.org, June 5, 2013
[Republished by the Huffington Post & Reddit]
Congressman Ed Markey’s senate campaign has received an unprecedented level of support from progressives, despite Markey’s foreign policy record well to the right of the majority of Democrats.