By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – After another Stockholm Syndrome performance, on Afghanistan, where he gave the speech National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster wrote for him, Trump on Tuesday returned to form at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a week and a half after Trump discredited himself with two-thirds […]
Archives for August 2017
Can we dodge a N. Korean War? Trump and the Geopolitics of Crazy
By John Feffer | ( Tomdispatch.com —– Related video added by Juan Cole: North Korea Threatens ‘Merciless Retaliation’ Over U.S.-South Korean Drills, Threatens Guam | TIME
Trump’s Afghanistan Surge will Fail without Diplomacy, Anti-Corruption
By Solaiman Fazel | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite the campaign promise to distance himself from Afghanistan, President Trump has now publically taken ownership of America’s Longest War, 2001-Present. Trump’s decision not to completely withdraw the armed forces or subcontract the warfare to Blackwater (a private military company) are clever choices for the wider […]
International Community must Halt Yemen Bloodbath
Hannah Porter | (Informed Comment) | – – A concerted effort by the international community to resolve Yemen’s war would see considerable benefits at a small cost, yet profits, alliances, and egos are getting in the way. On midnight, March 26, 2015, Saudi fighter jets took to the skies of Yemen, marking the beginning of […]
Israel argues confiscation of occupied land benefits Palestinians
Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli government defended the legality of the outpost “Regularization law” at the Israeli Supreme Court on Monday, and said that the expropriation of Palestinian-owned land would benefit Palestinians because they would receive financial compensation for it, reportedly describing Palestinian laws prohibiting the sale of land […]
Trump flip-flops on Afghanistan, opts for Years-long Quagmire
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The 16-years-long Afghanistan War has bedeviled Washington decision-makers since the US invasion of fall, 2001, which came in response to the attacks of September 11. In his speech on Monday night, Trump was primarily attempting to manipulate American domestic politics. He was trying to look presidential […]
It’s Not About ‘White Culture’
By Jill Richardson | (Otherwords.org) | – – There’s no way to march with KKK members and Nazi flags in a non-hateful way. “I came to this march for the message that white European culture has a right to be here just like every other culture,” a white nationalist protester in Charlottesville told Newsweek. But, […]
Can Iraq save Tal Afar from ISIL without Destroying the City?
By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | – – [N.B. The offensive against ISIL (Daesh) in Tal Afar began on Sunday. – JC] Intensive air raids, secret political talks and military forces gathering on the outskirts of the city: Everything points to the battle of Tal Afar – almost the extremists’ last stand in Iraq . […]
ISIL in Afghanistan Resilient despite Kabul Offensive
By Frud Bezhan. | ( RFE/RL) | – – A relentless air-and-ground campaign against the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS) affiliate in Afghanistan does not appear to have radically diminished that militant group’s ability to inflict deadly attacks or prevented it from expanding its geographical reach in the war-torn country, analysts asked to assess progress […]
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