US Foreign Policy

By Helen Benedict | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Almost anyone would agree that war is horrifying and peaceful countries should do their best to help its victims. The widespread eagerness to welcome fleeing Ukrainians after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded their country last February is a heartening example of such aid. But behind that altruism lies […]

Russia

Historical Reasons that Turkey is the pivot point between Russia and the US on Ukraine War

The Conversation

By Georgios Giannakopoulos, City, University of London | – (The Conversation) – The war in Ukraine has put Turkey into the geopolitical spotlight. One of Nato’s earliest member states, with a special relationship with Russia, Turkey is attempting to balance its competing interests, as well as increasing its own influence. Meanwhile, Turkey is in the […]

China

A Letter to President Joe Biden: About that pledge you Made of “Diplomacy First”

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – Dear Joe, Remember the mid-March snowball fight with some boys in our 8th grade class at St Helena’s School in Wilmington, Delaware? The snow was wet and made for hard, icy snowballs, so I hid my young sister Monica behind a parked car. You joined me against the […]

Featured

Could Iran’s Kurdish Protests and the Ayatollahs’ Determination to Crush Them Destabilize Neighboring Iraq?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The protests roiling Iran this fall have had an epicenter in Iranian Kurdistan in the west of the country. The death in the custody of the Shiite morality police of Tehran of a Kurdish young woman, Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, rallied Kurdish-Iranian subnationalism. Cities like Mahabad, Saqqez, and Sanandaj have seen […]

China

What If the U.S. and China Really Cooperated on Climate Change? Imagining a Necessary Future

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – As President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrived on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, for their November 14th “summit,” relations between their two countries were on a hair-raising downward spiral, with tensions over Taiwan nearing the boiling point. Diplomats hoped, at best, for a modest reduction in tensions, which, […]

Israel/ Palestine

Washington cares about Israel killing Palestinian-American Journalist Abu Akleh, but Not about dead unhyphenated Palestinians

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – Israel is once again, albeit temporarily, under the spotlight for the targeted killing in May of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. This follows the revelation that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting an investigation into the crime. In September, after many denials, Israel conceded there was […]

Israel

Can U.S. Backing for Israel survive its New Extremist, Racist and undemocratic Government?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Informed Comment) – The election of a far-far right wing Israeli government may challenge the strength of US-Israeli relations as never before. How many human rights violations and imperialist annexations are to be tolerated before the spigot of endless financial support is turned off? The U.S. has made clear to Israel that it […]

Campaign Finance

Emirates has Spent $154 mn on Lobbying US since 2016, and has Illegally Influenced US Politics: Intel Report

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UAE has spent more than $154 million on lobbyists since 2016, according to Justice Department records. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars more on donations to American universities and think tanks, many that produce policy papers with findings favorable to UAE interests. The intrepid John Hudson at […]

Climate Crisis

The “Rules-Based International Order” Has a Priorities problem, stressing War over Food Security and Climate

Rajan Menon

( Todmispatch.com ) – Washington’s vaunted “rules-based international order” has undergone a stress test following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and here’s the news so far: it hasn’t held up well. In fact, the disparate reactions to Vladimir Putin’s war have only highlighted stark global divisions, which reflect the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Such […]