US Foreign Policy

Tiffin, Ohio (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – April 30th marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end when Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, soon to be renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The war was a terrible experience for the United States, but even more so for the people of Vietnam and much of the […]

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the US: Why Diplomats Matter

Fariba Amini

George B. Lambrakis was a State Department Foreign Service officer from 1957 to 1985, after two years with USIS in Vietnam and Laos. He served in Iran during the Islamic Revolution 1978-1979. He is interviewed by Fariba Amini. Fariba Amini: The first Trump administration abandoned the JCPOA. Why do you think now in his second […]

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Except for Israel: US Military Aid forbidden to Human Rights Violators by the Leahy Law

Charles O. Blaha

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On December 17, 2024, a group of Palestinian and Palestinian-Americans filed a complaint against the State Department with one simple ask: That the Department obey the Leahy law with regard to Israel. The Leahy law prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign security force units credibly implicated in gross […]

Iran

Mideast Peace Depends on an unlikely Trump-Iran Nuclear Deal

The Conversation

By Simon Mabon, Lancaster University For the second week in a row, senior officials from the United States and Iran will get together to take part in talks about the Iranian nuclear programme. It’s the second round in the latest negotiations – the first having taken place in Oman on April 12. But recent statements […]

Israel/ Palestine

What is the Israel Lobby – and Why is it so Anxious?

The Conversation

By Ned Curthoys, The University of Western Australia (The Conversation) – Last May, on a trip to the United States, world-renowned Israeli–Jewish historian Ilan Pappe was detained by Homeland Security and held for two hours. Aged 69 at the time, he was, among other things, asked about his views on Hamas and whether Israel’s actions […]

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A Majority of Americans Views Israel Negatively in wake of Gaza Genocide

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Laura Silver at the Pew Research Center reports that 53% of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, a stark deterioration from 42% in spring 2022 before the Israeli total war on Gaza. Moreover, in just 3 years the percentage of Americans with very negative views of Israel has […]

Iran

Iran and US to enter high-stakes Nuclear Negotiations – hampered by a lack of Trust

The Conversation

ByAli Bilgic, Loughborough University (The Conversation) – The announcement of planned talks between the US and Iran in Oman signifies a crucial development – especially given the history of distrust and animosity that has characterised their interactions. There remains a degree of confusion as to whether the negotiations over Iran’s development of a nuclear capacity […]

Donald Trump

With US Bombers at the ready, can Trump cut a Deal with Iran and avoid a War?

The Conversation

By Amin Saikal, Victoria University (The Conversation) – The United States and Iran are once again on a collision course over the Iranian nuclear program. In a letter dated early March, US President Donald Trump urged Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to negotiate a new deal. The new deal would replace the defunct nuclear […]

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Signalgate shows Trump bombing of Yemen just for Show, Ignores Dead Yemeni Children

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The high-level Trump administration Signal message thread on bombing Yemen on which someone on the staff of National Security Adviser Michael Waltz included The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg is what is impolitely called in the military a SNAFU (Situation Normal All F*cked Up). Yes, it is a security breach of […]