US Foreign Policy

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – As Saudi Arabia slowly backpedals, we could see an end to the Yemen war, an easing of Iran’s isolation, and a reduced role for the U.S. By Conn Hallinan, November 5, 2019. The fallout from the September attack on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities is continuing to reverberate throughout the […]

Donald Trump

How Trump’s Maximum Sanctions Endanger the Health of Iran’s Children, Civilians

Human Rights Watch

US Should Ensure Effective Humanitarian Exemptions

nuclear weapons

Given tensions with Erdogan, is it really Wise for the U.S. to Keep 50 Nuclear Bombs in Turkey?

The Conversation

By Miles A. Pomper | – As the Syrian crisis pits Turkish troops against former U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials have been reviewing plans to remove 50 nuclear bombs stored at a U.S air base in Turkey. A congressional directive to the Pentagon to quickly assess alternative homes for U.S. “personnel and assets” currently stationed […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Endless Wars

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Trump’s not bringing the troops home. He’s been haphazardly deploying more troops, drones, and dollars abroad, while waging a shadow foreign policy for his own benefit. Donald Trump loves to talk about ending the endless U.S. wars that he inherited as president. He tweets about it. He endlessly criticizes […]

Donald Trump

Trump Talks tough with Journalists but Lets Real Strongmen like Turkey’s Erdogan Walk all over Him

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week during the visit of the Finnish president, Trump acted out with a journalist, James Mason of Reuters who asked him a simple question. What exactly did Trump want from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky during the notorious July telephone call? Trump did a bad de Niro impression, asking him, […]

Donald Trump

Is Turkey planning an attack on Syrian Kurds?

Reese Erlich

ISTANBUL —The Turkish government plans to use Syrian refugees to displace the local Kurdish population in northern Syria. But so far, the scheme isn’t working so well. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayep Erdoğan announced his intention to settle up to two million refugees now living in Turkey into northern Syria. “We aim to accelerate […]

Pentagon

America now solves problems with troops, not diplomats

The Conversation

By Monica Duffy Toft | – Is America a bully? As a scholar, under the auspices of the Military Intervention Project, I have been studying every episode of U.S. military intervention from 1776 to 2017. Historically, the U.S. advanced from a position of isolationism to one of reluctant intervenor, to global policeman. Based on my […]

Donald Trump

Pompeo, Complicit in Ukraine Call, hides behind the State Department he Persecuted in Benghazi Conspiracy Theory

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Kansas oil man in the back pocket of Koch Industries and a mealy-mouthed convert to High Trumpism, issued a shot across the bow of Congress on Tuesday. He sent a letter, which he also tweeted, in which he tried to take cover behind the […]

Ukraine

Ukraine gave up its Nukes for a US Security Pledge; Then Trump Muscled Zelensky by Cutting Mil. Aide

William H. Espinosa

(Informed Comment) – In the coverage of the current scandal, no one seems to be writing about the national security debt the US (and others) owes the Ukraine. Large numbers of missiles and nuclear weapons infrastructure were located in the Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became independent. In fact, for a while, […]