All is not well: Donald Trump’s assassination of Iran’s Suleimani masks how far American power has been forced into retreat across the Middle East, and will only accelerate strategic losses that endanger American lives and interests.
middle east
Bomb Iran? Pass.
Saudi Arabia is dragging the United States toward war with Iran against all American interests when the true threat to the Middle East continues to be Saudi Arabia–and American blindness to that alliance’s consequences.
Trump Steps Up Bombing in Iraq, Civilians Die
More U.S. coalition strikes are now causing civilian casualties than strikes by Russia, which was loudly and appropriately accused of war crimes for its bombing of Aleppo, Syria last year.
Iran Nukes Deal Will Protect Against Saudi and Israeli Threats
Iran hasn’t launched a single war in 50 years. Israel has launched eight, Saudi Arabia has kept funding America’s worst enemies–ISIS, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Who are the real threats to Mideast peace?
Good and Bad of the Iran Nuclear Deal: Caution and Selective Cooperation Ahead
The prospect that the agreement could keep Iran without nuclear weapons for 15 years is its main attraction. Sanctions alone could not have accomplished this, and using military force would have entailed considerable risk with uncertain results.
ISIS and Barack Obama’s Dumb War
Sending US troops back to Iraq to fight ISIS, Obama is doing what no American president has ever done before: re-start a war long lost. He’s doing it illegally, without Congressional authorization.
Obama’s Poisonous ISIS Moment and
The Snare of Remote-Controlled War
It’s not enough to be fighting a losing war in Afghanistan and another against “terror” in Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and wherever else Obama wants to play centurion to the world. Expanding the war to Syria is a grave error whose unintended consequences will add to 13 years’ worth of American setbacks in the Middle East.
U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel, 1949-2014
U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel, 1949-2014: military and economic aid broken down by year, from the Congressional Research Service reports.
Obama’s Born-Again Missile Envy Over Syria: Wrong on All Counts
Whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons or not, Obama would be wrong to attack, even if Congress approves. It’s not America’s war to fight, it’s not Obama’s judgment to make, and his red line is an absurd marker when contrasted with two and a half years of atrocities, and 100,000 deaths, that never got a peep.
When Riots In Defense of Islam Are More Vile Than Any Parody of the Prophet
“Innocence of Muslims” is a vile movie about Islam, but its movie maker had every right to make it, and it is far less vile than the murderous riots Muslim fundamentalists have launched as a result–or Mitt Romney’s political opportunism over the crisis.