U.S. and NATO officials routinely contend that assisting Ukraine in its war against Russia is a moral as well as a strategic imperative. Ukraine is supposedly on the frontlines of a global struggle between democracy and freedom on one side and brutal authoritarianism on the other. That justification lacks credibility for two reasons. First, Ukraine …
Continue reading “Using Ukraine as a Bloodied Pawn”
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. As a teenager in the 1970s, I recall talking to my dad about fears of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. My dad took a broad view, suggesting that if U.S. and Soviet leaders were stupid enough to blow each other to smithereens, …
Continue reading “The Madness of US Militarism”
Five others were wounded.
Two years ago, Morocco and Israel signed the US-brokered "Joint Declaration," thus officially recognizing Israel and instating diplomatic ties. Though other Arab countries had already done the same, the Moroccan official recognition of Apartheid Israel was particularly devastating for Palestinians. Years ago, a close Moroccan friend told me that the "first time" he was arrested …
Continue reading “The Price of Betraying Palestine: Moroccans Challenge Normalization With Israel”
Originally appeared at the American Institute for Economic Research. A new year dawns bright, with the US hurtling over the fiscal cliff. The lame duck Congress voted for a pork-packed $1.7 trillion budget bill. As the saying goes, it’s only money! At a time of enormous domestic need, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell pushed an …
Continue reading “When Federal Interest Payments Come To Exceed the Military Budget: Time To Stop Defending the Rest of the World”
Why did Russia make the decision to go to war in Ukraine in 2022? It had been over two decades since the US and NATO broke their promise and marched nearly a thousand miles east toward Russia’s borders. It had been eight years since the US supported a coup in Ukraine that removed a democratically …
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When Fox News commentator, former Democratic Member of Congress, and presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard confronted New York Republican Congressman-Elect George Santos about the long list of lies he used during the recent election campaign, the best defense he could come up with was that Democrats do the same. In this rare case, Santos was telling …
Continue reading “Lies, Democracy, Foreign Policy, and the Search for Peace”
Israel’s new national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, lost no time in demonstrating who is boss. On Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was sworn in, the ultra-nationalist politician marched straight in to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem – probably the most incendiary site in the Middle East. …
Continue reading “Is Ben-Gvir Preparing a Holy War Against the Palestinians?”
At least Five people were killed, and six more were wounded in recent violence: In Baghdad, a tossed hand grenade wounded three people. One person was killed, and two others were injured when unidentified gunmen shot at them. Clashes Tarmiya wounded a policeman. Four ISIS militants were killed during operations in Diyala province.
Even before the new Israeli government was officially sworn in on December 29, angry reactions began emerging, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s historic allies in the West. As early as November 2, top US officials conveyed to Axios that the Joe Biden Administration is "unlikely to engage …
Continue reading “Criticizing or Whitewashing Israel: Netanyahu’s New Government Accentuates West’s Hypocrisy” 
