Ted Snider

Like a badly written series of romance novels, the plot template remains fixed while just the names of the characters and places rotate through the template. The story of Syria that Americans and Canadians ingest from the mainstream media is the same simplistic narrative of good and evil told by Washington about each new enemy. … Continue reading “The Syrian Side of the Story You Never Hear”

Donald Trump has just approved Montenegro’s accession into NATO. Montenegro is a tiny nation, and its inclusion doesn’t significantly change the abilities of NATO, but it’s inclusion is huge, and its meaning is significant and clear to Russia. As the curtain rose on the Donald Trump presidency, the script promised an administration that would warm … Continue reading “Trump, Russia, and NATO: Why Tiny Montenegro’s Not Tiny Now”

One of the promises that President Trump has kept is his promise to be tough on Iran. Though he has not canceled the nuclear weapons agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he has "officially put Iran on notice," and he has imposed new sanctions. More seriously, the New York Times reports that Secretary … Continue reading “The Five Blinding Myths About Iran”

On February 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump held their first official meeting. Strangely, they held their press conference prior to the meeting. During that press conference, in answer to the question, "Mr. President, in your vision for the new Middle East peace, are you ready to give … Continue reading “Netanyahu’s Contribution to History and Trump’s ‘Ultimate Deal’”

On the domestic front, Donald Trump’s bullying and abuse have unfolded on the nightly news like a soap opera. When acting attorney general Sally Yates did her job by telling Trump that his suspension of visas to seven Muslim nations was possibly unlawful, he fired her. When she told him that "At present, I am … Continue reading “Donald Trump and the Foreign Policy of Abuse”

As the end of Obama’s term in office approaches, it may be of interest to evaluate his performance on Latin America. One of Obama’s foreign policy promises at the beginning of his first term was to change the way America does business with Latin America. The promise to change the way America does business in … Continue reading “The End of Obama’s Term: A Report Card on Latin America”

The leaked Hillary Clinton emails include a memo written on September 17, 2014 that discusses the U.S. response to ISIS. The key line in the memo is point 4 that says that based on "western intelligence, US intelligence and sources in the region," she knows that "the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia . . … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton Knew Saudis Were Funding Extremists. Surprise!”

The recipe for the Cold War read, "Simmer. Bring to a boil occasionally: do not boil over." Decades later, the surprising line "return to boil" was added. The table for both servings of the Cold War was set by broken American promises. Perhaps the most ironic event in post-World War Two history is that it … Continue reading “Broken Promises That Still Shape the World”

There can no longer be a defense of the removal of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff from office. The political maneuvering by the opposition PSDB has been uncloaked and revealed for what it clearly was all along: a quiet coup dressed in the disguise of democracy. The recent release of a recording of a phone call … Continue reading “Is the US Behind the Brazilian Coup?”

When Winston Smith thinks he has finally made contact with the underground movement he has always hoped existed, in George Orwell’s 1984, he drinks a toast, not to the hoped-for future, but to the past, because "he who controls the past controls the future." With the "erasure of the past," current events can look like … Continue reading “Historical Amnesia and the Destruction of the Senate Torture Report”