Medea Benjamin

An Afghan taxi-driver in Vancouver told one of us a decade ago that this day would come. “We defeated the Persian Empire in the eighteenth century, the British in the nineteenth, the Soviets in the twentieth. Now, with NATO, we’re fighting twenty-eight countries, but we’ll defeat them, too,” said the taxi-driver, surely not a member … Continue reading “US Joins Past Empires in Afghan Graveyard”

Just as talks between the United States and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, and … Continue reading “The Hawks Who Want War With Iran Are Working Overtime”

The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it’s not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed – or even infuriated. There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama’s New START Treaty with Russia and Secretary of … Continue reading “Ten Problems With Biden’s Foreign Policy – and One Solution”

On February 25th, President Biden ordered U.S. air forces to drop seven 500-pound bombs on Iraqi forces in Syria, reportedly killing 22 people. The US airstrike has predictably failed to halt rocket attacks on deeply unpopular US bases in Iraq, which the Iraqi National Assembly passed a resolution to close over a year ago. The … Continue reading “Trump and Biden’s Secret Bombing Wars”

The February 25 U.S. bombing of Syria immediately puts the policies of the newly-formed Biden administration into sharp relief. Why is this administration bombing the sovereign nation of Syria? Why is it bombing "Iranian-backed militias" who pose absolutely no threat to the United States and are actually involved in fighting ISIS? If this is about … Continue reading “Biden’s Reckless Syria Bombing Is Not the Diplomacy He Promised”

The February meeting of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Defense Ministers, the first since President Biden took power, revealed an antiquated, 75-year-old alliance that, despite its military failures in Afghanistan and Libya, is now turning its military madness toward two more formidable, nuclear-armed enemies: Russia and China. This theme was emphasized by U.S. Secretary of … Continue reading “What Planet Is NATO Living On?”

As Congress still struggles to pass a COVID relief bill, the rest of the world is nervously reserving judgment on America’s new president and his foreign policy, after successive U.S. administrations have delivered unexpected and damaging shocks to the world and the international system. Cautious international optimism toward Biden is very much based on his … Continue reading “Is Biden Committing Diplomatic Suicide Over the Iran Nuclear Agreement?”

Under Donald Trump’s presidency, Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE, and other repressive regimes, had virtually free reign to commit unchecked human rights abuses without worry that they might be chastised or lose U.S. diplomatic and financial support. But when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, President Sisi of Egypt started to … Continue reading “Biden Should Stop Payment on US Funds to Sisi’s Egypt”

In 2004, journalist Ron Susskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, "We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality." He dismissed Susskind’s assumption that public policy must be rooted in "the reality-based community." "We’re history’s actors," the advisor told him, "…and you, all of you, … Continue reading “The Decline and Fall of the American Empire”

Most people regard Trump’s treatment of immigrant children as among his most shocking crimes as president. Images of hundreds of children stolen from their families and imprisoned in chain-link cages are an unforgettable disgrace that President Biden must move quickly to remedy with humane immigration policies and a program to quickly find the children’s families … Continue reading “Will Biden End America’s Global War on Children?”