Gareth Porter

The reason put forward by the Obama administration for the war against the Bashar al-Assad regime – saving the Syrian people from suffering and death at the hands of Assad – has no credibility with anyone familiar with the record of US interventions for regime change around the world. As has been the case with … Continue reading “The War Against the Assad Regime Is Not a ‘Pipeline War’”

The new ceasefire agreement between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which went into effect at noon Monday, has a new central compromise absent from the earlier ceasefire agreement that the same two men negotiated last February. But it isn’t clear that it will produce markedly different results. The new … Continue reading “Al-Qaeda’s Ties to US-Backed Syrian Rebels”

The main criticism of US policy in Syria has long been that President Barack Obama should have used US military force or more aggressive arms aid to strengthen the armed opposition to Assad. The easy answer is that the whole idea that there was a viable non-extremist force to be strengthened is a myth – … Continue reading “The Real US Syria Scandal: Supporting Sectarian War”

In a stunning diplomatic surprise, Turkey and Iran have announced a preliminary agreement on fundamental principles for a settlement of the Syrian conflict. The dramatic turn in the diplomacy of the Syria War was revealed in Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s regular weekly speech to the ruling AKP Party in the parliament and confirmed by … Continue reading “Turkey and Iran Reach Agreement on Conditions for Syria Peace”

Coverage of the breakdown of the partial ceasefire in Syria illustrated the main way corporate news media distort public understanding of a major foreign policy story. The problem is not that the key events in the story are entirely unreported, but that they were downplayed and quickly forgotten in the media’s embrace of themes with … Continue reading “How Media Distorted Syrian Ceasefire’s Breakdown”

The Nusra Front’s adoption of the new name Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and claim that it has separated itself from al-Qaeda was designed to influence US policy, not to make the group any more independent of al-Qaeda. The objective of the maneuver was to head off US-Russian military cooperation against the jihadist group, renamed last week, … Continue reading “The Sham Rebrand of al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front”

As Hillary Clinton begins her final charge for the White House, her advisers are already recommending air strikes and other new military measures against the Assad regime in Syria. The clear signals of Clinton’s readiness to go to war appears to be aimed at influencing the course of the war in Syria as well as … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton and Her Hawks”

The long internal political struggle within the Obama administration over policy toward Syria has intensified following a proposal by President Barack Obama to cooperate with Russia in an air campaign against Al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise. The proposal, in response to an overture from Russia in May, would coordinate airstrikes against al-Nusra Front – the most … Continue reading “A New Fight Over Syria War Strategy”

The People’s Summit in Chicago June 17-19 dramatically displayed both the strengths and the vulnerabilities of what has emerged in 2016 as one of the most potentially powerful movements for fundamental change in the United States in many decades. The event, which brought together 3,000 committed movement activists to rally in support of the “political … Continue reading “Why the Sanders ‘Revolution’ Must Take on the Permanent War State”

The memorandum by 51 State Department officials calling for US military intervention in Syria last week has been treated in news media coverage as a case of dissent from existing Syria policy by individual officials involved in Syria policy. But the memo has all the earmarks of an initiative that had the blessing of the … Continue reading “The Syria ‘Dissent’ Memo and US Bureaucratic Pressure Strategy”