Laura Dogu, newly appointed US envoy to Venezuela, is described by the Los Angeles Times as an appropriate choice because she “navigated crises” in Nicaragua and Honduras during periods of “social and political volatility.” What the LA Times fails to add is that it...
First Gaza, Then the World: The Global Danger of Israeli Exceptionalism
While many nations occasionally resort to a "state of exception" to deal with temporary crises, Israel exists in a permanent state of exception. This Israeli exceptionalism is the very essence of the instability that plagues the Middle East. The concept of the state...
When Did Starvation Become an Acceptable Tool of Foreign Policy?
On September 15, 1970, Richard Nixon infamously instructed the CIA to “make the economy [of Chile] scream” (CIA Director Richard Helms actual note of the conversation can be seen here). But “the economy” is an abstraction; the reality of economic warfare is a starving...
1953 Redux – Neocons Want To Saddle Iran With the Son of the Persian Stalin
It’s getting a little old at this point, but as the Deep State log rolls for another U.S. attack on Iran, it is promoting a new Iranian national savior, one with a familiar name. Here’s a graphic seen on X, much like others showing up on social media, championing Reza...
Trump Should Revive the JCPOA To Prevent War With Iran
When Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States, he famously declared that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker.” However, US involvement in the Middle East has only grown with the President previously authorizing...
Eight Decades Later, It Remains One World or None
Consider me an A-bomb baby. I was just a year old when, in the war my father had been part of, my country dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastating those two cities and killing more than 200,000 people, including an estimated 38,000 children. Like so...
Iran’s Comprehensive Peace Proposal to the United States
History occasionally presents moments when the truth about a conflict is stated plainly enough that it becomes impossible to ignore. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s February 7 address in Doha, Qatar (transcript here) should prove to be such a moment. His...
What Is Genocide?
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Who the hell wants to talk about genocide and man’s inhumanity to man? I taught courses on the Holocaust, where I came across a two-volume encyclopedia of genocide (see list of references at the end). We...
Iran: A Bogus or Genuine Rebellion?
Angry demonstrations against Iran’s clerical government engulfed the capital, Tehran, and other cities in December and early January. Although the turmoil has receded since then, it appears that more than 6,800 people have perished in the violence as of February 3,...
On the Menu: How the Middle Powers Sacrificed Gaza To Save Themselves
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sounded more like a populist leader than a former central banker during his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20. Bemoaning the "fading" of the rules-based order, Carney delivered a surprisingly blunt speech....


