Reese Erlich

I’m dying. It’s not easy to write these words. But it’s true. In September 2020, oncologists diagnosed me with Stage IV prostate cancer. That means the cancer isn’t going away. Doctors can mitigate its spread, but I’ll never be in remission. The doctors want to help me maintain a decent quality of life until I … Continue reading “This May Be This Foreign Correspondent’s Final Column”

For the first time, the Biden Administration ordered a cross-border military attack in the Middle East. On February 26, seven US missiles slammed into a facility used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria. Washington was retaliating for the February 15 attack on a US base in northern Iraq. The Pentagon claims self-defense. "We have acted in … Continue reading “Biden’s Bombing of Syria Is a Dangerous Step Backward”

One day before the Inauguration, the Trump Administration added Yemen’s Houthi movement to a list of foreign terrorist organizations. It was just the latest, desperate attempt to hamstring President Joe Biden’s promise to end the war in Yemen. While Trump proudly proclaims that he started no new wars, he also failed to end any of … Continue reading “Battle Lines Drawn on Ending Yemen War”

I’ve always been puzzled by the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. It supposedly designates countries aiding terrorist organizations. But it includes countries that don’t support terrorism and excludes countries that do. Currently the list consists of North Korea, Syria, and Iran. Missing from the list are US allies that actually do sponsor … Continue reading “US Hypocrisy on Cuba Continues”

Imagine for a moment what would happen if unknown assassins murdered a high-ranking US scientist involved with chemical weapons. Let’s say officials in Iran quietly took responsibility, arguing that the US had violated international law because it continues to hold stockpiles of mustard gas and nerve agents VX and sarin, despite numerous commitments to destroy … Continue reading “Iran Assassination Is a Political Provocation”

I’m pissed. I’m pissed at Donald Trump for trying to shut down the vote count early and at Republicans seeking to steal the election using conservative-appointed federal judges. But I’m also mad at Joe Biden and the Democratic Party big shots who got Biden elected but failed to win the Senate and lost House seats. … Continue reading “The Challenge for Joe Biden”

Last spring, the Biden campaign decided to hit back hard against accusations of being soft on China. So the campaign produced a blistering ad attacking Trump’s failure to confront China in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden ad was xenophobic and racist. "Trump let in 40,000 travelers from China into America," says … Continue reading “Biden’s Troubling Foreign Policy”

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin hasn’t forgotten a 2017 meeting with members of Senator Kamala Harris’s staff to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Israeli land and sea blockade was causing massive unemployment as well as shortages of food and electricity. Benjamin and other progressive activists wanted the Senator to criticize Israel’s policies and … Continue reading “Is Kamala Harris a Hawk?”

During the past month, Iran has suffered a half-dozen explosions and fires at military and civilian sites. A bomb blew up near the Parchin missile base outside Tehran, Iran’s capital. Fires broke out at an electric power station and aboard seven ships in a southern port city. Iranian government authorities say some of the incidents … Continue reading “Trump’s Desperate, Last-Ditch Effort To Hike Tensions With Iran”

On June 26, in a major front page story, The New York Times wrote that Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan last year. The story quickly unraveled. While the military is investigating the allegations, Mark Miley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there’s no proof that … Continue reading “Russia Bounty Story Falls Flat”