Middle East

Middle East

Optimism and Fear

September 2013
Phyllis Bennis

If I was really optimistic, I’d say that President Obama is hoping that Congress will follow the example of the British parliament – and vote against his proposed military strike on Syria.

The Checkered History of Humanitarian Intervention

September 2013
Walden Bello

The impending US strike on Syria is justified as necessary to punish the Assad regime for using chemical weapons on its citizens and prevent it from further employing them. The situation, says Washington, calls for “humanitarian intervention.”

The Syrian Civil War, Chemical Weapons, & the Rush to Regional and Global Disaster

August 2013
Tom Reifer

The US, Saudis and Qatar who seek to take sides in fuelling sectarianism and violence in the Middle East, should remember how a similar discourse of preventative war and promotion of sectarian forces in Europe led to World War I.

 

Syria crisis demands tough diplomacy

August 2013
Phyllis Bennis
David Wildman

The threat of a reckless, dangerous, and illegal US or US-led assault on Syria is looking closer than ever. However any attack will not protect civilians—it will mean taking sides once again in a bloody, complicated civil war.

Egyptian revolution turns sour

August 2013
Phyllis Bennis

"Egypt today remains horrifically divided, with today's bloodbath certain to make things worse"

Syria: the threats, costs, claims and lives

May 2013
Phyllis Bennis

What the civil war in Syria has exposed is that the massive political and social transformation, and real regime change under way is led by people themselves. US military involvement serves only to escalate the destruction.

Obama Makes Nice Speeches...

April 2013
Phyllis Bennis

President Obama recognizes injustice and need for two states but does nothing to pressure Netanyahu to make concessions to Palestinians.

Way worse than a dumb war: Iraq ten years later

March 2013
John Cavanagh
Phyllis Bennis

The US war in Iraq may be over, but we owe an apology grounded in the recognition of our enormous debt to the people of Iraq, a debt for which compensation and reparations are only a start.

Pathway to Progress in Israel

February 2013

While Israel moved away from the far right in last month’s elections, the new coalition is unlikely to alter the occupation. Change may come from divestment campaigns, the new UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, and in the Israeli and Palestinian campaigns of nonviolent resistance.

Will Chuck Hagel's Appointment Actually Help the Anti-War Left?

January 2013
Phyllis Bennis

Hagel’s nomination engendered bitter, angry opposition from the moment it was floated as a trial balloon. And the fact that Obama went ahead with the nomination is a good indication that on at least some critical foreign policy issues, Obama is not prepared to allow either the pro-Israeli lobbies or the hard-core neoconservatives, in and outside of Washington, to determine whom he could and could not choose as Secretary of Defense.