Socialists and other progressives are running for U.S. office on strong domestic programs. Here’s how their foreign policy platform can be just as strong.
The brutality of ISIS has led many to argue that only military action can stop them. Phyllis Bennis, fellow of Transnational Institute and a long-term observer and analyst of US foreign policy in the Middle East, argues that US occupation and military action was the principal cause of ISIS rise and therefore cannot be the solution. She outlines alternative options for constraining the advance of ISIS and bringing peace back to the troubled countries of Iraq and Syria. See also Phyllis' primer, Understanding ISIS and the new global war on terror
US policymakers don’t even claim that all the targets of their drone strikes are posing a threat to the US, Phyllis Bennis, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, told RT.
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.
Israel's attack on Gaza could not have happened without the strong support of US administration, but the political changes in the Middle East have left Israel and the US more isolated than ever.
The U.S. is 11 years into its current war in Afghanistan and still losing. We never had a chance to "win" this war of vengeance – and while few in Washington are ready to admit that, they’ve continued to revise and redefine just what "winning" might look like.
The occupy movement has achieved an incredible and much-needed shake-up of a long-standing political stasis in the US and elsewhere, but it is crucial now to highlight the connection between failed foreign policy, bloated military spending and illegal wars, and the economic crisis at home.
The Libyan people face major challenges in deepening democracy in a country that is oil rich, deeply divided and dependant on NATO for its victory against Gadhafi.
It wasn’t the events of September 11th that changed the world, but the events of September 12th and beyond, when the Bush administration took the world to war in response; that changed the world, and continues to threaten U.S. and global security, and shred U.S. democracy.
It might seem like cause for celebration after reading the New York Times headline, "Iraq War Marks First Month with No U.S. Military Deaths." But the smaller print on the page reminds us why celebrating is not really in order: "Many Iraqis are killed..."
American newspapers lead the new angle of biased critisim on Turkey. Such a shame because Ankara has proven to be an independant regional influence in the Middle East, with its own brand of soft power diplomacy.
Kamil Mahdi, Phyllis Bennis, Ben Hayes, Salwa Ismail, Shaheer George, Mehdi Lalou, Yao Graham
21 June 2011
Multi-media
Middle East scholars join TNI fellows in a unique and fascinating discussion of the context of the democracy uprisings in the Middle East and the way it may shape the region for future generations.
Interviews conducted with European NATO delegations and NATO staffers concerned with nuclear planning and deployment reveal that there is sufficient political will to end the deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.
The United States' protracted fight against insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised the spectre of the Vietnam war. A review on recent literature on US wartime policies from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan.
