Middle East

By reversing policy in Syria, the US is fuelling more wars in the Middle East

"It was a bad moment for the US to stir the pot by saying it would stay in Syria and target Assad and Iran. A Kurdish-Turkish war in northern Syria will be a very fierce one. The US obsession with an exaggerated Iranian threat – about which, in any case, it cannot do much – makes it difficult for Washington to mediate and cool down the situation. Trump and his chaotic administration have not yet had to deal with a real Middle East crisis yet and the events of the last week suggest that they will not be able to do so."

Continue ReadingBy reversing policy in Syria, the US is fuelling more wars in the Middle East

American Paths, Chosen and Not (1989-2018)

"If I were to pick a single decision by an American president and his team in this century as our own August 1914, I would choose the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003. Of course, in that era of the 'sole superpower,' there were no other great powers (as in the World War I moment) ready to leap into the fray, so the unraveling that followed across a significant part of the planet would prove not to be a world war but a one-power hell on Earth. And it’s continued to unfold over nearly a decade and a half."

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Pat Buchanan: Too Many Wars. Too Many Enemies.

"Like the Romans, we have become an empire, committed to fight for scores of nations, with troops on every continent, and forces in combat operations of which the American people are only vaguely aware. As in all empires, power is passing to the generals. And what causes the greatest angst today in the imperial city? Fear that a four-page memo worked up in the House Judiciary Committee may discredit Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia-gate."

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Libya after US ‘liberation’: Where lives are auctioned for $400

"A recent clampdown by the Libyan coastguard means fewer boats are making it out to sea, leaving the smugglers with a backlog of would-be passengers on their hands. So the smugglers become masters, the migrants and refugees become slaves."

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The Myth of Trump’s ‘Global Retreat’

"Trump hasn’t forfeited America’s global leadership. On the world stage, his is a new flavor of the same dish. America is still playing the futile role of global cop, still reigns as the only superpower with a globe-straddling military presence and is still picking fights in distant regions remote to US national-security interests. The fact that it is Donald Trump at the helm of all this is fooling observers into thinking more has changed than actually has."

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Tillerson Blames Russia By Default For Alleged Syria Chemical Attack

"Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed both Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Russia for carrying out a purported new chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta. In the same sentence Tillerson leveled the accusation against Russia, while simultaneously pointing the finger at Assad, [thus admitting] that he really doesn't know much at all about 'whoever conducted the attacks'."

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US says Turk offensive in Syria is ‘disruptive’ to its own open-ended occupation

"U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis raised the matter in an exchange with reporters after unrelated meetings in the Indonesia capital with senior government officials. He made clear that while the U.S. sympathizes with Turkey's concerns about border security, Washington wants the Turks to minimize their military action inside Syria."

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Tillerson’s open-ended Syria war proves US is stuck in mideast quicksand

"American forces went to Syria with the declared objective of pushing the ISIS terror gang out of territory it had seized there. This has been accomplished. It is an ideal moment for the U.S. to declare victory and depart. That, however, would be hauling down our flag. By Roosevelt’s logic — and evidently Tillerson’s — American soldiers should not be withdrawn from any country where they have ever been deployed."

Continue ReadingTillerson’s open-ended Syria war proves US is stuck in mideast quicksand