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Trump takes US to the brink of war with Iran
Trump takes US to the brink of war with Iran
POSTED JANUARY 3, 2020
Earlier this week, the Trump administration’s air strikes on three bases of the Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hizbullah militia in Iraq and two in Syria provoked widespread fury among Iraqi politicians, students and the public and a demonstration at the US Embassy....Today news has come that Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed early on Friday in an air strike on their convoy at Baghdad airport, an Iraqi militia spokesman told Reuters. US policy towards Iran has been noticeably antagonistic since Trump took office - most notably with the US abandonment of the JCPOA and its re-imposition of sanctions in violation of that agreement. Today, that antagonism ratcheted upwards when a US air strike assassinated an Iranian military commander and an Iraqi military commander. The Iranian government's reaction was to threaten US interests in the Middle East...READ MORE
No war for now...
No war for now...
POSTED JANUARY 12, 2020/UPDATED JANUARY 14
Iran and the United States defused the heightened tensions created by US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militia in Iraq and Syria and the Trump-ordered assassination of a top Iranian military commander. Besides being reckless and probably unconstitutional, Trump's recent actions have already generated unintended consequences - the people trampled to death at General Soleimani's funeral and the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Iraq has requested that the US remove our troops from their territory. Pompeo and the State Department are insisting that US troops will remain in Iraq regardless of what the Iraqi government wants....The Administration has tried to justify the assassination by claiming an imminent threat and by maligning Iran and Major-General Soleimani....This is just the latest, and possibly the most dangerously provoking chapter in the anti-Iran campaign.... READ MORE
A hero for the ages
A hero for the ages
POSTED JANUARY 17, 2020
In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination using civil disobedience and other non-violent methods. At 35, he was the youngest person ever to receive the Peace Prize. His efforts culminated in Congress passing and President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. His opposition to the Vietnam War is less widely known. As he became more outspoken against the war, he lost the support of some former allies in the struggle for civil rights, and his popularity among the American populace began to drop. Still, he was as right on Vietnam as he was on civil rights...READ MORE
The state of the union: nine months until the elections
The state of the union: nine months until the elections
POSTED FEBRUARY 5, 2020
Trump delivered his fourth state of the union speech Tuesday night. The speech was more campaign rally than state of the union - with plenty of red meat for his supporters. Besides the usual rants against "criminal illegal" immigrants and socialism, the occasion included the ludicrous granting of a medal of freedom to right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, whom Vox describes as "one of America’s most prominent racists." ...AP fact check, Slate analyses, Gov. Whitmer's Democratic Party response, Rep. Ayanna Pressley's Working Families Party response, and Adam Serwer's "The Cruelty is the Point" (Atlantic)...READ MORE
Trump's blank check
Trump's blank check
POSTED FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Only one Republican Senator, Mitt Romney of Utah, voted to remove Trump from office in the impeachment trial. Although it was a foregone conclusion (no way a 2/3 majority to convict would ever be reached), one hoped for a stronger showing from moderate GOP Senators. With a democracy-challenged conservative majority on the Supreme Court, an unrepentant Trump has been given permission to do pretty much anything he likes for the next 9 months or 4 years...READ MORE
What's Been Happening in the Middle East?
What's Been Happening in the Middle East?
POSTED FEBRUARY 17, 2020
The Trump impeachment and the Democratic primaries have gathered the lion's share of the media's attention in the past couple of months. Time to turn our attention back to other things - starting with the Middle East. News from Iraq, Iran, Israel and Occupied Palestine, Syria and Yemen. US forces attack on Kata'ib Hezbollah and the killing of Qasem Soleimani*, the Trump-Kuchner peace plan and the continuing crises in Syria and Yemen...READ MORE
*In a revelation that calls into question one of the Trump administration's stated justifications for assassinating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani—a move that nearly sparked a region-wide military conflict—Iraqi intelligence officials told the New York Times that they believe ISIS, not an Iran-linked militia, was likely responsible for the Dec. 27 rocket attack that killed an American contractor at an air base near Kirkuk, Iraq. (Common Dreams, Feb. 7)
Profiles in Courage*: the 2020 edition
Profiles in Courage*: the 2020 edition
POSTED FEBRUARY 17, 2020
Every once in a while, Congress attempts to assert itself to prevent wars and human rights abuses or to restrain an out-of-control president. The Senate's recent bipartisan vote to limit Trump's war powers is one example. In other foreign policy areas, members of the House of Representatives, Betsy McCollum and Ilhan Omar, have introduced legislation that would make for a more just and peaceful world. ...READ MORE
The billion dollar misinformation campaign to re-elect Trump
The billion dollar misinformation campaign to re-elect Trump
POSTED FEBRUARY 23, 2020
Misinformation and outright lies have been a part of politics for a long time. The social media phenomenon and a president who made more than 15,000 false or misleading claims before year-end 2019 have exacerbated the problem immensely. We now live in a post-truth age where reality can become hard-to-discern. None of us are immune..."The big question to us: Why does Republican misinformation register among likely Democratic voters as well? Our working hypothesis: mainstream media does not do enough to combat the onslaught of strategic Republican misinformation campaigns." The Republican gas lighting campaign reached a peak during the impeachment hearings and is an indicator of things to come in the 2020 elections. Writing in The Atlantic , McKay Coppins tells of what happened after he set up a new Facebook account and "liked" Donald Trump...READ MORE
After 18 years, US to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
After 18 years, US to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
POSTED MARCH 1, 2020
The invasion of Afghanistan was the first step in the misguided US "war on terror" that has done so much to destabilize the Middle East. Now after 18 years, twice as long as the Soviet Union's stay in the "graveyard of empires", the United States has agreed to withdraw its troops. Although obstacles remain, the agreement reached with the Taliban sets the path for a withdrawal of American troops in 14 months, beginning with a draw down to 8,600 troops "within months." There never was a military solution to the situation in Afghanistan although both the Bush and Obama administrations were deluded into thinking there was...READ MORE
Updates from South America
Updates from South America
POSTED MARCH 8, 2020
Amnesty International's report on 2019 (link sidebar) says that the year "brought a renewed assault on human rights across much of the Americas". Political protests, government crackdowns, and aggressive stances against migrants and asylum seekers all contributed. This is an update on issues discussed in earlier posts including South American Notes: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile & Colombia (Nov 20) and US-supported Venezuela coup attempt falters: military intervention still "on the table"...READ MORE
Coronavirus: the legislation, the economy, and the healthcare system
Coronavirus: the legislation, the economy, and the healthcare system
"We are only as safe as the least insured person in America." - Sen. Bernie Sanders
"We are only as safe as the least insured person in America." - Sen. Bernie Sanders
POSTED MARCH 19, 2020/UPDATED MARCH 20
It took some time to convince Trump, Republicans and conservative media that the coronavirus was not a liberal plot to take down President Trump (Politic 2020, The Coronavirus conspiracy theories), but we apparently have crossed that bridge. Two pieces of bipartisan legislation have now been passed and a third is in the offing. The markets are plunging and unemployment is rising. A vaccine is a year or more away, and there are numerous other factors that need to be addressed: the inadequate number of test kits, the lack of hospital beds, shortages of ventilators for patients and of protective equipment for health workers, universal paid sick leave, and health care availability...READ MORE
Sanctions vs. humanitarian solidarity in a time of pandemic
Sanctions vs. humanitarian solidarity in a time of pandemic
POSTED MARCH 26, 2020
Around the world, COVID-19 continues to devastate lives. Deaths from the virus exceed 21,000 with deaths in Italy and Spain each now surpassing those in China. Devastated by the lack of medical supplies caused by the US sanctions, Iran has the fourth highest number of deaths - now in excess of 2000 (officially reported but may be much higher). Even in the face of a global crisis, the Trump Administration ratcheted up its devastating sanctions on Iran, already the most severe ever imposed on any country in peacetime. The Guardian reported on Saturday: "Displaying the sort of unthinking bellicosity that has characterised his tenure as US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo chose last week – a time of unprecedented global turmoil – to impose yet more unilateral sanctions on Iran." ... READ MORE
Senate passes $2 trillion bipartisan relief bill
Senate passes $2 trillion bipartisan relief bill
POSTED MARCH 26, 2020
A massive $2.2 trillion relief bill negotiated between Senate Democrats and the Treasury Department passed unanimously and now goes to the House of Representatives. Democrats had delayed passage of the bill in procedural votes for one day to achieve expanded unemployment insurance, $150 billion in direct aid to states and counties, investment in hospitals, and transparency on the corporate bailout fund. The unanimous vote Wednesday came despite misgivings on both sides about whether it goes too far or not far enough and capped days of difficult negotiations as Washington confronted a national challenge unlike it has ever faced.
The bipartisan action stands in stark contrast to the Obama $787 billion stimulus which passed through Congress without a single House Republican vote and with just 3 votes from moderate Republican Senators. Just 24 days after Obama took office, Republican leadership had already decided that they would not assist him in any way - not even to stop the most serious downturn in the economy since the Great Depression. Disgraceful, yes, but in the end their narrative won - in the ensuing years we saw the rise of the Tea Party, the misconception that Obama was responsible for the Great Recession*, and, in the 2010 elections, Republican control of the House of Representatives.
*Reflected back then in a caricature of Obama as the character Steve Irkel looking at a nose-diving employment chart and asking "Did I do that?", and, more recently, in a poster I saw in a Key West gift shop proclaiming "Obama No Jobs, Trump More Jobs, Clinton B... Jobs"
Trump's re-branding as a "wartime president" may just work
Trump's re-branding as a "wartime president" may just work
POSTED MARCH 31, 2020
Observers estimate that the United States lost at least 2 months in the fight against COVID-19. On December 31, the government in Wuhan, China, confirmed that health authorities were treating dozens of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause....Fast forward to the end of March. Polls show that Trump has received a significant bump upwards in a match-up against Democratic front runner Joe Biden. Trump controls the messaging on the COVID-19 crisis with his long daily press statements, and he is re-branding himself as a "war time" president in the fight against the virus. People seem unaware of the deaths that may have been prevented had Trump not downplayed the pandemic. The "war time" president gimmick ("don't change horses in midstream") worked in 2004 for George W. Bush after he invaded Iraq on bogus WMD claims in March 2003. The same strategy may well work for Donald J. Trump in 2020...READ MORE
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