Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I asked last week how it could be that Trump greenlighted the Turkish invasion of northern Syrian and the ethnic cleansing of Syrian Kurds along the Turkish border, but at the same time announced sanctions on Turkey for doing just that. On Wednesday, Trump announced that there wouldn’t be any […]
Archives for October 2019
Trump, Johnson, Erdogan: The International Alt-Right’s Bluster and Surrender
(Foreign Policy in Focus) – From the U.S. to the U.K. to Turkey, it is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced to retreat. It is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced — by opposition, by circumstance, by the laws […]
Given tensions with Erdogan, is it really Wise for the U.S. to Keep 50 Nuclear Bombs in Turkey?
By Miles A. Pomper | – As the Syrian crisis pits Turkish troops against former U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials have been reviewing plans to remove 50 nuclear bombs stored at a U.S air base in Turkey. A congressional directive to the Pentagon to quickly assess alternative homes for U.S. “personnel and assets” currently stationed […]
She deserves our support: Rep. Betty McCollum wants US to stop subsidising torture of Palestinian children
( Middle East Monitor ) – In December 2018, 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Sabah was only 14 years old when the […]
Unlike Trump, Putin faces down Turkey on Plans for Massive Syria Incursion
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With Trump and his special operations troops out of Syria, it fell to Russia to deal with Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to push back from its border the leftist Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Trump has not only become irrelevant, but the troops formerly stationed in Syria now seem […]
Deportation to Syria could mean death for women, children and LGBTQ refugees in Turkey
Deina Abdelkader | – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn’t limiting his assault on neighboring Syria to attacking Kurdish troops that run the country’s northern region. He says the 3.6 million Syrians now living as war refugees in Turkey may also be returned “to their own homes” once northern Syria is wrenched from Kurdish control. […]
On Anniversary of Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre: US Jews a Face Trump-Fuelled Far Right and a Fringe Left
(Informed Comment) – October 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life Congregation massacre in Pittsburgh. This was a result of President Donald Trump giving aid and comfort to sinister right-wing forces, which had been buried under rocks of Western Civilization until he gave the all-clear signal. Since then, violent acts of anti-Semitism […]
MACA or Making America Crueler Again: Targeting Refugees and the Helpless
(Tomdispatch.com) – On September 26th, President Donald Trump’s White House announced that, in 2020, refugee admissions to the United States will be limited to 18,000, drastically lower than any yearly ceiling over the past 40 years. Along with that announcement, the White House released a separate executive order intended to upend many years of precedent […]
As Netanyahu Era Ends in Israel, Anti-Arab Racism Causes Political Deadlock
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the far right Likud Party, has failed to form a government. His rival, former general Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, will now get a chance. In the US, the two big parties make their coalitions before the election, […]