The hawks who are deeply disappointed that diplomacy has likely forestalled a US military intervention in Syria in the foreseeable future often attempt to tug at our heart strings by pointing to the over 100,000 dead and the millions of displaced, implying that the US has a responsibility to intervene to stop the carnage on […]
Summers withdraws from Fed consideration; Won’t be Rewarded for Beggaring Us All
Economist Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration for chairman of the Federal Reserve last night, even though he had been increasingly considered the favorite for the job in the White House (not so much in the Senate). It is a great mystery why Barack Obama even considered rewarding Summers for his role in increasing […]
The World after the Kerry-Lavrov accord on Syria
The agreement reached by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry at Geneva on Saturday regarding the sequester of Syria’s chemical weapons is a little unlikely to shorten the civil war or save many lives in Syria. But it did signal winners and losers in the region and the world. […]
7 Million Displaced Syrians, Bayda Massacre, & other Reports you Didn’t see on American TV
American network & cable television has been focused his week on US-Russian diplomacy with relatively little coverage (aside from Ben Wedemann on CNN and a handful of others) of what is happening on the ground in Syria. Here are some Syria reports from European and VOA correspondents that illuminate the situation there: 1. Euronews: “Seven […]
Neil Young: Alberta Tar Sands fields ‘Look like Hiroshima’ (Chamberlain)
Jacob Chamberlain writes at Commondreams.org Fresh off a trip to Canada's tar sands oil fields in Alberta, famed singer Neil Young spoke out at a conference in Washington, DC on Monday against the controversial oil extraction and its export through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, calling Fort McMurray, the town nearest Alberta's vast tar sands, […]
Arguing with President Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin published an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday. Here is my attempt at refutation of some of the things he said. Putin begins by emphasizing that the US in the period after 1945 acquiesced in the idea that the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council would […]
Syrian opposition may attack Israel with chemical weapons, Asad tells Russian TV
The USG Open Source Center translates an article from Russia’s Rossiya 24 TV containing quotes from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alleging that Syrian rebels might surreptitiously use poison gas against Israel and blame it on the regime in order to provoke an American attack on Syria’s government. This is not a plausible theory. Syrian opposition […]
If Obama goes Back to Congress on Syria, they must save America by voting No (van Buren)
Peter Van Buren writes at Tomdispatch.com Once again, we find ourselves at the day after 9/11, and this time America stands alone. Alone not only in our abandonment even by our closest ally, Great Britain, but in facing a crossroads no less significant than the one we woke up to on September 12, 2001. The past 12 […]
Top Ten things Americans need to Know about Syria if they’re going to Threaten to Bomb It
Ambrose Bierce is said to be the author of the saying “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Despite the vigorous national debate about intervening in Syria, there is some reason to think that most Americans could not find it on a map. Here are some key points about Syria that this blog has […]
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