US Foreign Policy

By Marta Ter | (Open Democracy) | – – For a couple of years after 9/11, there was a solid US-Russia anti-terrorism cooperation that basically gave the Kremlin a freer hand in crushing the Chechens. The first Chechen war: Grozny. Demoted/Alexander Nemenov. All rights reserved.“The Islamic State (IS) is Russia’s main enemy”, the Russian Foreign […]

Featured

Pope Francis Endorses Iran Deal: Another Dilemma for GOP Catholic Candidates

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Republican presidential candidates are virtually unanimous that human-caused climate change is a hoax and burning fossil fuels is good for us; that Obamacare is evil and must be repealed; and that the UN Security Council’s deal with Iran restricting its nuclear enrichment program must be […]

Iran

What Iran sacrificed in Deal: Accepted dependence on Imported Enriched Fuel

contributors

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | – – OXFORD (IPS) – Iran’s nuclear programme has been the target of a great deal of misinformation, downright lies and above all myths. As a result, it is often difficult to unpick truth from falsehood. As President John F. Kennedy said in his Yale University Commencement […]

Featured

Top 4 Issues Saudi King Salman will discuss in first visit to Obama’s White House

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi King Salman is meeting Friday with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and National Security Adviser Susan Rice. King Salman had declined to attend Obama’s Gulf Summit in May, apparently over anger at the negotiations with Iran over its civilian […]

Barack Obama

Despite Sordid Past, Nuclear Deal can Repair US-Iran Relations: An open letter to Congress and the White House

contributors

Francis A. Mlynarczyk, Jr. and Walter M. Cadette | (Informed Comment)| – – Washington has an opportunity to repair its tattered relations with Iran. The opportunity is there on the premise that Washington, in fact, makes good on its P5+1 commitments to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for circumscriptions on Iran’s nuclear program. […]

Counter-Terrorism

ISIL: What nonviolent steps could the US take to defeat it?

contributors

By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – There may be a responsible way to fight the Islamic State, but the U.S. will have to leave its boots in the closet and the drones in the hangar. The atrocities of ISIS become more shocking every day. In June, the Iraqis exhumed […]

Iran

The Nuclear Deal has turned Tehran into Diplomatic Capital of Mideast

contributors

By Javad Heirannia / Farhang Jahanpour | (Tehran Times) | – – TEHRAN – Farhang Jahanpour, a former Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University, says the confirmation of the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers by the UN Security Council is of “enormous importance”. “The new Security Council Resolution 2231 passed unanimously on 20 […]

Japan

How Dropping the A-Bomb on Japan initiated the Military-Industrial Complex

contributors

By Michael Hiltzik | (Author, Big Science) | – – This summer — August 6 and 9, to be precise — marks the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Seven decades on, the social, political, and moral implications of birth of the nuclear age still are widely and bitterly debated. Indeed, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Russia Condemns US Mission Creep, New Bombing Plans for Syria

contributors

Russia Today | (Video Report) | – – Editorial note: Russia Today is an organ of the Russian government, so this report is not independent, critical analysis. On the other hand, Russia is a player in Syria and what it thinks is important, and US media tend not to report outside-the-Beltway points of view. Just […]