US Foreign Policy

Gary Sick was the national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter. He was present at the White House during some turbulent times- the Iranian revolution, Camp David Accord and more. He had served previously under President Ford and, for a short period, under Reagan. Later, he taught at Columbia University and for nearly 30 years […]

Featured

Lebanon Ceasefire underlines that both Israel and Hezbollah Lost the War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When Iran and Iraq were fighting each other in the 1980s, with neither regime being much liked in Washington, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is said to have remarked, “The tragedy is that both sides can’t lose.” Actually, of course, in most wars both sides lose, and certainly the […]

Iran

Saudi Arabia Pursues ‘Cautious Detente’ With Longtime Rival Iran despite Looming Trump 2.0

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/ RL ) – Iran and Saudi Arabia have been bitter rivals for decades, vying to lead competing branches of Islam and standing on opposing sides of conflicts in Syria and Yemen. But Tehran and Riyadh have taken major steps to de-escalate tensions and boost cooperation, a move that appeared unthinkable […]

Donald Trump

Requiem for an Empire: How America’s Strongman will hasten the Decline of U.S. Global Power

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Some 15 years ago, on December 5, 2010, a historian writing for TomDispatch made a prediction that may yet prove prescient. Rejecting the consensus of that moment that U.S. global hegemony would persist to 2040 or 2050, he argued that “the demise of the United States as the global superpower could […]

Republican Party

Eight Reasons Why Marco Rubio Would Be a Disastrous Secretary of State

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

Code Pink ) – Of all Trump’s choices for his foreign policy team, Marco Rubio is the least controversial to the neoconservative foreign policy establishment in Washington, and the most certain to provide continuity with all that is wrong with U.S. foreign policy, from Cuba to the Middle East to China. The only area where […]

Afghanistan

How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Amin Saikal, “How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– More than three years have passed since US troops left Afghanistan in August 2021, putting an end to an occupation that lasted two […]

Featured

What Rough Beast? President Biden’s Gaza Policy Leaves the Middle East in Flames

Juan Cole

This is my summation of President Joe Biden’s Middle East policies for Tomdispatch.com. Check out Tom Engelhardt’s searing introduction. And note his recommendation for my new book, Gaza Yet Stands.. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – President Joe Biden has now joined the ranks of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush as a president whose Middle East […]

Democratic Party

Gaza: Harris lost because her Party represented War Mongering, Q.E.D.

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel) – My beloved grandmother Savta Greta z”l often liked to use the acronym “Q.E.D.” – an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “quod erat demonstrandum” which means “that which was to be demonstrated” — signifying the end of a mathematical proof or logical argument. Essentially, it indicates the argument has been […]

Featured

The Yemen Model and Failed US Middle East Policy

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Alexandra Stark, “The Yemen Model: Why U.S. Policy Has Failed in the Middle East” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Yemen goes through a civil war that does not end, frequent cholera outbreaks, and acute malnutrition among children. These days, however, the southern […]