US Foreign Policy

By Susan Harris Rimmer, Griffith University | – (The Conversation) – When 2022 began, there was trepidation about what might happen in at least ten regions. Topping most lists were concerns about tensions in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. What actually transpired in 2022 were some of the most shocking humanitarian scenes in modern history – […]

Latin America

Could the United States return to a Good Neighbor Policy in the Americas? Can it afford not to?

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – A few recent headlines reveal the painfully inhumane, dangerously volatile state of U.S. relations with its own home region, the continent of North America. A record-breaking 2.76 million border crossings from Mexico filled homeless shelters to the bursting point in cities nationwide in 2022. This year, the possible cessation of Covid […]

US Foreign Policy

Why American Exceptionalism can be a Very Bad Thing

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Let me start with a confession: I no longer read all the way through newspaper stories about the war in Ukraine. After years of writing about war and torture, I’ve reached my limit. These days, I just can’t pore through the details of the ongoing nightmare there. It’s shameful, but I […]

NATO

Can NATO and the Pentagon Find a Diplomatic Off-Ramp From the Ukraine War?

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, known for his staunch support for Ukraine, recently revealed his greatest fear for this winter to a TV interviewer in his native Norway: that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a major war between NATO and Russia. “If things go wrong,” […]

Featured

What would the United States be Like if it was like Israel?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – What would the United States be like if it was like Israel? After the most recent election is held, the president comes out and says that settling North America is the exclusive privilege of white Christians. He is determined to make some parts of the U.S. whiter and more Christian […]

Russia

The Ukraine Crisis: A Classic Security Dilemma

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – On December 27 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side will reject. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a “peace summit” in February to be chaired by UN Secretary General Guterres, but with the […]

Afghanistan

U.S.-Trained Afghan Soldiers Angry Over Their Plight Are Ready To Join Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Michael Scollon ( RFE/RL ) – Lost status and a desperate existence in Iran are driving thousands of former Afghan troops — many of them elite commandos trained by the United States — to consider fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine and other battlefields. Many ex-Afghan security personnel accuse the United States of abandoning them […]

Climate Crisis

Ukraine war: Putin has been weaponising energy for years, here’s what to look out for next

The Conversation

By Thomas Froehlich, King’s College London | – Not since the 1970s oil crisis has the west seen such a focus on energy security. Suddenly in 2022 it became a critical part of the battle for Ukraine. Russian attacks on energy facilities have left millions of Ukrainians without power during a freezing winter. Since it […]

Featured

Top 8 Political and Geopolitical Shifts in the Middle East in 2022

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We saw a lot of pivotal developments in the Middle East this year, including the impact of climate change in the form of increasing aridity and massive dust storms. But there were also realignments of interests that affect the U.S. Here are some of them: 1. President Biden in July […]