US Foreign Policy

Türkiye gets its Way on Kurdish Groups, agrees to Swedish, Finnish NATO Bids, as Biden weighs F-16 Sales to Ankara

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Türkiye (formerly Turkey) spent this spring vowing that Sweden and Finland would not be admitted to NATO because of their stance on the Syrian Kurdish organization, the YPG. He seemed adamant, but the stance was clearly a bargaining position, whereby he sought to wring as […]

Iran

In Major Security Shake-Up, Iran Replaces Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Chief

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFL/RE ) – Hossein Taeb, a hard-line cleric, was the intelligence chief of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the armed forces, for over a decade. But in a surprise move, the IRGC announced on June 23 that it had removed Taeb from his prominent post. The major shake-up […]

Batteries

As US Electric Vehicle Sales Double in One Year, Biden calls for Lowering their Price to Defeat Oil Tyrant Putin

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden called last week for a vast expansion of green energy in the United States to offset what he calls the “Putin price hike” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions. He pointed out that since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the assault on […]

Apartheid

Saudi Arabia: Biden Visit Risks Fostering Repression: US Should Publicly Seek Rights Commitments, Reforms

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – US President Joe Biden’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman risks encouraging new abuses and further entrenching impunity, 13 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said today in a joint letter to President Biden. The Biden administration should secure clear and […]

military

Ending the War in Ukraine: Three Possible Futures

Rajan Menon

( Tomdispatch.com) – When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, I was easing my way into a new job and in the throes of the teaching year. But that war quickly hijacked my life. I spend most of my day poring over multiple newspapers, magazines, blogs, and the Twitter feeds of various military mavens, a […]

Joe Biden

The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War: A lecture by John J. Mearsheimer

John J. Mearsheimer

Robert Schumann Center for Advanced Studies: “Professor John J. Mearsheimer will discuss the current Russian invasion on Ukraine whilst exploring the potential causes and consequences of the crisis. In this lecture, Prof. Mearsheimer will aim to focus on both the origins of the war in Ukraine and some of its most important consequences. He will […]

India

Ukraine War Fallout: Russia and Iran Plot Alternative Gulf Trade Route to Avoid US Sanctions

Gilbert Achcar

By Gilbert Achkar | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Naturally, one of the consequences of the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia is to stimulate the latter’s search for ways to bypass the restrictions. Since the actions taken by Western countries to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its first […]

China

Why China Will Decide the Outcome of Russia v. the West

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In its attempt to swallow Ukraine whole, Russia has so far managed to bite off only the eastern Donbas region and a portion of its southern coast. The rest of the country remains independent, with its capital Kyiv intact. No one knows how this meal will end. Ukraine is eager to […]

China

What Difference Does a War Make? The Geopolitics of the New Cold War

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – From his first days in office, Joe Biden and his national security advisers seemed determined to revive America’s fading global leadership via the strategy they knew best — challenging the “revisionist powers” Russia and China with a Cold War-style aggressiveness. When it came to Beijing, the president combined the policy initiatives […]