US Foreign Policy

By Klaus W. Larres | – At the Republican National Convention, supporters of President Trump’s reelection bid have celebrated his attempts to build a Mexico border wall, his promise to “bring our troops home” and his pledge to end U.S. “reliance on China.” All are components of the “America First” agenda Trump ran on in […]

Donald Trump

Top 3 Humiliating Failures of Pompeo as Secretary of State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When he was in the House of Representatives, Mike Pompeo bothered Hillary Clinton half to death over the deaths of the US ambassador to Libya and three colleagues in 2012. Since Clinton was not in charge of military operations, nothing that happened there was attributable to her and almost everything […]

Pentagon

Cluster bombs once against Vietnamese people and still in use today

Anne-Ruth Wertheim

( Joop) – On 4 March 1971 our train pulled in to Paris’s Gare du Nord station. My then husband Ab van Kammen and I were going to spend a few days in the city. We had left our three daughters with various friends, packed our suitcases and caught the train. It would not just […]

China

Trump walks Alone: Former US Allies Britain, France, Germany join Russia and China in Forcefully Rejecting Trump Iran Sanctions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – LeMonde reports that France, Germany and Britain have rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to reimpose UN Security Council sanctions on Iran that were revoked in early 2016 with the signing of the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). Their joint statement said, “France, Germany and the […]

Central Intelligence Agency

Before the CIA Coup in 1953, the US and Iran had been old Friends

The Conversation

By Daniel Thomas Potts | – The British- and American-backed plot to overthrow Iran’s prime minister in 1953 laid the groundwork for the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and decades of hostility with the U.S. A documentary about the plot released on Aug. 19 offers new details of what happened. I believe it is worth recalling […]

China

China and the United States: The 21st Century’s ‘Great Game’

Conn M. Hallinan

For China, the global war for influence is about trading partners. For the U.S., it could mean something more volatile. (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – From 1830 to 1895, the British and Russian empires schemed and plotted over control of Central and South Asia. At the heart of the “Great Game” was the United […]

Arms Sales

Was F-35 Stealth Jet Sale to Arab UAE at heart of deal with Israel and Trump? Did Netanyahu Lie?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Only a week after the breathless announcement of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) recognition of Israel, the two newlyweds are already having their first spat. On Wednesday, Matthew Lee of AP reports, Trump broached the sale of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Stealth fighter jets to the UAE. Trump said, […]

China

Is Donald Trump Losing His Tech War with China’s Xi Jinping?

Dilip Hiro

( Tomdispatch.com) – For the Trump administration’s senior officials, it’s been open season on bashing China. If you need an example, think of the president’s blame game about “the invisible Chinese virus” as it spreads wildly across the U.S. When it comes to China, in fact, the ever more virulent criticism never seems to stop. […]

Greece

Turkey-Greece conflict in eastern Mediterranean is less about gas than vaccuum left by Trump

The Conversation

By Clemens Hoffmann | – The worsening stand-off in the eastern Mediterranean, frequently described as a gas conflict, has been gaining momentum. Yet it is a strange time to be fighting over gas when prices remain in a slump due to weak demand and investors withdrawing. So what explains the escalating conflict between Turkey, Greece, […]