By Juan Cole Russia on Thursday pushed back against President Obama’s state plans for taking on the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) in Syria. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich remarked on television: “The US president has spoken directly about the possibility of strikes by the US armed forces […]
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Barack Obama
3 Years War? Obama to Bomb Syria in fight against ISIL
By Juan Cole Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura at WaPo report on a Monday evening dinner at the White House attended by foreign policy experts, in which President Obama expressed confidence that he had the authority to bomb ISIL positions in Syria. In other reports, Obama officials have leaked that they think this is a […]
Can Obama Resist Hawks’ Pressure to Rush to Syria Quagmire?
By Adam Quinn, University of Birmingham via The Conversation US president Barack Obama has yet to work out exactly what America’s strategy is in confronting Islamic State (IS), and has been foolish enough to say so in public. Cue the foreseeable torrent of point-scoring from opponents. As Vox’s Zack Beauchamp perceptively pointed out, however, a […]
Obama’s budding Cambodia Policy in Syria
By Juan Cole Former British ambassador to the United States Sir Christoher Meyer is advocating that the US and Western Europe stop advocating the overthrow of the Baath regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and instead coordinate with it to move against the so-called “Islamic State,” which controls some predominantly Sunni Muslim desert towns on […]
Dear Hillary Clinton: When did not bombing Syria create Isis?
By Fariborz S Fatemi Hillary Clinton’s criticism of Barack Obama on Syria and the rise of Isis is wrong, and an exercise in selective memory. When did not bombing Syria create ISIS? In her interview with The Atlantic magazine, the former secretary of state fails to point out that the president wanted to bomb Syria […]
Obama steps up to call Bush-era CIA Torture “Torture,” Despite Legal Implications
CNN points out that President Obama’s forthright condemnation of Bush administration-era CIA torture could cause legal problems for Agency employees, and that the Congressional report he was talking about avoided that diction. Obama doesn’t very often any more speak his mind, but in this case he clearly felt strongly enough about the betrayal of constitutional […]
CIA Chief Shocking Admission: We spied on Senate staffers
By Jon Queally, Commondreams Yes, Admits CIA Chief, We Spied on Senate Panel Investigating Torture The findings of an internal investigation at the Central Intelligence Agency made available to the public on Thursday show that CIA agents did, in fact, spy on the Senate Intelligence Committee panel set up to investigate post-9/11 government torture under […]
What is Congress Suing Obama about? Drones? Surveillance? Unauthorized War? Guess!
RT Redacted Tonight: “House Speaker John Boehner is suing President Obama. Is it for drone bombing or NSA surveillance? Of course not!” RT America: “You Won’t Believe The Latest Constitutional Crisis”
Impeachment is a Cash Cow (Colbert Report)
Colbert Report: “Rising Calls for Obama’s Impeachment” The Colbert ReportGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Colbert Report on Facebook ——