Foreign Policy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Trump met Monday with Egyptian field marshal/ president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Trump effused, “We agree on so many things. I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President Sisi. He’s done a fantastic job […]

Bill of Rights

Given Trump’s Betrayal, Can we Crowdfund American Aid and Soft Power Abroad?

contributors

David Holdridge | (Informed Comment) | – – The current debate between liberals and the Trump Administration on American soft power abroad is not being framed correctly. Liberals should be arguing for more American citizen engagement overseas rather than for maintaining and extending into the future a dependency on USAID and the State Department. Since […]

Corruption

Is the Public turning on Trump over Russia Ties, Sessions’ Perjury?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Americans have become deeply concerned about Russia. Some 75% of them see it as a very or moderately serious threat. This, according to an ORC/ CNN opinion poll. They are ranking it just after North Korea and Iran. This level of anxiety about Moscow is irrational, […]

Afghanistan

The Misuse of American Military Power and Mideast Chaos

contributors

By Danny Sjursen | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – The United States has already lost — its war for the Middle East, that is. Having taken my own crack at combat soldiering in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that couldn’t be clearer to me. Unfortunately, it’s evidently still not clear in Washington. Bush’s neo-imperial triumphalism failed. Obama’s […]

China

Has Trump quietly surrendered to Russia and China?

contributors

Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – If there’s a single consistent aspect to Donald Trump’s strategic vision, it’s this: U.S. foreign policy should always be governed by the simple principle of “America First,” with this country’s vital interests placed above those of all others. “We will always put America’s interests first,” he […]

Authoritarianism

Trump & Co.: The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown?

contributors

By David Faris | (Informed Comment) | – – WHERE are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley, The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter? All, all, are sleeping on the hill. – Edgar Lee Masters, “The Hill,” Spoon River Anthology Since the election, many observers have rightly worried […]

Donald Trump

Could NSA Flynn face Criminal Charges over Russia Ties?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn (Ret.) is the National Security Adviser of President Trump. Very serious questions continue to swirl around his relationship with the government of the Russian Federation. These questions take on special significance given the alleged Russian role in interfering in the 2016 presidential […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Yemen withdraws blanket approval for US action after Trump’s botched Raid

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The the Arab press, reports that that government has withdrawn blanket permission from the Trump administration to conduct raids and drone strikes on al-Qaeda and other targets. It is sourcing one of the two Yemeni governments (that of Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi). Mansour Hadi’s diplomat expressed to […]

Foreign Policy

Is the next big US-Iran Conflict control of Iraq-Syria Border?

contributors

Mustafa Habib| (Niqash.org) | – – The border of Syria and Iraq looks likely to be the next testing ground for the newly conciliatory – yet unsteady – relationship between Iran and the US. Various powers are already jockeying for position on the frontier. As the fight against the extremist group known as the Islamic […]