Pentagon

By Rick Shenkman | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – After Senator Ted Cruz suggested that the United States begin carpet bombing Islamic State (IS) forces in Syria, the reaction was swift. Hillary Clinton mocked candidates who use “bluster and bigotry.” Jeb Bush insisted the idea was “foolish.” Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, tweeted: “You […]

Democratic Party

When did Justifying Large Scale Civilian Deaths in Bombardments become a Bipartisan Consensus?

contributors

By Stephen Zunes | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – There’s a bipartisan effort to justify the killing of civilians in the “war on terrorism.” There has been a lot of consternation expressed in the media at a series of statements by Republican presidential candidates during their most recent debate and elsewhere in which […]

Barack Obama

Did Obama Really “Surrender the Middle East to Putin?”

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – A perusal of the “writing on the hall” commentary of the Right Wing in the last two months–since a small Russian force of 2,000 was inserted into the remaining Syrian government-controlled portions of Syria on September 30th–leads to one inevitable conclusion. Namely, that Obama’s “inactivity, […]

Barack Obama

Obama: Is the Media Hyping the threat from Daesh/ ISIL?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama gave an interview on National Public Radio on Monday in which he attempted to reassure the US public about the threat of Daesh (ISIL, ISIS). Poor Obama was constrained to defend the point that “ISIL isn’t the Soviet Union” and we are not engaged […]

Afghanistan

6 US Troops killed by Taliban Suicide Bomber in Afghanistan

Juan Cole

Curated by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Monitoring translates from Pushtu a report from the ‘Afghan Islamic Press’ from Kabul on 21 Dec., which says that “A suicide attack has been carried out on the Afghan and foreign forces in Bagram District of Parwan Province, in which . . . foreign […]

Foreign Policy

Trump & GOP: Saber Rattling re: Iranians can never be too Aggressive

contributors

By Mahsa Alimardani | (Global Voices Online) | – – GOP candidate Donald Trump was the first to attack Iran early on in the [last] debate, calling it a “terrorist nation.”. The relationship between Iran and America is tenuous at best, and there is no better forum to exaggerate this difficult relationship than the debates […]

Militarization

5 Questions For Syria Hawks

contributors

David M. Faris | (Informed Comment) | – – Last month’s horrific attacks in Paris and last week’s massacre in California – which was at most loosely connected to Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)– have renewed calls for more robust U.S. intervention in Syria. The momentum toward escalation is hardly limited to the political right: Opinion polling suggests […]

Featured

41% of Trump Supporters want to bomb Aladdin and Jasmine

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Public Policy Polling asked US voters if they favored bombing “Agraba.” Some 30% of Republicans said “Yes!” Obviously, this is a a little bit of a trick, since voters being asked such a question assume it is a real policy issue. But wouldn’t you want to […]

Iraq

Is the US Suddenly entering a Major new War in Iraq & Syria?

contributors

Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – The spreading influence of ISIS is forcing Washington into a strategic decision: escalate. Suddenly, and without almost anyone noticing, the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is developing and growing rapidly. Some elements are already clear enough: they include the expansion of ISIS-controlled territory in Libya, […]