PATRICK LAWRENCE: US Defiles ‘Common Humanity’ During Pandemic
Washington’s priorities are maintaining divisions, suspicions, animosities and enmities as if there were no global humanitarian crisis. Cuba sends 50–odd doctors and nurses to Italy, among the nations the COVID–19 virus has hit hardest. It was Cuba alone that assisted…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Iranian General’s Intent
Given the gravity of last week’s drone assassination, the State and Defense Departments must prove their claims against Qassem Soleimani. AFAQ–TV, a satellite station broadcasting from Baghdad, ran a brief video clip last May of Ali Khamenei speaking to a small gathering….
PATRICK LAWRENCE: At UN, European Allies & Trump Clip Pompeo’s Hawk Wings
After the recent strikes on Saudi oil facilities, E-3 leaders offered a sop to the secretary of state but resisted key elements of his “maximum hostility” campaign towards Iran while Trump also distanced himself. This week’s General Assembly at the United Nations…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Now That Washington’s Most Dangerous Man is Sacked
This week provides chances to monitor resets in Trump’s foreign policy after John Bolton’s destructive tenure. The most dangerous man in Washington has been sacked. John Bolton’s suitably humiliating departure from the Trump White House last week leaves the president free…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Brighter US-Iran Prospects
Despite the seemingly escalating risks of war, last week also produced an unexpected drift toward the mahogany table. There was no shortage of alarming incidents in and around the Persian Gulf last week. But the risks of open conflict between…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Accelerating Imperial Decline
Washington’s foreign policy towards Iran is driven by desperation rather than a reasoned understanding of a world in historically significant flux. That can lead only to a continuing succession of failures. The kinetic events of the past week in Washington,…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Regrouping the Nuclear Dealmakers
There are three good reasons for Iran to go back to the table, says Patrick Lawrence. Does the Trump administration want to negotiate peaceably with Iran, or is it intent on bringing the Islamic Republic to its knees while setting…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: A Week of Dangerous Developments from Iran to North Korea
The increasingly aggressive moves by Trump’s hawkish advisers give the impression of a palace coup, writes Patrick Lawrence. Neoconservative hawks in the Trump administration, led by National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, moved swiftly to…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US Moves on Iran’s Oil Market as an Expression of an Irrational Foreign Policy
Patrick Lawrence gauges the backfiring potential of Pompeo’s withdrawal on Thursday of U.S. sanction waivers from eight major importers. A Decisive Defeat in Long-Running Battle with Foreign Policy Minders Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement last week that no importer…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Pompeo, Pence & the Alienation of Europe
If the objective was to further isolate the U.S., the two officials could not have done a better job last week, writes Patrick Lawrence. What a job Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did in Europe…
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