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…
The Revelations of WikiLeaks: No. 3—The Most Extensive Classified Leak in History
The “Iraq War Logs” disgorged an unprecedented profusion of documents, military reports and videos, reports Patrick Lawrence. For WikiLeaks, 2010 was an exceptionally eventful year. In April the transparency organization released “Collateral Murder,” the video of U.S. Army helicopters as they shot more…
Sharmine Narwani on the end of the Syrian war and the “post-imperial Middle East”
Middle East correspondent Narwani sees a new era emerging in Asia, while Trump, Pompeo and Bolton bluster In part one of my exchange with Sharmine Narwani, the Beirut-based correspondent dissected the just-ended Syrian conflict as one of the very few journalists…
Reporter Sharmine Narwani on the secret history of America’s defeat in Syria
After years covering the “main battlefield in World War III,” Narwani says everything you think you know is wrong When the war in Syria was recently declared decisively over, there were few correspondents or witnesses to turn to for a…
Trump’s Next Challenge: Russia Returns to Afghanistan
America’s 16-years in Afghanistan has so far resulted in 2,216 dead soldiers, 20,049 casualties, and an estimated $800 billion in direct war costs — not including veterans’ health and pension payments that could reach $400 billion before it’s all over….
The Militarization of Diplomacy and Other Corruptions of US Empire
In part two of our interview, former ambassador Chas Freeman gives a master class in foreign policy. Part one of my interview with Chas Freeman, the retired diplomat who served in senior posts at State and Defense over a career…
Defense and State In a Tug of War Over Obama’s Syria Policy
For many of us, the news last week that President Obama is sending U.S. Special Forces to Syria to oversee the training of Syrian rebels fighting ISIS is confusing. It begs the question—what exactly is the Obama administration’s policy, strategy,…
Obama’s Failure in Syria Now Extends to Turkey
The Obama administration’s failure in Syria after four years of wasted lives, money, and effort deepens by the day now. The Russians have just benched us, whether Washington wants to admit it or not, and we may well sit out the…
How Obama Got It Wrong in Egypt
President Obama has just made a fateful choice in Egypt. He has chosen a side in the violent confrontation between supporters of the nation’s first elected president and the army generals who deposed him in a coup six weeks ago….
The Coup in Egypt: A Failure Greater than Morsi
The removal from power of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s duly elected president will never change one irrefutable truth: If you applaud or support military coups in democracies—even young, wrongheaded democracies—you aid in the making of a very messy world. Only a…
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