Patrick Lawrence
Menu
  • Biography
  • Books
  • Q&A’s
  • Archives
    • The Nation.
    • Salon
    • Alternet
    • Asia Times
    • Consortium News
    • CounterPunch
    • Raritan
    • ScheerPost
    • The Fiscal Times
    • The Floutist
    • The Scrum
    • The Washington Quarterly
    • Elsewhere
  • Journal
  • Appearances
  • The Mail
Browse: Home » Syria » Page 8
Beyond the foreign policy lies: Our compliant media and the truth about American exceptionalism

Beyond the foreign policy lies: Our compliant media and the truth about American exceptionalism

January 1, 2015 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

A new year begins, and America must resolve to do different & better. Here’s a roadmap. It starts with clear eyes We have put away our argyle cardigans, drawn close to the fire, listened to the Crosby records, and roasted…

We are the terrorists too: Thomas Friedman and John Kerry are misleading you about the Middle East

We are the terrorists too: Thomas Friedman and John Kerry are misleading you about the Middle East

November 20, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

The New York Times and the administration are spinning post-Arab Spring era. Let’s set the facts straight At a diplomatic do in New York the other night, someone remarked that the events that broke the Middle East wide open four…

An Obama Failure with Iran Seems Inevitable

An Obama Failure with Iran Seems Inevitable

September 29, 2014 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

A year ago, under skies as sunny as we’ve had lately, Iran’s just-elected president, Hassan Rouhani, had his premiere at the United Nations and popped open the door to a settlement on his nation’s nuclear program and a cooperative relationship…

Lies the media repeats about Iraq: Phony patriotism, fake Syrian “moderates” and the very real end of empire

Lies the media repeats about Iraq: Phony patriotism, fake Syrian “moderates” and the very real end of empire

September 24, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

We have made a shocking mess in the Middle East. This new adventure sets America up for incredible decline In history there are the Punic Wars and the Opium Wars, each a turning point, and now we must talk of…

Obama’s ISIS Strategy Will Be His Jimmy Carter Moment

Obama’s ISIS Strategy Will Be His Jimmy Carter Moment

September 22, 2014 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

The Obama administration is now so tongue-tied it can’t tell us what it is about to do in the Middle East. So let’s pitch in: The Obama administration is going to war in Iraq and Syria. Having settled that, the…

It’s time to bomb ISIS: Yes, America helped sow these seeds, but this is the rare group that should be called “terrorists”

It’s time to bomb ISIS: Yes, America helped sow these seeds, but this is the rare group that should be called “terrorists”

August 28, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

Disastrous, ham-fisted foreign policy by both Obama and Bush has forced us to select from horrible options How quickly all Washington’s chickens flock back to the roost these days. You can say this about any number of policy disasters, notably…

Obama Makes the Middle East Our New ‘Quagmire’

Obama Makes the Middle East Our New ‘Quagmire’

August 18, 2014 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

Quagmire” is a term commonly associated with Vietnam, but we need to haul it out of storage. There is no other way to describe the mess the Obama administration has led us into in the Middle East. President Obama and…

Dick Cheney’s demented last laugh: Neoconservatives destroyed American exceptionalism, but made Obama collateral damage

Dick Cheney’s demented last laugh: Neoconservatives destroyed American exceptionalism, but made Obama collateral damage

July 4, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

This July 4, we know our foreign policy must change after the neocon’s Iraq disaster. Let’s take the right lessons Our national polls—run by the media, a few universities, and foundations such as Pew—seem to represent us better than our…

George W. Bush’s horrific, deadly blunder: Would Saddam Hussein be better than Iraq’s new hell?

George W. Bush’s horrific, deadly blunder: Would Saddam Hussein be better than Iraq’s new hell?

June 18, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

Eleven years, and so much death, misery and destruction later, Iraq’s best outcome looks like the one Bush upended Foreign policy, at least the American kind, is like a stone thrown into a pond: The ripples outward go on and…

“Literally pointless”: Charles Krauthammer and disastrously wrong neocons misread Obama, again

“Literally pointless”: Charles Krauthammer and disastrously wrong neocons misread Obama, again

May 31, 2014 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

Neocons blast West Point speech, miss the obvious: Obama’s foreign policy problem is stagnantly thinking like them President Obama has just advised us that the front edge of our country’s foreign policy has shifted — shifted again, that is to…

← Previous 1 … 7 8 9 10 Next →

Search

Recent Pieces

  • Patrick Lawrence: Waves Upon the Sea of Silence May 17, 2025
  • PATRICK LAWRENCE: Diplomatic Chess, Ukraine the Pawn May 16, 2025
  • “Demolitions.” May 6, 2025
  • Patrick Lawrence: Germany in Crisis Part 4: Wanderers and Seekers May 6, 2025
  • Patrick Lawrence: Germany in Crisis Part 3: A Culture of Submission April 26, 2025

Tags

Foreign Policy U.S. News Opinion Economy Washington New York Times Policy America Israel American Empire Ukraine Putin Column Politics Europe Syria China Russia BIDEN ADMINISTRATION COMMENTARY Iran Trump Obama Media

Recent Comments

  • Mark Miller on “Report from Donbas.”
  • Tom Jackson on PATRICK LAWRENCE: Musk & the Myth of USAID
  • George on PATRICK LAWRENCE: Blinded to Syria
  • Carl Zaisser on Sharmine Narwani on the end of the Syrian war and the “post-imperial Middle East”
  • Randy Laird on Patrick Lawrence: Shall We Celebrate, the World Being as It Is?

Archives

About Patrick Lawrence

Writer, commentator, longtime newspaper and magazine correspondent abroad. Writes often on Europe and Asia. Published five books.

Connect

Please feel free to Contact me to arrange lectures, commissions, or reprint rights, or simply as a reader.




Sustain the work via Patreon.

Become a Patron


You can also follow me on Twitter.

Follow @thefloutist

Recent pieces

  • Patrick Lawrence: Waves Upon the Sea of Silence May 17, 2025
  • PATRICK LAWRENCE: Diplomatic Chess, Ukraine the Pawn May 16, 2025
  • “Demolitions.” May 6, 2025

Publications

  • Appearances
  • Articles
    • Alternet
    • Asia Times
    • Consortium News
    • CounterPunch
    • Elsewhere
    • Independent
    • Raritan
    • Salon
    • ScheerPost
    • The Fiscal Times
    • The Floutist
    • The Nation.
    • The Scrum
    • The Washington Quarterly
  • Cú Chulainn
  • Featured
  • Uncategorized
​​This site is published in honor of Sheila and the late Chalmers Johnson.

Copyright © 2025 Patrick Lawrence. Designed by Blue Anchor Design.