syria

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, Dictatorship, Donald Trump, History, human rights, India, Intelligence, Joe Biden, Kurds, NATO, Nuclear Proliferation, Pakistan, syria, Turkey, U.S. Military, Vladimir Putin April 21, 2021

Biden’s disastrous decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistam–with links to best opinion pieces

The decision to surrender to the Taliban and abandon our Afghan allies and supporters is among the most craven and dastardly decisions in U.S. military and foreign policy history. One searches in history for a decision of such dishonorable magnitude.

The comparison that comes to mind is the agreement by Neville Chamberlain of England and Ėdouard Daladier of France with Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria in October, 1938. The agreement, known as the Munich Pact, has become synonymous with betrayal and appeasement

That will be Joe Biden’s legacy, unless he changes course, which seems unlikely.

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authoritarian regimes, China, coverage of foreign events, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, Dictatorship, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, Egypt, Egypt, Ethiopia, foreign correspondents, Germany, History, International Law, North Korea, nuclear war, Qatar, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, Soviet Union, Spain, syria, U.N. Charter, U.S. Congress, UAE, Ukraine, united arab emirates, United Nations, use of force, Vladimir Putin, war crimes

Foreign policy without International Law

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2016 U.S. Presidential election, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Donald Trump, elections, France, International Law, Russia, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United Nations, United States, use of force, Vladimir Putin, war crimes April 12, 2017

After Tillerson’s trip to Moscow, will Trump lift sanctions against Russia, or ever criticize Putin?

Rex Tillerson met Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin for two hours, in addition to his over three hours of meetings with foreign minister Sergey…

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"that spark of the divine", Barack Obama, debate over the efficacy of torture, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Nobel Peace Prize, State Department, State Department Human Rights Country Reports, syria, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Torture Convention, vision of peace, war crimes April 5, 2017

REPRISE: “A time to break silence”: Dr. King on the Vietnam war, and President Carter on America’s human rights violations

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King gave the first of two speeches that month setting forth why he was opposed…

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2016 U.S. Presidential election, Culture and Communication, Dictatorship, Donald Trump, human rights, propaganda, Russia, sanctions, State Department, syria, U.N. Charter, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin March 11, 2017

The level-of-analysis problem in assessing and reacting to Trump’s assault on American democracy

The outlines and methods of President Donald Trump’s asault on the institutions of American democracy and their underling traditions and values are now clear.

First, he has conducted an all-out assault on the very concept of the truth.
Third, Trump not only lies about everything all of the time, but also engages in defamation of the leading news media in the United States on a daily basis, having labeled them “the opposition party” and “the enemy of the people.”
We face a dramatic situation.

We have a president who lies about everything all of the time.

We have a presdient and administration which reject the concept of accountability, dismissing criticism will lies and charges of “fake news”. The president openly defies the requirements of the Enmoluments Clause of the constitution…
We have a president who is under strong suspicion of colluding with the Russians in their intervention into the November 2016 elections in the United States, who has not criticized Putin or Russia directly in any significant way…
Given Trump’s ongoing assaults on the pillars of American democracy, and the values which underlie them, Democrats, Independents and Republicans need to start thinking, with great urgency, about how Trump and Bannon can be removed from office–at an early date.

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2016 U.S. Presidential election, CIA, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Culture and Communication, Donald Trump, elections, freedom of speech, Intelligence, International Law, propaganda, Russia, syria, U.N. Charter, Ukraine, United States, use of force, Vladimir Putin, war crimes February 26, 2017

The Trump Paradox: “Making America Great Again” without the values that have made America great

The great paradox of President Donald Trump is that he promises to the American people that he will “make America great again” but in practice appears to want to do so without honoring and defending the values that have made America great in the past.