International Law and the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani
Developing The targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani (قاسم سلیمانی) in Bagdad on January 3, 2020 was a military action with strategic consequences. These include a…
Iraq
The cold-blooded REALPOLITIK of the American president: Obama’s intellectual calculations in foreign policy, and his heart as cold as stone
Developing Obama seems to have opposed stronger action in Syria and in opposing Russian aggression in the Ukraine out of some demented belief that he…
U.S. strategy and leadership needed: The Middle East and other countries hurtle into the Vortex
On some days, the news is so disturbing that you want to take a broader view of what is going on in a region, or…
The Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, and the torture trail leading to Abu Gharib
See ANDREW HIGGINS and MAÏA de la BAUME, “Two Brothers Suspected in Killings Were Known to French Intelligence Services,” New York Times, January 8, 2015….
A rudderless U.S. foreign policy: Obama flounders in dealing with the Ukraine, ISIS, and Ebola
Draft While the United States has finally, and belatedly, begun military actions in Iraq and Syria to slow the advance of ISIS forces, the country…
International law and the use of military force against groups in Syria
There is considerable confusion over the legality under international law of taking military action against groups and targets in Syria. This has led some governments…
Barack Obama’s phantasmagoric world, where the choice of words defines reality
phantasmagoria /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːrɪə/, phantasmagory /fænˈtæzməɡərɪ/ n 1. a shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream 2. a sequence of pictures made to…
Obama’s six crises and collapsing foreign policy: Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, and China’s actions in the East and South China Seas
Developing President Barack Obama now faces six simultaneous crises, amid the collapsing edifice of his foreign policy. They are: 1. Russia and the Ukraine Russia’s…
ISIS or ISIL? A telling tale of the primacy of words over actions in Obama’s foreign policy
President Barack Obama has been very careful to enunciate clearly the acronym of the terrorist organization whose forces have taken Mosul and have been rapidly…
Distracted by Iraq and the World Cup: Pacifism and Appeasement continue to dictate West’s “non-response” to blatant Russian aggression in the eastern Ukraine (revised and updated June 18, 2014)
Last Revised and Updated June 18, 2014 Distracted by Iraq and the World Cup, the leaders of the West seem to have forgotten about the…
Words do not make it so: John Kerry’s denial of America’s retreat from the world
Secretary of State John Kerry has made a vigorous verbal argument at Davos that the U.S. is not in retreat around the world. But words…
U.S. National Intelligence Estimate points to dire future in Afghanistan
developing The prospects for the government of Afghanistan following the U.S. pull-out by the end of 2014 are grim, regardless of whether the Status of…
U.S. sends military assistance to Iraq as Iran, violating U.N. sanctions, sends arms to Syria through Iraq
The United States has begun sending missiles and other military assistance to Iraq, maintaining radio silence on Iranian arms shipments to Syria through Iraq and…
Obama’s foreign policy incompetence, and what to do about it
For background, see the following articles: Victor Davis Hanson, “Is Obama Still President? National Review Online, October 29, 2013 (3:00 AM). David Ignatius, “Pitfalls of…
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Coup d’Etat in Egypt; William Butler Yeats and “The Second Coming”
With the Muslim Brotherhood’s recent coup d’etat in Egypt, following on other measures it has taken in the last year, a dark pall has fallen over the…
Benghazi machinations continue: CIA announces investigation of Petraeus on eve of his testimony to Congress
There have been far too many coincidences in the Benghazi and Petraeus affairs for them to have all been coincidental. The latest move in what…
Kofi Annan proves Karl Marx right: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce”—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #59 (July 9)
For background, see the following articles by The Trenchant Observer: “Oh, what a beautiful castle in the sky! Kofi Annan—the Illusionist, the moral cowardice of…
Oh, what a beautiful castle in the sky! Kofi Annan—the Illusionist, the moral cowardice of the world, and the end of the United Nations dream—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #58 (July 2)
Kofi Annan, the ever-willing Illusionist, aided and abetted by the permanent members of the U. N. Security Council, has offered us one more castle in…
Border tensions with Turkey rise; 190 killed on Thursday, al-Assad defiant, P5 + 4 to meet in Geneva on Saturday—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #57
On Thursday, the number of killed in Syria reached an all-time high for the year, at 190 dead, according to the New York Times: Tallies…
Government Terror in Syria—Putin, Al Assad, and Security Council Referral to the ICC
The Arab League “deal” with Syria looks increasingly like the African Union peace efforts aimed at blocking Security Council action in Libya. Fortunately, NATO and…