Month: April 2015

Doubts Remain on Iran Sanction Relief

While Iran expresses confidence that it can fulfill the restrictions on its nuclear program to ensure that it remains peaceful there is less certainty about the lifting of U.S. and international sanctions against Iran, creating some possible trouble for the…

Iran Deal: A Possible Crossroads to Peace

Exclusive: The Israeli-Saudi alliance and the American neocons are furious over the framework agreement for a peaceful settlement to the Iran nuclear dispute, but the deal gives hope to people who see the need to end the perpetual wars that have roiled…

A Diplomatic Victory with Iran

Though the framework agreement for making sure Iran’s nuclear program stays peaceful surprised many observers with its stringent details, the Israel Lobby and its adherents are sure to do all they can to sabotage the deal. But they must overcome…

Mysterious Deaths in Ukraine

The mainstream U.S. news media is so in the tank for the post-coup Ukrainian government that anything negative from neo-Nazi militias to apparent “death squad” operations is ignored, including a string of mysterious deaths of anti-coup politicians, as William Blum…

Was Sgt. Bergdahl a Whistleblower?

Mainstream U.S. politicians and media were quick to condemn Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, after his years as a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan were deemed “desertion.” But another possibility is that Bergdahl was captured after he left his base in a failed…

Misunderstanding Jesus’s Execution

From the Archive: In Holy Week, many Christians celebrate what they regard as God’s sacrifice of his Son and the Resurrection. But some scholars see another narrative in which Jesus, a rural rebel, brings his critique of the Jewish-Roman power structure to Jerusalem and…

The US-Israel-Iran Triangle’s Tangled History

Exclusive: Iran and world powers have gone into double-overtime in negotiations to ensure that Iran doesn’t build a nuclear bomb, but the shadow over the talks is darkened by decades of distrust and double-dealing, a dimly understood history of the U.S.-Israeli-Iranian…

Yemen as Vietnam or Afghanistan

With U.S. intelligence help, Saudi Arabia has launched air strikes into Yemen and wants Egypt and Pakistan to invade, threatening to turn a long-simmering civil war into a regional conflict, a scenario that reminded retired U.S. diplomat William R. Polk of…

Why Iran Distrusts the US in Nuke Talks

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media portrays the Iran nuclear talks as “our good guys” imposing some sanity on “their bad guys.” But the real history of the West’s dealings on Iran’s nuclear program shows bad faith by the U.S. government, as ex-CIA analyst Ray…