U.S. strategy abroad is assuming a curious shape. Whether the president or his minders are running affairs, Patrick Lawrence sees the U.S. being reduced to playing a spoiler role in the Middle East and Northeast Asia.
If the paeans to McCain by diverse political climbers seems detached from reality, it’s because they reflect the elite view of U.S. military interventions as a chess game, with the millions killed by unprovoked aggression mere statistics, says Max Blumenthal.
A nearly unknown businessman named Khaled al Ahmad became Damascus’ secret liaison to the West and has quietly been dealing Syria’s grinding war to a close, reports Rhania Khalek.