Category: Obama Administration

Who’s to Blame for Syria Mess? Putin!

Exclusive: Official Washington’s new “group think” is to blame Russia’s President Putin for the Syrian crisis, although it was the neocons and President George W. Bush who started the current Mideast mess by invading Iraq, the Saudis who funded Al Qaeda,…

US War Theories Target Dissenters

Exclusive: In the Orwellian world of Official Washington, the U.S. government is now wedded to the theory of “information warfare,” meaning that Americans who challenge national security policy may be treated as “unprivileged belligerents” under the new Law of War doctrine, retired…

Ellsberg Seeks Justice for Vanunu

Famed Defense Department whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says Israel should cease its nearly three-decade-old persecution of Mordechai Vanunu, the former nuclear technician who exposed the existence of Israel’s clandestine nuclear program in 1986 and was jailed for 18 years.

‘Regime Change’ Strategy Spreads Chaos

Official Washington’s “regime change” strategy for governments that have somehow gotten on the “enemies list” is now threatening to destabilize not just the Mideast and Africa but Europe as well, yet there is little indication that these policies will change,…

On Syria, Incoherence Squared

Exclusive: In the up-is-down world of Official Washington, everyone condemns Russia for aiding Syria’s internationally recognized government but stays mum on Saudi Arabia and other U.S. “allies” arming Al Qaeda and various terrorists fighting the Syrian government, an incoherence examined by Daniel…

Neocons Blame Obama for Syria

Exclusive: Neocons are so obsessed with their dream of Syrian “regime change” that they are castigating President Obama for not sharing their hallucination of nearly invisible “moderates” taking power when the near-certain result would be a victory for Sunni terrorists, as Jonathan Marshall…

Madness of Blockading Syria’s Regime

Exclusive: The U.S. State Department is trying to block Russian supplies going to Syria’s embattled government despite the risk that collapsing the regime would create a vacuum filled by the Islamic State or Al Qaeda, another nightmare dreamt up by…

If Mark Twain Met Donald Trump

The great American novelist Mark Twain had a particularly insightful understanding of hypocrisies of the powerful and the bluster of bigots, which would have given him a deep understanding of Donald Trump and his political appeal, writes Michael Winship.

More Incoherence in Syria Policy

Australia is the latest U.S. ally to join the bombing campaigns against Islamic State militants inside Syria, but the incoherence of the strategy is underscored by Washington’s continuing refusal to negotiate seriously with the Syrian government about a realistic political…

Israel Lobby Stops Iran’s Help on Syria

Despite the worsening Mideast crisis, President Obama can’t escape the tight policy constraints imposed by neocon thinking. The obvious move to work with Iran to save Syria from an Islamic State or Al Qaeda victory is blocked by the influence…