Tag: Syria

Chastened Saudis Look to Iran Detente

Exclusive: Last year, Saudi intelligence chief Bandar bin Sultan was swaggering around the world boasting of Saudi influence over radical jihadists from Syria to Chechnya and collaborating with Israel against Iran. But Bandar is gone and the Saudis may be retrenching, writes Andres…

Putin’s Subtle Message to Obama

Exclusive: Russian President Putin sought to cool the rhetoric over Ukraine with an appeal for a postponed referendum in the east and an order to pull back Russian troops, but another message was to President Obama over the State Department’s…

UN Syria-Sarin Investigator Voices Doubts

More doubts about last August’s Sarin attack in Syria are being raised by the U.N.’s lead investigator who questions the number of people actually exposed to the poison gas, suggesting the incident was much more limited than claimed, writes Gareth…

American Hawks Who Never Learn

The mainstream U.S. news media has taken great umbrage over President Obama’s defense of the more peaceful parts of his foreign policy, when he suggested lessons were not learned by the many pundits and pols who supported the disastrous Iraq…

Kerry Grovels over Israeli ‘Apartheid’

Exclusive: Secretary of State Kerry gets to say whatever half-truth or fiction comes into his head about Syria, Russia or other “designated villains,” but when he cites the inconvenient truth of Israeli “apartheid,” he must scramble as fast as he can…

Killing the Putin-Obama ‘Trust’

Exclusive: Last year, Russian President Putin and U.S. President Obama became a geopolitical odd couple as they worked to cool off hotspots such as Syria and Iran. But U.S. hawks succeeded in killing that collaboration via the crisis in Ukraine,…

Hearing US ‘Allies’ Whine

Official Washington is abuzz with punditry about President Obama showing weakness around the world, with the old-reliable antidote being more Pentagon spending and more foreign military adventures. But this “debate” misses how real U.S. interests are served, writes ex-CIA analyst…

Why Neocons Seek to Destabilize Russia

Exclusive: Any propaganda war starts by planting stories that your target is getting rich, whether he is or isn’t, the latest move in demonizing Vladimir Putin. But the larger question is what might happen if the neocons succeed in destabilizing nuclear-armed Russia,…

John Kerry’s Sad Circle to Deceit

Exclusive: Secretary of State John Kerry is framing the Ukraine narrative to make the U.S. side despite neo-Nazis overthrowing an elected president the good guys and Russians the bad guys. But Kerry’s strident propaganda is a sad ending to a career…

Another NYT-Michael Gordon Special?

Exclusive: The New York Times is at it again with a lead story citing grainy photos from the post-putsch regime in Kiev as proving that Russian special forces are behind the popular uprisings in eastern Ukraine, another slanted story coauthored by Michael…