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Syria’s Long War Will Be Decided in These Three Theaters

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy In Focus
As a bloody siege looms over Idlib, the U.S. is digging into the east, and conflict between Iran and Israel may put Syria in the crosshairs. Turkey will have to eventually withdraw from Syria; Israel will eventually have to come to terms with Iran...

books

The Sea is the Same Sea: A Biography of Netanyahu

Adam Shatz London Review of Books
Biography of a world-class reactionary fixer who has thus far immobilized the Israeli left, won over Sunni Arab states paralyzed by fear of Shia Iran and is poised to become the longest serving prime minister is Israeli history.

Making Sense of U.S. Moves in the Middle East

Rebecca Gordon Tom Dispatch
There is a new ménage-à-quatre in the region, bringing Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United States ever closer. And...an unexpected fifth player lurking in the shadows: Russia.

Trump’s Iran Sanctions Are an Obvious Prelude to War

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
Maybe Trump really thinks sanctions will produce a "better" Iran deal. More likely, they're designed to justify conflict - an unwinnable conflict that will destabilize the Middle East and the world’s economy, and pour more of this country’s resources into yet another quagmire.

Tidbits - May 24, 2018 - Reader Comments: Thoughts and Prayers Don't Work; Kelly Clarkson Speaks Out; Working Families Party; PA Machine Candidates Defeated; Mideast War Danger; Junot Diaz; Palestine; Mapping The Resistance; more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Thoughts and Prayers Don't Work; Kelly Clarkson Speaks Out; Junot Diaz, Working Families Party; PA Machine Candidates Defeated; Mideast War Danger; Korean War History; Palestine; Mapping The Resistance: Insurgence and Polarization; Memorial Day, more...

The Road to Hell in the Middle East - Gearing Up for the Third Gulf War

Michael T. Klare Tom Dispatch
The way to war, which will surely prove to be the road to hell, seems open with a Third Gulf War looming on humanity’s horizon. Once again, Iran is the enemy. Again, as in 2003, a president is surrounded by bellicose advisers intent on just such a war and looking for the right excuse to launch it.

How Israel’s Secret Services Built the Most Robust Assassination Machine in History

Glenn Frankel Washington Post
Since World War II Israel and its pre-state paramilitary organizations have assassinated more people than any other country in the Western world - some 2,300 "targeted killing operations," most of them against Palestinians, but also aimed at Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians and others. In the name of state security, Israeli officials didn't just walk the line of legality, they trampled it.

Defending Afrin

Rosa Burç Kerem Schamberger Jacobin
Turkey's war on Afrin is an attack not only on Kurdish self-determination, but on democracy and women's liberation in the Middle East.

Tidbits - December 7, 2017 - Reader Comments: Jerusalem Catastrophe - Jewish Opposition; GOP Tax Plan-Tread Softly Congress; Portside's Annual Fund Appeal; Vietnam War; ;Poor People's Campaign; Socialist Upsurge; and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: Jerusalem Catastrophe - Jewish Voice for Peace; IfNotNow; New Israel Fund; GOP Tax Plan Biggest Increase in American History; Portside's Annual Fund Appeal; Flynn's Guilty Plea...and Trump; Honduras; California Built on Genocide; Resources - 50 years since 1968 and Vietnam War; Announcements - Poor People's Campaign; The Socialist Upsurge in the US

Both Parties Pushed Trump Toward Reckless Action on Jerusalem

Stephen Zunes The Progressive
Trump’s dangerous and provocative move regarding Jerusalem—like so many of his reckless policies both abroad and at home—requires strong, broad-based opposition. It is unfortunate that, at least in this case, there is no real opposition party.
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