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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....

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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.

America's Imperial Unraveling

Aziz Rana, Aslı U. Bâli Boston Review
If there is something like a “Trump Doctrine,” it lies in two developments: the boldness with which a declared reliance on coercion and conquest now sits uncomfortably beside America’s professed moral authority; and the implications of Trump’s ethno-nationalism for how global allies and enemies are conceived.

The Balfour Declaration’s 100 Year Legacy of Racism and Propaganda

Dan Freeman-Maloy Mondoweiss
In November 1917, British foreign secretary Lord Arthur Balfour declared British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”; in December, Jerusalem fell to British troops, and the effects of these events continue to reverberate. The Balfour Centennial should be a time of somber reflection about global responsibility for the tragedy in Palestine, which is more than a local record of colonial crimes, severe as these have been.

In the Middle East, Maybe We’re the Bad Guys

Danny Sjursen TomDispatch
Here’s the truth of it, if you just stop to think about America’s wars for a moment: it’s only going to get harder to look a widow or mother in the eye and justify them in the years to come.

Hezbollah Takes Journalists in Lebanon on a Tour to Prove Trump Wrong

Liz Sly and Suzan Haidamous The Washington Post
“The current American president is ignorant of the region,” said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif, speaking to reporters in a cave until recently occupied by Nusra. “We are the force that fights terrorism while the United States continues to support terrorism in many forms.”

Dire Consequences if Trump Pulls out of Iran Deal; The Mask Is Off: Trump Is Seeking War with Iran

Mitchell Plitnick; Trita Parsi LobeLog
Trump seems determined to go forward with a very hostile program toward Iran, and, although a baseless U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal seems unlikely, even the so-called ‘adults in the room’ are looking for a pretext. The White House is committed to finding a way to claim Iran has violated the nuclear deal, regardless of the facts — just as George W. Bush did with Iraq.

The Tortured Politics Behind the Persian Gulf Crisis

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
Saudi Arabia's puzzling effort to blacklist its tiny neighbor Qatar begs the question of who's really isolated in the Gulf. The attack on Qatar is part of Saudi Arabia’s aggressive new foreign policy that is being led by Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. As Saudi Arabia’s “monarch in waiting,” Mohammed has launched a disastrous war in Yemen that’s killed more than 10,000 civilians and sparked a country-wide cholera epidemic there.

A Cautious Examination of the New Alliance Against Qatar

Richard Falk Global Justice in the 21st Century
It is too early to provide a reliable analysis of the Persian Gulf crisis sparked by the abrupt decision of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies to break diplomatic and economic relations with Qatar. There are too many actors, conflicts, mixed and hidden motives and contradictions at play. Yet, one can clearly assert that it has nothing to do with strengthening the anti-ISIS, anti-extremist coalition of Arab forces, and that it is directed as much at Iran as Qatar.
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