Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
[Note to readers: Back in early September, Congressman Mike Turner penned an op-ed for the “liberal” New York Times supporting a massive “investment” in new nuclear weapons. Matt Hoh and I quickly submitted letters to the Times to protest this op-ed and its arguments; the Times ignored them. We then wrote our own op-ed below, shopping it to various mainstream media outlets without success. Here it finally appears for the first time.]
Representative Mike Turner’s essay on nuclear weapons in The New York Times (We Must Invest in Our Aging Nuclear Arsenal, September 6, 2024) is dangerously loyal to counterproductive US national security policies and narratives.
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If it’s Christmas, then it’s another massive, bloated “Continuing Resolution” keeping the US government open for a few more months. Every year House leadership – doesn’t matter which party – strong-arms Members to vote for the bloated bill… or miss Christmas with their families. Also today: “Peacekeepers” in Ukraine is a very bad idea. That’s why the neocons love it.
Could a Trump administration spark a war with Iran? We explore the potential for conflict as we untangle decades of U.S. foreign policy strategies and discuss the implications of a bold pro-Israel stance. Drawing insight from General Wesley Clark’s post-9/11 revelations and recent reports from the Wall Street Journal, we examine the likelihood of military action targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities. Despite the absence of definitive evidence pointing to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, we consider the complex regional dynamics, including the influence of Iranian allies like Hezbollah and the Houthis, and recent military activities in Yemen.
We then navigate the tangled web of alliances and power struggles in the Syrian conflict, dissecting the pivotal roles of the United States, Israel, and Turkey. From the humanitarian toll of American sanctions to the strategic employment of Syrian Kurds, we deliver a comprehensive analysis of the deeply interconnected geopolitical landscape. With Turkey’s controversial involvement and allegations of alliances with Al-Qaeda fighters, Antony Blinken’s optimistic comments about Syria’s future are weighed against the harsh realities on the ground. We also explore the shifting stances of Syrian leadership, the potential lifting of sanctions, and the implications for Israel.
In our concluding segment, the spotlight turns to the U.S. response to Israeli actions in Syria and the broader geopolitical ramifications. We scrutinize the State Department’s support for Israeli policies, especially in light of recent tensions between Turkey and the U.S. over Kurdish forces. The skepticism from the press corps toward official narratives is palpable, as we highlight a revealing exchange between AP journalist Matt Lee and State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. This episode challenges the conventional discourse surrounding American foreign policy, inviting you to reconsider the intricate dynamics at play in this volatile region.
The end of Assad’s rule makes most U.S. sanctions on Syria obsolete, so naturally hawks in Congress want to keep them in place:
Republican and Democratic U.S. senators say it is too soon to consider lifting sanctions on Syria following the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, an indication that Washington is unlikely to change its policy any time soon.
U.S. sanctions on Syria are among the most harmful of any that Washington has imposed. They not only choke the Syrian economy directly and interfere with humanitarian assistance, but because of secondary sanctions they also discourage outside states and companies from investing in reconstruction efforts. Broad sanctions in Syria are an attack on the people just as they are an attack on the people in Venezuela, Iran, and elsewhere. The U.S. should have lifted these sanctions years ago, and now that Assad is out of power there is no excuse for continuing this policy. If a post-Assad Syria is to have any hope of rebuilding and recovering, the U.S. and its allies will have to stop inflicting collective punishment on the Syrian people.
