Antiwar.com Blog

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Frederick Kagan invokes U.S. policy towards the USSR under Reagan as the model for a similar policy towards Iran today:

The attractiveness of applying to Iran the set of policies that caused the relatively peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s, often called the “Victory Strategy,” is obvious. The strategy produced the most desirable possible end to the Cold War – victory for the United States and its allies without a major direct conflict with the Soviet Union. Similarities between Iran and the Soviet Union make it reasonable to assess that applying a similar set of policies would yield a similar result [bold mine-DL]. That assessment may indeed be accurate, and some variant of the strategy is almost certainly the correct policy to pursue against Iran today.

The silliness of comparing Iran and the Soviet Union ought to be self-evident, but for various reasons Iran hawks love to use this comparison in their arguments for regime change. The vast differences between the two states make the comparison useless for thinking about what the best policy towards Iran should be, and it is clear that the comparison is being made purely for rhetorical and ideological reasons. Kagan himself spends most of his essay detailing the significant differences between the two states, but still assumes that a variant of the same “strategy” is appropriate now.

Continue reading “Stop Comparing Iran to the USSR”

We are approaching the 17 year anniversary of the US war on Afghanistan. It is a slow-motion disaster, with our “enemy” the Taliban gaining more ground each year. Spending four trillion dollars and wasting thousands of lives in a war we are losing has led many, including Blackwater founder Erik Prince, to declare the Afghan war a “total loss.” Prince has a plan that he claims would “win” the war by using far fewer US troops and spending far less money. But what is “winning”? What is the policy? Why are the Taliban our enemies in the first place? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

President Donald Trump says he wants to improve relations between the United States and Russia, and he met in July with Russia President Vladimir Putin largely in a purported effort to move toward this goal. Yet, the Trump administration continues to send more US troops and military equipment to along the Russia border, including in Norway. Around 300 US Marines were deployed to Norway in the final days of the Barack Obama administration. Then, last week, Reuters reported that the Trump administration will soon more than double to 700 the number of Marines in Norway and that some Marines will be stationed closer than before to Norway’s border with Russia.

The plans, the Reuters article notes, “triggered a sharp reaction from Moscow, which called the plans ‘clearly unfriendly’.” No doubt. As peace advocate and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul has often commented, Americans would be quite perturbed if Russia, China, or some other nation started massing military forces across the border in Mexico or in the Gulf of Mexico. Why should Russians not be perturbed by the massing of US forces nearby in Europe – along with the successive introduction of European nations near Russia into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

Continue reading “More US Marines Coming to Norway, a Strange Way To Seek Friendship with Russia”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Ahmad Algohbary and Faisal Edroos report from Dahyan in the wake of the Saudi coalition massacre of dozens of children on August 9:

Three days after the attack, victims’ families continued to throng to the scene of the attack, hoping to find the remains of their loved ones

“I didn’t find any of him,” said Abdelhakim Amir as he searched the wreckage for his son, Ahmed.

“Not his finger, not his bone, not his skull, nothing.”

CNN confirmed earlier reporting that the bomb used in the attack was sold by the U.S. and manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The attack killed more than 50 civilians, including 40 children, and injured another 79 people. Orla Guerin report here on the massacre and its aftermath.

Continue reading “The Massacre of the Innocents in Yemen”

Reprinted from Haaretz

Veteran left-wing journalist, lawmaker and peace activist Uri Avnery died Monday at age 94 in Tel Aviv. A founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement, Avnery was also one of the first Israelis to actively advocate for the establishment of a Palestinian state, more than 70 years ago.

As a youth he fought with the Irgun pre-state underground militia and later in life moved to the left of the political spectrum. He was also editor-in-chief of the iconic liberal weekly, Haolam Hazeh, for 40 years.

The eternal peace activist never shirked controversy and was involved in fateful events in the country’s history, some of which he documented and others he actively took part in shaping. But while Avnery’s supporters saw his ideas as groundbreaking, detractors denounced him as an enemy of the people.

Continue reading “Israeli Peace Activist Uri Avnery Dead at 94”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

There have been dozens of Saudi coalition airstrikes on civilian vehicles in Yemen this year, and coalition investigations almost never fault coalition forces:

The bombing of a bus full of schoolchildren last week was just one of more than 50 airstrikes against civilian vehicles by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen so far this year, according to new data.

The data also shows that the monitoring body set up in Riyadh purportedly to investigate incidents of civilian casualties has supported the Saudi military version of events in almost every case.

The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has not issued comprehensive statistics but has instead issued periodic press statements. And according to an analysis by Human Rights Watch (HRW), out of 75 incidents where civilian casualties were reported, JIAT has admitted Saudi rules of engagement may have been broken in only two.

The frequency of coalition attacks on these vehicles confirms their blatant disregard for civilian lives that we have seen repeated again and again over the last three years. As the Yemen Data Project has shown, at least close to a third of coalition strikes hit civilian targets in the last year. That figure has been consistent for the last several years. The number of civilian vehicles attacked by the coalition this year is higher than the year before, so that should put to rest the idea that the U.S. has done anything to “improve” how coalition conducts itself in this war. There can’t be measurable improvement in protection of civilians when all signs keep pointing to the coalition’s frequent, deliberate targeting of civilian vehicles and structures. Perpetrators can’t be trusted to investigate themselves, and the Saudi coalition has proven to be most untrustworthy. When the US and U.N. allow the Saudi coalition to investigate their own crimes, they are aiding the Saudis and their allies in covering up massacres.

Continue reading “The US Is Aiding and Abetting Saudi Atrocities in Yemen”