The recapture of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was the single biggest defeat for ISIS since it declared its caliphate, but the West does not seem interested. Why? Because then they’d have to give some credit to Russia.
Indeed, it must have been a tough weekend for Western media’s favorite Syria pundits. It’s hard to fathom that any observer — regardless of their particular leanings — could feel anything other than relief at such a victory.
Yet, there’s a strange sense that some pundits might actually be a little bit disappointed. Not to see the back of ISIS in the city, of course, but to be faced with the uncomfortable reality that their narrative is quickly unraveling.
No word from the grand coalition
Given the monumental importance of this latest victory in Syria’s war, you would expect at least a comment or two from Barack Obama, who more than a year and a half ago solemnly swore that his grand coalition would “degrade and destroy” the terror group. You might also expect a few words from David Cameron, who, like Obama, has seemed so terribly concerned by the humanitarian situation in Syria and so determined to “defeat” ISIS. But the two of them must have been having a bit too much fun this past Easter weekend, because there wasn’t a peep out of them. In a way, they’ve done us a favor, because their silence speaks far louder than their words ever could.
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The nuances of foreign policy do not feature heavily in the ongoing presidential campaign. Every candidate intends to “destroy” the Islamic State; each has concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea, and China; every one of them will defend Israel; and no one wants to talk much about anything else — except, in the case of the Republicans, who rattle their sabers against Iran.
In that light, here’s a little trip down memory lane: in October 2012, I considered five critical foreign policy questions — they form the section headings below — that were not being discussed by then-candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Romney today is a sideshow actfor the current Republican circus, and Obama has started packing up his tent at the White House and producing his own foreign policy obituary.
And sadly, those five questions of 2012 remain as pertinent and unraised today as they were four years ago. Unlike then, however, answers may be at hand, and believe me, that’s not good news. Now, let’s consider them four years later, one by one.
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In Syria, Assad Liberates Palmyra While CIA Battles the Pentagon
The big news out of Syria over the past couple of days has been that Syrian government forces with the help of the Russian military have taken back control of Palmyra from ISIS. The fall of Palmyra and subsequent destruction of the spectacular Roman ruins there by ISIS horrified the civilized world. The US government had claimed from the beginning that the Russians were not targeting ISIS at all, but only the "moderate" rebels supported by Washington. That lie now stands bare in newly-liberated Palmyra and onward, as Syrian government troops aided by the Russians speed east toward the "capital" of the Islamic State, Raqqa.
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Media’s Blind Spot on War’s Victims and Blowback
Over at The Intercept, journalist Glenn Greenwald has written a powerful and insightful examination of how media provides Americans with many details regarding the deaths and suffering caused by terrorist attacks in “western” nations but shields Americans from anywhere near the coverage of victims of the United States and cooperating governments’ attacks in other countries, including the US government’s “hideous civilian-slaughtering strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Libya, and Iraq.”
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Five Minutes Five Issues: Cuban Cigars, Prohibitionist States, Stopping Trump, Cruz Hypocrisy, DEA Danger
A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted Thursday. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud
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Breaking: Heckuva Job, Merkel - ISIS Terror Squads Swarm Europe
Here's the big -- really big -- story of the day: AP is reporting that ISIS has sent at least 400 fighters into Europe in semi-autonomous cells to rain down a wave of terror that may make the Brussels attacks earlier this week look like child's play. This underground terror army is said to have trained in Syria, Iraq, and possibly some of the former republics of the USSR, and they have infiltrated themselves into Europe to await further instructions.
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Brussels - Unrelated to Interventionist Foreign Policy?
What is the meaning of the Brussels bombings? "Experts" will make endless self-serving suggestions about how to better fight terrorism -- these "solutions" will always include more jobs for these "experts." Meanwhile, none of the elites will for a minute consider the deadly combination of violent Western intervention in the Middle East and an open door "refugee" policy in the EU. Why do none of the experts see blowback, interventionism, sanctions, and neocons as a cause of hatred in the region? RPI Director Daniel McAdams joins the Scott Horton show to peel back the layers of nonsense that cloud the official story of the "war on terror." Listen to the program here.
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Mar 16: - As a committed and unapologetic neocon, Michael Rubin loves the idea of the old purges once common practice under his ideological forebears in the Soviet Union. The details of the infraction were unimportant -- and to even consider the need for details once the Party has spoken was to court suspicion. So Comrade Rubin is demanding a thorough denunciation of Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief-of-staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell (and academic advisor to the Ron Paul Institute).
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New March 4:
