Teevee coverage of the recent events in the ME has been predictable. Those who hated Trump continue to hate him, etc. A few observations: 1. I had hoped that Trump's decision to kill an Iranian general engaged in a diplomatic mission (among other things) while the man...
I have long puzzled over the question of why the neocons; Lindsey Graham, the late John McCain (be brave Lindsey!), Jack Keane, Bolton, Pompeo, etc., etc., ad nauseam, cling so firmly to the idea of striking Iran a hard blow.This weekend I heard the reason voiced on...
Why does Donald Trump say the things he does about Syria and its government? He insists that the SAG attacks its people with chemical weapons when such attacks have never been proven. They have only been asserted by opponents of the government and in fact there exists...
There is so much rubbish said about the supposed Iranian nuclear weapons program that it is a good idea to "review the bidding" about this.Iran does have a nuclear power program, but: "In 2012, sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, reported that Iran...
The Forty Martyrs Armenian Cathedral in Aleppo was re-consecrated on Saturday, four years after the jihadist rebels ransacked the building. His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, visited the historic church after its reconstruction meant it...
There was an unseemly verbal brawl Wednesday in the East Room of the White House in which members of the press who are avowed enemies of President Trump (Acosta, Peter Alexander and April Ryan among others) attempted to debate the president over the wisdom and probity...
In 2004 I published an article in the journal, Middle East Policy that was entitled “Drinking the Koolaid.” The article reviewed the process by which the neocon element in the Bush Administration seized control of the process of policy formation and drove the United...
I beseech you, sir, to consider the possibility that the supposed chlorine gas attack at Douma, Syria may have been a carefully constructed propaganda fraud on the part of the rebels encircled in Douma. Such a fraud would have as its purpose the elicitation of exactly...
In my opinion, Putin and Lavrov are even more clever than I had thought. The Astana process proposal for "de-escalation zones" in Syria has something for everyone:1. The SAG will receive yet more advice and assistance from Russia. As evidence of this R+6 forces are...
It is not clear to me what, if anything, the Russians and Sultan Tayyip (Erdogan) have agreed on. The battle east of Aleppo City out on the green plains of the fertile crescent seems a muddle. I don't see evidence of Russian participation, for or against the Turkish...
1. Unless the US Joint Chiefs of Staff are once again "off the reservation" and talking to the Russians behind the backs of the Obamanites, I don't think there is much effective coordination between the US and Russia over Syria other than the flight de-confliction...
According to news report Major General (not colonel) Suhail al-Hassan will be the overall coordinating commander in the reduction of the rebel held piece of Aleppo city. The Russian staff advisers are further reported to have played a key role in the selection...
A friend pointed out to me that in this White House interview Obama told Thomas Friedman (paraphrasing) that during the process of ISIS overrunning much of northern Iraq he deliberately withheld massive air attacks on ISIS so that he could maintain political pressure...
I hear from competent reporters on the ground in Iraq that a great panic has set in within the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Prime Minister Abadi, like his Shia co-religionist Maliki, has been engaged in a thorough effort to disadvantage all the Sunni populations of...
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Defense MinisterWhat we are seeing in Saudi Arabia is the seizure of power by one section of the Sudeiri faction in the Saudi Royal family. The late King Abdullah was not a Sudeiri and relations between him and the Sudeiris were...
CIA Director Brennan's self administered auto-de-fé fell flat. He met with the president this morning and was evidently told to get his statement in line with the president's position "or else." The "else" is pretty clear. He could easily find himself doing the "Hagel...
There is all kinds of nonsense circulating in the mainstream media and in the wilder reaches of the internet galaxy concerning ISIS (IS) and the Syrian government (SAG). There are also an amazing number of stories on the web that claim that "The Caliph Ibrahim"...
The family owned and run corporation called Saudi Arabia has been useful to the United States since the 1950s, but the kingdom's relationship to the US has always been transactional in nature rather than an alliance that committed Saudi Arabia to do anything for the...
It is becoming clear that the Nuland/neocon/NED campaign against Russia in Ukraine was probably a covert action intended to punish Russia for not supporting US/Israeli/Saudi and Turkish policy in Syria and to some extent with regard to Iran. I have no specific...
(click to enlarge)Failure of the US policy of regime change in Syria is leding once again to the contemplation of "options." One of those that is much discussed is that of a no-fly zone covering all of Syria. Let's be clear as to what would be involved in that option:...
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