There are no good options left in Syria. The recent chemical attack in Douma and the response by the United States, United Kingdom, and France to that attack highlighted this point. The attack by the three Western powers raised many questions. In the United States, we are rightly debating the legality of the use of force in Syria without congressional approval. We are also debating the goals of such action, both what they are and what they should be. Read more at LobeLog
Posts Tagged ‘Turkey’
What To Do In Syria
Posted in Syria, tagged Assad, Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Donald Trump, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Jim Mattis, Russia, Syria, Syria Strikes, Turkey on April 17, 2018| 1 Comment »
Radio Interview on Trump’s Mideast Trip
Posted in Donald Trump, tagged Donald Trump, Erdogan, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey on May 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I spoke with Eugene Puryear on his show “By Any means Necessary” for about 20 minutes on Trump’s trip, as well as a bit on Turkey. Check it out at this link
My segment starts at about 17:00 in.
Tensions Rise Ahead of Trump-Erdogan Meeting
Posted in Donald Trump, Turkey, tagged Donald Trump, Erdogan, ISIS, Kurds, PKK, Syria, Turkey, YPG on May 15, 2017| 1 Comment »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will shortly meet US President Donald Trump in Washington. The meeting was already going to be an interesting one.
The US-Turkey relationship is complicated, though both countries are members of NATO. Beyond the tension between Turkey and Israel, which complicates matters for Washington, Turkey’s ongoing campaign against any hint of Kurdish self-determination has repeatedly raised issues for the US over the years. Read more at LobeLog
More On What Hamas Did And Didn’t Say
Posted in Bibi Netanyahu, Gaza, Media, tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, CNN, Hamas, Media Bias, Qatar, Salech al-Aruri, Three kidnapped Israelis, Turkey, West Bank on August 22, 2014| 1 Comment »
I explained yesterday how the media was running with a non-story which was being twisted to create the illusion that Israel’s sweep
through the West Bank in June after the murders of three Israeli youths was justified. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intentionally seized upon that horrific crime in order to strike a blow at Hamas to some extent but mostly at the new Palestinian unity government. The story was based on the words of Salech al-Aruri, Hamas’ lead representative in Turkey, who had been applauding the despicable act since it occurred.
A few other folks have been trying to correct the false story in the mainstream media, but it’s obviously an uphill battle. Few of Netanyahu’s defenders seem to have noticed that Israeli officials have remained thoroughly silent on this story. You’d think, would you not, that if it were what was being portrayed – that there is now “proof” that Hamas was behind the murders all along – Netanyahu would be crowing in the same hubris-filled manner that he did when one of the ceasefires was broken over a battle in a Gaza tunnel near Rafah. Yet the only sound is that of the proverbial crickets chirping. (more…)
Ceasefire in Gaza: Where Things Stand
Posted in Gaza, tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, ceasefire, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza Under Attack, Hamas, Iron Dome, Israel, John Kerry, Mahmoud Abbas, Operation Cast Lead, Operation Solid Cliff, Palestine, Palestinian Unity Government, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey on August 6, 2014| 1 Comment »
This article originally appeared at LobeLog.
With a 72-hour truce apparently holding and Israel also apparently having ended its ground operation in Gaza, it seems a fair time to assess where things stand now. Has anyone emerged from this in a better position than it was in before? Is there anything that can, at least in a cynical and Machiavellian sense be called a victory?
Palestine
It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of the physical destruction was borne by the people of Gaza. At this point, the numbers are just horrifyingly grim. 1,968 dead, of whom 1,626 were civilians. 7,920 wounded, and while there is not a precise percentage of civilians among the wounded, we do know there were 2,111 children and 1,415 women among them.
The already damaged and sole power plant in Gaza was damaged even further, leaving most of the Strip without electricity. The United Nations Development Program estimates between 16 and 18,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed and over half a million Gazans (out of a population of roughly 1.8 million) have been internally displaced. (more…)