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Foreign Policy

Nuclear War Is Imminent

The world is headed toward nuclear war.  The horrific nightmare of global destruction that has haunted humanity ever since Hiroshima and Nagasaki is nearly upon us. For decades, peace activists and nuclear experts have warned about the “growing danger of nuclear war.” The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of their Doomsday Clock all the way to 90 seconds! How much closer can we get? Are these dire warnings being dismissed like the man with the sign shouting “The End Is Near?” The original nuclear powers, the U.S., Russia, China, France and the UK – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – never followed the commitment they made when they signed and ratified the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

American Military Crisis: Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson Speaks Out

It is clear to at least half the world, some four billion people, that the United States is not the power that it once was… Our reputation is in tatters in the world.” That is what retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson told MintCast host Mnar Adley today. “When you talk about history and the history of empire in particular, what you find are examples of precisely what is happening to us today,” Wilkerson added, noting, in particular, the fall of the Western Roman and Persian empires and how, after they began to teeter, their leadership started to reinforce failures in military operations, in diplomacy and foreign policy in general.

Third Biden Administration Appointee Resigns Over Gaza Policy

In 2020, Maryam Hassanein cast her vote for Joe Biden in the first presidential election she was old enough to vote in, believing he represented “hope” and an opportunity for “justice for Muslim Americans and for marginalized communities as a whole.” On Tuesday, Hassanein became the latest member of the Biden administration to publicly resign over the president’s policies on the Gaza war — and the youngest known to resign to date, at age 24. “I learned that even though the agency I work for doesn’t produce foreign policy, serving in the administration in any capacity essentially makes you complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians,” Hassanein told HuffPost of her resignation from the Interior Department, which has not previously been made public.

Gaza Blowback: A Crisis Of Conscience In The Military Can Impact Foreign Policy

The unprecedented live-streamed violence in Gaza has forced a crisis of conscience for many government employees. From the State Department to the military, individuals have taken rebellious action to remove themselves from participating in a blazingly obvious campaign of controlled famine and collective punishment. Tonight on State of Play, we interview two conscientious objectors from the United States Air Force and reflect on military retention rates, the recruiting crisis, and the lessening of military capacity due to increasingly unpopular foreign policy actions. Will the younger generation’s lack of jingoistic zeal be a potential brake for US belligerence?

The Impotence Of Antony Blinken

Antony Blinken is now in China for his second such journey as secretary of state and his third encounter with senior Chinese officials: This is our news as April marches toward May. I have to say, it is a stranger state of affairs than I can figure when the State Department and the media that clerk for it tell us in advance that America’s top diplomat is going to fail to get anything done as he sets out for the People’s Republic. “I want to make clear that we are realistic and clear-eyed about the prospects of breakthroughs on any of these issues,” an unnamed State Department official said when briefing reporters last week on Blinken’s agenda.

Contrasting Strategies Of The United States And China

In the latest salvo preparing the US for confrontation with China, Nicholas Burns flat out said, “I don’t feel optimistic about the future of US-China relations.” Burns should know. He is Washington’s ambassador to Beijing. The US stance on bilateral relations with China, according to Burns, is one of “strategic competition in the coming decades… vying for global power as well as regional power.” Indeed, the US is preparing for war with China. High-ranking US Airforce General Mike Minihan foresees war as early as 2025. This contrasts with the Chinese approach of cooperation for mutual benefit to solve the most pressing global problems.

200 Years Of The Monroe Doctrine

December 2, 2023 marked two hundred years since U.S. President James Monroe’s address to Congress, which came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine. It has become a household name for U.S. foreign policy over the past several centuries and will likely continue to be used indefinitely into the future. Although it was periodically supplemented by other doctrines and concepts. However, it was under James Monroe when it was categorically stated “America for the Americans”, and the European powers had no business there, even though they had overseas possessions.

China’s Evolution: A Potential Ally For Palestinians’ Quest For Justice

It is feasible for China to continue playing an important role in mediating Middle East conflicts. In fact, it already has. In the case of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, however, mediation is hardly the issue. Even before Beijing successfully managed to achieve reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran last April, Chinese diplomacy has shown exceptional maturity. For many years, China has been perceived to be an outsider to global affairs, supposedly contending itself to economic expansion or to regional economic integration. Former US President Donald Trump forced, or rather accelerated, China’s global outreach when, in 2018, he launched an unprecedented trade war with the powerful Asian country.

The Arms-Swapper

Foreign policy is complicated.  There are a lot of moving parts and because human beings are making the policy, and feelings and egos are at stake, it’s that much more difficult. Some policymakers take a long-term view, others are myopic. Couple all that with the problem that I witnessed countless times over the course of my career at the C.I.A. and at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — the insistence of American diplomats, intelligence professionals and White House staff members that they are literally the smartest people in the world and that they know best. Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser once famously said, “The genius of you Americans is that you never make a clear-cut stupid move.  You always make complicated stupid moves, which make the rest of us wonder at the possibility that we might be missing something.” He was right. 

Bruce Gagnon: An Objective Look At US Foreign Policy

Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and was a co-founder of the Global Network when it was created in 1992. He was an early member of the Anti-Defense Lobby in the 1970s challenging the U.S. space program. Between 1983–1998, he was the State Coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice and has worked on space issues for 31 years. We focus on the realities of the international power struggle unfolding in real time, specifically addressing the role of the U.S. in the tensions and its capacity to reduce them. We are looking for paradigm-shift ideas for improving the prospects for peace. His responses below of are exactly as he provided.

Who Should Control Foreign Policy?

I had a letter in the mail the other week from someone named Barry Klein, who resides in Houston. I filed it knowing I would write about it, and now I shall. Klein runs a group called ForeignPolicyAlliance.org. “Wars without end?” read the accordion brochure Klein sent. “Americans on the left and right are uniting to ask, Why? A call to reform U.S. foreign policy.” This guy has endorsements that glow in the dark. Dan Ellsberg, Andy Bacevich, Sharon Tennison, Gordon Adams, Larry Wilkerson and Peter Kuznick: These are big names in the alternative foreign policy business. Klein included a one-sheet flier with the Foreign Policy Alliance prospectus. “How to immediately spur a movement to stop the proxy war in Ukraine,” is the headline. Good enough, but what stopped me cold was a Post–It note Klein stuck in the right-hand corner.

Biden’s Foreign Policy Is One Big Mess

Over the last months I have written little about other U.S. foreign policy issues than the war in Ukraine. A short review shows that there is little that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken or his president could count as a success. Last month Biden traveled to Asia where he had meetings with the QUAD (Australia, Japan, India and the U.S.) as well as with South Asian leaders. The QUAD meeting was a failure as India showed no sign of joining the other three in their condemnation of Russia. Instead of sanctioning  Russia it is buying more oil from Russia which offers decent rebates. Such disunity does not look good for a U.S. designed anti-China coalition. Most noted though was that Biden came to Asia with empty hands.

Labor Activists Launch New Organization To Challenge AFL-CIO Foreign Policy

This is the first project to focus on AFL-CIO operations around the globe since efforts to pass the “Build Unity and Trust Among Workers World-wide” Resolution at the 2005 National Convention in Chicago. This new project, LEPAIO, is hoping to build support for the 2022 national conference in Philadelphia this June 12-15. Speakers at the educational conference spoke on a number of issues, noting that the education conference on April 9th came on the 20th anniversary of the attempted (but failed) coup against democratically-elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.  Speakers Margaret Flowers, William Camacaro, and James Patrick Jordan spoke of the on-going US attacks on Venezuela that continue today, particularly through economic sanctions supported by the AFL-CIO. 

American Dissent On Ukraine Is Dying In Darkness

As the death toll in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine continues to rise, there have only been a handful of Westerners publicly questioning NATO and the West’s role in the conflict. These voices are becoming fewer and further between as a wave of feverish backlash engulfs any dissent on the subject. One of these voices belongs to Professor Michael J. Brenner, a lifelong academic, Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS/Johns Hopkins, as well as former Director of the International Relations & Global Studies Program at the University of Texas. Brenner’s credentials also include having worked at the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Department of Defense and Westinghouse, and written several books on American foreign policy. From the vantage point of decades of experience and studies, the intellectual regularly shared his thoughts on topics of interest through a mailing list sent to thousands of readers—that is until the response to his Ukraine analysis made him question why he bothered in the first place.

The Venezuela Coup, 20 Years Later

On April 11, 2002, Venezuela’s democratically elected government, headed by Hugo Chávez Frías, was ousted in a military coup d’etat. Then, dramatically, two days later, the coup was overturned by a mass mobilization of Venezuelans. They demanded the restoration of democracy and the return of a government that appeared to be making good on its commitment to redistribute Venezuela’s oil wealth to benefit the country’s most marginalized sectors. These events led to lasting ramifications not just for Venezuela, but for Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole, paving the way for a “pink tide” of progressive movements that took power democratically throughout the region.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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