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US Foreign Policy

United States Foreign Policy: Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow

Just before the Korean War started in 1950, key foreign policy advisers to President Truman threw their support behind recommendations made in a classified document, National Security Council Document 68. The document recommended a dramatic increase in military spending and it also proposed that military spending from that point on should be the number one priority of the national government.

US Role in Lebanon’s Crisis Goes Unrecognized

The bulk of Lebanon’s corrupt ruling class are clients of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, not Iran. But this fact is too inconvenient for Western media to point out. Of all the underlying causes of Lebanon’s current crisis, the role of the U.S. remains the least recognized, not only by Western media but also that of Lebanon. Search “Lebanon crisis” under “news” on Google and you are unlikely to find any headlines mentioning the US.

Chomsky: Trump’s Actions On Syria Reflect The Foreign Policy Of A Con Man

Donald Trump’s handling of U.S. foreign policy with Syria has baffled and angered both the diplomatic and military establishments in the United States. Nonetheless, he continues to maintain power as “an effective con man who has a good sense of what animates his voting base,” Noam Chomsky argues in the exclusive interview for Truthout that follows. Trump rose to power with the aid of vitriolic but disingenuous “anti-establishment” rhetoric that appealed to millions of disgruntled voters.

Survey: People In The US Want A More Progressive Foreign Policy, Including On Israel

During the recent Democratic debate in Ohio, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard asked Senator Elizabeth Warren if she would join her in calling for an end to “the regime change war in Syria.” “So, look, I think that we ought to get out of the Middle East,” Warren responded. “I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East. But we have to do it the right way, the smart way.” Warren’s answer was enough to rankle Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden. “I was surprised last night in the debate,” he told a crowd in Iowa the next day. “One of my colleagues said we should remove all troops from the Middle East.”

2019 Defense Budget Supports 883 Overseas Bases And Is Lethal To Humanity

Aside from the human toll, how much does endless war - and a growing number of US bases around the world - cost each year? This is an attempt to do a reasonable calculation of the cost to taxpayers of our hundreds of bases stationed around the world (those which are mostly outside the theatre of war), commencing with the end of The Great War.  I undertook this exercise using my decades-long background in accounting, available public reports, articles, research papers, books (to connect the dots), interviews with current and former military personnel, and common sense. 

Mexico Can Be A Counterweight To US Foreign Policy In Latin America

The candidate of the radical left Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, known in Mexico as ‘AMLO’ is set to win the presidential elections on July 1st, consistently over 20 points ahead of his nearest conservative rival. White House foreign policy analysts are frantically worried that he would reverse “one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world”[1]. What worries them most is AMLO’s plans to reverse the privatisation of Mexico’s oil and build refineries. Though more importantly for the wider region, his foreign ministers friendliness to Venezuela and the rest of the Latin American left that could derail Trump’s policy of isolating Maduro and Castro in the region. Losing the second biggest economy in Latin America as a US ally could help shift the right wing advance in the region and put momentum behind the radical left once again.

Three Suicides In One Night — Guantanamo Prison Commander Nominated As US Ambassador To South Korea

Why nominate to be the US Ambassador to South Korea a military general officer who was in charge of notorious Guantanamo prison when on June 9, 2006 at a secret facility on the prison grounds, three prisoners ended up dead? And how did three prisoners -- Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi, Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed al-Salami and Yasser Talal Al Zahrani -- end up dead? US military said the three prisoners committed suicide -- all in the same way -- by hanging themselves while handcuffed after stuffing socks in their mouths. In Scott Horton's extensive article in Harpers' magazine "The Guantanamo 'Suicides' A Camp Delta Sergeant Blows the Whistle," that every member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee should read and ask Admiral Harris about, Horton writes...

15 Cases: Constructive vs Destructive U.S. Foreign Policies

The right column is sadly familiar; add more recent cases. The left column also carries an element of sadness but nothing really radical; more like common sense that could easily be translated into political practice. And yet it does not happen, to the detriment of the parties concerned: the USA and its relations to the world. USA wants to be feared but reaps hatred with right column politics. Does it want to be loved? A theory is something tested along its edges (Quine); what you deduce from the theory–and to me the key “edge”–is its action-consequences.

Students Will Sail For Cuba, Despite U.S. Travel Warnings

By Staff of Progresso Weekly - Despite U.S. warnings against travel to Cuba, a 130-foot American school schooner operated by Ocean Passages of Portland, ME, will sail this week from Washington, D.C. for an educational voyage in southern Cuba. On board the ship are U.S. crew and Gap Year students ages 18 – 24. The ship will spend a total of four months in Cuba engaged in ecological site visits assessing long-term sustainability. The owners, crew, and students of the Harvey Gamage have carefully reviewed the U.S. administration’s recent travel warnings and are committed to continuing their mission in Cuba. The ship, currently moored at the Capital Yacht Club on the D.C. waterfront, will set sail for Cuba this Wednesday, October 25. At an 11 a.m. press conference Wednesday morning aboard the schooner, representatives of Ocean Passages and the students will discuss the value of legally authorized “people-to-people” travel in Cuba begun under the Obama administration. They will describe their determination to “stay the course” despite the Trump administration’s changes in U.S. policies towards Cuba. This marks Ocean Passages’ third consecutive year of student voyages to Cuba. In addition, U.S. tour operators and Cuban experts will discuss the negative impacts of the recent State Department travel warning and other measures on educational and cultural exchanges with the island and on Cuba’s burgeoning small-scale, household-based tourism businesses.

Newsletter: Chelsea Manning v. US War Criminals

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. Chelsea Manning saw crimes and exposed them. Her detractors are aware of the crimes and even commit them. Rather than self-evaluation they continue to hide the crimes even though they are in the public and people can read them. For her part, "Manning said Harvard's decision signaled to her that it's a "police state" and it's not possible to engage in political discourse in academic institutions. "'I'm not ashamed of being disinvited,'" she said. "'I view that just as much of an honored distinction as the fellowship itself.'" The so-called Deep State of Security, Intelligence and foreign policy agencies could learn a lot from Manning about shame. Unlike her, they fear people knowing the truth about them, indeed they fear looking in the mirror and seeing the unpatriotic truths about themselves.

Cambodia Exposes, Expels US Network

By Joseph Thomas for NEO - Corporations like BP, Chevron, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Exxon, defence contractor Honeywell and IT giant Microsoft are not interested in promoting democracy. They are using democracy promotion as a means behind which to create conditions more conducive to expanding markets and increasing profits. This includes undermining governments impeding foreign corporate control of national resources and markets, or entirely removing and replacing governments with more obedient client regimes. The contemporary history of American foreign wars and its practice of "regime change" and "nation building" provides self-evident confirmation of the motives and means used to expand US hegemony and clearly illustrates where organisations like NDI fit into the process. In Cambodia's case, a much larger, overarching agenda is in play than merely national resources and markets. US activities in Cambodia to coerce or replace the current government in Phnom Penh is done specifically to encircle and contain China through a united front of client states assembled by the United States across Southeast Asia.

Why US-South Korea Military Drill Could Provoke North Korea’s Ire

By James Law for News - THE US and South Korea will join forces on Monday for a provocative 10-day military drill, which North Korea says could lead to “nuclear war”. While Kim Jong-un appeared to back off on his threat to attack Guam yesterday, the North Korean leader has made it clear that the military exercise could raise his ire again. The joint military drill, known as Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, happens every year, but it has antagonised the North more than usual given the heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. The North sees the massive land, air and sea war games as a provocation, because it believes it is a way for the South to prepare for an invasion. Washington and Seoul, which will each deploy tens of thousands of troops for the exercise, maintain the exercise is defensive and a response to North Korea aggression. Past drills are believed to have included simulated “decapitation strikes”, which see soldiers carry out trial operations to kill Kim Jong-un and his top generals.

Iran Threatens To Send Warships To Atlantic And Ramp Up Nuclear Activities If US Continues Sanctions

By Aaron Kesel for Activist Post - Amid Americans’ concerns that North Korea threatened to launch a missile at Guam, Iran is planning on building up a flotilla of warships in the Atlantic Ocean, while Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani has threatened to revitalize the country’s nuclear program if the U.S. continues “threats and sanctions.” If Washington continues with “threats and sanctions” against Iran, Tehran could easily ramp up its nuclear activities Rouhani said in Iranian Parliament, AP reported. In an hour and a day, Iran could return to a more advanced (nuclear) level than at the beginning of the negotiations. “The U.S. has shown that it is neither a good partner nor a trustable negotiator,” Rouhani added. “Those who are trying to go back to the language of threats and sanctions are prisoners of their past hallucinations. They deprive themselves of the advantages of peace.” Iranian lawmakers reportedly shouted “death to America” as they passed the bill to increase military spending. The legislation also imposes sanctions on U.S. military officials who are in the region. Meanwhile, after the announcement of a massive $500 million investment in war spending, Iran has planned to send flotilla of warships to the Atlantic Ocean in response to the U.S. proposed sanctions against the country.

Berlin Calls For Retaliation Against ‘Illegal’ US Sanctions On Russia

By Staff of RT - New penalties against Moscow proposed by US lawmakers violate international law and officials in Brussels should consider countermeasures, the German economy minister said on Monday. "We consider this as being against international law, plain and simple,"Brigitte Zypries told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain. "Of course we don't want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures,” she added. According to the minister, “the Americans can not punish German companies because they operate economically in another country." Last week, both chambers of the US Congress decided to impose new sanctions against Russia over its Crimea reunification and alleged meddling in US elections. The bill has still to be signed by US President Donald Trump. This is the first time Washington has made a move against Moscow without European consent. The bill appears to target Russia’s Nord Stream-2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany. The proposed expansion would double the existing pipeline's capacity and make Germany EU's main energy hub. The legislation seeks to introduce individual sanctions for contributing in Russian energy projects and targets major sectors of Russia’s economy, including defense, railway, and banking industries.

Deep State, Riyad & Tel Aviv Sabotage Good Relations With Russia

By Federico Pieraccini for Strategic Culture Foundation - After months of debate over the bad state of relations between the United States and Russia, the G20 offered the stage for the two leaders to meet and start discussing the various problems facing the two countries. In the days following the summit in Hamburg, the Kremlin and the White House revealed that Putin and Trump met three times in bilateral talks to discuss how to improve relations between the two nations. The ceasefire reached in southern Syria is therefore intended as the first step in a new direction set for Washington and Moscow. As was easy to foresee, the deep state did not like this prospect of cooperation, immediately unleashing the mainstream media on Trump, because repeated meetings with Putin at the G20 were apparently suggestive of some sort of collusion, as if the leaders of two nuclear powers cannot even speak with each other. Obviously uncomfortable with these meetings, the sabotaging of relations between Russia and the US has taken a new turn. The previous ceasefire in Syria, reached by Kerry and Lavrov during the previous administration a year ago, was sabotaged by the US Air Force’s bombing of Syrian troops at Deir ez-Zor, which killed and injured more than a hundred Syrian soldiers.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 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.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

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.