Earlier this month, a select committee of British parliamentarians released a report which condemned the U.K. government under David Cameron for its role in the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya. The report makes plain that the principal basis on which the intervention was predicated – that then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was on the verge of committing a wholesale slaughter of the rebel …
James Durso – The Natural Gas War Burning Under Syria
In 2009, Qatar, a leading natural gas producer, approached Syria about routing its planned 1,500 mile pipeline to the gas markets of Europe through Syria’s Aleppo province. Qatar wanted a pipeline straight to Europe as its current gas transport modes were limited to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker, mostly to Asia with limited spot shipments to Europeor the Dolphin pipeline to the United Arab Emirates and …
Andrea Germanos – UN Experts to United States: Stop DAPL Now
Backing up the Standing Rock Sioux and its allies, a United Nations expert has called on the United States to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Echoing pipeline opponents’ concerns, the statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, cited the pipeline’s threats to drinking water and sacred sites. She also admonished the U.S. for failing to protect …
Russia is now top wheat exporter, proving sanctions won’t work
Wheat, the world-feeding crop whose shortage was Pharaoh’s nightmare, is now at such a global surplus that last month its price was less than two-thirds its level in 2008. Having rebounded in recent days to $4.05 per bushel from $3.62 last month, one might think that the commodity, which last June cost $5.07 per bushel and in February 2008 peaked at $11.94 …
Jayati Ghosh – Backlash Against Trade Deals: The End of U.S.-Led Economic Globalisation?
There is much angst in the Northern financial media about how the era of globalisation led actively by the United States may well be coming to an end. This is said to be exemplified in the changed political attitudes to mega regional trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that was signed (but has not yet been ratified) …
Franklin Frederick – Trade Agreements and the Globalization of Fascism
Going east or west from Switzerland one would have to cross at least half the planet before reaching the Pacific Ocean. This distance alone makes it very unlikely that Switzerland would get involved with the Pacific Alliance (PA) or in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). However, the Swiss based transnational Nestlé is very much engaged with the PA and its objectives. Nestlé also seems to …
Afraa Dagher – Here’s How the US, Israel, al-Qaeda and ISIS Work Together in Syria
The Syrian battlefield is now witnessing an escalation of the war. This is despite the fact that it is supposed to be a time of cessation of hostilities brokered by the US and Russia. The Syrian war has two major fronts. The first and most important is in southern Syria, on the borderline with Israel and the occupied territories of …
Gilbert Doctorow = Russian Hardliners Gain from US Putin-Bashing
Last week, Hillary Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane that the Russians are trying to disrupt the U.S. elections to discredit the process and sow discord among Americans. This goes one step further than her previous charges of Russian influence thought the “Kremlin’s candidate,” Donald Trump, or still earlier, the claim that the Democratic National Committee’s server had been …
DANIEL LARISON – The Horrifying Starvation of Yemen Continues
Much of the civilian population of Yemen is being starved to death. As I have said many times before, the Saudi-led blockade is primarily responsible for cutting Yemen off from its food supply. These are some of the consequences: A boy lies on a hospital bed in Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah. His eyes are full of life, but his skinny body …
Sarah Lazare – Trump and Clinton Roll Out Welcome Mat for Egyptian Junta Leader
The presidential candidates of both major political parties sought to flaunt their foreign policy credentials Monday by holding personal meetings with Egyptian junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has overseen a violent crackdown on political dissent, including large-scale massacres of protesters. Following their meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump showered effusive praise on the …










