Richard Silverstein One of the most stunning defeats in tonight’s primary voting across the country was that of long-time Congressional Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel in a NY primary. Engel, who served in Congress 32 years, chaired the House foreign affairs committee. Its role in bringing forward foreign policy legislation crucial to the Israel Lobby. Engel…
Michael Gallagher The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced on January 23, 2020 that its symbolic “Doomsday Clock” has moved forward to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest to catastrophe that the scientists have judged the world to be at any point since its creation in 1947, at the outset of the Cold War. My…
Richard Silverman Our president is not a religious man. But it’s suitable to quote a verse from what his Christian allies call “the Scriptures:” For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind… I will send a fire upon his cities, And it will devour their castles. –Hosea Wreckage after U.S. drone attacked…
b. traven Interviewed on MSNBC’s All In, Bernie Sanders responded to Israel’s revocation of visas previously issued to Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. He suggested that if Israel does not want US Congresspeople to visit, then perhaps they can also do without the billions in aid the US sends them every year. Referring to Israel’s…
Stuart Lyle Although the US has offered unwavering support for Israel, there is a pattern to Israel’s external economic and political relations that is clearly not in the interests of the US. A recent article in the Intercept details Israel’s complex relationship with Putin’s Russia, including supplying drone technology used to help in Russia’s drive…
Richard Silverstein Events in the Gulf are unfolding so quickly and ominously that it’s impossible to keep up. They could easily spiral out of control. You might go to sleep at night to a region at peace and wake up the next morning to countries aflame. In the midst of this swirl of events, it’s…
Richard Silverstein You can forget that claim you hear from Trump, Netanyahu and MBS that Iran is the greatest sponsor of state terrorism in the world. That award goes to Saudi Arabia hands down. First, it spent and wasted billions building up ISIS and arming it in order to topple the Syrian Alawite regime. It…
Richard Silverstein NOTE: This is a substantially expanded version of a piece published yesterday by Al Jazeera. It’s the first op-ed I’ve published there in ten years, so it’s an auspicious development. My KPFA Flashpoints interview discussing the subject can be heard here. For those who don’t remember their medieval history, during the Spanish Inquisition…
Richard Silverstein Donald Trump presented his second State of the Union speech tonight and it was a phantasmagoria of Trumpian grandeur, and not in a good way. For future generations, it should be used as a model for what not to do when preparing and delivering such an address. It was significant both for what…
Richard Silverstein 2018 was a terrible year for the Middle East. Months of massacres in Gaza, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah on its northern border, Qatar under siege from its Sunni neighbours, 85,000 children starved to death in Yemen, and a Sunni alliance rattling sabres against Iran. Though Bashar al-Assad appears to have secured his…
The Contrary Perspective 