Does the failure of the U.S.-backed, major insurgent August “push” on Aleppo – and the terms of the consequent ceasefire, to which some in the U.S. only irascibly agreed – constitute a political defeat for the U.S. and a “win” for Russia? Yes, in one way: Moscow may, (just may) have cornered America into joint military air attacks on Al Qaeda in Syria, …
Gareth Porter – Al Qaeda’s Ties to US-Backed Syrian Rebels
The new ceasefire agreement between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which went into effect at noon Monday, has a new central compromise absent from the earlier ceasefire agreement that the same two men negotiated last February. But it isn’t clear that it will produce markedly different results. The new agreement incorporates a U.S.-Russian bargain: …
SYRIAN WAR REPORT – AL NUSRA REBRANDING
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on July 25 details of a “U.S. plan” for military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria were expected to be announced in early August. Kerry’s statement followed the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Laos. According to the plan, …
ISIS ‘ARMY OF ORPHANS’ VOWS REVENGE IN DISTURBING PROPAGANDA VIDEO
Numerous orphans who lost their parents due to foreign anti-terror intervention in Syria are becoming thirsty for revenge, a new ISIS propaganda video claims, showing a squad of well-equipped child soldiers preparing for battle. The footage created by the jihadist group’s media arm, Alhayat Center, starts off with a child walking across the ruins of a city destroyed during the …
Gareth Porter – How Putin’s leverage shaped the Syrian ceasefire
When Russian President Vladimir Putin had a substantive meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry last week, it was an extremely rare departure from normal protocol. There was some political logic to the meeting, however, because Putin and Kerry have clearly been the primary drivers of their respective governments’ policies toward Syria, and their negotiations have already led to …
Jeffrey D. Sachs – Hillary Clinton and the Syrian Bloodbath
In the Milwaukee debate, Hillary Clinton took pride in her role in a recent UN Security Council resolution on a Syrian ceasefire: But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire …
Jack Rasmus – Neoliberalism Raises Its Ugly Head in South America: Washington Targets Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina
After 9-11, the United States focused its most aggressive foreign policy on the Middle East – from Afghanistan to North Africa. But the deal recently worked out with Iran, the current back-door negotiations over Syria between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and the decision to subsidize, and now export, U.S. shale oil and …
Sharmine Narwani – The Syrian opposition circus comes to town
In January, the Syrian government will – ostensibly – sit across the negotiating table from ‘the Syrian opposition’ to decide on the structure and make-up of a transitional government that promises to end the 5-year Syrian conflict. The ‘Syrian opposition,’ we are told by US Secretary of State John Kerry, will be selected by ‘Syrians’ and will therefore be ‘representative.’ …
Robert Barsocchini – The Violent Crimes And Shady Dealings Of Hillary Clinton
At the end of the year in which Hillary Clinton left her position as Secretary of State, 2013, the Obama regime’s USA was voted, inWin/Gallup’s global poll, as the greatest threat to peace in the world, with the runner-up, US-ally Pakistan, receiving three times fewer votes, and Russia receiving twelve times fewer votes. This was largely due to multiple international …
Paul R. Pillar – Putting the ISIS ‘Crisis’ in Context
Emotional and ill-focused reaction to the latest mass shooting in the United States, coupled with misguided but unfortunately well-entrenched ways of thinking about terrorism and counterterrorism, along with a political campaign featuring jingoistic appeals, is increasing the pressure on the U.S. administration to embark on costly and counterproductive new endeavors in the Middle East. A dominant theme in public discourse …