sanctions

21WIRE + The Hill | A surprise Pro-Russian move by a Democratic White House. What's it really mean?

President Bashar al-Assad has taken the oath of office for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria, after taking 95 percent of the vote.
The post Assad Takes Oath for New Presidential Term, Vows to Fight “Economic War” first appeared on Dissident Voice.

The act of withholding means of sustaining life to innocent civilians in order to coerce an entire nation into submission to foreign agendas in the region must surely qualify as economic terrorism. The destruction of essential civilian infrastructure is a war crime, the withholding of essential resources or occupation of those resources is also a war crime.

Despite the Western reaction, Assad, in power since 2000, looks set to govern for seven more years. His major task will be attempting to break armed opposition groups in Idlib and to repair a nation destroyed by 10 years of war and crippling sanctions.
The post Dan Kovalik on Elections, Rebuilding and the Ongoing Proxy War in Syria appeared first on MintPress News.

Despite talk that his administration's Cuba policy will be guided by human rights concerns, Biden seems more concerned about catering to right-wing Cuban Americans in southern Florida than changing the decades of entrenched American policy.
The post Rinse and Repeat: Will Biden Make Normalizing Relations With Cuba a Priority? appeared first on MintPress News.

That the US can engineer the arrest of a diplomat – someone who has immunity by international law even in the time of war – is a dangerous precedent. 
The post Alex Saab v. The Empire: How the US Is Using Lawfare To Punish a Venezuelan Diplomat appeared first on MintPress News.

US foreign policy is increasingly promoted by billionaire funded foundations.  The neoliberal era has created individuals with incredible wealth and through “philanthropy”, they flex their influence and feel good at the same time. While these philanthropists can be liberal on some issues, they universally support U.S. foreign policy and the “free market”.  Because many of […]

A mainstream academic outlet called The Conversation green-lighted my article on foreign policy issues Western media refuses to discuss. With the piece ready to go live, everything went horribly wrong. This is a story about how the media works. Specifically, it’s about my failed attempt to publish an article with the mainstream media about some of the things that news outlets consistently avoid when they cover US/UK foreign policy. You’re maybe thinking, “That’s your own fault – why would you […]

Syria has been the stage upon which a world war is being fought and our global power balance is being re-calibrated as a result - a balance which does not comply with US allied unipolarity. Russia, Iran, China and the non-aligned axis would see a multi-polar world emerge from the ashes of this conflict. Washington clings to the supremacist exceptionalism with which it has dominated the world and any threat to that supremacy must be crushed and destroyed - diplomacy is dead in the West.

If the U.S. government’s propaganda is correct that the current crisis is due to Maduro’s mismanagement and corruption, then illegal and inhumane sanctions would not be needed to dislodge the “regime.”
The post Between the Lines: Congressional Report Finds US Sanctions to Blame for Venezuela Crisis appeared first on MintPress News.