sanctions

Patrick COCKBURN
“If I don’t buy masks or medicine, I may die or survive, but if I don’t buy bread for the family, we will all die of starvation,” says a retired 68-year-old teacher in Damascus, explaining why he does not have masks, sterilisers or medicines. “We need two bundles of loaves every day which costs us at least 600 Syrian pounds (24 US cents), but if we buy masks, they will cost us about 1000 SP (40 cents). The choice is between bread and masks.”

You have to hand it to the sociopaths running U.S. foreign policy, they are very adept at creating no-win scenarios for their opponents. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was just handed a major defeat at the United Nations Security Council, who voted down a resolution to extend the arms embargo against Iran.
That embargo is set to expire in October as part of the U.S. unilaterally pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known colloquially as the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst…

More than two years ago, in May 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally walked away from the international nuclear accord with Iran signed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. President Trump derided the deal as the “worst ever” and proceeded to re-impose crippling U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Dilip HIRO
For the Trump administration’s senior officials, it’s been open season on bashing China. If you need an example, think of the president’s blame game about “the invisible Chinese virus” as it spreads wildly across the U.S.
When it comes to China, in fact, the ever more virulent criticism never seems to stop.

[We] take our rewards in the goodies of the imperial marketplace and in the false coin of self-righteousness. – William Appleman Williams* By Stephen Gowans August 19, 2020 Two US scholars, writing in the unofficial journal of the US State Department, Foreign Affairs, have denounced the cruelty of US intervention in Syria, while passing over … Continue reading Cruelty with a Point: The Continuing US Immiseration of Syria →

With backing from the US government’s regime-change arm, an Operation Mockingbird-style website called Coda Story is attacking American journalists who have punctured Washington’s sensationalist narratives against China. By Ben Norton A shadowy neoconservative website called Coda Story has launched a smear campaign against American journalists who challenge new cold war propaganda. But what this publication […]

Another “take the oil” moment for the Trump Administration, one of the more regrettable aspects of his presidency, but one which has been consistently championed by hawks like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.

Voici le 87ème « SitRep » d’Ayssar Midani sur la Syrie. Au programme : – Explosion à Beyrouth ; conséquences pour le Liban et au-delà (4 août 2020) – Discours de Bachar Al-Assad devant la représentation nationale (14 août 2020) – Accord “historique” entre Israël et les EAU annoncé par les USA (14 août 2020) – Vote à l’ONU sur […]

While the media blames the crisis in Lebanon solely on corruption, the US government unleashed a “maximum pressure” campaign to push regime change and crush Lebanese resistance with sanctions and aggressive hybrid warfare. By Ben Norton Lire cet article en français ici. As the people of Lebanon suffer through one of the worst economic crises […]