BY JEFF MACKLER President Trump’s unexpected December 19 twitter announcement ordering a 30-day timetable for the withdrawal of the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria and 7,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan provoked a bipartisan panic in Washington. Defense Secretary “Mad Dog” James Mattis, “the butcher of Fallujah,” resigned in protest stating, according to … Continue reading Trump’s Syria exit provokes Washington panic
By BRUCE LESNICK The U.S. and its Gulf and NATO allies have been fighting a war of aggression against Syria for over five years. Plans to replace the Syrian government with one more subservient to the needs of U.S. corporate interests began well before that. The Pentagon has spent $41.1 billion in Syria since 2001, … Continue reading Big stake in Syria war for the 1% and the 99%
On April 13, the U.S. and its imperialist allies, France and Britain, launched what was reported to be around 100 missiles on targets in Damascus. The following statement was immediately issued by Spring Actions 2018, a broad national antiwar coalition that is endorsed by over 200 organizations and prominent activists, including Socialist Action and … Continue reading ALL OUT AGAINST WAR! Stop U.S. Bombing of Syria!
By JEFF MACKLER The U.S. imperialist war against the Syrian government and people stood exposed as never before when the fighters it had backed to the hilt in the name of fighting the Islamic State (ISIS), the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), essentially switched sides and signed a pact with the Bashar Assad government. The … Continue reading Syrian Kurds begin break with U.S. imperialism
By JEFF MACKLER During a Jan. 17 Stanford University speech, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the U.S. military will arm, train, finance, and otherwise support—for an indefinite time—a new, 30,000-strong, Kurdish and U.S.-allied Arab nation border force in northeastern Syria. This force in formation, effectively aimed at the partition of Syria, will be … Continue reading U.S. seeks Syria partition
By BILL ONASCH Hiram W. Johnson, a long-serving Republican Senator from California, is generally credited as being the first to use the phrase “Truth is the First Casualty of War,” in 1917—directed toward the duplicity of Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson, after winning reelection by bragging “he kept us out of war,” a few months later … Continue reading U.S. missile attack on Syria: ‘First Casualty’ multiplied
By JEFF MACKLER A Sept. 6 New York Times article reporting on President Obama’s press conference at the end of the Group of 20 conference in China caught my eye. Noting Obama’s planned visit to Laos, The Times commented: “The United States and Laos have a difficult relationship that dates to the C.I.A.’s undeclared war … Continue reading U.S. imperialist war in Syria: Acid test for antiwar movement
By JEFF MACKLER When a June 16 New York Times front-page article blared, “51 U.S. Diplomats Urge Strikes Against Assad in Syria,” I could almost hear the war drums beating at the U.S. State Department and White House. These “mid-level diplomats,” with varying U.S. government Syria assignments over the years, “urged the United States to … Continue reading U.S. Threatens Syria War Escalation
By BARRY WEISLEDER — TORONTO — As if in a dance of the seven veils, Canada’s Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is sequentially exposing its false election promises, revealing an agenda that increasingly resembles that of the widely despised Conservative predecessor regime. For starters, an immediate and meaningful increase to the Canada Pension is now … Continue reading When “withdrawal” means escalation
By JEFF MACKLER U.S. Major General Michael Nagata was unceremoniously removed some two months ago after his $500 million Syrian assignment to train by the end of the year a projected 5400 Syrian infantrymen to supposedly fight ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) “languished in complications,” according to U.S. News and World Report. This … Continue reading U.S. imperialism’s Syria strategy
By BARRY WEISLEDER Unprecedented numbers of people are desperate to migrate. Stories fill the media about the many who drown in the Mediterranean or die in desserts in a failed bid to escape horrible conditions. Stunning figures released on June 18 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees quantify the extent of the global … Continue reading Behind the Mass Exodus
By JEFF MACKLER U.S. imperialism’s selective “War on Terrorism” excludes some terrorists that the Obama administration finds more than suitable as allies in its effort to bring down the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. On April 25, a combination of these “rebels” captured the city of Jisr al-Shoughour, the provincial capital and second largest city … Continue reading Imperialism’s terrorist war in Syria
By JEFF MACKLER In a short-lived but well-crafted move aimed at hyping President Obama’s credentials as a reasonable and democratic warmaker, the president submitted a resolution to Congress in mid-February requesting “authorization for use of force” to proceed full tilt with his administration’s now worldwide “war on [Islamic] terrorism.” At first glance, what struck his … Continue reading Obama launches new ‘war on terrorism’
By JEFF MACKLER A new coalition of the not-too-willing nations is in preparation as U.S. imperialism prepares for yet another war in the Middle East, its sixth or seventh in the past half decade. These include wars of conquest, resource exploitation, and covert bombings in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, and Egypt—where the U.S., … Continue reading U.S. imperialism bombs Syria & Iraq
By THE EDITORS In early June, the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) initiated discussions among all major U.S. antiwar coalitions regarding the critical need for united local and regional antiwar protests to counter the escalating U.S. and U.S.-backed attacks on Syria. The result was an agreement with UNAC, ANSWER, United for Peace and Justice, the … Continue reading No U.S. intervention in Syria!
BY JEFF MACKLER No serious observer of Middle Eastern politics believes that the Zionist, colonial, settler, and racist state of Israel makes a single move before consulting with its U.S. benefactors. Indeed, the Israeli army and state depend on the billions annually allocated by U.S. imperialism to maintain Israel as its chief imperial representative in … Continue reading Israel bombs Syria; U.S. signals support
By ANDREW POLLACK In the last month, all the factors fueling the Syrian civil war have taken on added weight and consequence. These include, on the one hand, massacres by the regime, positioning of imperialist powers for post-Assad influence, and financing by Gulf states of Islamist fighters from abroad; and impressive rebel military successes and … Continue reading Syria rebels gain: U.S. threatens intervention
By ANDREW POLLACKAs the armed conflict heats up in Syria, there are indications that organizing of the rebellion is proceeding at the rank-and-file level.The Revolutionary Left, for instance, cites the continued role of workers and peasants in the revolt, as well as students: “Today, not a week goes by without the voices and songs of … Continue reading A grassroots mobilization in Syria
By ANDREW POLLACKIn early August, the battle for Aleppo still raged between government and opposition forces, with each side taking, losing, and retaking neighborhoods. The heavily outgunned rebels—and the city’s civilian population—faced murderous attacks by regime helicopters, tanks, and artillery.Aleppo is Syria’s biggest city and its most important economically. As such it is home of … Continue reading Battles rage in Syrian cities as risk grows of U.S. intervention
By YASIN KAYAThe growing influence of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish independence group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is an unexpected problem for establishment forces that counted on Turkish aggression against Syria going down smoothly. The PKK has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered a “terrorist” organization … Continue reading New Dynamics in Turkey-Syria conflict
In their battle to rid themselves of the murderous, corrupt Assad regime, the Syrian people faced a succession of obstacles. Decades of repression had left organizers trying to make up for lost time when the revolt broke out. This was followed by a usurpation of leadership of the movement by various bourgeois forces, from the … Continue reading The ongoing potential of the Syrian revolution
<!--[if !mso]><![endif]--> The menace of imperialist intervention looms over Syria as tensions increase between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the Western powers and their Middle Eastern surrogates. On June 22, the Assad government shot down a Turkish airplane that was conducting a reconnaissance mission in Syrian airspace. Despite an apology from Assad, the Turkish … Continue reading Danger of NATO intervention looms as Syrian crisis deepens
On May 25, 108Syrian civilians were murdered in the Houla area of towns and villages, including 34 women and 49 children. Some were killed by artillery shells, some at close hand by guns or knives.Not surprisingly, the regime and the opposition blamed each other. It’s most likely that responsibility for the carnage lies with President … Continue reading Houla Massacre Heightens Danger of Intervention & Derailing of the Syrian Revolution
Reports by independent Arab human rights organizations and the UN Human Rights Council (published March 2) document the human rights violations in Libya since February 2011. They show us that it was indeed the case that the Qaddafi regime conducted crimes against humanity and, when the war began, war crimes.But what the UN report also … Continue reading Libya’s Shadow
Below are remarks on the United National Antiwar Coalition's draft Action Plan, presented by Glen Ford, executive editor of Black Agenda Report.Power to the people! Power to the 99% of the world! I thank UNAC for the honor of presenting the conference Action Plan. We have gathered at this convention to do two things. First, … Continue reading UNAC Action Plan — No to U.S./NATO wars! Civil liberties for all!
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