Robert Parry reports: “Russia-gate is empowering Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to strong-arm President Trump into escalating the Syrian war by abandoning a recent cease-fire and challenging Iran and Russia,”
Both AIPAC and J Street lauded the passage, by 98-2, of a Senate bill to impose new sanctions on Iran. Voting against it were Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders… all the others did what the Israel lobby told them to do.
Eli Clifton reports in Lobelog that new tax filings reveal that America’s largest pro-Israel group, AIPAC, gave money to a think tank that played a pivotal role in engineering Trump’s ban on Muslim immigration…
Stephen Sniegoski reports in Unz Review: Trump’s appointees indicate his efforts for peace with Russia have ended, while bellicosity against Iran has continued. While while mainstream media anathematizes almost everything else Trump proposes, it sees little wrong with his Iran policy – even though it is counter to US interests and ignores history…
Chemi Shalev writes: Trump could turn out to be the Israeli right wing’s worst nightmare. Obama had to take into account the pro-Israel lobby, the Republican-led Congress and the staunch Israel supporters in his own Democratic Party. Netanyahu exploited them all. Trump is a completely different story. The GOP won’t dare confront him as it would Obama. A President who emphasizes “his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal” is one who spells trouble for Jewish settlers and their champions…
The new order is the same in nature as the old one. It prevents admission for nationals from six countries, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Further, the order puts a complete ban on refugees entering the U.S. The new ban does have slight changes. Iraq has been removed from the list; there will be a phase-in period, with the ban taking full effect on March 16, 2017. the ban does not apply to lawful permanent residents (LPRs), and current visa holders….
Journalist Hafsa Kara-Mustapha attended an international conference on Palestine in the Iranian capital Tehran last week. She argues that despite all the demonization against Iran , the country stands out from all others as a supporter of the Palestinian cause. This article was originally published by 5Pillars…
With a single exception, all the countries were targeted for attack in 2001, with similar plans in 1996, 1991, 1982, and the 1950s. The fact is that Trump’s action continues policies influenced by people working on behalf of a foreign country, whose goal has been to destabilize and reshape an entire region. The result has been devastating wars, massive refugee movement that is uprooting entire peoples and transforming parts of Europe, desperate terrorism, and now the horror that is ISIS. If this decades-long effort is not halted, it will increasingly devastate the region, our country, and the world…
The former Constitution Party presidential candidate writes that “Netanyahu is one of the most corrupt political leaders on the planet” and one of the most heavily financed. Netanyahu’s plummet in popularity at home is one of the reasons “why he is pressuring Trump to ratchet up a war against Iran and why he is mobilizing accelerated (illegal) Israeli settlements on private land owned by Palestinian people… War and military conflict has always been a favored tactic of embattled politicians to increase their popularity and deflect negativity…”
Analysts discuss neocons apparent growing influence on Trump policies on Russia and Iran, and the possible appointment of neocon Elliott Abrams. Eric Alterman writes: “An Actual American War Criminal May Become Our Second-Ranking Diplomat”…