Today the NY times published the link to the much-anticipated non-partisan review report on the conduct of US CIA and other secret service personnel and installations including Guantanamo, after 9/11. The nearly two years of interviews, research and on-site visits… Read More ›
Middle East Analysis 
Postmortem: President Obama’s Visit to Israel and US Middle East Strategy
We all remember Obama’s historic speech in Cairo at the beginning of his first term. That speech, perhaps unintentionally heralded the Arab Spring, and an US Administration which appeared largely unprepared for the resulting flow of upheavals in the Middle… Read More ›
CIA operates drone base in Saudi Arabia
President Obama’s directive on the preferential use of technological warfare has been cast in the limelight this week by the leaking of his “kill list” – a list of American citizens that have been targeted for assassination by their own… Read More ›
US, Israel and Iran: Opportunities and Black Holes
Pressure is mounting in global discourse between Iran and Israel, as the former grapples with hosting international (Non-Align Movement) conferences and fatal earthquakes, while the latter vacillates between seriously considering unilateral strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and securing their borders… Read More ›
UN Human Rights Council Investigation into Houla Massacre – Official Report
Remarkable that this is a very balanced and well investigated report despite the fact that all that violence is going on where the panel and the members had to investigate. This raises the question why civilians could carry out the… Read More ›
The Truth About Syria: Regional Spillover and Theories of Conflict Causes
Over the last week, reports from the ground level and from those that have fled Syria* for safe havens have been coming through, sharing a lot of information about where they are, what is going on in Damascus and in… Read More ›
Why Iran Should Get the Bomb
U.S. and Israeli officials have declared that a nuclear-armed Iran is a uniquely terrifying prospect, even an existential threat. In fact, by creating a more durable balance of military power in the Middle East, a nuclear Iran would yield more… Read More ›
Security Council Vote on Syria
This morning the Security Council voted on the UK drafted resolution on Syria. There were 11 approvals, Russia and China vetoed the resolution and South Africa and Pakistan abstained from the vote. This tells the story about how divided the… Read More ›
The 11th Commandment: Thou Shall Regime-Change
Since Summer 2010 and the commencement of the “Libya sequence”, we have been living in a parallel political universe, where the United States of America is GOD and there is an eleventh (11th) Commandment that rules our world: Thou shall… Read More ›
The US-Israel Relationship: Who is Leading Who?
The common belief is that Israel and the Jewish lobby in America control a number of important financial, political and foreign policy processes and outcomes in the USA. This is because of an inexplicably close relationship between the US and… Read More ›
Geneva Conference Agrees “Basic Principles” but Stops Short on Substance of a Peace Process for Syria
Yesterday in Geneva, the Security Council P5, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, EU, the UN and the League of Arab States met to discuss the continuing instability in Syria – conspicuously absent were Saudi Arabia and Iran, the key protagonists and… Read More ›
US Foreign Policy on Middle East: An Assessment
In his first few months in office, President Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize. During the same period, President Obama announced that the US would be accelerating the timetable for pullout from Iraq and then Afghanistan. He followed through… Read More ›
Political Resolution and Mediation Proposal on Syria
No matter which way you see it, Syria is already more complicated and more loaded than Libya or Iraq ever was. Russia and potentially China are involved in Syria this time in total opposition to the proposal by the US… Read More ›
The Truth About Syria: Regime Change or Stopping the Carnage?
I want to talk about the sheer duplicity, lies, deception, and premeditated warmongering that is conditioning the debate on Syria currently in New York (UN) and Washington DC. Let’s consider the facts for a second: Bashar Al-Assad has repeatedly told… Read More ›
Russia’s Motivations and Objectives in Syria: Decaying Power or Re-emerent Supernova?
In my last few blogs on Russia and the Return of Tzar Putin, I predicted that Russia and Putin would look for a larger global role and seek to return Russia to its former “glory” as the Soviet Union. The… Read More ›
The Truth of the Situation in Syria: Do We Really Know it?
Today, I paused to recap what I really know about Syria and the violence affecting its people. I started with the Government. We know that the Al-Assad government is composed of Alawites, Shiites, Sunnis and even a few, perhaps token,… Read More ›
Syria: UN mission chief warns of impact of growing violence on observer activities
Syria: UN mission chief warns of impact of growing violence on observer activities. In fast moving news, it appears the Head of the UN verification mission in Syria General Robert Mood has finally declared that the UN monitors are unable… Read More ›
Options on Syria: International Conference Option Should Include Iran and Syria in Parallel Forum
In the face of non-compliance with the Annan Peace Plan, the International Community is reduced to considering two alternatives: regime transition of Al-Assad out of power and convening an international conference on Syria as a means of coordinating and increasing… Read More ›
Reading between the Lines: Annan’s Message on Syria
Reading between the Lines: Annan’s Message on Syria.
Reading between the Lines: Annan’s Message on Syria
I listened and observed Kofi Annan’s body language closely while he delivered his much-anticipated speech to the UN General Assembly today, on Syria. I’ve worked under the man for over 10 years so body language sometimes says what his soft… Read More ›
