Middle East

There are positive developments on the ground in Syria, but for America it’s sanctions and suffering as usual
Jordan is reopening its border crossing with Syria and resuming flights to Damascus. In Syria, more armed groups are laying down their weapons. But amid these positive developments, the US is hunkering down to inflict more pain. On September 29, Jordan's Nassib border crossing to Syria re-opened, meaning a resumption not only of travel but of trade between the two nations. In early October, [...]
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‘When will they learn’: Beijing taunts Washington, claiming Afghanistan is another example that military intervention doesn’t work
Beijing has issued a further rebuke of Washington’s foreign policy, claiming the fall of Kabul further highlights that US military interventions aren’t working and that the vast war chest could have been better spent elsewhere. On Friday, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying delivered another damning appraisal of US interventionist policy, stating that Washington has a terr [...]
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From Syria to Afghanistan, the Pentagon really is ‘chronically bad’ at winning wars – and Matt Gaetz got them to admit it
It really took a Florida man to get the current Pentagon boss to admit his inability to deal with the essential job of the military and remind Americans that he was behind the failed scheme to arm the “moderate rebels” in Syria. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, and Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie proved much more adep [...]
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Erdogan channels his inner sultan with UNGA words on Crimea, but his Turkey is no Ottoman Empire
To understand why Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan would insult Moscow by declaring that Crimea is Ukrainian just ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, one has to understand his obsession with the Ottoman Empire. “We believe it is important to preserve Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including the territory of Crimea, whose annexation we do not recogniz [...]
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Taliban Claims There’s ‘No Proof’ Osama bin Laden Was Behind 9/11 Attacks
The United States and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, after the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda* terrorist group, who was suspected of masterminding the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. As the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history, approaches, the Talib [...]
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Schrödinger’s terrorists: Washington warmongers suddenly worried about Al-Qaeda and ISIS, amid Afghanistan agony
The US political establishment has suddenly rediscovered an interest in terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS-K, either as a cudgel to beat the White House with over the escape from Kabul, or an excuse to stay in Afghanistan. The Biden administration can’t seem to decide whether Al-Qaeda has been effectively eliminated – as President Joe Biden himself argued – or may still be in Af [...]
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Western media ‘complicit in hiding truth’ of Afghan war, allowing ‘extraordinary lie’ to last two decades – WikiLeaks’ Hrafnsson
The abrupt US withdrawal from Afghanistan should not surprise anyone, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told RT, saying the fact that Washington was able to deceive the world for two decades is more shocking. Washington’s 19-year-long war campaign in Afghanistan was one “big lie” that only benefited America’s military industrial complex and private contractors, Hrafnsson [...]
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A Tale of Two Withdrawals: Why Soviet and US Pull-Outs From Afghanistan Were So Different
Washington's disorganised and haphazard pull-out from Kabul comes in sharp contrast to how the USSR left the country in February 1989, says American independent journalist Max Parry, recalling how the US political establishment tried to create a Vietnam-style Afghan quagmire for the Soviets, but eventually fell into its own trap. On 15 August, the US hastily evacuated its embassy staff fr [...]
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State Dept Appears to Admit US Has to Ask Taliban Permission to Evacuate American Citizens
The hasty troop pullout from Afghanistan is now being widely criticized both by Democrats and Republicans, with some believing it would have been more reasonable (and safe) if the administration had transferred the remaining US citizens and weapons out of the country first before withdrawing the troops. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has apparently agreed with the "reality" that the [...]
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Lebanon ‘shamelessly’ obstructed Beirut port explosion investigation – Amnesty International
Human rights group Amnesty International has condemned Lebanese officials ahead of the first anniversary of the deadly Beirut port blast, accusing authorities of “shamelessly obstructing victims’ quest for truth and justice.” The August 4, 2020 explosion destroyed swathes of the port city, causing billions of dollars in damage, killing more than 200 and injuring over 7,500. It was one o [...]
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Ex-CIA Agent Says US Wasted Trillions on Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, Achieved Nothing
As the US approaches the completion of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, which should be over by September 11, as well as in light of more and more audible demands from Iraq to withdraw troops from its soil, questions are increasingly emerging about the assessment of the almost 20-year military presence and the success of these operations. The US has squandered trillions of dollars on the [...]
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Turkey will not be silent about Israel’s ‘atrocities’, Erdogan tells Palestinian President Abbas
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting on Saturday that he would not be silent about “Israel’s atrocities” in Palestine. According to the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdogan stressed to Abbas during the meeting that Turkey “did not” and “will not remain silent about Israel's atrocities in Palestine.”  [...]
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Lebanon slides closer to complete collapse as Israel fears Hezbollah’s expansion of influence
The country’s economy is cratering, there are shortages of fuel and medicines, and people are going hungry on the streets. Yet what does the West worry most about? Hezbollah helping the starving get food. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab has warned the international community that the country could collapse in days, as even Israel offers aid fearing the expansion of Lebanese H [...]
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The failed US war in Afghanistan has sparked a new generation of American anti-interventionist, pro-Putin conservatives
Twenty years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US and allied troops are finally leaving Afghanistan as the Taliban seem set to return to power. This failure has created a generation of conservatives opposed to US interventionism. This week, when asked whether the US mission in Afghanistan was a failure as American and NATO troops handed over Bagram airfield to the Afghan army, President Joe B [...]
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Israel faces change of government as anti-Netanyahu opposition announces agreement
A coalition of Israel’s opposition parties have announced they have reached an unlikely agreement and now have the votes to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader. Naftali Bennett, former defense minister for Netanyahu, and opposition leader Yair Lapid will lead the opposition parties under this new agreement that would split power in a “unity gover [...]
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Russia Reminds US Its Presence in Syria is Illegal After Washington Charges Moscow With ‘Violations’
Damascus and its allies have repeatedly blasted the US over their illegal occupation of Syrian territory in the country’s south and northeast, and have demanded that all foreign military forces not explicitly invited into the country by the Syrian government vacate the Middle Eastern nation immediately, in accordance with international law. The Russian Embassy in Washington has reminded [...]
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It’s Time to Return Incirlik & Kurecik Bases to Turkey, Reconsider Relations With US, Observer Says
Turks have taken to the streets in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, and other cities to protest against Joe Biden recognising the events of 1915 as an Armenian genocide. The demonstrators called upon the Turkish authorities to end the US military's use of the Incirlik Air Base and Kurecik Radar Station in southern Turkey. "I believe that the time has come to return the bases provided by Turkey t [...]
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Turkish Media Account Accuses US of Mass ‘Genocide’ of 84 Million People Amid Armenia Spat
Already shaky relations between the US and its Turkish ally took another turn for the worse last week after Joe Biden formally recognised the actions of the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in the early part of the 20th century as genocide. The move sparked outrage throughout Turkey and demands to leave NATO or kick US troops out of the country. Clash Report, a Twitter and Telegram securi [...]
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OPCW chief must ‘find the courage to address’ Douma coverup allegations, says group including 5 senior ex-officials of watchdog
The scandal surrounding alleged manipulation of scientific data in the chemical weapons watchdog the OPCW, ignored by both the organization and the mainstream media, is only getting worse with time, a pro-whistleblower group said. A new statement from whistleblower-supporting organization the Courage Foundation complains that the leadership of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemica [...]
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US sells over a million barrels of seized Iranian fuel headed for Venezuela
The United States has sold more than a million barrels of Iranian fuel seized under its sanctions program last year, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the US Department of Justice. The seizures were part of Washington’s economic sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, and the US’ designation of a number of Iranian groups as terrorists. The US government under President Donald Tru [...]
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US Troops Not Involved in Guarding Syria’s Stolen Oil, Pentagon Says
In 2019, the US redeployed troops from the Syrian-Turkish border into the war-torn country’s interior, with President Donald Trump admitting freely that the forces were assigned to “take the oil.” Russia estimates that the Pentagon, the CIA, contractors and Kurdish militias make over $30 million a month smuggling the stolen oil out of the country. The US military presence in northea [...]
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Hundreds of Israelis get infected with Covid-19 after receiving Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – reports
With the vaccine not providing immediate immunity to the coronavirus, over two hundred Israeli citizens have been diagnosed with the disease days after getting the Pfizer/BioNTech jabs, local media reported. The number of those who got Covid-19 despite being vaccinated was at around 240 people, according to data from Channel 13 News. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which the Israeli health au [...]
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