US Policy

Haiti and America’s Historic Debt
From the Archive: President Trump says his “tough” language on immigration, which reportedly included decrying “shithole” nations, didn’t apply to Haiti but he appears to know little of America’s debt to Haiti, which Robert Parry described in 2010. In 2010, when announcing emergency help for Haiti after a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake, President Barack Obama noted America’s [...]
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Between the Null and the Void
Happy cultures are all alike. But this is not a happy culture. Sullen and sour, America seems like a country whose nerves are shot. And, after 16 straight years of war, why wouldn’t the political neurons be frayed? Each day the fear factor is being ratcheted up. New threats are being targeted. New wars being planned. A paralytic dread hangs over the Republic. [...]
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Trump cancels UK visit… so much for the ‘special relationship’
Hardly anyone will buy President Donald Trump’s explanation for his abruptly canceled visit to London next month. The real reason, no doubt, was to avoid embarrassing scenes of mass street protests marring his official welcome. Whatever has become of the so-called “special relationship”? [...]
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‘Shrewd & mature N. Korean leader has won this round’ – Putin on peninsula crisis
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has emerged a winner in the latest crisis around the Korean Peninsula, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. He believes Pyongyang is now trying to defuse tensions. [...]
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Russian Journalists Blow Lid Off Alleged US Terrorist Training Network in Syria
Two Russian Syria-embedded journalists have put together a damning firsthand report on the true purpose of the secrecy-laden US military mission at At-Tanf, southern Syria. The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militant [...]
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7 times Trump critics called Russia a ‘s***hole’ & worse, and no one cared
Donald Trump’s remarks on “s***hole countries” roused a righteous high-mindedness in his detractors. But a perusal of their own past quotes suggest they are quite capable of similar words – when one particular state is involved. [...]
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Relations with the US not ‘most important’ – UK Labour leader
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has questioned the value of Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US, suggesting Washington is not actually the UK’s ‘most important ally,’ while criticizing Trump’s ‘endless offensive remarks.’ [...]
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‘Unacceptable’: Turkey slams US-led coalition’s new Syria ‘border force’ using Kurdish militias
The US-led coalition says it is helping to create a thousands-strong “Border Security Force” in Syria using Kurdish SDF militias. Washington's support, branded “unacceptable” by Ankara, is further straining bilateral ties. [...]
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David Stockman On The Real “Shithole” – $40 Trillion & Counting…
"America does not need Walls; it actually needs tens of millions of younger and working age immigrants who can function as tax mules to carry the burden of 105 million baby-boomer and retirees" Washington is drifting rapidly into a hellacious fiscal calamity and the only thin reed of resistance is the once and former party of fiscal rectitude. If it does not get its act together and screw-up some [...]
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US Border Agents Scouring Travelers’ Electronic Devices at Record Clip
The Trump administration’s insistence on improving border security has led to more travelers having their electronic devices snatched by Custom and Border Protection agents in 2017 than ever before in history. [...]
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Senate Democrats accuse Russia of ‘assault on democracy’ in conspiracy-laden report
Russians are everywhere, and everything they do is an existential threat to democracy and the American way of life. So says the 200-page report published by Senate Democrats on behalf of one of the most outspoken Russia hawks. [...]
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Trump’s new nuke ‘posture’: Draft allows nuclear response to conventional attack and new warheads
The Trump administration is expected to reveal a new, hawkish nuclear doctrine, which reportedly incorporates more cases in which it would use nuclear weapons, and also mandates the development of smaller-yield, simpler warheads. [...]
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‘US knows weapons sent to Syrian rebels end up with terrorists’ – German journo to RT
The CIA has been coordinating weapon deliveries on the Turkey-Syria border, German journalist Jurgen Todenhofer, who recently spoke with a Jabhat al-Nusra commander, told RT. He added that the US knows that the weapons it delivers to rebels end up with terrorists. [...]
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Kiev hails US & Canada for greenlighting lethal arms supplies that could kill Ukraine peace process
Ukraine’s President Poroshenko has praised the US and Canada for approving lethal arms supplies, while Moscow says it subverts the peace process. By including Ukraine on the list of countries approved for lethal weapons sales, Canada has become a side in a bloody civil war, undermining a shaky peace process, a senior Russian senator said, as Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko applauded the m [...]
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NATO’s broken promises: Time to admit West bears serious responsibility for tension in E. Europe
The question whether Western leaders promised the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand east has been debated for years. Newly declassified papers prove what many Western officials and scholars have denied: A promise was broken. [...]
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Kushner Seems More Into Israeli Business Ties Than Raging Middle East Standoff
More and more Americans are speculating that there may be something behind the Kushner family’s deepening business ties with Israel, especially given that Jared Kushner's father-in-law made the controversial decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, provoking condemnation among the world's Muslims and violent rage among Palestinians. [...]
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Swiss Politician: US Still Cannot Reconcile Itself With Its Failure in Syria
The tough US rhetoric towards Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia can be explained by Washington's deep dissatisfaction over its failure in Syria, Guy Mettan, a Swiss politician and president of the Swiss Press Club, told Radio Sputnik, suggesting that the US is trying to hijack Moscow's diplomatic success. [...]
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West should boast about its ‘decisive victories’ in Afghanistan, Iraq & Libya, not Syria
Moscow baffled by American and French statements over US-led coalition’s 'decisive role' in defeating Islamic State in Syria. “The defeat of IS in Syria is first of all result of actions by the Syrian leadership and governmental forces,” the ministry said. [...]
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Trump’s approval of lethal arms to Ukraine is a sideways move to nowhere
Jim Jatras comments on the Washington Post report that President Donald Trump has approved providing lethal weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces. Specifically, according to the report, the decision opens the door for delivery of items like Model M107A1 sniper systems and ammunition, plus associated parts and equipment, with a value of $41.5 million [...]
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US Reportedly Evacuates Daesh Leaders From Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Again
The new accusations add to the string of charges of alleged US-led coalition cooperation with Daesh (ISIS), contrary to its proclained goal of fighting terrorism in Syria. [...]
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2017 could have been year Russia and US made up. Now they stand on brink of new Cold War
On this day 12 months ago, Moscow held off from retaliating to Barack Obama's diplomatic parting shot, in hope of a new start. Instead, 2017 has been the worst year of US-Russia relations since the fall of the Berlin Wall. [...]
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Only Year One: Trump Milestone as US Sends Special Ops to 149 Countries in 2017
The Trump White House has set a record, as US troops deploy around the world in an ever-widening net of American outreach at the end of a gun barrel. According to new data, US Special Operations troops, including Navy Seals and Army Green Berets, were deployed in 149 nations in 2017, a 150 percent jump from the administration of George W. Bush, and a modern record for shipping US military policy [...]
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