BLOG Post #243: No War for Saudi Oil! 17 Sep 201922 Sep 2019 Even if US intelligence decisively shows that some of the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields originated in Iran, a decision to go…
BLOG Post #238: Trump-Kim III: Making History Without Making Progress? 2 Jul 20192 Jul 2019 Taking a few steps onto North Korean soil, and posing for pictures with a friendly dictator, seem to fit Trump-era diplomacy better than a carefully laid out process. But unless…
BLOG Post #236: Iran—Who and Where is the Threat? 21 Jun 201921 Jun 2019 The official US narrative on Iran is that it is an escalating threat to “peace and security” in the Middle East and must be stopped. Step by step, with Mike…
BLOG Post #233: Another Fake “Emergency” 25 May 201924 May 2019 Just a few months ago Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin-Salman (MBS), was on the defensive. He had authorized the murder of an independent journalist, his domestic “reforms” had turned out…
BLOG Post #232: Baiting Iran 14 May 2019 Ever since Donald Trump became president, regime change in Iran has been a prominent US aim. Trump began by backing out of the nuclear deal and imposing harsh sanctions, setting…
BLOG Post #231: National Security—A Dangerous Confusion 7 May 201927 May 2019 This blog also appeared in Informed Consent, May 6, 2019, https://www.juancole.com/2019/05/backward-ignoring-interference.html There is a dangerous confusion in US national security policy when evaluating relations with Russia and China. The Trump…
APB APB: Trump and Kim, Act II 28 Feb 201928 Feb 2019 Trump was correct to describe denuclearization last June as a lengthy “process” that one summit meeting could not achieve. However, the second summit, in Hanoi at the end of February…
BLOG Post #225: Trump’s Crusade in Latin America 28 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 What we are witnessing in Venezuela is a Latin America policy that draws from the Cold War and the era of US interventions, when regard for democracy and international law…
BLOG Post #223: Happy New Year from Kim Jong-un 6 Jan 2019 Kim Jong-un looked quite cosmopolitan on January 1 as he made his annual New Year’s address to the nation from the comfort of a paneled office, wearing a spiffy Western-style…
BLOG Post #222: Road to Ruin: Trump’s Middle East Retreat 22 Dec 201822 Dec 2018 The flight of the generals is now complete with the resignation of General James Mattis—the last of the four generals to depart, and the last to give up the naïve…
APB APB: The Play’s the Thing 16 Nov 201815 Nov 2018 The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a tragedy, and it is of a piece with the related tragedy of US-Saudi relations. Weeks ago I outlined a play in four…
APB The Khashoggi Affair: A Murder Mystery in Four Acts 17 Oct 201817 Oct 2018 Act 1 (Washington, DC): Upon learning of the disappearance and possible murder of the Saudi journalist and critic, Jamal Khashoggi, Pres. Trump expresses concern and vows to get to the…
BLOG Post #218: Getting Away with Murder 15 Oct 2018 In March I wrote about the visit to Washington of Saudi Arabia’s new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the time most of the media were reporting uncritically about…
BLOG Post #216: A Victory for Diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula 29 Sep 20182 Oct 2018 On September 18 leaders of North and South Korea signed a September Declaration to advance inter-Korean cooperation and the possibility of the North’s denuclearization. Critics immediately dismissed the agreement for…
BLOG Post #215: On Dealing with China 18 Sep 201826 Sep 2018 (Note: A slightly different version of this article has been published as "The China Conundrum" at https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/the-china-conundrum.) A Self-Confident China Ever since China’s economic reforms began in 1978, the goal…
