Fascism Denial American Style: Exceptionalism in the Ivory Tower

AnthonyDiMaggio

April 5, 2023

It borders on cliché the number of times historians lament how “fascism” is an over-used term. But Sinclair Lewis, writing about the specter of fascism a century ago, understood something most historians don’t – that U.S. intellectual culture is loathe to acknowledge fascist undercurrents in this country. I attribute this hostility to intellectuals’ belief that their nation is an exceptionalist democracy – hence fascism “can’t happen here.”

As Tax Day Approaches: Is the Federal Budget Moral or Immoral?

H.Patricia Hynes

April 4, 2023

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – April, the month tax filings are due, prompts us to ponder what our income taxes pay for.  Are they used to provide all citizens sufficient resources and public goods for human security and well-being – the core of our national security?

Western News Media Downplay Ukraine War Crimes

Ted Galen Carpenter

April 4, 2023

In late March, the United Nations issued a new report on war crimes being committed by both Russian and Ukrainian forces. The document provides a shocking litany of brutal behavior on the part of both militaries, although the investigators concluded that Russian units have committed the majority of offenses. Given the extent of Western pressure and the UN’s own biases, it is hard to determine the accuracy of that conclusion. However, the evidence cited of Ukrainian abuses is far from trivial.

Iranian media claims naval forces warned US Navy aircraft against entering its airspace

BradfordBetz

April 2, 2023

Iranian media on Sunday reported that the country’s naval forces had warned off a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft from entering Iran’s airspace over the Sea of Oman.

Iran arrests women for not wearing hijab after man threw yogurt on them

AdamSchrader

April 2, 2023

Authorities in Iran have arrested two women at a store in the city of Shandiz after a man was seen throwing yogurt at them Thursday, officials said.

Partnering With Neo-Nazis in Ukraine: An Inconvenient History

Ted Snider

March 31, 2022        

Volodymyr Zelensky defeated Petro Poroshenko in the 2019 election on a platform that included making peace with Russia and signing the Minsk Agreements. The Minsk Agreements would have granted a degree of autonomy to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of the Donbas that had voted for independence from Ukraine after the 2014 US backed coup put a government in power that was handpicked by the US and that was pro-West and anti-Russian. It was intense pressure from the far right wing ultranationalists that bent Zelensky from a Minsk backer into the shape of a Minsk rejecter. Under that pressure from neo-Nazi parties that have large power that is disproportionate to their small support, Zelensky abandoned his campaign peace promise and refused to talk to the leaders of the Donbas and implement the Minsk Agreements.

Milley Says the US Should Attack Iran’s IRGC Quds Force

Dave DeCamp

March 30, 2023

Direct US attacks on the Quds Force could spark a full-blown war with Iran

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Wednesday that the US should be targeting Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), following a drone attack in Syria that killed a US contractor.

Iran denies it had plans to invade the Kurdistan region of Iraq

SETH J. FRANTZMAN

Pro-regime media in Iran published an article over the weekend saying that Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq has denied claims that Iran sought to invade northern Iraq.

U.N. court rules U.S. must compensate Iran over frozen assets but leaves $1.8B on ice

Darryl Coote

March 30, 2023

Both the United States and Iran are claiming victory after the U.N.'s World Court ordered Washington to pay compensation over freezing Iranian assets though it is allowing nearly $2 billion to remain out of reach of Tehran.

UN court rejects Iran’s claim to £1.6bn assets frozen by US authorities

MikeCorder

March 30, 2023

The United Nations’ top court has rejected Tehran’s legal bid to free up some 2.0 billion US dollars (£1.6 billion) in Iranian central bank assets frozen by US authorities.

Iran pulls US attention back to the Middle East

Ellen Mitchell, The Hill

March 29, 2023

Attacks on U.S. forces in Syria are pulling Washington’s attention back to the Middle East as it seeks to shift its focus and resources toward Russia and China.

Iran isn't worried about the US attacking it, but Biden has other ways to cut a deal with Tehran

JohnReid Wilcox, Defense Priorities

March 28, 2023

The trend lines in US-Iran relations today make for grim reading in Washington. Faced with unrelenting US pressure, Iran's leaders are regularly meeting with Russian and Chinese officials and pledging unprecedented levels of cooperation. Iran's nuclear program recently crossed a key threshold into production of weapons-grade uranium.

A new world order? BRICS nations provide an alternative to the West

AstridPrange

March 27, 2023

Predictions about the BRICS countries as the fastest growing economies haven't quite panned out. Instead, the alliance is now offering a diplomatic forum and development financing, outside of the Western mainstream. The acronym began as a somewhat optimistic term to describe what were the world's fastest-growing economies at the time. But now the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- are setting themselves up as an alternative to existing international financial and political forums.

Is The Iran Nuclear Deal Truly Dead Now?

Maya Carlin

March 26, 2023

A U.S. contractor was killed last week when Iranian-backed militants in Iraq launched a lethal drone attack targeted a U.S. base in northeast Syria. This latest provocation reiterates Tehran’s disinterest in gaining favor with the U.S. ahead of the potential for revived nuclear negotiations in Vienna. Ever since the U.S. and Iran began “seriously” participating in efforts to reinstate the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2021, Iran has escalated hostile acts across the Middle East as well as on U.S. soil.

From rockets to shells, Pentagon struggles to feed war machine

Erik Lipton

March 24, 2023

WASHINGTON – The Navy admiral had a blunt message for the military contractors building precision-guided missiles for his warships, submarines and planes at a moment when the United States is dispatching arms to Ukraine and preparing for the possibility of conflict with China.

American contractor killed, troops wounded in Iran-linked drone attack in Syria, prompting US airstrikes

KimHjelmgaard

March 24, 2023

An American contractor was killed and five U.S. troops and a second U.S. contractor were wounded when a suspected Iranian-linked drone attacked a coalition military base in northeast Syria late Thursday, the Pentagon said in a statement.

After Iran, Saudi Arabia to Re-Establish Ties With Syria, Sources Say

Laila Bassam and Aziz El Yaakoubi

March 23, 2023

BEIRUT/RIYADH (Reuters) - Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, a step that would mark a leap forward in Damascus's return to the Arab fold.

Once banned, now back: Iran sees timid return of neckties

AFP

March 21, 2023

Mohammad Javad enters a fashionable shop in well-to-do north Tehran with his mother. For the first time ever he wants a necktie, long banned in Iran as a symbol of Western decadence.

US announces sanctions on Iran drone procurement network

FATIMAHUSSEIN

March 21, 2023

The United States said Tuesday it is imposing a new round of sanctions on Iranian firms and people accused of procuring equipment used for Iranian drones.

Nowruz

March 20, 2023

[This article is copied form Twinkle.  For a more detailed description of this event, see Wikipedia. blogger]