THE SAKER—The simple truth is that the abject brown-nosing of the Israel Lobby that Trump has been engaged in from Day 1 of his term only serves to further isolate and weaken the U.S. in the Middle-East (and beyond, really!). In this context, how realistic is the Iranian goal of kicking Uncle Shmuel out of the region? As I said, not realistic at all, if seen solely in the short term. But I hasten to add that it is very realistic in the mid-term if we look at some, but not all, the countries of the region. Finally, in the long term, it is not only realistic, it is inevitable, even if the Iranians themselves don’t do much, or anything at all, to make that happen.
US EXCEPTIONALISM
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—Nobody who promoted the unforgivable Iraq invasion should ever be listened to about anything for as long as they live. They certainly should not be elevated in prominent slots on mainstream news outlets. They should not even be able to find employment anywhere more glamorous than a McDonald’s.
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ERIC ZUESSE—This is a war by U.S., Saudi Arabia, the other Arab oil monarchies, and Israel, against Iran, and it will become also a U.S.-v.-Russia war unless Russia complies with America’s demand to stay out, and not to defend Iran. Anbar Province is one of two places where the fanatical Sunni ISIS was located in Iraq, the other being the city of Mosul directly to the north of Anbar. Both areas are heavily Sunni so that in order for Iraq’s mainly Shiite government to become able to wage an effective war against ISIS in Iraq, it first had to convince Anbar’s residents that this would be something which would benefit all of Iraq and not only Shiites in Iraq.
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PETER KOENIG—Chinese doctors and nurses have already healed several dozen cases. Chinese scientists in collaboration with Russian scientists are accelerating their research into developing a vaccine against the virus. Indeed, there is no country in the world that has ever achieved with such ardor, efficiency and love for the people, progress towards isolation of a potentially highly contagious and deadly disease, preventing millions from infection and providing them with protective as well as curative measures, and by setting up a countrywide impenetrable health surveillance mechanism.
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JIMMIE MOGLIA—As a recent example, by now all the world well knows that the use of poison gas in the Syrian city of Douma in 2018 was a staged event, an excuse for Trump to let a rain of missiles fall on Syrian targets. But the agency charged for the investigation – the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – OPCW – reversed the actual findings of the operatives in the field. In turn, some had the unusual courage to publicly announce that the agency’s report was false – among them Mr. Ian Henderson.