What’s Left of Palmyra — and Syria

Tour guide “Tony” in front of the ruins of the Temple of Baal blown up by Daesh’ He’s holding a drawing of the temple as it used to appear.

By pouring weapons and money into the Syrian war, the West and its Gulf state allies share in the guilt for the Islamic State’s partial destruction of Palmyra’s historic ruins, which Jeff Klein visited.

Hillary ‘the Hawk’ Clinton

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressing the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2016. (Photo credit: AIPAC)

As the Democratic Party grimly marches toward Hillary Clinton’s nomination, little thought has been given to her extraordinary record as a war hawk and what that could mean to the world, observes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

How CBS News Aided the JFK Cover-up

john-f-kennedy-35

Special Report: With the Warren Report on JFK’s assassination under attack in the mid-1960s, there was a chance to correct the errors and reassess the findings, but CBS News intervened to silence the critics, reports James DiEugenio.

The Terribly Annoyed Saudis

President Barack Obama concludes a National Security Council meeting in the Situation Room of the White House in advance of his trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Germany, April 19, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Official Washington’s pols and pundits fret whenever Saudi Arabia or Israel complains, but those “allies” are charting a dangerous course for the U.S. that President Obama seems incapable of changing, writes Michael Brenner.

A New Anti-Assad Propaganda Offensive

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media, including the “liberal” New Yorker, is reprising its propagandistic role before the Iraq War now in Syria with a new round of one-sided reporting, as Daniel Lazare explains.

Netanyahu’s Neocon Mind

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An admirer of Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli Prime Minister shares the American neocons’ stark view of the world that disdains diplomacy and compromise with adversaries, notes Lawrence Davidson.

An Election Stuck in the Mud

Billionaire and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The harsh, sometimes racially charged rhetoric of Campaign 2016 is leeching into the broader culture, including the way American school children talk about each other, writes Michael Winship.

Almost There on Spring Fund Drive

PBS Frontline's: The Election Held Hostage, written by Robert Parry

From Editor Robert Parry: Thanks to the generosity of our readers we’ve gotten much closer to our Spring Fund Drive goal of $25,000. If you haven’t contributed yet, you can help us get over the top. Contributions of all sizes…

No Reward for Sanders’s Israel Stance

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders. (NBC photo)

Exclusive: Sen. Sanders showed guts when he broke from the political lock-step of unrestrained praise for Israel, but his loss in the New York primary shows there’s little reward for such courage, writes Robert Parry.

How The New Yorker Mis-Reports Syria

The New Yorker editor David Remnick

Exclusive: The New Yorker and editor David Remnick were catastrophically wrong about the Iraq War, but they continue publishing the same one-sided propaganda on the Syrian conflict, as Jonathan Marshall describes.

Bowing to America’s Oligarchs

President Barack Obama talks with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker following a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, Sept. 18, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Commerce Secretary (and Hyatt Hotel heiress) Penny Pritzker was treated with kid gloves and spared tough questions at the National Press Club, showing how America treats its own oligarchs, writes Sam Husseini.

Playing Off Europe’s Muslim Fears

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (center) with French President Francois Hollande (left) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right).

Exclusive: Turkey and the Islamic State are exploiting the Syrian refugee flow into Europe to achieve their own ends, playing off the Continent’s fear of what a Muslim influx will do to political stability, explains Andrés Cala.

The Imbalanced US-Saudi ‘Alliance’

Saudi King Salman bids farewell to President Barack Obama at Erga Palace after a state visit to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 27, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Official Washington’s pundit class wrings its collective hands when President Obama voices frustration with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudi “allies” have taken advantage of the relationship, notes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

How Israel Killed the ‘Two-State Solution’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case for the military offensive against Gaza in a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2014. (Israeli government photo)

Except for Bernie Sanders, the remaining presidential candidates (Clinton, Trump, Cruz and Kasich) have pledged fealty to Israel’s right-wing government as hopes for a two-state solution fade away, explains Chuck Spinney.

Spy v. Spy: The First Patriots Day

A depiction of the Battle Lexington on April 19, 1775.

From the Archive: The traditional Patriots Day falls on April 19, honoring the Minutemen who battled British troops attacking Lexington and Concord in 1775. The British were thwarted, in part, by a little-remembered patriot, as Robert Parry recalled in 2011.

The Sanders/Clinton Split on Israel

Soldiers from the Israeli Defense Force prepare for the invasion of Gaza, as the second phase of Operation Protective Edge. (IDF Photo)

Because U.S. politicians reflexively bow to whatever Israel wants, any deviation is surprising, such as Bernie Sanders’s call to respect Palestinian rights, especially in contrast to Hillary Clinton’s Israel pandering, notes Marjorie Cohn.