Author: Gareth Porter

Recent hearings by the Senate and House Intelligence Committees reflected the rising tide of Russian-election-hacking hysteria and contributed further to it. Both Democrats and Republicans on the two committees appeared to share the alarmist assumptions about Russian hacking, and the officials who testified did nothing to discourage the politicians. On June 21, Samuel Liles, acting … Continue reading “Foisting Blame for Cyber-Hacking on Russia”

President Donald Trump is hesitating to agree to thousands of additional troops for the war in Afghanistan as recommended by his secretary of defense and national security adviser, according to a New York Times report over the weekend. So, it’s a good time to put aside, for a moment, the troop request itself and focus on why … Continue reading “Why Afghanistan? Fighting a War for the War System Itself”

Last week’s leak to the Washington Post of an intelligence report about President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in early December to discuss a possible back channel to Moscow appears to represents the climax of the campaign of leaks against the Trump team regarding contacts between Trump associates and Russians. … Continue reading “The Kissinger Backchannel to Moscow”

The two top national security officials in the Trump administration – Secretary of Defense James Mattis and national security adviser HR McMaster – are trying to secure long-term US ground and air combat roles in the three long-running wars in the greater Middle East – Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Proposals for each of the three … Continue reading “Will Trump Agree to the Pentagon’s Permanent War in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria?”

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman outraged many readers when he wrote an opinion piece on 12 April calling on President Trump to ”back off fighting territorial ISIS in Syria”. The reason he gave for that recommendation was not that US wars in the Middle East are inevitably self-defeating and endless, but that it would … Continue reading “US ‘Deep State’ Sold Out Counter-Terrorism To Keep Itself in Business”

Two unnamed senior Trump administration officials briefing journalists Tuesday asserted that a Syrian regime airstrike in the city of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4 had deliberately killed dozens of civilians with sarin gas. The Trump administration officials dismissed the Russian claim that the Syrian airstrike had targeted a munitions warehouse controlled by Islamic extremists as … Continue reading “New Revelations Belie Trump Claims on Syria Chemical Attack”

As Yemen’s population has teetered on the brink of mass starvation in recent months, the United States has played a crucial role in enabling the Saudi strategy responsible for that potential humanitarian catastrophe.  Both the Obama and Trump administrations have prioritized the US’s alliance with the Saudis and their Gulf allies over the lives of … Continue reading “US Provided Cover for the Saudi Starvation Strategy in Yemen”

The March 1 report by the United Nations’ “Independent International Commission of Inquiry“ asserted that the bloody attack on a humanitarian aid convoy west of Aleppo City on Sept. 19, 2016, was an airstrike by Syrian government planes. But an analysis of the U.N. panel’s report shows that it was based on an account of … Continue reading “A Flawed UN Investigation on Syria”

Opponents of the Trump administration have generally accepted as fact the common theme across mainstream media that aides to Donald Trump were involved in some kind of illicit communications with the Russian government that has compromised the independence of the administration from Russian influence. But close analysis of the entire series of leaks reveals something … Continue reading “How ‘New Cold Warriors’ Cornered Trump”

The first public pronouncements by President Donald Trump’s administration on Iran have created the widespread impression that the US will adopt a much more aggressive posture towards the Islamic Republic than under Barack Obama’s presidency. But despite the rather crude warnings to Tehran by now ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and by Trump himself, the … Continue reading “Ignore the Tough Talk – Trump’s Iran Policy Will Be Much Like Obama’s”