Chuck Spinney: Two Evaluations of Middle East After Arab Spring

Attached below are two very important reports by two of the most astute observers of conflicts in the Middle East.  The first is a precisely-focused report by Rami Khouri, editor at large of Lebanon’s Daily Star.  Khouri analyzes how the recent assassination of Mohamad Chatah needs to be interpreted in the context of complexities of …

Chuck Spinney: Peter Van Buren – Any More U.S. “Stabilization” and Africa Will Collapse

Any More U.S. “Stabilization” and Africa Will Collapse By: Peter Van Buren Monday December 23, 2013 10:39 am South Sudan is at the brink of civil war and societal collapse History is just one of those hard things to ignore, especially in South Sudan. In 2011, the U.S. midwifed the creation of a new nation, …

Chuck Spinney: The Intellectual and Political Foundations of 21st Century Jihad Sayyid Qutub’s Fundamentalism and Abu Bakr Naji’s Jihadism

My friend, Bill Polk, a distinguished historian specializing in the Middle East, is busily writing a series of extended essays aimed at increasing our understanding of the conflict in Syria and, by extension, our seemingly  perpetual war with the Islamic world.  I posted the first part of this series, collectively entitled Understanding Syria, on 8 …

Chuck Spinney: Patrick Cockburn Interviews Muqtada al-Sadr on Iraq — Toxic Mix of Sectarianism, Incompetent and Corrupt Government, and Interference by US, UK, and Iran

The United States bears a moral responsibility for the murderous state of affairs in Iraq, but contemporary American grand strategy has become a self-referencing mix of arrogance, narcissism, and exceptionalism; so it is not surprising that most Americans have dismissed Iraq their minds (as they are now dismissing Afghanistan).  Below is an excellent reminder of the situation …

Chuck Spinney: The United States of Confusion and Disorder

The United States of Confusion and Disorder Descent into Chaos by FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY COUNTERPUNCH, WEEKEND EDITION NOVEMBER 1-3, 2013 The US exit strategy from Afghanistan is emerging …. and the picture is not pretty. Nevertheless, it is a revealing microcosm of what now passes for governance in the United States of Confusion and Disorder. …