The Inconvenient Kurds

The Inconvenient Kurds

Except for the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, there isn’t one state in Western Asia that is viable inside its present borders at a 20-year horizon. All the powers with interests in the region want to kick the problem down the road, and that is why the whole world (excepting Israel) wants…

Clamping Oil Artery: How Turkey May Checkmate Iraqi Kurdistan in One Move

Clamping Oil Artery: How Turkey May Checkmate Iraqi Kurdistan in One Move

Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence vote may lead to an economic blockade from regional players and ethnic instability, analyst Hasan Abdullah told Radio Sputnik, adding that Turkey, Iran and Baghdad’s determination to thwart the Kurdish strive for sovereignty may convince Erbil to back off, while Israel’s support won’t help. The Kurdish independence referendum is likely to trigger a…

Trump’s Parade Dreams Expose Deep Schism in US Over Military Affairs

Trump’s Parade Dreams Expose Deep Schism in US Over Military Affairs

Many in the US like to see their country as a peaceful, munificent global arbiter which will only take up arms when roused beyond reasonable restraint. The facts, however, contradict this. The US is the foremost military power on earth. Every method of calculating military strength shows the ‘Land of the Free’ coming out on…

Good Blacks, Bad Blacks: From Washington and DuBois to Morgan Freeman and Colin Kaepernick

Good Blacks, Bad Blacks: From Washington and DuBois to Morgan Freeman and Colin Kaepernick

White America, for the most part, makes a critical distinction between “good” and “bad” Black Americans – and a related distinction between “good” and “bad” Black behavior. It goes way back. During the 1960s, for example, Muhammad Ali was a “good Negro” when he seemed to be just a happy-go-lucky wise-cracking Olympic Gold Medal winner…