Will Israel be allowed to continue its Gaza starvation strategy?

US Senator Chris Van Hollen says it is time for the Biden administration to tell Israel, “If you continue to ignore us, there will be consequences.”

Why are Israel and its Western allies targeting UNRWA?

Is Israel trying to associate Hamas and UNRWA to mobilise anti-Palestinian sentiment in the US?

About 20 countries have announced suspension of funding to UNRWA, the agency that has been providing services to Palestinian refugees since 1950.

The official reason for the suspension was Israel’s accusation that a dozen UNRWA employees in Gaza had participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Why does the US refuse to call for a ceasefire in Gaza?

US political scientist Stephen Walt says Israel has changed over the years, but Biden’s policy is stuck in the past.

The United States’ support for Israel’s war on Gaza makes the country look ineffectual and hypocritical to the rest of the world, according to Harvard University professor Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.

Walt tells host Steve Clemons that Israel and the US-Israel relationship have changed over the decades, but US President Joe Biden is holding on to a view of Israel formed in the West in the 1970s.

Are Israel’s attempts to demoralise the Palestinians backfiring?

Middle East expert Steven Cook says US President Joe Biden made a mistake with his ‘bear hug’ embrace of Israel.

Some US officials have talked about the need to protect innocent Palestinian lives, but US President Joe Biden has said almost nothing.

Can Trump be prosecuted for keeping national security documents?

As the Justice Department investigates whether the former US president broke the law, he argues it’s ‘political persecution’.

When former US President Donald Trump left the White House, he took boxes full of national security documents to his home/social club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.

At issue now is whether he is allowed to have them, and whether he obstructed a federal investigation when he told the government earlier this year that he had returned all classified material – only to have the FBI find more when the agency raided his home last month.

Can China revive its COVID-hit economy?

The Chinese government has announced a 33-point stimulus plan to put the economy back on track.

China has been the biggest source of global economic growth for the past 20 years. And it has long defied predictions it would soon hit a wall.

But, strict COVID lockdowns, a crackdown on tech companies and a real estate slump are challenging the world’s second-largest economy’s expansion. Many financial institutions predict growth will fall well short of Beijing’s target of about 5.5 percent this year, for the first time in decades.

 

What are the prospects for Afghan-US relations?

 

Former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has had a front-row seat to relations between Washington and Kabul for decades.

Normal relations between Afghanistan and the United States are not on the horizon after 20 years of war.

NATO’s unity in the war in Ukraine: Real or an illusion? | The Bottom Line

NATO’s support for Ukraine has allowed it to stand up to Russia, but how long can the united front last?

Three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several NATO members say the priority should be an end to hostilities; but where would that leave Ukraine?

For the West, what are the objectives of the war? Is the goal to extend the fighting indefinitely to weaken Russia economically and militarily as much as possible?

Listening  to John Bolton is like asking a liar to tell the truth.  He hates the United Nations and just loves sending other peoples children off to fight and die in pointless wars.  This is a new low for Al Jazeera, Steve Clemons and The Bottom Line. 

How does Poland view the war in Ukraine?

 Warsaw has established itself as the linchpin of Western involvement in the war.

Three months into the fighting in Ukraine, Poland has established itself as the main conduit of weapons and aid from the West to Ukraine. It has also absorbed the highest number of Ukrainian refugees, 3.4 million people. And it is working to end its energy dependency on Russia within months.

Russian leaders have warned Poland – which joined NATO in 1999, several years before it joined the European Union – against taking such a strident role against Moscow.

Are we in the middle of Cold War 2.0?

 Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says there are ways to prevent all-out conflict between China and the US.

Within years, China will overtake the United States as the world’s number one economy, and China’s influence is spreading worldwide – mostly at the expense of US global leadership.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tells host Steve Clemons that this is the “decisive decade” in relations between the two powers. Either they find a way to share wealth and power, or they head down a collision course.

Will Ukraine go East or West – or both?

 Kyiv is stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war between Russia and Western powers, with no easy way out.

Russia has beefed up its military presence all along its border with Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin insists that Kyiv must remain firmly in the Russian sphere of influence.

Europe and the United States say there would be huge repercussions for Moscow if it invades Ukraine, and want Kyiv to lean more to the West.

20 years later, can the US close Guantanamo?

 

Ever since January 2002, the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has become synonymous for many with abuse of prisoners and disregard for the rule of law.

Of its 39 remaining prisoners, 18 are cleared for release, but waiting for a country to take them.

January 6: Will every major US election be followed by riots?

 

A year after the riot at Congress, 30 percent of Americans still believe the 2020 election was a fraud. Can democracy recover?

Even a year later, most Americans cannot agree on what to call the events that took place on January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol.

The Democratic Party and most media call it an “insurrection”, an attempted coup against a democratically elected government. Most Republicans reject that designation, admitting it was foolhardy, but not worthy of exaggeration.

Democracy vs hypocrisy: Biden’s ‘Summit for Democracy’

 

US President Joe Biden had been in office for a few days when he announced that he would hold a virtual “Summit for Democracy” to “push back authoritarianism’s advance” worldwide.

But after the world watched the disregard for rule of law, expansion of executive power and mistrust of elections spread throughout the United States, the question is: What moral authority does Washington have to lecture the rest of the world about democracy?

Why is white supremacy growing in the United States?

 

President Biden promised to confront white supremacy but past notions on race persist – and flourish – among Americans.

For centuries, there was no significant challenge to the supremacy of white people in the United States.

White nationalists speak of “saving America” – but who are they saving it for? And who are they saving it from?

Will the world ever be able to move beyond the coronavirus?

 

The former director of the CDC talks about the Delta variant, booster shots and the world’s unvaccinated.

While COVID-19 deaths and lockdowns have become less frequent in certain parts of the world, the coronavirus still looms large over humanity.

Affecting rich and poor countries, disrupting the supply of everything from magnets to cars and altering societies in countless ways, it seems like the disease will not just go away.

Should the US have stayed in Afghanistan longer?

 

The real question is why does the media turn to failed foreign policy fools like John Bolton. This is another conservative that hasn't met a war he doesn't  just love.  John Bolton should be left in his hole never to be heard from again. 

The US is leaving Afghanistan, but what is it leaving behind?

 

After 20 years of direct intervention, Washington decides that the future of Afghanistan is for its people to decide.

The United States leaves Afghanistan as the Taliban seem to be retaking control of the entire country, city by city.

So what becomes of the government that Washington propped up and the military that it trained?

Is the US leading a new nuclear arms race?

 

The US speaks of non-proliferation but is spending billions to upgrade its nuclear arsenal.

One nuclear bomb can wipe out almost half a million people, yet the United States and Russia have thousands of these weapons. And seven other countries have created atomic bombs as well.

There is no way to reverse time and get rid of these weapons, and countries will spend billions to maintain and upgrade their arsenals, but to what end?

Steve Clemons talks about US nuclear strategy with former Congressman John Tierney, the executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest.

Why can’t the US end the war in Afghanistan?

 

Largely forgotten by Americans, this $50 billion per year campaign could literally become a ‘forever war’.

Despite his campaign promises to “bring the vast majority of our troops home from Afghanistan”, US President Joe Biden is finding that ending the 20-year-old Afghan war is easier said than done.

At one point before the elections former President Donald Trump was ready to leave without much regard for the consequences, in fulfilment of his campaign promise to end the “forever wars”.