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This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. More Information Accept Vol. 42 No. 2 · 23 January 2020 Blundering into War Patrick Cockburn on what Trump doesn’t know about Iran Share on TwitterShare on FacebookEmailPrint 2442 words At the time of his assassination, General Qasem Soleimani’s strat­egy in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East with large Shia populations had become counterproductive. He is now guaranteed the status of a great Iranian warrior and a Shia martyr, in spite of the mistakes he made in the last years of his life. The violent repression, orchestrated by Soleimani, of small-scale protests in Iraq last October provoked something close to a mass uprising by the Shia community. Iran and its proxies were blamed for the deaths of more than five hundred protesters and injuries to another fifteen thous­and; demonstrators chanting anti­-Iranian slogans burned the Iranian consulates in the Shia holy cities of Kerba...

The Israel Lobby John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt Share on TwitterShare on FacebookEmailPrint 12,686 words For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides. Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region de...