Author: Steven Sahiounie

In a press conference Friday evening, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford announced the US would be sending “hundreds” of US troops, as well as additional air defense capabilities, to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “The president has approved the deployment of US forces which will be defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon. He noted that the US doesn’t seek war with Iran, but “has other options” as well. He said that a “layered defense” could better…

The so-called Arab Spring began in December 2010 when a Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in protest at harassment by the police. A month later Tunisia’s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile in Saudi Arabia. Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the former president of Tunisia, has died in exile in Saudi Arabia aged 83. His wife Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser, was one of the most reviled women in North Africa when she fled with him after they were ousted.   ​Her family and that of her US-backed husband was at the heart of the corruption which…

The secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did his utmost to escalate tensions and crises in the Middle East as part of attempts to secure another term in office, but all to no avail. “Netanyahu tried to change equation in Lebanon in a bid to stay in power and continue on as incumbent Israeli prime minister. He even engaged in fiery rhetoric against Iran, but his bid to secure another term just failed,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an address to his supporters in a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut…

By Mark Taliano Syria expresses her freedom in her resistance to Empire. Resistance takes many forms and trajectories, but they all lead to freedom. Resistance delivers freedom from terrorism, it expresses itself not only when the SAA defeats Western supported terrorists, but also when Syria rebuilds from the ruins. Resistance and freedom are evident when Syria and Syrians choose their own political economy. Syrians choose President Assad, and he is staying. Syrians choose a secular government and constitution, and they are staying. Ironically, but predictably, social schisms DID occur in Syria prior to 2011. As Prof. Chossudovsky notes in “SYRIA: NATO’s…

A group of 23 states on Friday sued to block the Trump administration from undoing California’s authority to set strict car pollution rules, one of the biggest US battles over climate change. On the day that young people around the world staged protests demanding action on climate, the lawsuit in US District Court in Washington was the first round in a legal battle that many expect will outlast Trump’s presidency. “Mr. President, we’ll see you in court,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. The legal fight pits a Democratic majority state that has become the US environmental…

Steven Sahiounie, Middle East observer The attack Two oil refineries belonging to Saudi Aramco, Abqaiq, and Khurais, were attacked by drones and missiles on September 14, with damage so severe that the country’s crude output was essentially cut in half. Dozens of drones and missiles flew low to the ground on their way to cutting into the heart of the Saudi oil industry. The Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for the attacks and have presented their evidence in a televised press briefing; however, Saudi and US officials have claimed Iran is responsible. Saudi Arabia and the US…

The day before, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the attacks on two oil refineries in Saudi Arabia were “an Iranian attack” that was an “act of war.” Despite blaming Iran for the latest attacks on the Saudi Aramco oil facilities, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he would prefer to see a “peaceful solution” to the crisis in the region. “We’d like a peaceful resolution. I hope the Islamic Republic of Iran sees it the same way,” he said after meeting with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates. Speaking further Pompeo said that…

BY TIM ANDERSON Despite Washington’s best efforts to isolate and destroy Syria, trade unionists have led a breakthrough in international solidarity with the independent nation. A two-day trade union conference in Damascus (8-9 September 2019) focussed on building international solidarity to resist foreign aggression, including economic war. More than 200 delegates from more than 40 countries, and from about 90 organizations, participated. Most were from the Arab and African regions, but notable was the presence of dozens of unionists and labor organizers from Europe and North America. The Third International Trade Union Forum conference was organized by Syria’s General Federation of…

India has bought military hardware worth $14.5 billion from Russia including Air Defense System Igla-S. India has released $14.5 billion payment to Russia for buying weapons and other military equipment. Major buying of India from Russia now includes state of the art S-400 systems and portable Air Defense System Igla-S. First S-400 Air Defence Unit will reach India by year 2020. The Igla-S man-portable air defence missile system (MANPADS) is designed to engage all types of visually observable aircraft and helicopters as well as pinpoint air targets like cruise missiles and unmanned air vehicles, both head-on and receding, at any…

Russia has called on all countries of the Persian Gulf region to sit down for talks to ease tensions triggered by recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, calling accusations that Iran was behind the raids “unsubstantiated.” “All the [Persian] Gulf countries and their partners both in region and outside must sit down for talks and start to defuse the tensions,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the capital, Moscow, on Thursday. Those states, he said, must “take easy steps through trust, transparency, mutual invitations to military events and other [events], which can help understand that it is necessary…