Antiwar.com Weekly Newsletter for February 24, 2021

Your source for foreign policy news. 

February 24th, 2021

We've Gone a Year Without a Combat Death in Afghanistan - Will Biden Break the Streak?

February 9th marked the first time in nearly two decades that the U.S. military went one full year without a trooper killed in Afghanistan action. Now, with newly minted President Biden weighing his Afghan options - and under immense bipartisan insider pressure to stay-put or even ramp-up - a simple question leaps forth: Does Amtrak Joe really wish to be the guy to needlessly bury the streak along with some poor kid from Wilmington or Scranton?

Look, despite his 40-plus years of experience - spent more engaged than most - on foreign affairs, Biden's hardly been an expert-sophisticate. By mostly his own admission, Joe's generally a gut-player, prone to the "feels," and ever-susceptible to emotional arguments. This has its limits, obviously - but isn't always all bad. Especially when the issue at hand - not squandering another soldier's life in a futile, and long ago lost, crusade - is actually simpler than Washington's winless expert class hopes to confuse us into believing. These jargon-jugglers play buzzword-bingo - resurrecting long-passed pro-war platitudes - to gaslight an increasing Afghan adventure-skeptical American public.

By Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.)

Report: Biden Preparing Major Penalties on Russia

According to a report from Politico, the Biden administration is preparing to hit Russia with major penalties over the jailing and alleged poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Sources told Politico that the US is planning to coordinate a sanctions roll-out with its European allies. Details of what sanctions President Biden is planning are not clear. The report said the Trump administration left behind a sanctions package that laid out options for possible punishments for Russia, which the new administration is reviewing.

The options include Magnitsky Act sanctions on individuals who detained Navalny, sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, and sanctions under Executive Order 13382, which freezes the assets of alleged proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.

By Dave DeCamp

Read the full story >

Biden Administration Should Drop Military Commitment to Saudi Arabia

President Joe Biden's most important accomplishment so far has been to drain the fetid swamp that was Mike Pompeo's State Department. Pompeo spent nearly three years swaggering about the globe, a faux diplomat who exuded arrogance and sanctimony while spewing dictates, demands, threats, ultimatums, orders, and insults.

America's image and credibility suffered accordingly. Indeed, his policies were collectively an almost complete, total, abject, and humiliating failure.

During his tenure China continued to rise. Russia still occupied Crimea. Iran resurrected its nuclear program. Syria's Bashar al-Assad refused to accept American suzerainty. The Europeans proceeded independently. North Korea advanced new armament plans. Venezuela withstood US sanctions and mercenaries. Palestinians refused to submit as Israel's Helots. Castro's communists still ruled Cuba. And the Saudis continued to bungle their aggression against Yemen, visiting murder and mayhem upon among the poorest, most distressed people on earth.

By Doug Bandow

Read the full story >

Iran Sees Hypocrisy as West Mum on Israel's Nuclear Expansion

For years, anything Iran does even tangentially related to its civilian nuclear program elicits gasps of horror from Western leaders. This is true particularly when those actions have nothing to do with nuclear arms. One might think Western leaders are so misinformed on nuclear activity that they don't know any better.
Or maybe its just Iran. FM Javad Zarif couldn't help but notice hypocrisy among leaders when reports emerged of substantial expansion of Israel's nuclear program, which is already known to include a nuclear arms component, and which the West continues to ignore.

By Jason Ditz

The Unruly Vassal: Election in Kosovo Brings US-Ousted Radical Kurti Back to Power

If preliminary results of the vote in Kosovo are accurate, the hardline "Self-Determination" (Vetevendosje) party of former PM Albin Kurti has won in a landslide, crushing the formerly dominant LDK and the two parties founded by KLA chieftains. While Kurti seems to be enjoying favorable coverage from major global outlets, the Empire has been strangely silent on his prospects - and will ultimately be the one to call the shots.

Serbia's renegade province, which has styled itself as an independent state with Empire's support since 2008, held early elections on Saturday. Preliminary results show Vetevendosje (LVV) getting a rather astonishing 47.85% of the vote, simply stomping all over Hashim Thaci's PDK (17.41%) and Ramush Haradinaj's AAK (7.43%) but also the LDK (13%), a party founded by longtime ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova.

By Nebojsa Malic

Hundreds Killed on Each Side; Yemen's Maarib a 'Blood Bath'

The UN is pushing both sides to abandon the ongoing escalation of the fighting over Yemen's Maarib, the last government-held outpost in northern Yemen, warning that the toll is rising and that risks a civilian exodus from the area.
Weeks of fighting so far have accomplished little, with sources describing a "blood bath" and both sides having lost hundreds of fighters. The outpost is still in government hands, though the Houthis have high ground in the vicinity now.
The deadliest single fight since 2018, the Maarib battle reflects something common in Yemen, that it's easy to get into a deadly fight, but hard to make any territory change hands in a meaningful way.

By Jason Ditz

Will Comey's Words Come Back To Haunt Him?

Phil Weiss on BDS, Biden and Israel's Apartheid State

Biden Administration Rejects China's Calls for Better Relations

Do you want more news?

Keep your finger on the pulse of US foreign policy. Subscribe to our Daily Digest and each evening, the day's top news stories and editorials are delivered straight to your email. Please support our work by signing up.

Antiwar.com, 1017 El Camino Real #306, Redwood City, CA 94063 | 323 512 7095 | www.antiwar.com