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June 30th, 2021
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June 22, 2021 should go down as a dark day in the history of the First Amendment. On that date, the U.S. Justice Department seized control of dozens of Iranian websites. According to a Justice Department press release, the federal authorities seized 33 websites operated by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU), which is "linked" to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In October 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated IRTVU as a Specially Designated National (SDN). SDNs are prohibited from obtaining services, including website and domain services, in the United States without a license. The Justice Department charged that such entities "disguised as news organizations or media outlets, targeted the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations."
Such a vague and subjective justification should send chills down the spine of every American who values the First Amendment. "Disinformation" is fast becoming an all-purpose rationale (pretext?) for trying to silence dissenting voices, especially on foreign policy issues.
By Ted Galen Carpenter
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Former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK) died yesterday at 91. He was a major hero of the antiwar movement several times over.
Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times; they began publishing them on June 13, 1971 The U.S. Justice Department immediately tried to halt publication, on the grounds that the information revealed within the papers harmed the national interest. Within the next two weeks, a federal court injunction halted publication in The Times; The Washington Post and several other newspapers began publishing parts of the documents, with some of them also being halted by injunctions; and the whole matter went to the US Supreme Court for arguments. Ellsberg then went to Senator Gravel to release them in the Senate. Gravel had recently led Senate filibusters against renewal of the military draft. Gravel was able to read them into the Congressional Record, putting them into the public domain under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution which gives congressional members immunity from prosecution.
By Eric Garris
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Sunday's overnight attack by the Biden Administration hit putative targets in Iraq and Syria. The targets were supposed to be an Iraqi militia that was backed by Iran, and this quickly was expanded in narratives into just being Iran.
As Biden steps up violence in Iraq and Syria, the media is making some predictions of Iran retaliating. Yet realistically Iran isn�t the one that was attacked in the first place, it was an Iraqi Shi�ite militia, at best, and Syrian civilians and food depots at least in part.
We've already seen retaliation against US troops in Syria, by the targeted Iraqi militia. This has led to some escalation of violence, talk of open warfare, and some serious criticism from the Iraqi government, which termed it a sovereignty violation.
By Jason Ditz
Western powers continue to blame Iran for the slow progress of the negotiations to revive the nuclear deal even though the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, and now the Biden administration refuses to lift all Trump-era sanctions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Paris Friday. Both Blinken and his French counterpart warned Iran that time was running out to revive the JCPOA. "There will come a point, yes, where it will be very hard to return back to the standards set by the JCPOA," Blinken told reporters. "We haven�t reached that point - I can't put a date on it - but it's something that we�re conscious of."
By Dave DeCamp
The Biden administration continues its military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Opposition from the U.S. foreign policy establishment known as "the Blob" is fierce. Most Washington policymakers would have American military personnel stay in Afghanistan forever, or at least until the Second Coming, plus a few extra years, just to be safe.
The president's plan naturally is opposed by most Republicans, who have turned themselves into the forever war party. The country doesn�t matter. Whether it is Afghanistan, Germany, Iraq, Syria, South Korea, Lithuania, Turkey, or elsewhere, no US military personnel once deployed can ever be withdrawn, under any circumstances. To even suggest doing so anywhere at any time, argue the uber-hawks who now dominate the GOP congressional caucus, is to signal weakness, invite war, risk chaos, and even chance a new Dark Age.
By Doug Bandow
Speaking to reporters in Kabul, Gen. Austin Miller detailed the ongoing US withdrawal from Afghanistan, worrying about the mounting losses by Afghan security forces, and promising US military support in the future.
He focused on the Afghan forces' losses in a Taliban offensive, but that the US warplanes will remain there "to support and defend" Afghan troops under attack.
It's not clear exactly where the US planes will be based to keep conducting strikes in Afghanistan beyond the pullout. Officials have constantly promised it will happen and the US will in some way retain this capability.
By Jason Ditz
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