Your source for US  foreign policy.

March 18, 2020

Look, I’m no doctor; not a scientist; certainly no expert in epidemiology. So I’ve kept silent, for the most part, on the Coronavirus. Being more than a little out of my depth on the subject, I’ll continue to do so. Nonetheless, it is striking how the disease outbreak has swallowed the news cycle whole, totally blotted out the sun of reportage on America’s ongoing militarist wars. While almost certainly not the cause or initial motive, 24/7 Corona-coverage has been convenient for the establishment media and political elites: a beyond-reproach justification for total blackout for U.S. wars and violent interventions that continue to kill our soldiers and – in far greater numbers – foreigners unlucky enough to live in the vast, contested expense from West Africa to Central Asia.

— By  Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.)

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US Imposes New Iran Sanctions, Complicating Coronavirus

Last week, Iranian officials emphasized that US sanctions are making their reaction to the coronavirus outbreak much more difficult, leading to both Iran and China to urge the US to put those sanctions on hold for humanitarian reason.

Not going after Iran for humanitarian reasons, needless to say, isn’t a policy that the administration considers, and the US announced more sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, saying they are part of the ongoing ‘maximum pressure campaign.’

— By Jason Ditz

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As Americans are gripped with fear over the coronavirus, the cholera epidemic quietly continues in Yemen. The disease spreading in Yemen is not some new untreatable virus, but a well-known illness that can be easily prevented with access to clean water, or with a cheap oral vaccine. The outbreak is a direct result of the barbaric US-Saudi siege on the country that started in 2015.

— By Dave DeCamp

Saudi Arabia: The Crown Prince in His Labyrinth

Back in November 2019, former Bolivian President Evo Morales was ousted in a coup after claims of election fraud from the Organization for American States (OAS). A new MIT study into the October 20th presidential election does not support the conclusions of the OAS and casts further doubt on the already flimsy claims. Much damage has already been done, Morales fled the country, members of his Movimento al Socialismo (MAS) party have been arrested, and dozens of his supporters were shot and killed by police in the unrest that followed the coup.

— By Daniel Lazare

US Sees Coronavirus as a New Way to Pressure Iran

For the US government, killing Iranians, particularly those with government positions, is seen as a generally positive thing. This has some in the administration seeing Iran’s coronavirus crisis as an opportunity of sorts.

Coronavirus has killed more than 700 Iranians so far, and infected many thousands. These aren’t all specific targets of the US, but there are some senior Iranian officials among them, and the administration sees those deaths as taking a toll on Iranian decision-making.

— By Jason Ditz