Published on by Gary Grappo
Published first at The Cipher Brief on November 18, 2019
Events in Washington last week were gut-wrenching for many, not least for America’s Foreign Service and the two million other public servants of the United States. They were also inspiring and cause for much pride. At present, the House of Representatives impeachment hearings are largely driven not by senior political figures or high-priced lawyers (yet) […]
Published on by Gary Grappo
Published first at Fair Observer on October 25, 2019
Following Donald Trump’s decision to suddenly abandon the Syrian Kurds, we still don’t know what the full aftermath of the move will entail. The sad tragedy of US President Donald Trump’s precipitous decision to suddenly abandon the Kurds of northern Syria is that it may have been inevitable. Turkey had long warned the Americans that […]
Published on by Gary Grappo
Published first at The Cipher Brief on October 16, 2019
The argument often proffered to justify President Trump’s precipitous decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northeast Syria is that “America must end its ‘forever wars.’” Costly wars in Syria, Afghanistan and even Iraq have made the loss of American lives an almost daily occurrence, drained the American treasury, sapped the vigor of the world’s most […]
Published on by Gary Grappo
Published first at Fair Observer on October 2, 2019
One year after his grisly execution by a hit squad, the memory of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and his aspirations for the people of Saudi Arabia haunt the world’s collective conscience. On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi expatriate journalist, walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. What then transpired resembled a 1920s American gangland-style […]
Published on by Gary Grappo
Published first at Fair Observer on September 18, 2019
The attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the consequent impact on oil markets and the effect on the global economy mark the third Middle East conflict to become internationalized in the last decade. “If we don’t go to the Middle East, the Middle East will come to us.” That prophetic comment was once shared […]