Posted on: December 12, 2020 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Israel-Morocco agreement plants long term seeds of conflict

While Donald Trump himself desperately tries to undermine what little democracy we have left in the United States, his foreign policy team is, with somewhat less fanfare, triggering one long term problem after another in foreign policy. The obvious effort to prevent any peaceful resolution to the tensions with Iran has gotten a lot of attention. The administration’s efforts to bribe and blackmail Arab states into agreeing to normalize relations…

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Posted on: November 30, 2020 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Podcast: Murder In Iran And A Biden Government Starts To Form

In the latest episode of the ReThinking Foreign Policy Podcast, I spend some time discussing the murder of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and some of the responses to it. The main story is a look at Joe Biden’s initial picks for his cabinet and lead administrative staff. Some of my views on that may surprise some of my listeners. Finally, I look at Mike Pompeo’s efforts to eliminate any possibility…

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Posted on: November 30, 2020 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Pompeo Lies About Arab States Recognizing Israel as Jews’ “Rightful Homeland”

While touting the economic benefits he expects to emerge from the “Abraham Accords” and similar agreements for normalization that Israel has signed with several Arab states, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “Everybody who joined the Abraham Accords will see the benefits for their own people. I am highly confident that many, many more nations will choose to do the right thing and recognize Israel as the rightful homeland of…

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Posted on: November 28, 2020 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 4

Murder of Iranian Nuclear Scientist: Reckless, Provocative, and Illegal

The murder of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has not gotten nearly the condemnation it deserves. While many prominent activists who lead the call for diplomacy with Iran have struck the appropriately harsh tone this action merits, too few outside of those circles are treating this with the gravity it merits. One exception was Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) who tweeted “If the primary purpose of the killing of Mr. Fakhrizadeh…

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Posted on: November 27, 2020 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Book Review: “Mythologies Without End: The U.S., Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020”

Published today at Responsible Statecraft is my review of Prof Jerome Slater’s new book, Mythologies Without End: The U.S., Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020. Slater goes through a huge list of myths that make up so much of the mass understanding of the conflict over Palestine and Israel. Just the volume of the topics he covers is staggering. To Slater’s great credit, he manages to take on that long list…

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