Eric Draitser

Eric Draitser is a political analyst and host of CounterPunch Radio.  You can follow and support his work at CounterPunch and patreon.com/ericdraitser.

NYPD Commissioner Bratton Resigns, Takes Job With Pro-Clinton, Pro-Israel Firm

As he moves into his new position at Teneo Holdings, Bratton will go from enforcing ‘broken windows’ to rubbing elbows with those gathered at the nexus between law enforcement, the national security state, the military-industrial complex, and U.S.-U.K.-NATO foreign policy.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton Speaks at The First National Personal Security Conference in Israel, 2014.

NEW YORK --- (Analysis) New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton formally announced his resignation on Tuesday, marking the end of a tumultuous second term as the NYPD’s top cop. Bratton, largely seen as the architect of the “broken windows” law enforcement strategy that targets low-level offenses in order to stop larger offenses, has been

Read Full Article

Russia Won’t Hack US Voting Machines, That’s America’s Job

Given all the information about US voting machines, one has to wonder whether the avalanche of accusations about Russian hacking isn’t just the preparatory stage for a massive vote fraud campaign.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
President Barack Obama casts his ballot during early voting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 25, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

With the Democratic National Convention in high gear, the corporate media has inundated the television and computer screens of American voters with endless accusations of Russian meddling in US electoral politics. Democrats have conveniently chosen to deflect attention away from their own criminality – the Wikileaks release of official Democratic

Read Full Article

Erdogan’s Checkmate: CIA-Backed Coup In Turkey Fails, Upsets Global Chessboard

For Washington, Erdogan has proven to an unreliable ally at best, and a dangerous political manipulator at worst. So, as with so many leaders who came to be seen that way by the US political elites, he had to go.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Erdogan Wins

The failed coup in Turkey last week was a political and geopolitical earthquake as it has the potential to fundamentally alter the Middle East, NATO, and potentially the balance of power globally.  But while the implications of the recent developments are clear, what actually took place on the night/morning of July 15 – July 16 is still somewhat

Read Full Article

Freedom For Saif al-Islam Gaddafi! Freedom For Libya!

In a convoluted political picture, one must see beyond simply “good guys” and “bad guys,” and instead understand that while there are indeed good guys and bad guys, some of the good guys are sometimes bad, while some of the bad guys are sometimes good.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, speaks to the media at a press conference in a hotel in Tripoli, Libya.

The news that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the assassinated leader of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi, has been released from captivity is one of the most significant developments in Libya in some time. For while the Western corporate media would like people to believe that the Gaddafi name is dead and buried, the fact remains that

Read Full Article

Syria, ISIS, And The US-UK Propaganda War

Indeed, if the ongoing war in Syria, and the conflicts of the post-Arab Spring period generally, have taught us anything, it is the power of propaganda and public relations to shape narratives which in turn impact political events.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
A Free Syrian Army fighter from the Al-Faruk brigade, center, steps on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Sept. 22, 2012 (AP/Hussein Malla)

With the war in Syria raging in its fifth year, and the Islamic State wreaking havoc throughout the Middle East and North Africa, it’s clear that the entire region has been made into one large theater of conflict. But the battlefield must not be understood solely as a physical place located on a map; it is equally a social and cultural space where

Read Full Article

BRICS Under Attack: Western Banks, Governments Launch Full-Spectrum Assault On Russia (Part I)

Russia is the target of a multi-faceted, asymmetric campaign of destabilization that has employed economic, political, and psychological forms of warfare — each of which has been specifically designed to inflict maximum damage on the Kremlin.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
U.S. Marine Corps amphibious assault vehicles line up by the Trondheim Fjord, Norway, Jan. 9. These vehicles from the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway will support exercise Cold Response 16, scheduled for later this month, with crisis response equipment including M1A1 battle tanks, amphibious assault vehicles, artillery, and logistics equipment drawn from Norwegian caves. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps)

This article is part of a series on Western meddling to foment unrest and destabilize BRICS nations in an effort to ensure the continuation of Western economic and political control over the Global South. The first two parts, focusing on Brazil and South Africa, can be found here and here. Up next: Part II on the assault on Russia, which focuses on

Read Full Article

BRICS Under Attack: The Empire’s Destabilizing Hand Reaches Into South Africa

An undercurrent of political manipulation pulses beneath the surface of popular South African demonstrations organized around legitimate grievances. But who’s pulling the strings? And why?

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser

This article is part of a series on Western meddling to foment unrest and destabilize BRICS nations in an effort to ensure the continuation of Western economic and political control over the Global South. The first part, focusing on Brazil, can be found here. Still to come: BRICS under attack in Russia, India, and China. NEW YORK --- (Analysis)

Read Full Article