John Feffer

John Feffer is the director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the author of the dystopian novel Splinterlands (Dispatch Books/Haymarket, 2016).

Trump Punts on Syria: The Forever War in the Middle East is Far From Over

With Bolton and Pompeo by his side and Mattis departed, Trump may well go with his gut and attack Iran militarily and he’ll be encouraged in this delusion by Israel and Saudi Arabia.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
Donald Trump | Iraq

Donald Trump wants to pull U.S. troops out of Syria as quickly as possible. Well, it’s Wednesday, so that’s what the president wants now. Tomorrow, who knows, maybe he’ll insist that Syria pay for the pullout. Maybe Trump will decide to hold a summit with Bashar al-Assad after deciding that the Syrian leader’s not such a bad guy after all, since he

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The Case for Imposing Sanctions on Donald Trump

It’s time for the world to blacklist Trump, his associates, and his businesses.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
Britain Trump Protest

It’s embarrassing enough to have Donald Trump as president. But now American citizens have to endure the additional pain of the sanctions that other countries are imposing on the United States. Doesn’t the world realize that we’re suffering enough as it is? That seems so grossly unfair. Oh, but wait: that’s how sanctions work. Iraqis who

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From D.C. to Rome Populist Politicians Are Hacking Away at a Broken Status Quo

Unless progressives come up with a more convincing Plan B, the disrupters of the far right will establish something even more unjust and unsustainable.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
President Donald Trump stops to look at supporters as he introduced at a rally at Total Sports Park, April 28, 2018, in Washington, Mich. AP | Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Imagine a trio of tech-savvy and entrepreneurial souls on the prowl for the next killer app. They’re staying up late in their dorm, or perhaps they’re celebrating at a nightclub after finishing their MBA program. They want to make money. They want to change the world. They want to create something that gets snatched up by the titans of e-industry

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Bolton Is Already Pulling the Strings

The hard-right national security adviser successfully tanked the Iran deal. His next target? The North Korea talks.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
National Security Adviser John Bolton listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the Oval Office of the White House, May 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)

For a man with a reputation for venting spleen and flying off the handle, John Bolton bided his time before finally rising to the position of power he now occupies. The former U.S. ambassador to the UN spent much of the last decade consolidating his political base through stints at right-wing institutes like the American Enterprise Institute,

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Peace in Korea, World War in the Middle East

Donald Trump believes he can simultaneously capture a Nobel Peace Prize for North Korea while leaping toward war with Iran.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
Trump mirror

The president giveth and he taketh away. Donald Trump is a stern and wrathful leader. He thinks nothing of raining down fire and fury upon the enemies of his “chosen people.” Indeed, he even flirts with ending the world if he doesn’t receive due respect and the requisite number of burnt offerings. But he can also reward his followers, and those

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Black Panther’s Three Alternatives to the Current Global Status Quo

Erik Killmonger, alas, is all too real, and he is everywhere. But he is not an African-American neocon bent on taking over the world. Rather, you will find him in white Cabinet members, white NRA lobbyists, white militiamen, and (mostly) white school shooters.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
A screenshot from the film, Black Panther depicting Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan.

Donald Trump has now assembled a cabinet of men that have elevated violence to a supreme virtue at home and abroad. Men like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and Trump himself. They are all firm believers in armed domination. In this respect, they share an unlikely bond with Erik Killmonger, the villain of the movie Black Panther. He’s an angry

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Donald Trump to the International Community: Drop Dead

Donald Trump bucks human rights, and regularly heaps praise on and mingles with despots. Think of him as the invasion of Iraq raised to a global level.

John Feffer
By John Feffer
President Donald Trump, left, listens to South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a joint news conference at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 7, 2017. President Donald Trump, on his first day on the Korean peninsula, signaled a willingness to negotiate with North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program, urging Pyongyang to "come to the table" and "make a deal." (AP/Andrew Harnik)

Donald Trump has a plan to solve America’s drug crisis: kill the drug dealers. "We have pushers and drugs dealers, they are killing hundreds and hundreds of people," Trump said at a recent White House summit on opioid abuse. "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty, and by the way, they have much less of a drug

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