Mike Whitney

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition.

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria Pits Neocons Against Traditional Imperialists

The apparent split between the Pentagon and the White House does not reflect the deeper divisions which will become more apparent as the traditional imperialists in the administration face-off with the neocons in a cage-match that will determine the shape of policy in Syria and beyond.

Mike Whitney
By Mike Whitney
H.R. McMaster listens at right, behind Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, during a Cabinet meeting, June 12, 2017. Andrew Harnik | AP

US foreign policy in the Middle East is not merely adrift, it is in a state of severe crisis. Even as Turkish tanks and warplanes continue to pound US allies in northwestern Syria (The Kurds), powerbrokers in the White House and the Pentagon are unable to settle on a way forward. The frantic attempts to placate their NATO ally, Turkey, while trying

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Trump’s Plan B for Syria: Occupation and Intimidation

The US is creating a de facto autonomous Kurdish state in east Syria that will be defended by a US-backed “proxy” army of occupation.

Mike Whitney
By Mike Whitney
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the creation of a de facto autonomous Kurdish state in east Syria that will be supported by the United States and defended by a US-backed “proxy” army of occupation. Tillerson’s announcement was made at a confab he attended at Stanford University at the Hoover Institute. According to The

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Doomsday Election

The only thing that is certain is that, whoever wins, we lose.​

Mike Whitney
By Mike Whitney
(Image: Lance Page/Truthout; Adapted: th.omas, Javier Carcamo)

This is what it must feel like to be on Death Row, to be waiting for the moment when the iron door clangs open for the last time and four burly guards escort you arm-in-arm to the room where your life will be extinguished. That same sense of dread hangs over the presidential election of 2016. No one is happy about the election and no one

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