A deep analysis of the world-wide drive towards war, featuring news reports, documents, background material and analysis
This New Cold War dossier provides background material for readers seeking to understand the current drive towards war. Each section deals with one aspect and contains links to relevant articles on the New Cold War website, together with a brief introduction to the article.
New Cold War dossiers will be updated and republished from time to time as new items are added.
To view an article click on its headline; to view the original, click on the ‘originally published’ link immediately preceding the introduction to the article.
By Alan Freeman and Radhika Desai, editors, 10 Jun, 2018
- What are we fighting for? the war aims of the protagonists.
- How the U.S. army will defeat Russia in a future conflict
- Retired US Colonel: Israel is dragging the United States into World War III
- Restoring strategic balance: Russia’s ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons.
- Are we reading Russia right?
- Russia is urging Syria to “compromise”, says analyst
- Russia’s official Syria policy: Everyone but Assad must go!
- White House still examining plans to topple Iranian regime
- Netanyahu banks on escalation with Iran
- A Saudi-Iranian dialogue on regional security
- Enter the dragon: China’s role in winning peace for Syria
- House divided
- Mattis breaks with Trump, says Iran nuclear deal includes ‘robust’ verification
- Freedom Rider: Trump and Israeli Collusion
- Poll shows public overwhelmingly opposed to endless US military interventions
- Arms and the money
- The first casualty
- Amnesty International says US-led strikes on Raqqa may amount to war crimes
- Allying with “political Islam”: Washington’s tactical alliances with Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria
- ‘We were close to direct conflict between Russia & US inside Syria’ – Bashar Assad
- ISIS terrorists are only present in US-controlled areas in Syria – Russian MoD
- Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters takes on Syrian White Helmets, thought-Control
- NATO’s world-wide projection
What are we fighting for? the war aims of the protagonists
How the U.S. army will defeat Russia in a future conflict
The first of two articles on the strategic defence posture of the two largest military superpowers. What defines US defence strategy, and has always has, really an offense strategy. US military leaders view the world as a theatre of endless conflict, when all they need do to ‘win’ is stop attacking people. Emerging military doctrine has now constructed the category of ‘near-peer adversaries’: the U.S. Army is building the doctrine for wining a conflict with Russia or China. It’s a scary doctrine, not least because it sees every aspect of society as a field of conflict: Russia has ‘created events on the ground’ and ‘turned them into an information war’. Which means if you follow youre beliefs, or say what you think – you’re a danger to the military.
By Lara Seligman, April 26, 2018
First published on Aviation Week
Retired US Colonel: Israel is dragging the United States into World War III
It’s not just leftists and alternative bloggers who oppose the official US line on Israel. A significant section of the US military and intelligence establishment, long ignored by media commentators, consistently questions the US strategic stance – like Col Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell
By Darius Shahtahmasebi, 12 Mar 2018
Originally published on MintPressNews
Restoring strategic balance: Russia’s ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons
The second of two articles on the defence postures of the ‘two superpowers’. Russia’s military doctrine, this post argues, is to make a first strike against it impossible; this involves the concept of strategic balance. Russia’s new technologies are designed to ensure that no matter what the first strike capability of the USA, if it deploys that capability it will suffer unacceptable damage. In short, the purpose of the new weapons is to ensure they will not be used. This contrasts starkly with the defence posture of the USA, for whom the purpose of new weapons is to use them.
First published on SOUTH FRONT
May 1, 2018
Are we reading Russia right?
Despite the passage of time, Cold War patterns of thinking about Russia show no sign of weakening in America. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, we need to look at Russian society in a fundamentally different light. We must learn to appreciate it as a democracy that shares key similarities, as well as differences, with the West.
Nicolai Petro, Jun 21 2018
Published on the author’s site
Russia is urging Syria to “compromise”, says analyst
What exactly are Russia’s aims in Syria? To achieve a lasting political solution, says Andrew Korybko. First of two evaluations of Russia’s aims in Syria
By Andrew Korybko, May 11, 2018
First published on Eurasia Future
Russia’s official Syria policy: Everyone but Assad must go!
The second of two evaluations of Russia’s aims in Syria
By Adam Garrie, May 18, 2018
First published on Eurasia Future
White House still examining plans to topple Iranian regime
The USA has by no means given up on its plans for regime change in Iran. A White Paper under consideration by the Trump administration pushes a bid to ‘help’ Iranians topple the hardline regime
By Adam Kredo, May 10, 2018
First published in the Washington Free Beacon
Netanyahu banks on escalation with Iran
Israel’s war aims are unwavering: take out Iran and partition Syria.
May 6, 2018
First published on AL-MONITOR
A Saudi-Iranian dialogue on regional security
With tensions between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia at the brink, a rare dialogue recently took place between two former senior Saudi and Iranian officials. Hosted by the Center for Strategic Studies at the Joint Special Operations University in Tampa, Florida, former Saudi Ambassador to the United States and Director General of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency Prince Turki al Faisal debated Ambassador Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiators and chairman of the foreign policy committee of Iran’s National Security Council.
Turki al Faisal and Hossein Mousavian, Apr 23, 2018
Originally appeared on lobelog
Enter the dragon: China’s role in winning peace for Syria
China is stepping up its involvement in Syria, not with its military, but with cash – and lots of it. For Beijing, war-torn Syria is a golden opportunity for reconstruction business. For Damascus, prosperity means peace.
By Finian Cunningham, May 24, 2018
First published in RT
House divided
Mattis breaks with Trump, says Iran nuclear deal includes ‘robust’ verification
Opposition to the US strategic position in the Middle East is not confined to leftists, Putin-lovers and cult bloggers. Divisions go deep into the US military; no matter how much they wish to inflict unlimited damage on anyone who stands in the way of the United States, are professionally forced to recognise reality. The military contains a ‘practical’ wing which, faced with the military successes of its opponents, confronts however partially the potential consequences of all-out war with them. It is therefore noteworthy that ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, the most gung-ho advocate of exercising US military power in the Trump camp, was the most senior military figure to question the wisdom of breaking from the Iran deal
HAARETZ, May 7, 2018 citing The Associated Press, Apr 26, 2018
Freedom Rider: Trump and Israeli Collusion
“Trump is the one true believer in Israeli’s right to reign supreme in its region and in command of American foreign policy.”
By Margaret Kimberley, May 9, 2018
First published on Black Agenda Report
Poll shows public overwhelmingly opposed to endless US military interventions
Who does the American government, its parties, and its president, speak for when it pushes for war across the planet? Not, it would appear, its voters. An independent, specially-commissioned poll taken at the end of 2017 shows a wide bipartisan majority seeks an American foreign policy of realism and restraint. 86.4 percent of those surveyed feel the American military should be used only as a last resort, while 57 percent feel that US military aid to foreign countries is counterproductive. The latter sentiment “increases significantly” when involving countries like Saudi Arabia, with 63.9 percent saying military aid—including money and weapons—should not be provided to such countries.
Arms and the money
Canada’s dual role in Yemen: Arms exports to Saudi coalition dwarf aid sent to war-torn country
When Global Affairs Canada announced another aid package to war-torn Yemen in January, it boasted that Ottawa had given a total of $65 million to help ease what the United Nations has called “the worst man-made humanitarian crisis of our time.” What the government did not mention is that since 2015, Canada has also approved more than $284 million in exports of Canadian weapons and military goods to the countries bombing Yemen.
By Brendan Kennedy and Michelle Shephard, Apr 30, 2018
Originally appeared in the Toronto Star
Revealed: Britain’s ‘secret’ arms sales to Middle East human rights abusers
The UK government is using secretive export rules to hide the true extent of arms exports to Middle East states with dire human rights records, Middle East Eye reveals. The UK has increased by 20 percent the use of opaque ‘open licences’ in dealings with controversial governments.
By Jamie Merrill, Mar 23, 2018
First published on MIDDLE EAST EYE
The first casualty
Amnesty International says US-led strikes on Raqqa may amount to war crimes
Airstrikes by the US-led coalition in Raqqa, Syria, probably breached international humanitarian law and potentially amount to war crimes, according to a report by Amnesty International that is being hotly contested by the Pentagon.
By By Angela Dewan and Hilary McGann, June 8 2018
Originally published on CNN
Allying with “political Islam”: Washington’s tactical alliances with Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria
The United States has refrained from attacking ISIS and Al-Quaeda in Syria – because its main goal is regime change in Damascus, the New York Times says in an article that has received less attention than it merits. This article dates from 2016 but is still highly relevant.
By Stephen Gowans, Jul 18, 2016
The original source of this article is what’s left
‘We were close to direct conflict between Russia & US inside Syria’ – Bashar Assad
Assad speaks to Russia Today on the war in Syria, Russia’s involvement, the charges of chemical weapons use, US proxies, and the very real threat of a direct US-Russia war
May 31, 2018
First published in RT
ISIS terrorists are only present in US-controlled areas in Syria – Russian MoD
ISIS remains only in the US-controlled areas of Syria. So exactly why are US forces there at all?
By Leith Aboufadel, June 10, 2018
First published on Global Research
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters takes on Syrian White Helmets, thought-Control
“What we should do is go and persuade our governments not to go and drop bombs on people. And certainly not until we have done all the research that is necessary so that we would have a clear idea of what is really going on.” — Roger Waters
By Whitney Webb, Apr 17, 2018
First published on Mint Press News
NATO’s world-wide projection
War provocations in Donbass
As military activity in East Ukraine grows, along with the prospect that the US will supply Ukraine’s army with heavy lethal weapons, the steady stream of anti-Russian propaganda grows in proportion. The public is not, however being told that the source of the provocations is the continual violation of the Minsk accord by the Ukrainian army. Nor is it being informed of a yet more alarming development: what appears to be deliberate attempts to involve NATO directly
By Eduard Popov, May 19, 2018
First published on Fort Russ
Colombia becomes Nato’s first Latin American ‘partner’
NATO expands to four continents, as Colombia joins – to defend it against what?
By Harriet Alexander, May 26, 2018
First published in The Telegraph
