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Scott Ritter served as a former Marine Corps officer from 1984 until 1991, and as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 until 1998. He is the author of several books, including "Iraq Confidential" (Nation Books, 2005) and "Target Iran" (Nation Books, 2006).
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 26, 2019 The U.S. Stands to Lose Much More Than a War With Iran
Any military engagement of Iran based upon the force structure supported by the 120,000-troop figure cited by the media cannot, and will not result in a US victory. By initiating an armed conflict with such limited resources, the U.S. could very well be setting itself up for defeat. A war with Iran will cost America tens of thousands of casualties, while killing or wounding hundreds of thousands of Iranians.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 30, 2019 There's One Way to Stop Trump From Acting on Nuclear Threats
On July 22, during a meeting at the White House with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Trump alluded to military plans in which the U.S. could "win the war" in Afghanistan in a matter of days. "I could win that war in a week, I just don't want to kill 10 million people," Trump said. "Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth."
SHARE Saturday, October 12, 2019 Donald Trump's Iran Humiliation
In May 2018, the myth of American military deterrence in defense of Saudi Arabia was still alive; today it lies shattered amidst the ruins of the destroyed Saudi oil facilities. Seen in this light, the collapse of the U.S. campaign of "maximum pressure" can only be interpreted as a strategic victory for Iran, and a decisive defeat for the United States.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, March 16, 2020 How Turkey Lost a Battle of Wills and Force to Russia
When the history of the Syrian conflict is written the fighting that took place between the Syrian Army and its allies on the one side and the Turkish military and Turkish backed Syrian rebels on the other from early February through early March 2020 in and around the Syrian town of Saraqib will go down as one of the decisive encounters of that war.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 26, 2020 The Staggering Collapse of U.S. Intelligence on the Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the United States unlike any other event in recent history, proving to be far more disruptive to American society, and far most damaging to the U.S. economy, than even the events of 9/11.
(9 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 3, 2018 Are You Listening, America?
Some Western observers have derided Putin's speech as simple posturing, a manic effort to project Russian power, and with it global credibility, where none exists. Such an interpretation would be incorrect. There should be no doubt among American politicians, military leaders and citizens alike. "Every word has a meaning," Putin told his audience. The weapons he referred to are real, and Putin meant every word he said.
(12 comments) SHARE Friday, August 3, 2018 Three Reasons Why "Fire and Fury" Won't Work With Iran
Trump withdrew from the JCPOA because of American domestic politics, not because Iran threatened international peace and security. As the United States moves to reimpose sanctions on Iran, one is struck by the number of nations rushing to its side to join in this endeavor: zero.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, April 24, 2020 Will Trump Go to War With Iran to Save the US Oil Industry?
The Persian Gulf, where the US and Iranian navies have faced off against each other several times over the years, employing similar harassing tactics, but always stopping short of actual confrontation.
(9 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 6, 2018 The Ugly Truth in the Nunes Memo
Much has been written about the contents of the Steele dossier and their relationship to the investigation into possible collusion between people affiliated with Trump's candidacy and the Russians. But the House intelligence committee majority memo sheds new light on the dossier, allowing for a more detailed examination of its contents and usage.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 19, 2019 Chemical Weapons Watchdog Is Just an American Lap Dog
If an organization like the OPCW can be used at will by the U.S., the United Kingdom and France to trigger military attacks intended to support regime-change activities in member states, then it no longer serves a useful purpose to the international community it ostensibly serves.
(15 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 15, 2022 The US, NATO & the Article IV Trap in Ukraine
The ongoing flow of refugees out of Ukraine into neighboring territories poses the greatest potential for a NATO-Russia clash.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 8, 2018 The King of Chaos
Trump seems to relish his role as the "King of Chaos," challenging the established world order by simply tearing it apart. This "my way or the highway" approach plays exceptionally well to Trump's domestic political base and seems timed in part to influence the upcoming midterm elections.
(8 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Biden Wants NATO to Project the Strength It Doesn't Have
The NATO Summit was not so much about fixing the myriad of problems facing NATO but rather creating the impression that NATO was united in the face of Russian aggression.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 1, 2019 NATO Is as Good as Dead
NATO is on life-support, and Europe is being asked to foot the bill to keep breathing life into an increasingly moribund alliance whose brain death is readily recognized, but rarely acknowledged.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, February 25, 2022 Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in Perspective
This is the new reality that the world woke up to on Feb. 24 - a Cold War that the West neither wanted, predicted, nor is prepared to undertake.
(31 comments) SHARE Monday, March 7, 2022 Pity the Nation
When my fact-based narrative ran afoul of the regime-change policies of Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, I was cast aside as a pariah.
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, January 3, 2022 Thirty Years On, I Miss the 'Evil Empire'
As a child of the Cold War I grew up only knowing the Soviet Union as our enemy. When it collapsed it created a vacuum when it came to defending the United States.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 24, 2018 Mike Pompeo's 12-Step Plan for Disaster With Iran
Pompeo noted, "If [Iran] restarts their nuclear program, it will mean ... bigger problems than they'd ever had before." In the face of this aggressive posturing, Pompeo declared the Trump administration's intent to "advocate tirelessly for the Iranian people." But this was disingenuous, being little more than code for regime change.
SHARE Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Good Riddance to a Bad Cop
Scott Ritter did some research on Major Travis Yates and the Tulsa Police Department.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 3, 2019 Russia Isn't Getting the Recognition It Deserves on Syria
The prospects for peace in Syria are greater today than at any time since 2011. And the fact that Russia has deployed even more battalions of its military police to Syria to oversee implementation of the current cease-fire bodes well for the prospects of success. Like it or not, in Syria, the Russians saved us from ourselves.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 22, 2019 The Four A's of American Policy Failure in Syria
The Turks will be able to achieve their objectives of clearing a safe zone of Kurdish forces south of the Turkish border, albeit under a U.S. sanctioned agreement. In return, the U.S. agrees not to impose economic sanctions on Turkey.
(8 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 26, 2021 2022 - Year of Major Power Conflict Over Ukraine
Russia says Europe must think about the real prospect of turning their continent into a field of military confrontation like that which existed at the height of the Cold War.
(15 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 26, 2022 The Fantasy of Fanaticism
The ugly truth about Ukraine today "- the longer the war continues the more Ukrainians will die and the weaker NATO will become.
(6 comments) SHARE Monday, May 30, 2022 Phase Three in Ukraine
No amount of western military aid has been able to prevent Russia from achieving its military objective of liberating the entire territories of both Lugansk and Donetsk as Phase Three begins.
(8 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 23, 2022 UKRAINE CRISIS - US 'Toolboxes' Are Empty
The toolbox is empty. Russia knows this. Biden knows this. Blinken knows this. CNN knows this. The only ones who aren't aware of this are the American people.
(9 comments) SHARE Monday, May 13, 2019 Is America Ready for John Bolton's War with Iran?
According to an Israeli official, "It is still unclear to us what the Iranians are trying to do and how they are planning to do it, but it is clear to us that the Iranian temperature is on the rise as a result of the growing U.S. pressure campaign against them and they are considering retaliating against U.S. interests in the Gulf."
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, December 11, 2009 Our Murderers in the Sky
The true test of a society and its leaders is the extent to which every effort is made to both properly define a problem as one worthy of military intervention and then exhaust every option other than the use of force.
SHARE Tuesday, January 28, 2020 No, Iran Won't Have a Nuclear Bomb 'in a Matter of Months'
While the issue of Iran had seized the headlines with the one-two combination of the Suleimani assassination and Iranian retaliation strikes, the news cycle has since shifted to the impeachment trial of President Trump.
(8 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 15, 2018 Indictment of 12 Russians: Under the Shiny Wrapping, a Political Act
Rosenstein, by the timing and content of the indictment he publicly released Friday, committed an act that undermined the president of the United States' ability to conduct critical affairs of state -- in this case, a summit with a foreign leader the outcome of which could impact global nuclear nonproliferation policy.
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, August 21, 2020 US is Willing to Dismantle the UN Security Council to Put Pressure on Iran
Trump has been singularly focused on one outcome-to bring the Islamic Republic back to the negotiation table for the purpose of producing a "better deal" than the one done by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in July 2015.
For the former New York realtor and reality television star-turned Chief Executive, it does not get any simpler than that-he is, after all, the consummate (if self-proclaimed) "deal maker."
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 22, 2022 The Back Channel
Communications between the U.S. and Russia are essential for preventing an out-of-control crisis and a conduit exists for ongoing, high-level dialogue. But what is it really for?
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, June 29, 2020 The Escalating Crisis Over Iran's Nuclear Inspections
An IAEA resolution based on questionable Israeli intelligence has sparked a crisis with Iran that could spin out of control, warns Scott Ritter.
(16 comments) SHARE Monday, April 15, 2019 America Just Declared War on Iran and Nobody Blinked
The Trump administration has made the decision to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization. This little reported move will have large consequences shredding the prior truce and putting the lives of thousands of U.S. service members at risk.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 13, 2019 One Minute to Midnight
Humanity is sleepwalking toward global annihilation furthered by a collective amnesia about the threat posed by nuclear weapons especially in an environment void of meaningful arms control.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Live Action - Role Play in Ukraine
Those with combat experience were issued weapons and ammunition and sent straight to the front, where they were integrated with Ukrainian Territorial Defense Units. Those without were given a rudimentary four-week basic training course.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 27, 2018 Trump Surrenders to John Bolton on Russia and Arms Control
Bolton and Trump appear to be trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China. They're doing so as those two nations are coming together to craft a joint response to what they view as American overreach on trade and international security.
(11 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 13, 2022 The Ultimate End of NATO
Russia's goal is not to destroy Ukraine - this could be accomplished at any time. Rather, the goal of Russia is to destroy NATO by exposing its impotence.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, December 5, 2022 Merkel Reveals West's Duplicity
War, it seems, was the only option Russia's opponents had ever considered.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, September 30, 2022 The ONUS Is ON Biden and Putin
The Onus is On Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to make sure that even while events on the ground in Europe devolve into chaos and violence, the leaders of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals - do not allow emotion to get the better of reason.
SHARE Monday, June 15, 2020 NATO's Colonization of Ukraine Under Guise of Partnership
NATO has extended yet another in a long line of "incentives" designed to tease Ukraine with the prospects of joining the transatlantic alliance while stopping short of actual membership.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 5, 2022 Crime of aggression
Bottom line is that Russia has set forth a cognisable claim under the doctrine of anticipatory collective self defence, devised originally by the US and NATO as it applies to Article 51 which is predicated on fact, not fiction.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 30, 2022 Checkmate in Ukraine
Seen in retrospect Russia's demand for a written response was a trap, one neither the U.S. nor NATO yet recognizes.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, July 12, 2019 20 Steps in the Right Direction
While many critics of President Trump's dealings vis-a-vis North Korea's nuclear weapons have condemned him for giving away too much for too little the reality is that Donald Trump whether by luck or design has done more to advance the cause of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula than any president before him.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 26, 2022 Washington's Russian Drone Fantasy
The information warfare campaign by the U.S. and its allies on behalf of Ukraine appeared to engulf Putin's visit to Iran last week.
SHARE Sunday, May 6, 2018 Bibi's Information Warfare Operation Against America
The relevance of Netanyahu's message is up for debate. There is unanimous agreement that nothing in Netanyahu's presentation shows Iran is operating in violation of its commitments under the agreement reached with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Germany and the European Union regarding its ongoing nuclear activities.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, August 24, 2020 Biden's Speech Stirs Up Sense of De'jà Vu..
One speech, well written and read well, does not a president make. At the end of the day the Democrats are putting forward a wolf in sheep's clothes who is peddling the same worn-out lies disguised as new promises.
(6 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 2, 2022 America's Putin Psychosis
Rather than examining the perspective of Russian national security interests, U.S. officials wrongly think the fate of European peace is in the hands of a single man: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 20, 2022 The Evidence for Invasion the US Could Produce
Rather than produce fake evidence to the U.N. Security Council as Colin Powell had, Antony Blinken just produced nothing at all though the U.S. has intelligence it can show.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 15, 2020 Is Putin Laying a Petroleum Trap for Trump?
The president is heralding a deal that commits Russia to cuts in oil production, but a closer look reveals a more complicated path.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 22, 2022 Reaping The Whirlwind
All Ukrainian forces that are on the territory of the regions to be incorporated into Russia will be viewed as occupiers and Ukrainian shelling of this territory will be treated as an attack on Russia triggering a Russian response.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 23, 2021 NATO's Expanding Role Hides the Reality of a US Empire in Decline
NATO's willingness to underwrite US military deployment in Europe and expand its reach to include the Pacific demonstrates that its current purpose is more about propping up America than securing peace.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, March 16, 2009 Barack Obama, Meet Team B
If the members of the Obama administration would bother to take a stroll down memory lane, they might recall that once upon a time there was a document called the anti-ballistic missile treaty, signed in 1972 between the United States and the former Soviet Union, which recognized that anti-missile defense shields were inherently destabilizing, and as such should not be deployed.
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 13, 2018 Iran Nuclear Deal and U.S. Pullout Reflect Epic Bipartisan Failures
Trump will go down in history as the man who walked away from an agreement that all parties -- including the U.S. -- acknowledge that Iran was fully compliant with. Trump only deludes himself and those who support him by saying that his actions to confront a threat from Iran now, rather than waiting for it to manifest itself, will make America more secure.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 14, 2022 Turkey Rains on NATO's Parade
In opposing the application of Finland and Sweden, Erdogan has disrupted the military alliance's effort to further provoke Russia with even more expansion.
SHARE Sunday, June 10, 2018 How a North Korean Disarmament Deal Might Look
It is not known to what extent, if any, North Korea will permit inspectors from the United States, Japan and South Korea the kind of intrusive presence on its soil, let alone some of its most sensitive facilities, required for a meaningful verification process.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 7, 2019 What If Iran Retaliates and Shuts Down the Strait of Hormuz?
It's one thing to sanction Iranian entities, including the IRGC-Iran has historically found enough work-arounds to defeat such efforts. It is an altogether different situation if the Unite States opts to physically impede Iran's ability to ship oil. This would be a red line for Iran, and a trigger for it to shut down all shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 14, 2021 The US cannot defend Taiwan and China knows it
Much has been made about the US ability to come to Taiwan's defense. While the US may have made great waves sailing its navy through the Taiwan Strait such a maneuver would be suicidal in a time of conflict.
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 11, 2021 Tearing Down the Edifice of American Democracy
The joists & beams that hold U.S. democracy are not as flexible as they appear, writes Scott Ritter. They are the byproduct of societal passion of two political parties and are on the brink of failure.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 30, 2022 Lithuania's Brinkmanship
NATO and the rest of Europe can rest assured that unless a solution is found that brings an end to Lithuania's blockade of Kaliningrad there will be a war between NATO and Russia.
SHARE Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Obama and Iraq: "Through a Glass, Darkly'
While the United States military can claim that it did not lose the war in Iraq, it will have a hard time backing up any claims of victory. While American forces may have defeated Saddam Hussein's divisions, and ultimately captured or killed the Iraqi president and the majority of his senior officials, the fighting would last for years and continues today.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, February 28, 2022 Putin's Nuclear Threat
Putin made it clear that when it came to the issue of Ukrainian membership in NATO, the stationing of U.S. missiles in Poland and Romania and NATO deployments in Eastern Europe, Russia felt that its very existence was being threatened.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 12, 2022 What War With Russia Would Look Like
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman thinks her aim in talks with Russian officials starting Monday is to lecture them on the cost of hubris. Instead she's set to lead the United States, NATO, and Europe, down a path of ruin.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 28, 2019 How Politics Trump Intel in the US-Russia Nuke Treaty Pullout
Sometime in 2007 or 2008, intelligence analysts began observing activity indicating that the Russians were developing a new ground-launched ballistic missile. The specific intelligence tip-offs remain classified, but based on what little has been reported, it appeared to include aerial imagery of the Kapustin Yar missile test facility.
SHARE Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Here We WMD Again: Iraq and the Mythical Pakistani Package
The two documents that The Washington Post describes as being "newly uncovered" are in fact derived from an old file containing nearly 1,000 pages detailing a relationship between the Iraqi intelligence service, or Mukhabarat, and the Iraqi nuclear weapons program, or PC-3.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 9, 2009 So This Is What Victory Looks Like?
The celebration transpired inside a city that has been radically transformed over the past six years. Even with American combat forces ostensibly withdrawn, Baghdad remains one of the most militarized urban areas in the world. It wasn't always so. When I was in Baghdad during the 1990s, I was struck by the lack of an overt military presence for a nation purported to be governed by one of the world's worst militaristic....
SHARE Friday, October 30, 2009 McChrystal Doesn't Get It—Does Obama?
Clearly Gen. Stanley McChrystal is not the man for this task. He should be replaced by someone within the ranks of the U.S. military who shares Obama's vision of peace, and with it the need to redefine the mission in South Asia.
(10 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 15, 2007 The Final Act of Submission
Is congress allowing AIPAC to dictate policy that puts Israel before the US?
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Learning to Live With the Devil We Know
The world needs to collectively move past the controversy of the Iranian elections and accept the reality that, like him or not, President Ahmadinejad will be the "democratically elected" face of Iran for the next four years. Iran will gradually return to normal, and the political protests so earnestly covered by the West will take on the character of a tempest in a teapot.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, October 22, 2007 On the Eve of Destruction
Don't worry, the White House is telling us. The world's most powerful leader was simply making a rhetorical point. At a White House press conference last week, just in case you haven't heard, President Bush informed the American people that he had told world leaders "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing [Iran] from having the knowledge necessary....
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, October 8, 2007 The Big Lie: "˜Iran Is a Threat'
The fact of the matter is that the "Iranian Threat" is derived solely from the rhetoric of those who appear to seek confrontation between the United States and Iran, and largely divorced from fact-based reality.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 4, 2007 See Hillary Run (from Her Husband's Past on Iraq)
Hillary Clinton is about as slippery a species of politician that exists, one who has demonstrated an ability to morph facts into a nebulous blob which blurs the record and distorts the truth. ...nowhere is it so blatant as when dealing with the issue of the ongoing war in Iraq and Hillary Clinton's vote in favor of this war.