Like It Or Not, We’re Not Alone

March 16, 2018 10:47 AM

“The purpose of a truly left policy is to imagine that something can be done, that ills we view as incurable can in fact be cured, and that evils we view as perennial can be eradicated.” Fellow Travellers is a new project of several foreign policy and international relations-oriented writers and academics to promote left foreign policy discussion. Opening essays: “A Case For Transational Justice” on the purpose of properly dealing with the crimes of past administrations - “Reckoning With The Imperial We” what’s to be done with the not quite states of America? - “The Skripal Poisonings and the Chance To Build A Left Foreign Policy” how to deal with global olgliachs one seized asset at a time.
posted by The Whelk (8 comments total)

Thank you, The Whelk. As I read body the of the post I knew you posted this. :)

Edit: a word was omitted
posted by Gadgetenvy at 11:17 AM on March 16, 2018

Oh v cool, thanks. Their take on the array of sanctions that might be levied against Putin with profit matches my own pretty well, as does their palpable disappointment in Jezza for blowing the moment.

That's a good augury, I think. I'll be following this with interest.
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:22 AM on March 16, 2018

The first link:

In perhaps the most blatant example, this morning, President Trump nominated a woman who potentially cannot visit the EU without facing an arrest warrant for torture for director of the CIA, something that should be impossible in a functional democracy with a rule of law.

And the supporting link is about a request for investigation by an NGO based on something that it turns out the nominee didn't do. So it's a false claim of a warrant based on a false claim of torture.

That's some fucking crack reporting right there.
posted by jpe at 4:24 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

a false claim of a warrant based on a false claim of torture

"False claim of torture" is overstated; that Haspel did not personally visit Abu Zubaida to gloat over what her operatives were doing to him does not alter what they did or that she oversaw the program under which they did it.
posted by flabdablet at 6:22 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Seizing assets. That's a good way to avoid repaying your Russian oligarch lenders, no?
posted by surplus at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2018

Thanks for posting this. I've felt like the American left has slid from thinking a lot about foreign policy in the early 2000s (trade agreements and post-9/11 military operations being the big sticking points) to having an almost exclusively inward-looking domestic stance since the economic crash of 2008. I'm looking forward to digging in to this.
posted by mostly vowels at 4:00 PM on March 18, 2018

New essay on the Iraq war: 15 Years Of Blood
posted by The Whelk at 2:49 PM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Make Aggression a Crime Again
posted by The Whelk at 7:04 PM on March 30, 2018