By PATRICK COCKBURN - June 03, 2013

The White House has said in the past few days that its top priority in Syria is to impose regime change, but this is a recipe for a very long conflict. Why should Assad and his government surrender when they are more than holding their own on the battlefield?...And Britain and France are playing a small but mischievous role in ensuring the slaughter in Syria continues.

By Jean Shaoul - 3 June 2013

After forcing the lifting of a weapons embargo against Syria and thus enabling the arming of Islamist militants, Britain is now calling for the European Union to designate the Lebanese party Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization...Designating Hezbollah...a terrorist organization demonstrates the extent to which the conflict in Syria has become a regional war and a de facto war against Iran...It could embroil [Lebanon] in another civil war.

Under international law, it's a fundamental right. It's inviolable. The UN Charter affirms it.

Natan Blanc's an Israeli conscientious objector (CO). He's a refusenik. He and many others like him are called that for refusing to serve wrong over right. They resist proudly and courageously.

America does it wholesale and retail. Obama's wars increase body counts. They mount daily. Special forces death squads in over 120 countries add their own.

By Bill Van Auken - 1 June 2013

In a series of raids in the capital of Istanbul and in the southern provinces of Mersin, Adana and Hatay near the Syrian border, Turkish police rounded up 12 members of Syria’s Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front along with chemical weapons materials.

Israeli-style defense is offense. It hasn't been attacked in 40 years. It faces no regional threats now except ones it invents. It prioritizes violence, conflict and instability.

Israel gives chutzpah new meaning. War on humanity defines its agenda. It warned Russia about supplying Syria with sophisticated defensive anti-aircraft missiles. It said Israel will react in response.

By Deepal Jayasekera - WSWS

Maoist guerrillas ambushed a Congress Party convoy in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last Saturday evening, dealing a major setback to the Congress-led central government’s anti-Maoist counter-insurgency campaign, Operation Green Hunt...Twenty-seven people, including much of the Congress leadership in Chhattisgarh, were killed in the attack, and another 32 injured.

On May 27, the so-called one-year EU arms embargo on Syria's opposition ended. Officially it does so on June 1. EU nations agreed to end what never existed.

Peace process initiatives were stillborn from inception. Decades of futility define them. Palestinians genuinely want peace. They deserve it and much more.

By SHAMUS COOKE - May 28, 2013

For a president that is executing Bush’s “war on terror” against Al-Qaeda and “its affiliates,” it seems odd that President Obama has targeted the secular Syrian government for “regime change”...Equally odd is that Obama’s strongest military ally on the ground in Syria...is Jabhat al-Nusra, a group that has affiliated itself with al-Qaeda, and aims to turn Syria into an extremist Islamic state that enforces a fundamentalist version of Sharia law.

Speaking on the 13th anniversary of Lebanon's Resistance and Liberation Day, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed grave regional dangers.

Obama represents the worst of rogue leadership. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's guilty of numerous other crimes. He belongs in prison, not high office.

By Deepal Jayasekera - 27 May 2013

A wave of attacks in Afghanistan last Friday and over the weekend followed the Taliban’s announcement last month that it was preparing a “spring offensive.” These bombings have demonstrated the weakness of the Afghan regime, against which Taliban forces can launch attacks at will.