John Peeler: Here’s the deal: people fleeing criminal violence in any of the three Central American countries are required to seek asylum in another country that is just as hazardous.
John Peeler
John Peeler is a retired professor of political science at Bucknell University, specializing in Latin American and international affairs. After growing up in Florida and Georgia, he moved north as a teenager, and began a lifelong leftward migration. He’s been writing primarily for LA Progressive since 2008. He continues to live in central Pennsylvania.
Syria: Stunning, Dangerous Incompetence
John Peeler: The US has turned its back on faithful Kurdish allies who have done most of the fighting and dying in the fight against IS. This obviously will cause others we are allied with around the world to question the reliability of US support.
Turkey and the Kurds: A Century of Bad Faith
John Peeler: No Turkish government up to the present day has ever admitted to [the Armenian] genocide, and the Kurdish leadership has never admitted to the Kurds’ role.
No, YOU’RE Corrupt! Trump’s Playground Mentality
John Peeler: Pervasive corruption on a scale previously unknown in this country (but check out Russia) is indeed the essential feature of this presidency.
Beat the Tweet: Impeachment Inquiry Has Trump Off Balance
John Peeler: Still, though Biden continues to lead most polls for the Democratic nomination, his support is neither overwhelming nor intense.
Trump, Obama and Ukraine: The Specter of Putin
John Peeler: The US and European Union (EU) encouraged the former satellites of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics (including Ukraine) to turn westward and seek membership in both NATO and the EU.
Impeachment Unavoidable Now
John Peeler: So the grounds for impeachment continue to grow, even as Nancy Pelosi’s conventional political calculus still counsels caution.
Afghanistan: Easy to Get In, But…
John Peeler: Trump and some advisers just want to get out, while the more conventional foreign policy hands argue that we have to maintain a substantial presence to prevent the reemergence of international terrorism based in Afghanistan.
Climate Change Betrayal: What If GOP Leaders Know—and Say Nothing?
John Peeler: There must be large numbers of educated Republicans who actually accept that climate change is real, that humans are causing it, and that life is going to get really hard for their children and grandchildren.
Greenland: Mr. President, Wait, What?
John Peeler: Find out what they’re asking. Offer them Mar-a-Lago! It will be underwater soon, but they don’t have to know that.”
A Progressive Take on Immigration
Lessenich says that the prosperous countries of the wealthy regions make poor societies absorb the costs of mining, plantation agriculture, deforestation, overfishing, and low-wage manufacturing. We keep them poor so we can be rich.
Let Me Count the Ways: Trump Is Unfit
John Peeler: Ten thousand lies and counting, that’s roughly ten a day for his tenure as president so far. This man lies when the truth would serve him better. It’s compulsive. How can he lead when we know he is lying?
Good News and Bad: Parsing a Poll
John Peeler: Trump is still under water in public opinion, there are not enough undecided voters to get him above water, but his base is solid. We can beat him, but we can’t count on any defections from his side.
