https://znetwork.org/author/nicolasdavies/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/nicolasdavies/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:47 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297162 The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time. On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-many-people-have-the-us-and-israel-killed-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-many-people-have-the-us-and-israel-killed-in-iran/#respond Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:56:31 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1296816 After the breakdown of talks in Pakistan, the ceasefire between the US and Iran is more fragile than ever, and now seems likely to give way to a new phase of the war. The ceasefire and talks have failed to end Israel’s devastating attacks on Lebanon or to negotiate international access to the Strait of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-many-people-have-the-us-and-israel-killed-in-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-us-became-an-international-serial-killer/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-us-became-an-international-serial-killer/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2026 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1296151 For decades, the United States moved from covert assassination plots to openly embracing assassination or “targeted killing” as policy. Now, in its war with Iran, that evolution is reaching its most dangerous phase.  On March 17th and 18th, the United States and Israel assassinated three senior Iranian government officials in targeted air strikes: Ali Larijani, the secretary [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-us-became-an-international-serial-killer/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-on-iran-and-washingtons-missing-exit-strategy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-on-iran-and-washingtons-missing-exit-strategy/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:59:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295571 The United States has once again launched a war in the Middle East based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction. Like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. assault on Iran rests on allegations that international inspectors have already debunked. But beyond the false pretext lies an even more pressing question that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-on-iran-and-washingtons-missing-exit-strategy/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iran-crisis-exposes-the-impotence-of-americas-neoliberal-war-machine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iran-crisis-exposes-the-impotence-of-americas-neoliberal-war-machine/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294972 After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft-carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran.  This is the third Atlantic crossing for the Ford’s crew since it set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, in June 2025, and the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iran-crisis-exposes-the-impotence-of-americas-neoliberal-war-machine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-trump-demilitarize-gaza-with-night-raids-and-death-squads/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-trump-demilitarize-gaza-with-night-raids-and-death-squads/#respond Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293844 At the opening ceremony for Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace in Davos, Jared Kushner unveiled glossy images of his vision for a “new Gaza”: shining apartment towers, luxury developments, and sweeping views of the Mediterranean. There were no Palestinians at the ceremony—and none on the Board of Peace itself. In Kushner’s fantasy, Palestinians appear [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-trump-demilitarize-gaza-with-night-raids-and-death-squads/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/#respond Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:54:38 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293280 As the Senate voted to advance a War Powers Resolution on Venezuela on January 8th, Republican Senator Susan Collins declared that she did not agree with “a sustained engagement “running” Venezuela.”  The world was mystified when President Trump first said that the United States would “run” Venezuela. He has since made it clear that he [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-the-real-outlaw-at-sea-trumps-tanker-grab-vs-the-houthis-anti-genocide-blockade/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-the-real-outlaw-at-sea-trumps-tanker-grab-vs-the-houthis-anti-genocide-blockade/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292683 The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of “drug enforcement,” killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-the-real-outlaw-at-sea-trumps-tanker-grab-vs-the-houthis-anti-genocide-blockade/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-trump-is-serious-about-peace-marco-rubio-has-to-go/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-trump-is-serious-about-peace-marco-rubio-has-to-go/#respond Mon, 08 Dec 2025 21:58:26 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292166 Donald Trump campaigned on ending endless wars and now boasts that he has resolved eight wars. In reality, this claim is delusional, and his foreign policy is a disaster. The United States remains mired in ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and now Trump is careening blindly into new wars in Latin America.  [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-trump-is-serious-about-peace-marco-rubio-has-to-go/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-is-ready-to-die-for-trumps-gaza-plan-so-far-nobody/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-is-ready-to-die-for-trumps-gaza-plan-so-far-nobody/#respond Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291519 On November 17th, 2025, the UN Security Council passed a resolution to endorse President Trump’s plan for Gaza, including a transitional government headed by Trump himself and an International Stabilization Force (ISF) that is expected, among other tasks, to disarm Hamas, a task that Israel has failed to do through two years of genocide and mass destruction. The [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-is-ready-to-die-for-trumps-gaza-plan-so-far-nobody/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/regime-change-in-venezuela-is-a-euphemism-for-u-s-inflicted-carnage-and-chaos/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/regime-change-in-venezuela-is-a-euphemism-for-u-s-inflicted-carnage-and-chaos/#respond Tue, 11 Nov 2025 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291122 For decades, Washington has sold the world a deadly lie: that “regime change” brings freedom, that U.S. bombs and blockades can somehow deliver democracy. But every country that has lived through this euphemism knows the truth—it instead brings death, dismemberment, and despair. Now that the same playbook is being dusted off for Venezuela, the parallels [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/regime-change-in-venezuela-is-a-euphemism-for-u-s-inflicted-carnage-and-chaos/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-world-confronts-the-genocide-washington-is-trying-to-bury/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-world-confronts-the-genocide-washington-is-trying-to-bury/#respond Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:28:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290493 On October 4th, 2025, in an interview with Axios, President Trump stressed that one of the main goals behind his Gaza plan was to restore Israel’s international standing. “Bibi took it very far and Israel lost a lot of support in the world,” Trump said. “Now I am gonna get all that support back.” Under [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-world-confronts-the-genocide-washington-is-trying-to-bury/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beware-trumps-ceasefire-without-un-action/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beware-trumps-ceasefire-without-un-action/#respond Sun, 12 Oct 2025 16:30:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289853 As President Donald Trump surely intended, his “20-point Gaza plan” succeeded in upstaging calls by many other world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly for concrete, coordinated U.N.-led measures to force Israel to end its criminal genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.  Trump’s White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 29 coincided with the last day of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beware-trumps-ceasefire-without-un-action/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/urgent-next-steps-for-palestine-at-the-un/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/urgent-next-steps-for-palestine-at-the-un/#respond Wed, 08 Oct 2025 18:20:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289657 As U.S. President Donald Trump surely intended, his “20-point Gaza plan” succeeded in upstaging calls by many other world leaders at the UN General Assembly for concrete, coordinated UN-led measures to force Israel to end its criminal genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine. Trump’s White House meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/urgent-next-steps-for-palestine-at-the-un/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-un-can-act-decisively-to-end-genocide-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-un-can-act-decisively-to-end-genocide-in-gaza/#respond Wed, 03 Sep 2025 18:36:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288072 One year ago, the UN General Assembly demanded that Israel must end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories within twelve months. The General Assembly voted, by 124 votes to 14, with 43 abstentions, for a strong resolution that not only “demanded” an end to the occupation within a year, but called on all countries to refrain from trade [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-un-can-act-decisively-to-end-genocide-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-russia-talks-the-choice-between-peace-and-escalation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-russia-talks-the-choice-between-peace-and-escalation/#respond Sun, 17 Aug 2025 14:15:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287408 Donald Trump came into office promising to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Now, six months later, his high stakes meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska may have put the United States and Russia on a new path toward peace, or, if this initiative fails, could trigger an even more dangerous escalation, with [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-russia-talks-the-choice-between-peace-and-escalation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-u-s-israel-used-rafael-grossi-to-hijack-the-iaea-and-start-a-war-on-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-u-s-israel-used-rafael-grossi-to-hijack-the-iaea-and-start-a-war-on-iran/#respond Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:59:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285344 Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), allowed the IAEA to be used by the United States and Israel—an undeclared nuclear weapons state in long-term violation of IAEA rules—to manufacture a pretext for war on Iran, despite his agency’s own conclusion that Iran had no nuclear weapons program. On June 12th, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-u-s-israel-used-rafael-grossi-to-hijack-the-iaea-and-start-a-war-on-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-there-a-crack-in-western-support-for-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-there-a-crack-in-western-support-for-genocide/#respond Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284649 After twenty months of horror in Gaza, political rhetoric in Western countries is finally starting to shift—but will words translate into action? And what exactly can other countries do when the United States still shields Israel from efforts to enforce international law, as it did at the UN Security Council on June 5th? On May [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-there-a-crack-in-western-support-for-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-avoid-trade-wars-and-world-war-three/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-avoid-trade-wars-and-world-war-three/#respond Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:40:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283056 Not a day goes by without a new shock to Americans and our neighbors around the world from the Trump administration. On April 22nd, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its forecasts for global growth in 2025, from 3.3% to 2.8%, and warned that no country will feel the pain more than the United States. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-avoid-trade-wars-and-world-war-three/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-the-beginning-or-the-end-of-a-new-cold-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-the-beginning-or-the-end-of-a-new-cold-war/#respond Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:41:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280799 When European Union leaders met in Brussels on February 6th to discuss the war in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron called this time “a turning point in history.” Western leaders agree that this is an historic moment when decisive action is needed, but what kind of action depends on their interpretation of the nature of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-the-beginning-or-the-end-of-a-new-cold-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-gives-peace-a-chance-in-ukraine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-gives-peace-a-chance-in-ukraine/#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:21:42 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279720 As we approach the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a monumental shift is taking place that might just lead to the end of this calamitous war. This is not a breakthrough on the battlefield, but a stark reversal of the U.S. position from being the major supplier of weapons and funding to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-gives-peace-a-chance-in-ukraine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/moving-from-a-doomsday-clock-to-a-peace-clock/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/moving-from-a-doomsday-clock-to-a-peace-clock/#respond Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279400 This year’s Doomsday Clock Statement landed like a damp squib in a Trump-swamped corporate news cycle on January 28th. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists only moved the hands of the Clock forward by one second, from 90 seconds up to 89 seconds to midnight, which must have come as a relief to the few members of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/moving-from-a-doomsday-clock-to-a-peace-clock/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ukrainian-neutrality-is-still-the-key-to-peace/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ukrainian-neutrality-is-still-the-key-to-peace/#respond Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:52:45 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278378 President-elect Trump said on January 9th that he is planning a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. He said “Putin wants to meet,” because “we have to get that war over with.” So what are the chances that a new administration in Washington can break the deadlock and finally bring [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ukrainian-neutrality-is-still-the-key-to-peace/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jimmy-carter-told-trump-how-to-put-america-first-but-will-he-do-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jimmy-carter-told-trump-how-to-put-america-first-but-will-he-do-it/#respond Tue, 31 Dec 2024 18:12:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277766 With President Jimmy Carter’s passing and Donald Trump about to return to the White House, it’s a good time to recall a phone conversation that Carter had with Trump during his first term. Carter’s advice would serve Trump well if he really wants to fulfill his campaign promise to Put America First–something he failed to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jimmy-carter-told-trump-how-to-put-america-first-but-will-he-do-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-invade-syria-who-will-stop-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-invade-syria-who-will-stop-israel/#respond Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:56:37 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277463 The United States, Turkey and Israel all responded to the fall of the Assad government in Damascus by launching bombing campaigns on Syria. Israel also attacked and destroyed most of the Syrian Navy in port at Latakia, and invaded Syria from the long-occupied Golan Heights, advancing to within 16 miles of the capital, Damascus. The United States said that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-invade-syria-who-will-stop-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/truce-in-lebanon-can-diplomacy-rise-from-the-ruins/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/truce-in-lebanon-can-diplomacy-rise-from-the-ruins/#respond Wed, 04 Dec 2024 19:16:36 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1276636 On November 26th, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement for a 60-day truce, during which Israel and Hezbollah are both supposed to withdraw from the area of Lebanon south of the Litani River.  The agreement is based on the terms of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the previous Israeli assault on Lebanon in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/truce-in-lebanon-can-diplomacy-rise-from-the-ruins/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eight-reasons-why-marco-rubio-would-be-a-disastrous-secretary-of-state/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eight-reasons-why-marco-rubio-would-be-a-disastrous-secretary-of-state/#respond Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:18:20 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1275573 Of all Trump’s choices for his foreign policy team, Marco Rubio is the least controversial to the neoconservative foreign policy establishment in Washington, and the most certain to provide continuity with all that is wrong with U.S. foreign policy, from Cuba to the Middle East to China.  The only area where there might be some [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eight-reasons-why-marco-rubio-would-be-a-disastrous-secretary-of-state/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-trump-end-or-escalate-bidens-wars/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-trump-end-or-escalate-bidens-wars/#respond Wed, 13 Nov 2024 20:36:44 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1275281 When Donald Trump takes office on January 20th, all his campaign promises to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and almost as quickly end Israel’s war on its neighbors will be put to the test. The choices he has made for his incoming administration so far, from Marco Rubio as Secretary of State [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-trump-end-or-escalate-bidens-wars/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-no-win-dilemma-for-us-peace-voters/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-no-win-dilemma-for-us-peace-voters/#comments Thu, 31 Oct 2024 18:15:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1274555 On October 24th, a U.S. presidential candidate told an interviewer, “Our day one agenda… also includes picking up the phone and telling Bibi Netanyahu that the war is over, because it’s basically our proxy war. We control the armaments, the funding, the diplomatic cover, the intelligence, etc., so we can end this in the blink of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-no-win-dilemma-for-us-peace-voters/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-war-on-the-world/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-war-on-the-world/#respond Thu, 17 Oct 2024 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1273851 Each new week brings new calamities for people in the countries neighboring Israel, as its leaders try to bomb their way to the promised land of an ever-expanding Greater Israel. In Gaza, Israel appears to be launching its “Generals’ Plan” to drive the most devastated and traumatized 2.2 million people in the world into the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-war-on-the-world/feed/ 0