Medea Benjamin

Medea Benjamin

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace, is the author of the new book, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her previous books include: Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection; Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control; Don’t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart, and (with Jodie Evans) Stop the Next War Now (Inner Ocean Action Guide). Follow her on Twitter: @medeabenjamin

Articles by this author

CODEPINK protesters at Congressional hearing on Iran in 2015. (Photo: CODEPINK) Views
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Who Are the Secret Puppet-Masters Behind Trump’s War on Iran?
On May 6th, President Trump vetoed a war powers bill specifying that he must ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Iran. Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of deadly sanctions and threats of war against Iran has seen no let-up, even as the U.S., Iran and the whole world...
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While the administration claims that sanctions are targeting those in power, the sanctions really impact the ordinary people, especially women, children, minorities, refugees, the disabled and the sick. (Photo: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA via Shutterstock) Views
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Iranian Women Squeezed By US Sanctions, COVID-19 and Their Government
Two years ago, on May 8, 2018, President Trump manufactured a crisis with Iran by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposing brutal sanctions. This interview with Sussan Tahmasebi, director of FEMENA, an organization that supports women human rights defenders, reveals how the Trump...
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As of May 1, there were 7,145 cases of COVID-19 in the US military, with more falling sick every day. (Photo: Military Times/DoD) Views
Monday, May 04, 2020
Trump Must Choose Between a Global Ceasefire and America's Long Lost Wars
As President Trump has complained , the U.S. does not win wars anymore. In fact, since 1945, the only 4 wars it has won were over the small neocolonial outposts of Grenada, Panama, Kuwait and Kosovo. Americans across the political spectrum refer to the wars the U.S. has launched since 2001 as “...
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Doctors and nurses of Cuba's Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade pose with a portrait of Cuban late leader Fidel Castro as they are bid farewell before travelling to hard-hit Italy to help in the fight against the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, at the Central Unit of Medical Cooperation in Havana, on March 21, 2020. (Photo: Yamil LAGE / AFP via Getty Images) Views
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Cuba to the Rescue, But Don’t Tell the American People
While Bernie Sanders paid a political price for uttering something positive about Cuba’s literacy program, the current pandemic has shown the whole world the heroic side of Cuba’s health care system. I saw this heroism firsthand when I worked with Cuban doctors in poor, remote villages in Africa...
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As we struggle to emerge from today’s tragic pandemic, more and more Americans are understanding that healing our sick, corrupt political system is the vital key to a healthy and peaceful future.(Photo: Daily Express) Views
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Will America’s Corruption End on a Ventilator or in a Mushroom Cloud?
Little by little , Americans are understanding just how badly our government has let us down by its belated and disastrous response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how thousands more people are dying as a result. But there are two other crises we face that our government is totally unprepared for and...
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Littoral combat ship USS Detroit off the coast of Venezuela. (Photo: US Navy/DoD) Views
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Threatening Military Intervention in Venezuela During a Pandemic?
Unbeknownst to most Americans—and as we are grapple with this terrifying pandemic—the Trump administration is currently carrying out the largest military operation in Latin America in 30 years, and has made it clear that alleged Venezuelan “narco-terrorism” is the target. It’s worth noting that the...
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Then, when the pandemic is over, let’s insist that the U.S. honor the UN Charter’s prohibition against the threat or use of force, which wise American leaders drafted and signed in 1945, and start living at peace with all our neighbors around the world. (Photo by Greg Wahl-Stephens/Getty Images) Views
Friday, April 10, 2020
UN Ceasefire Defines War As a Non-Essential Activity
At least 70 countries have signed on to the March 23 call by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a worldwide ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic. Like non-essential business and spectator sports, war is a luxury that the Secretary General says we must manage without for a while. After U.S...
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The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the world and what comes out on the other side may be something completely new when it comes to the global order. (Photo: CodePink) Views
Wednesday, April 01, 2020
Could COVID-19 Reshape Global Leadership?
As U.S. COVID-19 cases double every few days and the death toll mounts, the U.S. seems to be caught in a “worst of both worlds” predicament: daily life and much of the U.S. economy is shut down, but no real progress has been achieved in its efforts to contain or eradicate the virus. Meanwhile, the...
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Tuesday, March 17, 2020
12 Ways the US Invasion of Iraq Lives On in Infamy
While the world is consumed with the terrifying coronavirus pandemic, on March 19 the Trump administration will be marking the 17th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq by ramping up the conflict there. After an Iran-aligned militia allegedly struck a U.S. base near Baghdad on March 11, the U.S...
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CODEPINK protests outside the Treasury Department. (Photo: Medea Benjamin) Views
Friday, March 13, 2020
To Help Stem Coronavirus, Lift Sanctions on Iran
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis and the refugee crisis have long been glaring examples that the wars or CO2 emissions on one continent risk the lives and well-being of people on another continent...
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