Iraq: Is al-Maliki Preparing to Make a Coup?
Nouri al-Maliki, who is seeking a third term as prime minister of Iraq in the teeth…
Nouri al-Maliki, who is seeking a third term as prime minister of Iraq in the teeth…
By Juan Cole The United States of America has no claim on the language of “humanitarian…
By Juan Cole Al-Zaman reports that a US drone hit mortar emplacements and F-18s struck artillery…
Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks: “”A large majority of the public (76%) and nearly all scientists (97%) say that it is appropriate for scientists to become actively involved in political debates…
By Climate State “According to Murdoch we just have to move a bit inland and the worst is a temperature rise of 3 degree and a modest sea level rise of six…
PBS News Hour: “Conversation with Richard Stumpf of NOAA on the science behind the algal bloom.” Stumpf points out that the algae like war water and so this problem will get worse…
By Juan Cole Liberal politics in the broad sense, in the tradition of Locke, Voltaire, Madison, Jefferson and John Stuart Mill, is rooted in a conviction that vigorous debate clarifies issues and…
By Noam Chomsky via Tomdispatch.com If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of Homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW (before nuclear weapons) and NWE (the…
By John Oliver “The line between editorial content and advertising in news media is blurrier and blurrier. That’s not bullshit. It’s repurposed bovine waste.” HBO: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Native…
By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch.com The Fourth Branch The Rise to Power of the National Security State By Tom Engelhardt As every schoolchild knows, there are three check-and-balance branches of the U.S.…
By Cathy Stripe Lester On August 5, Michigan taxpayers will be asked to vote on Proposition 1, which is being presented in commercials as a way to “help small businesses and create…
By Hanni Fakhoury via EFF The Fourth Amendment protects us from “unreasonable” government searches of our persons, houses, papers and effects. How courts should determine what is and isn’t reasonable in our…
CNN points out that President Obama’s forthright condemnation of Bush administration-era CIA torture could cause legal problems for Agency employees, and that the Congressional report he was talking about avoided that diction.…
By Jon Queally, Commondreams Yes, Admits CIA Chief, We Spied on Senate Panel Investigating Torture The findings of an internal investigation at the Central Intelligence Agency made available to the public on…
RT Redacted Tonight: “House Speaker John Boehner is suing President Obama. Is it for drone bombing or NSA surveillance? Of course not!” RT America: “You Won’t Believe The Latest Constitutional Crisis”
Colbert Report: “Rising Calls for Obama’s Impeachment” The Colbert ReportGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Colbert Report on Facebook ——
By Cenk Uygur “Just one day after international watchdogs said Iran was complying with demands to scale back its nuclear program, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) called for the country to be bombed…
By Naomi Oreskes via Tomdispatch.com Albert Einstein is rumored to have said that one cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that led to it. Yet this is precisely what we…
“When it comes to news about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the media coverage itself often becomes the story. Here’s a look at how the U.S. media got it wrong and right during the…
“Karima Bennoune shares four powerful stories of real people fighting against fundamentalism in their own communities — refusing to allow the faith they love to become a tool for crime, attacks and…
By Anna Lekas Miller “[This week]… several members of New York City’s Arab-American community filed into the Good Shephard’s Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for the launch of the Take On…
Cenk Uygur & The Young Turks: “Sean Hannity got into a shouting match tonight with a Palestinian guest as Hannity repeatedly asked Yousef Munayyer whether he believes Hamas is a terrorist organization…
By Peter Van Buren via Tomdispatch.com You can’t get more serious about protecting the people from their government than the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, specifically in its most critical clause: “No person shall…
Foreign Policy
Nightmare in Iraq
Joe Stork via Human Rights Watch Fearing for their lives, more than 150,000 Yezidis fled Sinjar and surrounding villages to mountains north of the city on August 3, 2014 when the Islamic…
Gaza and the struggle for Palestine: the 1930s
By William R. Polk Annoyed but not deterred, the British Colonial Office decided in the 1930s, as it was then also doing in India, to crack down hard on the “troublemakers.” It…
Palestinian Education: another victim of Israel’s Gaza War
By Aimee Shalan and Samer Abdelnour Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international…
Iraq: Is al-Maliki Preparing to Make a Coup?
Nouri al-Maliki, who is seeking a third term as prime minister of Iraq in the teeth of widespread opposition, abruptly began acting like a strongman on Sunday night. He went on television…
Israel can’t Afford to Lose Jews Like Me
by DAVID H. SCHANZER for ISLAMiCommentary David Schanzer Writing in the New York Times . . . , columnist Shmuel Rosner labeled non-Israeli liberal Jews that are becoming more estranged from modern…
The Israeli assault has caused $150 million damage to Gaza food industry
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Israeli offensive on Gaza has caused “huge losses” for the already-struggling food industry in the coastal enclave, a national industry association said . . . [last week].…
The US intervened again in Iraq in Part to Save the Yazidis: Who are They?
By Petr Kubalek via RFE/RL Islamic militants this week encircled thousands of members of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, prompting the Obama administration to carry out humanitarian air drops to the…
Gaza and the Struggle for Palestine: Historical Background (Pt. 1, a)
By William R. Polk Like many observers I am both sick at heart and emotionally drained from watching and reading about the horrible events in Gaza. Is there more to be said…
The Cruel Jest of American “Humanitarian Aid” to Iraq
By Juan Cole The United States of America has no claim on the language of “humanitarian aid” to Iraq after what it did to that country. It is rather as though Washington…
West Bank Continues Uprising, Israeli Army Injures 40 at Hebron Demo for Gaza
HEBRON (Ma’an) — At least 40 Palestinians were injured in central Hebron on Friday afternoon as Israeli forces dispersed hundreds taking part in rallies condemning the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza as…
Iraq: Tribes and other Sunnis begin Splitting from so-Called “Islamic State”
By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | via Niqash.org The Sunni Muslim extremist group that has taken over parts of Iraq recently is dependent on support from locals in the areas it wants…
New Wave of Christian Refugees as “Islamic State” Takes Iraq’s Largest Christian Town
By Middle East Eye “Christians have fled from the largest Christian city in Iraq as the militants of the Islamic State took control. They were given a choice of death, fleeing, conversion…
Why is Obama bombing Iraq, Really?
By Juan Cole Al-Zaman reports that a US drone hit mortar emplacements and F-18s struck artillery arrays and armored vehicles deployed by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) in Kuwair east of Mosul…
Iraq: Yazidis Trapped By Extremists: ‘We Will Run Out Of Food, Water In Two Days’
By Khales Joumah | Mosul | via Niqash.org Over the weekend, the Sunni Muslim extremist group, Islamic State, entered the Sinjar area in northern Iraq. Their arrival saw the population, mostly members…
The Capital of the Caliphate: VICE on the so-called “Islamic State” in Syria & Iraq
By VICE: “The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of…
Israelis Knocked out Gaza Power Plant, causing Hospital, Bakery and Water Crisis
Middle East Eye: “MEE report shows the effect of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza’s power plant, which has severe impact on hospitals, bakers and other vital facilities for Palestinians in the besieged Strip.”…
The US helped Break up the Sudan, and now South Sudan Faces Famine
By Nick Turse [This story was reported in partnership with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Additional funding was provided through the generosity of Adelaide Gomer.] Juba, South Sudan — The…
Obama & Airstrikes to Protect Iraqi Kurds: 1991 Deja Vu all Over Again
By Juan Cole During the Gulf War in early 1991, then-president George H. W. Bush called on Iraqis to rise up against Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. In the Kurdish north…
A Discourse of sexualized violence rises among the Israel Firsters, including on Bill Maher
By Alex Shams BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — As the bombs have been falling on Gaza over the past four weeks, another war has been ongoing for the hearts and minds of the global…
Gaza Crisis Spills Into Nigeria
by Allan Christelow On Friday, July 25, in the city of Zaria, a procession of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria came into conflict with Nigerian army troops. The procession had gathered for…