Iraq: If Terrorists hit Southern Iraq oil fields, $5-$7 a gallon Gas?
By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called…
By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called…
By Juan Cole If prime minister-designate Haydar al-Abadi in Iraq is to hope to defeat the…
By Juan Cole The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday,…
By Chris Cocking, University of Brighton The town of Ferguson, Missouri has now seen ten days of almost nightly disorder following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by the police. The…
By William J. Astore via Tomdispatch.com When you do something again and again, placing great faith in it, investing enormous amounts of money in it, only to see indifferent or even negative…
By Juan Cole The 45 million African-Americans in the United States are unequal before the law vis-a-vis European-Americans and becoming moreso. In the age of Jim Crow (the white South’s attempt to…
AJ+ “One million people worldwide have been swept up by TIDE, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment. It’s a list of people suspected of being terrorists that’s managed by the U.S. National Counterterrorism…
AJ+ “If a police officer were to stop you on the street in the U.S. and start questioning you, what would you do? Check out our quick list of six things you…
Emory University: “Climate Change: The Physics of Glacier Loss” Related press release from UC Irvine from this spring: “ Greenland will be far greater contributor to sea rise than expected Major UCI-NASA…
By DW “More extreme and recurring heat periods and weather events, spreading diseases: Climate change has a huge impact on the life on our planet. But what impact does it have on…
By Matthew Harwood via Tomdispatch.com Jason Westcott was afraid. One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to…
Two SJMC faculty, Kate MacMillin and Juliet Pinto, explore the narrative of a South Florida community under threat from sea level rise in this half-hour documentary. WPBT2: “South Florida’s Rising Seas –…
AJ+: “From Michael Brown to Renisha McBride to Jordan Davis: how black people who are killed get portrayed in the media — and the courtroom — has often led to outrage. And…
By Mindy Fischer via Liberals Unite There’s no doubt that Robin Williams could make us laugh, but he did a whole more than that. He made us think and dream. Because he…
via “Layla Raymanova” “here’re Lauren Bacall’s (1924-2014) best lines from the movie TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.” Little-known fact: Lauren Bacall and former Israeli president Shimon Peres are first cousins, both with…
“A Life Overseas”: Robin Williams (1951-2014) was one of the acts for the 2007 USO show here on Kandahar AirField. Alert: Profanity. Robin Williams At Kandahar AirField May Mr. Williams rest in…
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.…
Foreign Policy
Failed US War on Terror resulted from bizarre search for Moderate Jihadis
By Patrick Cockburn via Tomdispatch.com [This essay is excerpted from the first chapter of Patrick Cockburn’s new book, The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising, with special thanks to his publisher, OR Books. …
Can You pass the Iran Quiz?
By Jeffrey Rudolph What can possibly justify the relentless U.S. political and economic aggression against Iran? It cannot be argued that Iran is an aggressive state that is dangerous to its neighbors,…
Democracy, in India as elsewhere, is not a tyranny of the Majority
It’s Not About The Numbers There is a broader—and deeper—meaning to democracy. Part of that ideal is the idea that every tessera in the mosaic can sparkle. By Gyanendra Pandey Democracy, it…
Iraq: If Terrorists hit Southern Iraq oil fields, $5-$7 a gallon Gas?
By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called “Islamic State” terrorist organization could hit the Iraqi oil fields in the south around Basra. Basra…
How will Obama and the US respond to IS’s murder of James Foley ?
Channel 4 News: “Islamic State releases a video showing the murder of US journalist James Foley, apparently at the hands of a British jihadi fighter. Barack Obama says he will continue to…
Why has Egyptian Youth Activist, Punished by last 4 Presidents, gone on Hunger Strike?
AJ+ Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was in prison when his son was born, and is now in prison as his father lies in the ICU. He’s fed up and is taking…
Dear Hillary Clinton: When did not bombing Syria create Isis?
By Fariborz S Fatemi Hillary Clinton’s criticism of Barack Obama on Syria and the rise of Isis is wrong, and an exercise in selective memory. When did not bombing Syria create ISIS?…
What do Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have in common with Ferguson, Mo. African-Americans?
By Juan Cole If prime minister-designate Haydar al-Abadi in Iraq is to hope to defeat the so-called “Islamic State” (actually a kind of mafia made up of serial murderers and marauders), he…
How effective will Erdogan be as Turkey’s new President?
By Mustafa Gurbuz The future of Turkey depends not only on Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions but also strategies of the opposition parties, which have proven to be ineffective so far. Turkey’s first…
Iran Hard Liners denounce US Human Rights Abuses in Ferguson, Mo.
By Golnaz Esfandiari via RFE/RL The unrest in the U.S. state of Missouri sparked by the fatal police shooting of a black teenager is being played up by Iranian hardliners, with several…
Five things to Know about the Peshmerga Fighters of Iraqi Kurdistan
AJ+ “The Peshmerga are seen as one of the only forces who can defeat the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL. But who are the Peshmerga and what are…
ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit
By Juan Cole The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but had to call off their campaign when they ran into minefields, booby-trapped buildings, sniping and…
How America made Martyrs of two Iranian Democrats and overthrew Iran’s Liberal Government in 1953
By Farhad Malekafzali August 19 is the anniversary of the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup in Iran. The coup overthrew a government with a remarkable commitment to the norms of liberal democracy. The fate…
In Iraq, it isn’t just about minorities: The “Infidels” attacked by the so-called “Islamic State” include the Sunnis, Too
By Ali A. Olomi The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has declared war on “kafirs.” According to most observers, this term as ISIS uses it refers to Christians, Yazidi, and…
Israel: Crowd shouts “Death to Arabs” at Jewish-Muslim Wedding
By Juan Cole An Israeli crowd gathered outside the wedding of a Muslim man and a Jewish woman in Rishon Lezion, shouting “death to Arabs” on Sunday. They were from the far…
Is Israel De-Industrializing Gaza?
By Martin Lejeune (Maan News Agency) On the night of the July 27, the first day of the Muslim Eid-Al-Fitr festival following the fasting month of Ramadan, the Israeli air force dropped…
Iranian Woman wins Math Genius Prize, Iranian officials Obsess about her Hair
By Golnaz Esfandiari via RFE/RL "No hair, no ears, no neck." That's how one journalist described a front-page portrait of Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani that an Iranian newspaper digitally doctored to obscure…
Largest Israeli anti-War Rally since Gaza Campaign Began: 10,000 Protest in Tel Aviv
Reuters: “Anti-war demonstrators protest against the war in Gaza at a rally in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. Rough Cut” – Largest anti-war rally since attack on Gaza began in July. Reuters: “Anti-war…
After its Failed Gaza Campaign, What next for Israel?
By Paul Rogers, University of Bradford via The Conversation With a tenuous five-day ceasefire now underway, the pause in the Gaza War allows each side to consider its position. The Israeli Embassy…
Can al-Abadi win over Iraq’s Moderate Sunnis?
By Juan Cole Arguably, the so-called Islamic State (actually a vicious gang of serial killers) could never have taken over northern and Western Iraq if the largely Sunni Arab populations there had…