Month

Archives: February 2015

ISIL/ Daesh wiping out Iraq’s Religious Minorities

By RFE/RL | - Human Rights organizations warn that the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has targeted minority communities in Iraq in a “systematic strategy to remove them permanently” from large parts…

Israeli Blockade could cause Gaza Reconstruction to Take Over a Century

By IMEMC News | - British rights organization, Oxfam, stated that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip may take more than 100 years, at the current rate, to complete essential building of…

Leonard Nimoy’s Last Wishes for Israel and Palestine

Reprint edn. in honor of the passing of Mr. Nimoy, who inspired a generation. Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, speaks out as a Jewish American in favor of…

Maz Jobrani: I’m not a Terrorist but I’ve played one on TV (Interview)

AJ+ | - "Comedian Maz Jobrani talks with Dena Takruri of AJ+ about playing a terrorist, being part of the axis of evil, and Disney's Jafar." AJ+ : " Playing A Terrorist…

Antarctic Ice Melt Red Flag – NASA: It’s “going way faster than anyone had thought”

Antarctic Ice Melt Red Flag – Scientist: It’s “going way faster than anyone had thought”

Associated Press | - "From the ground in this extreme northern part of Antarctica, spectacularly white and blinding ice seems to extend forever. What can't be seen is the battle raging underfoot…

5 Surprising Ways Iran is better than Israel

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) I think I'm one of the few Americans who has been to both Iran and Israel. I like both countries and have a lot in common…

Gaza: How the Struggle for Natural Gas drives the Wars

By Michael Schwartz | (Tomdispatch.com) | - Guess what? Almost all the current wars, uprisings, and other conflicts in the Middle East are connected by a single thread, which is also a…

Scott Walker compares unions to ISIS

Think Progress | - "Scott Walker speaks at CPAC 2015" Think Progress Video: "Scott Walker compares unions to ISIS"

ISIL militants destroy Humankind’s heritage of Civilization from Ancient Iraq

RT | - The Islamic State has posted a video online showing a group of militants destroying ancient statues and other artifacts, saying they are symbols of idolatry. Some of the objects…

Why Netanyahu’s Congress Speech will Fail: Iran Can’t be Stopped, only Monitored

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The conspiracy hatched by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to undermine President Obama's negotiations with Iran over its…

Jewish Jihad on Palestinians: Israeli Squatters burn mosque near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Extremist Jewish settlers set fire overnight Tuesday to a mosque in the southern West Bank town of al-Jaba west of Bethlehem, locals told Ma'an. As worshipers arrived around 4:30…

Kenya Nomads strap Donkeys with Solar Panels for Mobile Batteries

K24TV | - "Shepherds in Kajiado county have devised an ingenious way of ensuring that that they make full use of the solar power in the county. The residents strap donkeys with…

Fallout in Gaza: After a War, 120,000 Still Living in Rubble:

VICE News | - "During the devastating 50-day war in Israel and Gaza this past summer, around 18,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving around 120,000 residents homeless. Now,…

The “Christian State” of Idaho?

KXLY ABC | -- "Do you think Idaho should be classified as a Christian state? That's the question the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee will answer Tuesday night. KXLY4's Aaron Luna reports."…

Syria: Daesh/ ISIL takes 150 Christians Captive as 3,000 flea to Hasaka

Syria: Daesh/ ISIL takes 150 Christians Captive as 3,000 flee to Hasaka

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Al-Nahar ("The Day," Beirut) reported that dozens of Assyrian Christians have been abducted by Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Hasakah Province, northeast Syria. Reuters later put…

American ‘Exceptionalism’ or just Above the Law? Torture, Drones, Assassination with Impunity

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) - "The sovereign is he who decides on the exception,” said conservative thinker Carl Schmitt in 1922, meaning that a nation’s leader can defy the law…

President Obama vetoes Keystone pipeline bill

RT | -- As promised, US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill from Congress which will halt construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Defying the wishes of the Republican-led House…

The Dynamism of American Islam

By Joseph Richard Preville and Julie Poucher Harbin | (ISLAMiCommentary) How do Muslims fit into the quilt of American history? Jonathan Curiel investigates this question in his new book, Islam in America…

War on Whistleblowers (ft. Edward Snowden & David Carr)

Brave New Films | - Brave New Films: War on Whistleblowers (ft. Edward Snowden & David Carr) War on Whistleblowers highlights recent cases where American government employees and contractors took to the…

Renewable Energy skyrocketing, From Solar Mosques to Wave-Powered Naval Bases

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Here are some of the green energy good news stories of the past few weeks: 1. China put in a massive 21 gigawatts of new…

Surprise: Noted Climate Change Denialist Took Undisclosed Big Oil Corporate Payouts

Surprise: Noted Climate Change Denialist Secretly Took Oil Co. Payouts

By Nadia Prupis | (Commondreams.org) A prominent climate change denier and researcher quietly took more than $1.2 million in payouts from the energy industry, including the Koch brothers and other oil lobbyists,…

‘I would have come forward sooner’ – Snowden on NSA leak regrets

RT | - Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has frequently said that he does not regret blowing the whistle on the agency’s mass surveillance programs. However, he has now stated…

Leak: Netanyahu’s 2012 Iran Bomb Warning refuted by Israeli Intel

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) - "Benjamin Netanyahu’s dramatic declaration to world leaders in 2012 that Iran was about a year away from making a nuclear bomb was contradicted by his…

In Egypt, the Law itself is an Enemy of Women’s Rights

By Rana Allam | - CAIRO, Feb 23 2015 (IPS) - In November 2013, a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey ranked Egypt as the worst of 22 Arab states with regards to women’s…

Israel denies Gaza govt floodwater allegations

NB AFP has withdrawn the original story. BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel on Monday rejected allegations by the government in the Gaza Strip that authorities had released storm water into the coastal enclave.…

In New Gilded Age, Social Protest dominates Academy Awards Ceremony

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - If social and economic inequality were a mine, and if America were deep in this mine with a canary in tow, the canary would long…

Snowden Reacts as Documentary about his Leaks wins Oscar

By Rainey Reitman | (EFF) - CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras' riveting documentary about Edward Snowden's efforts to shed light on gross surveillance abuses by the United States government and its partners, just won…

Ten-Fold Increase in Extreme Weather events since 1975 most Threatens Poorest Countries

Analysis by Manipadma Jena A woman watches helplessly as a flood submerges her thatched-roof home containing all her possessions on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar city in India’s eastern state of Odisha in…

Hundreds of Palestinians flee as Israel opens dams into Gaza Valley

Article withdrawn

NB: Israel has denied this allegation. Informed Comment is withdrawing this article, since apparently AFP is not standing behind it. IC is not on the ground and was syndicating here. GAZA CITY…

Modern Silk Roads and China’s Brave New World

By Pepe Escobar | (Tomdispatch.com) - BEIJING -- Seen from the Chinese capital as the Year of the Sheep starts, the malaise affecting the West seems like a mirage in a galaxy…

Saudi encourages Sunni Counter-Revolution against Shiite Houthi Rebels linked to Iran

Yemen: Saudi backs Sunni revolution against Shiite Houthi Rebels linked to Iran

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Yemen Voice reports that Wahhabi Saudi Arabia has launched an all out political offensive against the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over the north…

New York: Solar Panels demand increasing despite drop in natural gas prices

CCTV America | - "The demand for renewable power resources such as wind and solar is not only holding steady, but growing. CCTV America's Jessica Stone reported the story from Albany, New…

Men in miniskirt protest against student death in Turkey

Men in miniskirts protest against female student death in Turkey

Latest News | - "I would walk around in Taksim wearing a skirt, if you can do that..." For many Turkish men, this is a common phrase they use when they want…

Report: Attacks on Iraqi Women are a War Tactic

By Leila Lemghalef UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Iraqi women continue to be subject to physical, emotional and sexual violence, according to a new report by Minority Rights Group International and Ceasefire Centre…

Muslims form Human Shield around Oslo Synagogue, in Solidarity with Jews after Denmark Attack

Muslims form ‘Ring of Peace’ around Oslo Synagogue, after Denmark Attack

Reuters | - "Norwegian Muslims form a human shield around a synagogue in Oslo, offering symbolic protection after an attack on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark. Gavino Garay reports." Reuters: "'Human shield'…

Top 5 Reasons Palestinian-Israelis Could shape the Israeli Election

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Israel, despite the attempts of current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cast it as a monochrome "Jewish state," has a divided and complicated population. Some…

Negev Bedouin Resist Israeli Demolitions “To Show We Exist”

By Silvia Boarini AL ARAQIB, Negev Desert, Israel (IPS) - Lehavim Junction in the northern Negev in Israel has been the backdrop to protests against home demolitions in Bedouin localities for the…

Mother Jones Catches Bill O’Reilly Lying About Falkland Island War Coverage

Ben Mankiewicz, Jimmy Dore, John Iadarola, and Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) | - "After NBC News suspended anchor Brian Williams for erroneously claiming that he was nearly shot down in…

Post-Hostilities Gaza an ‘Increasingly Toxic Environment’ UN Warns

By IMEMC News & Agencies A top United Nations official warned, on Wednesday, of an ‘increasingly toxic environment’ in the besieged Gaza Strip and called on Israel to release Palestinian tax revenues.…

Giuliani & Obama: Immigrant Families and Really Loving America

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Rudy Giuliani maintains that Barack Obama doesn't love the United States of America because of the way he was brought up. Obama was largely brought…

Oklahoma: AP History Abandoned For Christian Agenda

TheLipTV | - "An Oklahoma legislative committee just approved an “emergency” bill introduced by Representative Dan Fisher that would cut state funding for Advanced Placement (AP) US History. Fisher’s agenda seems to…

War Porn: Hollywood and War from World War II to “American Sniper”

By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) - In the age of the all-volunteer military and an endless stream of war zone losses and ties, it can be hard to keep Homeland enthusiasm…

AP Investigates: Bulk of Gaza Deaths Civilians

Associated Press | - "AP Exclusive: High civilian death toll in Gaza house strikes during Israeli conflict with Hamas militant group during the summer of 2014. Over 60 percent of those deaths…

Egypt: Sisi’s struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood and his Strikes on ISIL/ Daesh in Libya

By Henry Clements | (Informed Comment) - Egyptian president Abdel Fatah El-Sisi wants to rally the international community against terrorism in the Middle East. In a televised speech earlier this week he…

Jeb Bush on Foreign Policy: Peddling old Iraq Myths Again

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Jeb Bush gave a maiden foreign police speech in Chicago yesterday in which he mixed up Iran with Iraq and alleged with science fictional inaccuracy…

Cigarettes to Kill 1 Billion this Century Despite Global Treaty (+ John Oliver)

By Laurent Huber | - GENEVA (IPS) - February 27 will mark the 10th anniversary of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global public health treaty.…

Obama Says Obama: U.S. At War With Terrorism, Not With Islam

Obama Says: U.S. At War With Terrorism, Not With Islam

By RFE/ RL | - U.S. President Barack Obama has said the United States is not "at war" with Islam, but with people who distort the religion. Speaking on February 18 at…

Iran Nuclear Talks: They said it Couldn’t be Done

By Carlyn Meyer | (Informed Comment) - According to sources familiar with negotiations between the international P5+1 group and Iran, the Obama Administration is optimistic that a deal can be reached over…

Holy War: How Bill O’Reilly & Daesh/ ISIL Share The Same Goal

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) "Bill O’Reilly stated definitively, multiple times tonight, that he believes the United States and the world are in a “holy war” against ISIS and the White…

Iraq: Kurds repel ISIL/ Daesh w/ help of the Shiite Militiamen they Distrust

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - In a bold move, Daesh (i.e. ISIL or ISIS) fighters moved Monday on Kirkuk and Erbil, two cities patrolled by the Iraqi Kurdistan paramilitary, the…

Russell Brand: Chapel Hill Vs Copenhagen – Which Is Terrorism?

Russell Brand | (The Trews) - "Reaction to the media coverage of the Chapel Hill killings last week and the shootings in Copenhagen." Chapel Hill Vs Copenhagen - Which Is Terrorism? Russell…

Not your Founding Fathers’ America: Permanent War, Permanent Election Campaigns, Guns, Drones and Surveillance

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) I never fail to be amazed -- and that’s undoubtedly my failing. I mean, if you retain a capacity for wonder you can still be awed by…

Just when you thought they Couldn’t be Worse: ISIL trafficking Human Organs

RT | - The Islamic State is harvesting human organs to finance its blood-driven caliphate, according to Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, urging its Security Council to investigate the issue. Envoy…

NSA making everyone vulnerable online with Equation Viruses on your Computer Hard Drive

NSA making all vulnerable online with Equation Viruses on your Computer

TheLipTV | - "Malware in hard drive firmware is the latest, and most sophisticated spying tool the NSA is suspected of using, with Kaspersky Labs of Russia suggesting that the "Equation Group"…

Today’s Top 7 Myths about Daesh/ ISIL

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The self-styled 'Islamic State' Group (ISIS or ISIL), the Arabic acronym for which is Daesh, is increasingly haunting the nightmares of Western journalists and security…

Hidden Dragon: China quietly becomes a Major Player in the Middle East

By Neil Thompson | (Informed Comment) - The era of Western neo-colonial dominance in the Middle East may finally be drawing to a bloody close. The Western monopoly ended almost unnoticed in 2013 when…

Elon Musk’s Battery for Solar Homes may Change Electric Utilities forever

TomoNews | - "Tesla is developing a battery that can power homes with stored solar energy so that users do not need to draw power from electricity grid." TomoNews: "Elon Musk: Tesla…

Sunni Sheikh Killed while trying to Mediate between Shiite, Sunni Extremists

Iraq: Sunni Sheikh Killed trying to Mediate between Shiite, Sunni Extremists

By Erin Evers | (Human Rights Watch) In Latifiyya, a small town 20 miles south of Baghdad, fighting has been raging since long before the armed conflict that erupted when the Islamic…

2 1/2 yrs after US Consulate Attack, Libyan Nat’l Army advances in Benghazi against Radicals

CCTV Africa | - "Footage from Benghazi showed troops, equipped with tanks, gun-mounted trucks and automatic weapons, advancing through farmland." CCTV Africa: "Libya’s Army Makes Gains In Fighting Against Militias" The Algerian…

Avenging its Christians, Egypt Bombs Libya in first formal Campaign since 1991

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The murder by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) thugs in Sirte, Libya, of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians this weekend provoked the first formal Egyptian military incursion…

Israel’s Obsession for Monopoly on Middle East Nuclear Power

By Thalif Deen | -- UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) - As the Iranian nuclear talks hurtle towards a Mar. 24 deadline, there is renewed debate among activists about the blatant Western double standards…

iSolar! Apple putting nearly $1 Bn into Solar Farm to Power Corporate Campus

Bloomberg Business | --- "Apple is embracing renewable energy with an $848 million commitment to obtain electricity from a solar farm that’s big enough to power its offices in California, along with…

Netanyahu urges Europe’s Jews to move to Israel

Euronews | - "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to this weekend's deadly synagogue shooting in Copenhagen by urging European Jews to emigrate to Israel. Netanyahu's invitation comes despite reassurances from his…

Afghanistan Wakes Up To Daesh/ ISIL Threat

By Qadir Habib and Michael Scollon | (RFE/RL) - After consistently rejecting the idea, Kabul could no longer ignore what self-declared recruiters and fighters had been telling them for months -- the…

al-Qaeda’s Feud with Denmark

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Denmark is a relatively small country, with a population of 5.7 million. But it is relatively wealthy, being the 35th largest economy in the world,…

Fox News Contributor: Fifty Shades of Grey Heralds the End of the World

Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks) - ""Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress believes that gay marriage and the film release of Fifty Shades of Grey are signs that the apocalypse is nearing.…

The More Coal & Oil we Burn, the worse the Southwest Megadrought

NASA Goddard | - "NASA scientists used tree rings to understand past droughts and climate models incorporating soil moisture data to estimate future drought risk in the 21st century." NASA | Megadroughts…

700 British artists pledge to boycott Israel until Pal Rights Granted

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- 700 British artists have signed a pledge to boycott Israel as long as it "continues to deny basic Palestinian rights," the latest major success for the global Boycott, Divestment,…

Iraq: ISIL advances to within 9 miles of 300 US troops at al-Ain Base

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The Jordanian newspaper al-Dustur [Constitution] reports that Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) has captured the al-Anbar city of al-Baghdadi in western al-Anbar Province. Twenty-five Daesh commandos,…

Bad News for US Biotech: GOP’s Scott Walker so anti-science he can’t affirm Evolution

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) - "Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks gives his final judgment on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recent comments on evolution. Cenk finds it hard to…

Israel Top Court denies justice to Family of Slain Activist Rachel Corrie

By Sarah Lazare | (Commondreams.org) The family of Rachel Corrie—the 23-year-old U.S. activist crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer while nonviolently protesting a home demolition in Palestine 12 years ago—was…

Israel bans Palestinian-Israeli Legislator Hanin Zoabi Banned From Elections

Israel bans Palestinian-Israeli Legislator Hanin Zoabi From Elections

By IMEMC News & Agencies | - The Israeli central election committee, on Thursday, passed a vote to exclude Palestinian MK Hanin Zoabi from the Arab list of candidates running for Knesset…

‘American Terrorist’: Middle East reacts to Murder of 3 Muslim-American Students in N Carolina

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - If American mass media seemed reluctant to cover the murder of three Muslims students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a hate…

Can Republicans succeed by running on Polluting Planet & New Cold War?

By Michael T. Klare It’s a ritual long familiar to observers of American politics: presidential hopefuls with limited international experience travel to foreign lands and deliver speeches designed to showcase their grasp…

“Drastic Decline” Seen in World Press Freedom

By Leila Lemghalef UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - A leading advocacy group warns of a “worldwide deterioration in freedom of information” last year.Out of the 180 countries being surveyed, two-thirds have slipped in…

Iraqi Gov’t AWOL: It’s Shia Militias vs. the Islamic State

VICE News | - "Last summer, the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) swept from Syria into northern Iraq, routing Iraqi security forces and seizing the city…

The Chapel Hill Shootings & the Troubling Growth of Anti-Muslim Intolerance

By Charles Kurzman | (ISLAMiCommentary) | - People from throughout the Triangle filled the UNC-Chapel Hill Pit Wednesday for the vigil for Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill; his wife, Yusor…

Keystone of Corruption: The Money Pipeline from Big Oil to Congress

By Kitty Stapp NEW YORK (IPS) - With battle lines sharpening over the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, a new analysis details the intense industry lobbying of both houses of the U.S. Congress…

The Daily Show was never ‘real’ news – but came (depressingly) close

Julia Fox, Indiana University | (The Conversation) Jon Stewart’s Tuesday night announcement that he’ll be leaving the Daily Show garnered an audible cry of disbelief from his live studio audience. Stewart himself…

‘Lone Wolf,’ ‘Self-Radicalized’: Islamophobic Buzzwords never applied to White Terrorists

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Did a self-radicalized lone wolf white terrorist kill three young Muslim students in cold blood in Chapel Hill? It is a kind of a stupid…

Old White Men Dominate Sunday Political Shows Yet Again

MediaMatters4America | - [A study of the Sunday political television shows demonstrates that 87% of the single-person interviews are done with white males, and 66% of all interviews are, though white men…

Israel earmarks vast area of Palestinian Hebron/ al-Khalil land for annexation

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israel has earmarked around 2,000 dunams (500 acres) of private Palestinian land for annexation in the Hebron district, local activists say. Muhammad al-Halayqa, an activist in the village of…

Putin on the Nile: an Isolated Russia Seeks friends in Egypt w/ offer of Nuclear Plant

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation paid a state visit to Cairo on Tuesday, consulting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a range…

Syria: Dear Bashar al-Assad: Barrel Bombs Are No Laughing Matter

By Philippe Bolopion | (Human Rights Watch) | -- It speaks volumes when the leader of a country feels emboldened to respond with humor when asked on television about a deadly weapon…

Abandoning Diesel: Battery-powered train brings low-carbon commuting to UK

Reuters | -- "The first battery-powered passenger train to run on Britain's tracks in over 50 years completes a five-week trial in a bid to prove the viability of more eco-friendly alternatives…

Against Torture: American Heroes who Indicted Cheney’s Dark Side

By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) Why was it again that, as President Obama said, “we tortured some folks” after the 9/11 attacks? Oh, right, because we were terrified. Because everyone knows that…

As Sweden opens Palestine Embassy, President Abbas Visits

Euronews | - "The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in Sweden for talks with the country's new Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. It is his first visit to the Nordic nation since it…

2nd Iranian Commander killed in Iraq defending Samarra Golden Dome

By RFE/RL | - A commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been killed in Iraq, Iranian media reported. The Tasnim news agency, said to be affiliated with IRGC, says…

Obama on his Foreign Policy: Between Realism and Idealism

By Matthew Iglesias | (Vox) - "When it comes to foreign policy, is President Obama a realist or an idealist? Turns out he rejects both terms." Vox: "Obama on the goal of…

Beaten over call for co-existence: French artist’s religious graffiti

RT | - "French grafitti artist 'Combo' got beaten for a graffiti of himself in Arabic clothes with the world ‘coexist’, with symbols of three different religions instead of some of the…

When you’ve Lost Bernie Sanders: How Netanyahu destroyed the Israel Lobby

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Senator Bernie Sanders, the most consistent and prominent progressive in the US Senate, has decided to skip the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu…

Iran’s Khamenei throws support to a Practical Nuclear Deal with West

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's clerical leader, gave a speech on Sunday in which he said he supports an agreement with the West on Iran's nuclear…

US Commander Says Death of Jordan Pilot Turning Point in ISIL Fight

US Commander: Death of Jordan Pilot Turning Point in ISIL Fight

ABC News | - United Arab Emirates joins Jordan in fight against ISIS after the horrific death of the pilot. ABC News: "Gen. John Allen Says Death of Jordanian Pilot Could Be…

EPA: Keystone XL would have a ‘significant’ impact on climate

The Tree | -- Intro The arguments for rejecting the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline just got stronger: this time its about carbon emissions. On last Monday, the Environmental…

The reporter as action hero: what could possibly go wrong?

By Russell Frank | (The Conversation) Longtime New Yorker magazine staff writer Lillian Ross once admonished aspiring reporters not to write about themselves. “As a reporter, serve your subject,” she wrote, “do…

Belgium’s Parliament latest to call for Recognition of Palestine

By IMEMC News & Agencies | - Late on Thursday, the Belgian parliament approved a resolution calling for official recognition of Palestine as a state. Belgium is the latest European country to…

Amal Clooney Seeks talks with Egypt’s Sisi over Client jailed for Committing Journalism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Update: Egypt has announced that Mohamed Fahmy will be retried in Cairo. Human Rights attorney Amal Clooney, wife of the actor George Clooney, wrote to…

Can Plants teach us how to make Better Solar Panels?

CCTV America | -- "Even with the robust sales, solar panels aren't terribly efficient, converting only about 10-15 percent of the sun's rays into useable and storable energy. A group of scientists…

British Tribunal Finds Gov’t Spy deal with NSA was Illegal

RT | -- "GCHQ spying on British citizens against human rights – UK court" RT: "Human rights systematically abused by UK secret service"

Battling Terrorism Shouldn’t Justify Torture, Spying: U.N. Rights Chief

By Thalif Deen | (IPS) UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 2015 (IPS) - The United Nations, which is the legal guardian of scores of human rights treaties banning torture, unlawful imprisonment, degrading treatment…

Palestine Environmental authority warns against Israeli toxic waste dumping

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Environment Quality Authority on Saturday said that any individual found responsible for exporting hazardous waste from Israel to Palestinian lands will be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment and…

Why Obama is Right to avoid double standard about Modern Christian Atrocities

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - President Obama, speaking on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, condemned religious extremism in the Muslim world, noting that it is the work of twisted…

Debating U.S. Foreign Policy: Where are the Women?

By Jasmin Ramsey | - WASHINGTON (IPS) - Women are running some of the United States’ most prominent foreign policy focused think tanks, leading groundbreaking foreign policy initiatives, and reporting from the…

Shiite Coup in Yemen: $400 mn. in US Weaponry Falls into Houthi Hands

Euronews | - "The United Nations and the United States have condemned Yemen's dominant Houthi group for dissolving parliament. The move was also denounced by the country's main political faction as a…

ISIL Militants Burn Three Iraqis Alive

By RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq | - Officials and eyewitnesses say Islamic State (IS) militants have burned at least three people alive in Iraq's western Anbar Province. The victims, residents of an…

As South Africa aims to get 1/2 of Power from Solar, US Firms Jump In

CCTV | - "Pretoria is promoting its growing solar industry, with predictions the sun will soon contribute about half of all South Africa's new power generation. The ambitious approach is leading to…

Williams Affair: Reagan and Bush Lied about Military Records but Get a Pass

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - NBC nightly news anchor Brian Williams is under fire for repeatedly having told an embellished story of being in a Chinook helicopter that took RPG…

Report: 151 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- At least 151 Palestinian children are currently being held as "security prisoners" in Israeli jails, Palestinian legal monitor Military Court Watch said in a statement on Tuesday. The group…

The Lone-Wolf Terror Trap: Why the Cure Will Be Worse Than the Disease

By Matthew Harwood | (Tomdispatch.com) The shadow of a new threat seems to be darkening the national security landscape: the lone-wolf terrorist. “The lone wolf is the new nightmare,” wrote Washington Post…

‘Muslims are Jews’ natural allies in Europe’: Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt

RT | - "Europe's economic difficulties in recent years have led to a rise in radicalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, and the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks brought these tensions to boiling point. How…

Is ISIL’s ‘Shock and Awe’ more Awe-ful because One Victim?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) burning of a captured Jordanian pilot alive produced justified revulsion globally, resulting in the terrorist organization being termed "barbarous" and…

Paying the Piper: How America’s Iraq War haunts its Failed Syria Policy

By Michael MacDonald, author of Overreach: Delusions of Regime Change in Iraq | (Special to Informed Comment | - If recent reports in the New York Times are to be believed, the…

Huge Win for the Open Internet! FCC Officially Embraces Title II

By Corynne McSherry | Electronic Frontier Foundation | -- Well done, Team Internet. After a year of intense activism, we may have finally convinced the Federal Communications Commission to change course and…

Palestinian Family must visit graves via tunnel under Apartheid Wall near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinians have suffered in many ways as a result of the Israeli separation wall, and in the case of one family in al-Walajah west of Bethlehem, the wall separates…

Why is Fox News Propagandist-in-Chief for ISIL/Daesh Atrocities?

John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore, and Desi Doyen | The Young Turks | - "Fox News has chosen to embed on its website the video of Islamic State burning a hostage to death,…

Furious Jordanian Crowds demonstrate over ISIL Murder of Pilot, but some blame US, King

Angry Jordanian Crowds Rally over ISIL Murder of Pilot, but some blame US, King

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Jordanian protesters came out in the thousands on Tuesday to protest the gruesome murder by Daesh (ISIL, ISIL) of a captured Jordanian pilot, Muath al-Kasasbeh.…

New Greek PM Tsipras: Israeli Brutality Against Palestinians Must End

By IMEMC News & Agencies | - "The brutality Palestine is experiencing must end", main opposition SYRIZA party leader Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday, during a rally and march to Syntagma Square,…

Big Oil wants N. Dakota to ease radioactive waste laws on Fracking

RT | - "Amid falling oil prices nationwide, energy industry players in North Dakota want officials to alter radioactive waste disposal laws so that more toxic fracking fluid can be stored in-state,…

What Really Caused the Paris Killings? (Gilbert Achcar Interview)

Gilbert Achcar/ Ahmed Shawki | (Socialist Worker) Interview: Gilbert Achcar, SOAS In the aftermath of the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and the wave of repression and Islamophobia that…

How the Anti-War Movement was Demobilized; Remembering I.F. Stone

By Tom Engelardt | (Tomdispatch.com) Well, it’s one, two, three, look at that amputee,At least it’s below the knee,Could have been worse, you see.Well, it’s true your kids look at you differently,But…

GOP’s Scott Walker: Pitches possible Syria War to make us Like Him

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Likely Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, says he might favor sending US ground troops to mount a conventional war against Daesh (ISIL or…

The Other Sinjar Massacre: As Iraq’s ISIL driven Back, Reprisals against Sunni Collaborators

Khales Joumah | Mosul | (Niqash.org) - As extremists from the Islamic State group are slowly driven out of northern Iraq, members of one of the groups that suffered at their hands…

After Charlie Hebdo: How Will Europe Deal with Islam and Muslims?

By Neslihan Çevik | (Daily Sabah) - After the tragic Charlie Hebdo massacre, it seems that Europe has several options regarding its policies on Islam and Muslims. Among them, the easiest option…

Yes, Virginia, Global Warming can mean Heavier Snowstorms (for a while)

By Kevin Trenberth | National Center for Atmospheric Research | (The Conversation) As first glance, asking whether global warming results in more snow may seem like a silly question because obviously, if…

Israel destroys water lines feeding Palestinian areas in Jordan Valley

TUBAS (Ma'an) – Israeli forces on Thursday destroyed a water network which feeds Palestinian villages and Bedouin dwellings in the northern Jordan Valley, the head of the village council of al-Maleh and…

Israel and Lebanon: Is a 3rd War in the Offing?

By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) - On January 18, 2015 an Israeli military operation lead to the death of Jihad Mughniyah in Quneitra, in the Syrian part of the…

Journalist Greste Freed by Egyptian Junta, but Press Freedom still Hostage

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Peter Greste, an Australian journalist working for Aljazeera English, has been released from an Egyptian prison after a 400-day ordeal in which he was jailed…

Iran and the West on Revolution Anniversary: 36 Years of Futile Estrangement

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Informed Comment) - Anniversary of Iranian Revolution February 2nd marks the 36th anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran after 14 years of exile. After…

War Is the New Normal: Seven Deadly Reasons Why America’s Wars Persist

By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) - It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on…

Being An Antiwar Activist In Israel Is Dangerous

AJ+ | - "Being an antiwar activist in Israel is dangerous. Israelis who protested against the 2014 Gaza offensive were threatened, harassed and attacked. Some even lost their jobs. Yoav Eliassi, also…

Ironies of Empire: US now Allied with Shiites Trained by Assassinated HIzbullah Leader

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The revelation by the Washington Post's Adam Goldman and Ellen Nakashima that the car-bomb assassination of Hizbullah commando Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in 2008 was…

GOP Pres. Candidates warn Iran Nukes can hit NYC (despite No Nukes, ICBMs)

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) - ""Three likely presidential candidates shared the stage Sunday night before a roomful of wealthy donors, engaging in a rapid-fire policy discussion that underscored sharp disagreement…

With US Tanks, are Iraq’s Shiite Militias getting stronger than the Army?

by Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) - Iraq’s unofficial Shiite militias are an essential part of the fight against the extremist Islamic State group. But they act independently of the army,…

Is there New hope for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange?

By Gustavo Capdevila | (IPS) Julian Assange in one of his rare public appearances in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been in hiding since June 2012. Credit: Creative Commons…

Attn. Tea Party: ‘How Immigrants (yes, Muslims and Latinos) can save Detroit & other Cities’

The Economist | -- "From Detroit to Philadelphia to Baltimore, policy makers in America’s old industrial metropolises are struggling with the same problem: how to reverse the fortunes of decaying cities. Decades…