Recent Comments

  • "Investigate Israel's Extrajudicial Killings:" Sen Leahy, 10 other Congressmen (1)
    • Should they not also consider whether Israel has legalized torture? Consider: “Over the years, [Israeli] investigators routinely beat Palestinian detainees, occasionally to death. After two major Shabak [Israel Security Agency] scandals in the 1980s, a government commission banned some interrogation methods but allowed investigators to exert ‘modest physical pressure’ on suspects – including shaking them violently and keeping them tied up in stress positions for hours. To Israeli and international rights groups, these ‘special procedures’ still amounted to torture.” link to detailedpoliticalquizzes.wordpress.com

  • The Trump Doctrine: End NATO, Patrol Mosques, Nukes for Japan & Allies (2)
    • Shortly after reading this article I went and turned on the news and there was coverage of Trump speaking at a campaign stop. Such ignorance and nonsense. I don't think that either major party has every put forward a nominee for over 100 years who is just so ignorant of basic facts. I heard him say that the US military is the most unprepared it has ever been and then I couldn't bear to watch anymore. I doubt he knows anything about the power of modern armed forces. It hurts my brain just to think about what he says. AAAGGGHHH.

    • This line of thinking is also indicated in his take on Hillary Clinton - at first stating that she is a good, thoughtful Secretary of State and that he likes her and is friends with Bill, etc. He does this because at the time he is thinking of his current businesses and the need for political connections. Later when he needs to court a Republican Right wing that hates her and her husband he discredits her and belittles her. There is no strategic thinking beyond what is needed/wanted in the present, with no thought to what the consequences will be or where the tide of events will take him. He does have a very canny knack for pressing the right wing lizard brain buttons of generalized fear and hatred of the "other" though. Good times, good times.

  • Momentum: Sanders Sweeps with Huge Wins in Hawaii, Washington and Alaska (2)
    • alec. Sanders a man of peace? Have you checked his Russia-Ukraine policy? Sending heavy US weapons to Ukraine? Making Ukraine a NATO member. Demanding the return of the Crimea to Russia. Brrrrr.

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
    • DH. Control of territory is critical for the caliph because his authority is largely based on territory he controls and the number of Muslims who acknowledge his authority. The caliph is expected to increase the territory of the caliphate. That is why the Ottoman rulers (who were not considered to be caliphs) tried to enlarge their territory into Eastern Europe.

  • How Green Energy is already taking over the World (6)
    • John, search on "Mountaintop removal mining". There's plenty of information to find if you look, but as you say, mainstream media haven't given it much space so not that many outside, or maybe even inside, USA are aware of the extent.

    • Renewables are better in so many ways. With solar, for example, the energy can be generated at the site of the use, obviating the need for the infrastructure required with a large distribution system--power lines, substations and the like. This makes it extremely attractive for developing countries. The costs of fossil fuels are always understated, too, because of the deleterious health costs that are not factored in by the use of fossil fuels. When you consider the cost of climate change, then the gap in cost between fossil fuels and renewables becomes even larger. It should be a no-brainer, but the huge profits in fossil fuels means they will be fighting long and hard to maintain the prior status quo. The job for citizens is to fight the efforts of the monied fossil fuel interests to try and stop what should be inevitable.

  • Israeli Squatters issue death threats against Videographer who filmed execution of Palestinian (5)
  • Why are American Elections so much worse than Everybody Else's? (7)
  • Basques, N. Ireland, Muslims: Belgium's Problems rooted in Europe's long History of Exclusion (2)
    • What a penetrating, sympathetic, informed commentary -- applicable not only in Belgium, not only in Europe, but in the U.S. as well.

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
    • ..."President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were using a fragile cessation of hostilities in the wider conflict to make territorial gains."

      Which would be A Bad Thing if those territorial gains came at the expense of those opposition forces that were observing this current cessation of hostilities.

      But it isn't.

      The Syrian Army's territorial gains are coming at the expense of a group that not only isn't observing the current ceasefire but was quite explicitly EXCLUDED from gaining the protection of that ceasefire.

      Basically, the ceasefire declares that it is open-season on ISIS.

      And if the Syrian Army wants to take the opportunity that this open-season-on-ISIS presents to take the Caliphate to the cleaners then everyone - but everyone - should be applauding their efforts.

  • How Green Energy is already taking over the World (6)
    • The shocking thing is that most Americans have no idea this is happening. Go ahead. Ask some. They all believe that solar & wind are more expensive than natural gas even if they support them. Yet they also believe that investors are always right. So they must have no idea that investors have already calculated that coal is dead and natural gas is shaky. Go to cleantechnica.com. Every few days major solar & wind projects begin construction somewhere outside the USA, and most are in poor countries. Yet Americans are still easily seduced by the propaganda that the poor must live with pollution to have the blessings of cheap energy and the US-based version of progress.
      All the signs of decline are here. Even in our own heads.

    • One of the great advantages of solar and wind for developing countries is that solar and wind are scalable. That means they can easily be built to meet local energy needs, and when more power is needed, the right amount of additional power is easy to add. Before its famous demise, Enron was famous for trying to build a 1 billion dollar power plant in a poorer area of India that didn't know what to do with all the energy the plant provided, and couldn't afford to pay for the huge unused capacity (it was eventually cancelled).

      Global warming should have been a sufficient reason to switch to alternative energy. But economics is now a big factor. Fossil fuels have pretty much reached rock bottom in prices. And yet the prices of various forms of alternative energy continue to fall. Experts believe the prices will continue to fall for another decade or two.

      In the meantime, electric cars are only about two to four years from taking off. Given the rising level of global warming, the switch to electric vehicles can't happen soon enough.

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
  • Why are American Elections so much worse than Everybody Else's? (7)
    • alec - great observation regarding voting appliances.

      • Made in non-US locations like Brazil.
      • No firmware or software scrutiny.
      • Default setting to a specific party if no vote is cast for a candidate.
      • Credentials traceability for programming and installation nonexistent.

      In some counties, YOUR vote means absolutely nothing.

      Those who CONTROL the outcomes of elections like things just the way they are.

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
    • Contrary to many pundits opinions, Obama's Syria strategy seems to be working. It does not allow us to beat our chest and claim "we won, we're number one!" But slowly and surely and covertly Daesh is being defeated, and with a minimal cost in US lives and treasure. And we are avoiding another quagmire. Just sorry that most Americans will not appreciate the success of that policy; and sorry it took Obama so long to learn how to stand up to the military-industrial complex.

  • Basques, N. Ireland, Muslims: Belgium's Problems rooted in Europe's long History of Exclusion (2)
  • Fall of Palmyra: Syrian regime races to take ISIL's 'Berlin' and forestall 'Partition' (9)
    • They don't really need any new motives. They are doing what have always said they would do. Russia has very good reasons of it's own for bringing Daesh down and Assad would be failing in his duty if he didn't seek to regain all Syrian territory. He told French lawmakers visiting Damascus on Sunday that Syria is too small for federalization.

      link to sputniknews.com

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
    • While Daesh proclaims its phony caliphate and is slowly driven back from its gains, Tayyip Erdogan quietly creates a more serious looking caliphate on Europe's doorstep.

  • How Green Energy is already taking over the World (6)
    • what is the solution of this problem?

    • I watched a documentary recently on RT (Russian television) which we get over here in the UK. The gist of the piece was that a mountain in East America called "coal mountain" is being completely removed for its coal and the locals don't like it. The locals have done a study showing that because of the high altitude of the mountain, wind generators would produce as much electricity as the one coal fired power station does from the coal harvested from the mountain. As the wind is likely to blow for the foreseeable centuries to come, this would mean the locals could have their mountain and there would be electricity produced from it for ever! Obviously, the companies harvesting to coal don't agree. I am not qualified to pronounce on the matter one way or the other. What I find strange however, is that I should only be able to find this documentary on a Russian television station and not on an English or American one. Perhaps you have seen an American version of this documentary, professor?

  • After Palmyra, the last days of the phony Caliphate? (6)
  • Israeli Squatters issue death threats against Videographer who filmed execution of Palestinian (5)
    • In the Bus 300 affair in 1984, the Israeli government was caught red-handed when an Israeli press photographer took a snapshot of an 18-year old bus hijacker taken away alive from the bus in handcuffs alive and the photo was published in the New York Times after the Israeli government had announced the youth died in the raid on the bus.

      An investigation determined that Shin Bet intelligence agents bludgeoned the arrestee to death in a field.

      PM Yitzhak Shamir termed the agents' conduct "an aberration".

      A subsequent further probe uncovered that Shin Bet director Avraham Shalom ordered the killing of the youth and Shalom was later pardoned by the Israeli president since he did so reportedly on orders of his superior - his only boss was PM Shamir.

      Other agents who were complicit in the killing received pardons from the Israeli president despite attempts of the Israeli attorney general to prosecute the culpable parties for murder. One agent involved in actual killing and pardoned was later elected to the Knesset as a Likud Party member.

    • The sole prosecution eyewitness in the Dawabsha murder case had his home recently firebombed by Jewish extremists

      An Israeli soldier and settler both recently entered a hospital room to threaten a Palestinian who recently ended a 94-day hunger strike after an agreement reached with the Israeli government:

      link to palestinechronicle.com settler-threaten-to-kill-al-qeq/

      A Jewish extremist was recently sentenced to prison for composing a handbook, entitled "Kingdom of Evil", directing readers to commit violence against Palestinians and avoid detection by authorities by joining terror cells:

      link to japantimes.co.jp

  • Fall of Palmyra: Syrian regime races to take ISIL's 'Berlin' and forestall 'Partition' (9)
    • More like Najibullah and freedom fighters then Stalin and Nazis. Daesh has enemies other then the US and Esteemed coalition don’t you know.I still remember the words of a young Syrian solider” we will finish you” before being machine gunned and I hope Syrian, Iraqi army and their allies will bring truth to those words, right of exclusiveness of Daesh as Coalition pet Chucky doll notwithstanding.

    • I think we need to put the concern for the safety and security of the Syrian people first and foremost, and I am glad for the people of ancient Tadmor that they are no longer under the heel of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). As a classicist and one who was in Palmyra many years ago (1994), I am deeply relieved that the ancient ruins did not suffer more damage than it did, and it appears some of those ruins will be able to be restored. It is a ray of slim light in an otherwise horribly tragic situation for a people I recall as warm and welcoming, and a country with a cultural patrimony on the scale of (in ancient terms) of Italy, Greece, or Turkey.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
    • Excellent post that makes way too much sense in our 6 second sound bite culture. As you suggest, people tend to get carried away with all the spooky ideology, but it's really all about proper policing. The perpetrators are not "terrorists", they are criminal filth. And the way to deal with criminals is to systematically infiltrate their networks and take them down. I just hope the Belgians get their act together. It seems their bureaucracy is far from streamlined and is in fact, quite convoluted, which apparently leads to a sort of rigor mortis when it comes time to act.

  • Will Western powers Respond to HRW's demand for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia? (3)
    • If I believed the US would ever voluntarily extract itself from its mutually abusive codependency with Saudi Arabia, now would be the time to do it. There's too much oil supply right now, the Russians have proven the Saudi military irrelevant on the major stage of Syria, the dollar is strong and the Saudis are very unpopular with ordinary Americans.
      But money talks.

  • Fall of Palmyra: Syrian regime races to take ISIL's 'Berlin' and forestall 'Partition' (9)
    • Maybe this is evidence that Russia is committed to reinforcing Iran's sphere of influence in the region instead of trying to rule one of its own. I'm looking for clues as to how serious an alliance the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is, especially in light of Iran's supposed membership.

  • Why are American Elections so much worse than Everybody Else's? (7)
    • Our elections don't work because the people who started this country didn't believe in democracy. They put myriad barriers in its path, some of which have been dismantled, some of which have been retained like the Electoral College, and some of which are making a comeback, like the the power of states to protect their privileged elites. The enemies of democracy today are the ones who most loudly claim the Founding Fathers as their justification.

      Among the many things we need to do is teach our children the truth that the Founding Fathers were not always right or even good guys, and that they knew future citizens might have to change the forms of our governance, which is why they at least left tools to make it possible.

    • Pippa Norris's article is well researched but startlingly naive. Ms. Norris fails to note the most important part.

      American elections are broken by design. The voting machines are still suspect. Two major presidential elections have a taint of fraud about them (Gore-Bush 2000: Florida hanging chads, etc., Kerry-Bush: Ohio 2004, Diebold machines reprogrammed).

      In the current primary cycle, Hillary Clinton has claimed the nomination by claiming all the superdelegates before the primaries even started and by suppressing vote counts (Iowa and Arizona) and suspect coin tosses and gerrymandering caucus counts. Broken by design.

  • 30 Americans die worldwide from Terrorism annually, while 130,000 die by accident (19)
  • Momentum: Sanders Sweeps with Huge Wins in Hawaii, Washington and Alaska (2)
    • Hillary Clinton is cutting left just long enough to push Senator Sanders out of the race. She and her husband created the business environment which incubated the 2008 "too big to fail" crash. The bailout then was the largest single transfer of public money to private wealth (taxpayers paid for banks bad investments and decisions). We're still not out of the woods (the situation is even worse: as banks weren't allowed to fail and went straight back to their bad habits of awarding themselves bonuses in the good times while socialising risk in bad times).

      The funniest thing I've heard this weekend covered the $353,000 plate George Clooney Clinton benefit dinner.

      One might think George would have some conflicts with Clinton's time as Secretary of State, given his desire to "end war in Africa".

      I had a much higher opinion of both George and Amal Clooney before this anointing the feet of Baal stunt. It's hard to believe Amal Clooney can aid and abbet the Secretary of State responsible for the persecution of her client Julian Assange.

      If Bernie Sanders can win the Democratic nomination, it will do more to restore faith in the American government both at home and abroad than any election since John F. Kennedy. Hillary Clinton is a war hawk intent on absolute hegemony who would do anything for power. She's already cheated her way through at least four or five of these primaries (dodgy marginal win in Iowa, as a loss would have derailed her campaign completely, phoney-baloney coin tosses, complicity in vote blocking in Arizona).

      This election is desperately important. Hillary Clinton is likely to bring World War III down on all of our heads. If she steals the Democratic primary from Senator Sanders, shockingly the world's last chance is Donald Trump. While Donald Trump is a silly vain man, at least he'll keep us out of World War III. With core motivations like making money and making love to beautiful women, Trump has no reason to start a world war.

      The man doesn't even drink (and not because he's an ex-alky like G.W. Bush: he's always had "more interesting things to do"). Hard drinking Hillary Clinton is prone to judgement lapses when hitting the sauce.

  • Israeli Squatters issue death threats against Videographer who filmed execution of Palestinian (5)
    • Thank you for this on-the-ground report. Outrageous. One has to ask oneself a few questions.

      * When are these Israeli clowns going to be held accountable for their actions and suspended from the UN?
      * Why is Europe still trading with an apartheid regime?
      * Why is the US actively supporting the current round of land confiscation, expropriation, colony building (they are not settlements: Palestine has been settled for thousands of years) and collective punishment?

      Time for Israel to face the consequences of apartheid.

  • Fall of Palmyra: Syrian regime races to take ISIL's 'Berlin' and forestall 'Partition' (9)
    • @vijayprashad Today palmyra and next Idlib and all parts of Syria will return back to Syrians

    • When Russia announced that it was going to step into Syria to support Assad I wrote here that this would probably swing things Assad's way and he was very likely to retain power. It now looks like he has all the cards. So, what we will have is a return to a status quo ante, only with the Assad government presiding over a wrecked country. Assad will have to concentrate on just rebuilding his country over the next decade or so. The only hope for a more representative government is if his Russian allies push for it as recompense for their past and future support. Not likely. Not all problems in the international sphere are fixable and I strongly suspect this is one of those.

    • I think, it is about long time strategy. The Russians were not allowed to fly to Damaskus using Nato airspace. They had to fly over Iran and Irak. If there would have been an international recognized Sunni-state in the east of Syria then the western-sunni Alliance could have blocked the way.
      The SAA and its allies have to destroy ISIS or at least, cut it in two peaces.
      Do not forget, this war was never about democracy or barrel bombs, but one reason to start it, was to break the supply lines between Hisbollah and Iran.

  • Why are American Elections so much worse than Everybody Else's? (7)
    • Good grief. The EIP actually lists Israel as a democratic country.

    • The comparison of electoral defects is useful, but of course the central problem is money in mass media and elections. The US has no democracy at all until those tools of democracy are protected from economic concentrations by constitutional amendments.

      Without mass media and elections free of economic control, the US will need far more than another 1776 to restore democracy. The US oligarchy is an aristocracy far worse than the relatively mild British colonialism thrown off by the US and India in forming the two largest democracies. It is more like the Czars of Russia, thrown off only by the secretive militarism of communist organization.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
    • In the UK at least, returning "jihadists" do face jail. But this in turn causes its own problems. What if you're little more than a kid, go out there, find out how you've been tricked and are then desperate to come home? You also forget that they do not go to Syria directly - just book a holiday flight to Turkey and then get a bus to the Syrian border.

  • Israeli Squatters issue death threats against Videographer who filmed execution of Palestinian (5)
    • The disconnect between murdering the wounded Palestinian and the outraged reaction of Israel to defend themselves as the true victim is so sharply revealing.

  • Fall of Palmyra: Syrian regime races to take ISIL's 'Berlin' and forestall 'Partition' (9)
    • I think, it is all about the link between Syria and Iran. Today Russian planes could only reach Syria because ISIL is not international recognized , so they could not block their airspace. If peace breaks out, maybe ISIL could change into same kind of internationally recognised sunni-state. Don't forget that one of the reasons for the war was, that Israel wanted to block the link between Hisbollah and Teheran. No wonder, Hisbollah did take part in the fighting for Palmyra.

    • A very interesting analysis, thank you very much Professor Cole.

      I would like to hear some alternative views from other credentialed analysts, yet you present a very convincing case.

      If things do pan out in Assad's favor as you suggest, i.e that the tradition of very strong central government continues in a newly-negotiated regime in which the populations supporting Assad (Shia Muslims, Alawites and other religious minorities, secular Sunnis) remain in the ascendant (whether or not Assad himself remains in Syria) it will mean that the Assad family's military legacy will be that the only victory they could win, was against their own population who were seeking a more democratic and responsive government.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
  • Bravest man in Politics: Bernie Sanders harshly criticizes Israeli Occupation: 'Absurd' Settlements, 44% Unemployment (14)
    • Lawrence - you need to drop Hillary Clinton and support Bernie. Hillary says one thing, but when she gets in office, you will not see any of her promises for the people come to fruition. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate running who is truly for the people like you and I. Hillary owes a YUGE debt to Wall Street in favors, as well as the energy companies, and a host of others. What's more disgusting is that, from the beginning of this election cycle, Hillary has been granted untold favors by the DNC Chair, Wasserman-Schultz. As far as I'm concerned this election was rigged from the beginning for Hillary. Bernie's plan for the Israelis and Palestinians is the most practical and would after a zillion years, maybe bring peace to the area. The only reason that murdering thug, Netanyahu keeps his war mongering up is because this country gives him $13 billion a year and nuclear weapons to continue his massacre of the Palestinians. Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of herself for kissing up to Netanyahu. Finally, Lawrence, whether or not you realize it, you are a socialist. Everyone in this country is a socialist. I, for instance am on Social Security (which I earned over 52 years of working). Does that make me a bad person? I hope you reconsider and vote for Bernie. If for no other reason than to keep Donald Trump from becoming our next President. All the experts say that only Bernie can beat Trump.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
    • "You can’t watch everyone who goes..... to fight in Syria and comes back...."
      Why are people in Europe allowed to go to Syria to fight or be trained by Daesh or other jihadists in the first place? In the US you would be subject to criminal prosecution for giving material support to a terrorist organization. If returnees knew they were likely to face jail at the border, they wouldn't come back or wouldn't go in the first place. I would add to criminalization the threat of loss of citizenship for active, military participants . This seems to me like a likely avenue for narrowing the sweep of anti-terrorism activity. I have not seen it mentioned. To be sure some potential terrorists may still slip past intelligence surveillance and some may think criminalization of travel to wage jihad too severe a human rights deprivation but the alternatives are far worse and as we are seeing, are leading to demands for unacceptable abridgments of the rights of millions of European Muslims.

  • Will Western powers Respond to HRW's demand for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia? (3)
    • Unfortunately Western (and possibly Eastern too) media cares little about Yemen, despite possible consequences of growing extremist threat from the war and the humanitarian crisis.

      Compare the coverage on KSA and its coalition with Israel and Syria, where the latter two had major coverage on their bombardments on civil populations. All of these states ought to be tried for war crimes including their suppliers.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
    • No, the British promise Sharif Husayn the entire Arab world east of Suez, but then promised greater Syria to France and Jerusalem to Russia. Daesh erased the border between "British" Iraq and "French" Syria, but that division was made after the war and the Ottomans had been defeated with Arab help.

  • Day of the Demagogue: Trumpian Deportation Fantasies and American Realities (1)
    • In a recent article the Houston Chronicle has condemned the Trumpian wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. That article points out that some of the strongest Texan opponents to such a wall through Texas actually live near the US border with Mexico. The article also asks "can you imagine that wall sneaking through the Big Bend National Park"?

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
  • Will Western powers Respond to HRW's demand for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia? (3)
  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
  • 30 Americans die worldwide from Terrorism annually, while 130,000 die by accident (19)
    • Two observations Juan, to add to this nice post of yours:

      1. A helluva lot more people die by gun deaths via crime, accident, and suicide, than by terror attacks – at least in this country. Yet there has been active obstruction against ANY action in that area. Hell, the CDC isn’t even allowed to research guns as an actual public health hazard thanks to ignoramus Republicans and the carnificious (i.e., blood-thirsty), craven, and greedy NRA.

      2. From ancient Athens to the contemporary USA, democracies seem to be pretty shitty at risk assessment at times. Hungry kids who grow up to be dysfunctional adults are a far far worse threat to US security and economic viability than ISIS – period, end of report.

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
  • Remember: Refugees are fleeing ISIL; they aren't ISIL (3)
    • The immense idiocy of Cruz's demand that "Muslim neighborhoods" of US cities must be patrolled by law enforcement to catch terrorists is demonstrated by Dearborn, Michigan whose Muslim community is Shia. That community is in much greater danger of ISIL terrorism than the Christians in Dearborn.

  • What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels? (7)
    • There are two points you brought up. First, let's not forget that the FBI ignored all reports from Russia's FSB regarding the Tsarnaevs meeting with Chechen terrorists. Secondly, the Boston PD had no Arabic speakers (aside from from anybody) in contact with the mosque that threw out the elder Tsarnaev for making radical comments.

      This is not isolated "bad" policing. The Belgian police have no Arabic-speaking police for outreach and patrolling. In the US, I offered my services as an Arabic-speaker for free to a large police department with a mosque where numerous terrorists (now dead or in jail) had preached. I was more interested in outreach and to act as a police liaison. The hiring authority had no problem rudely rejecting me, a decorated Vietnam Veteran with a clean record.

      I would say we have a "police problem" more than a "terrorist problem" on our hands. There were plenty of opportunities to pick these terrorists up, but the police are way too incompetent to deal with this issue.

  • 30 Americans die worldwide from Terrorism annually, while 130,000 die by accident (19)
    • I cannot think of any case where terrorism has won a war or caused a governmental system to collapse. Can you? Terrorism is used as a political tool by those lacking political and military power.

    • "Losing 50 people in a terrorist blast in an airport has a greater impact than losing 50 people in an ordinary train wreck. The terrorist message is that 1) we can hurt you anywhere 2) we would hurt you this way every single day if we could and we’re working on that."

      Are we not then just a nation of cowards?

    • Absolutely loved the article!

      have gotten into serious disagreements with people on the subject, when I raise how many killed in U.S.A. per yr via gun violence. Thank you ever so ,much for all the figures.

      In British Columbia, Canada 81 people per year are killed by distracted driving; another similar amount by drunk driving. Yet our former P.M. thought it was a good idea to pass laws which violated our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to fight alleged "terrorism" in Canada. (we had yet to have 1 incident of real terrorism) Our new P.M. of course is putting an end to that silliness.

    • I agree with you 100%. If I had been president on 9/11, I would have pursued the attack as a horrific criminal case and followed the usual procedures of indictment, extradition, arrest, trial, etc. that are at the heart of civilized justice.

      My point is that terrorism is a tactic of war; one terror attack makes people worry that more terror attacks are coming and that the nation COULD be destabilized as a result. Terror awakens people's personal nightmares about the possibility of war--even if you live in a nation that is well-protected by broad oceans and that is not in any eminent danger.

      The "what if" nightmare of terrorism turning over time into war has enabled political and corporate leaders to scare people into spending billions.

      But no one would be easily scared by a "what if" scenario of a couple of dog attacks leading to dogs everywhere attacking humans. That would be considered ridiculous!

      We need to find a way to show people why a fair judicial system is the best way to deal with ALL kinds of criminals. A suicide bomber who would blow apart strangers is at the same level of evil as a serial killer who murders stranger after stranger.

      Judicial procedure removes those who would use indiscriminate harm from the streets without causing additional destabilization and damage. That is the best way to break the cycle of violence.

    • Fear is what fuels the weapons industry. If there was no fear we'd all be rich and war free. It's about time we all smarten up!

  • UN: Israel Soldier's execution of wounded Palestinian on ground gruesome, unjust (1)
    • "The soldier has since claimed he killed al-Sharif out of fear the incapacitated man was going to detonate a suicide bomb vest......."

      There have been no recent suicide bombings in Israel or the West Bank.

      Obviously, there was absolutely not one iota of proof he (al-Sharif) was so armed.

      Under that line of thinking, every Palestinian who attempts to injure an Israeli may be summarily executed upon the possibility he may be wearing a suicide bomber vest.

      Certainly no other IDF soldier or emergency personnel at the site appeared concerned of such a possibility - but rather calmly stood or walked near al-Sharif.

      It was also apparent that the initial IDF statement only said that the two Palestinian men were killed. No one onsite had officially initially reported that al-Sharif was shot while lying on the ground or that there were concerns of a possible "suicide bomb vest".

      The second Palestinian killed was unarmed. Neither he nor al-Sharif were loaded into in ambulance before they died despite the fact that three Magen David ambulances were present and the lightly wounded IDF soldier who was stabbed was immediately placed into ambulance and transported out before al-Sharif was fatally shot in the head.

      The B'tselem human rights group's publication of this videotaped incident was the only impetus for the Israeli government to address it as an apparent extrajudicial execution. No one who witnessed it onsite other than the human rights worker who secretly videotaped it had attempted to report or publicize it as an apparent war crime.

      Amnesty International and Palestinian Authority officials have described the incident as a war crime.

  • 30 Americans die worldwide from Terrorism annually, while 130,000 die by accident (19)
    • Those 30 American 'terrorist' deaths suck up all the air in the room! Recently read a news article that mentioned more than 30,000 Americans died as a result of handguns,( self inflicted, accidental, homocide and mass violence)! Here's that link from Oct 2015: link to oregonlive.com thank you for refocusing attention to REALITY! /best

    • "American civilization." lol As Ghandi said, it would be a good thing!!!!!!

      However, the response of the USA and Euyrope is playing into the hands of terrorists, as Osama bin Laden once said very clearly.

    • There isn't any evidence of terrorism threatening American civilization. In the past ten years it hasn't had any measurable effect at all. Why spend billions on it?

  • Mosul: Are Civilian Deaths in Coalition Airstrikes Reinforcing ISIL's Hold? (1)
  • 30 Americans die worldwide from Terrorism annually, while 130,000 die by accident (19)
    • No mention of the huge number killed in poor neighborhoods by the angry and disaffected -- talk about innocent people living in fear!! Imagine what those wasted billion$ could do to improve lives and bring hope to those people, enabling them to join the mainstream. But it won't go beyond our imaginations, as it's not a money-maker for those who have no personal connection to the problem... or who may actually profit from liquor and tobacco (and drug) sales, and from privatized schools and prisons. So sad.

    • I get the point, and I agree that using war to stop a technique of war is absurd, but I don’t think that merely comparing numbers of deaths by different agents is a good way to understand the impact of a death.

      Per the CDC, as of Feb. 16, 2016, the annual death rate in the United States is 821.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Of a population around 300 million, about 2.6 million people die each year. That is a lot of deaths, but these deaths don’t threaten the stability of the nation, and they don’t have the same impact as do deaths caused by terrorism or by war.

      Losing 50 people in a terrorist blast in an airport has a greater impact than losing 50 people in an ordinary train wreck. The terrorist message is that 1) we can hurt you anywhere 2) we would hurt you this way every single day if we could and we’re working on that.

      It’s the part 2 of the message that gets everyone panicked. A lighting strike or a dog bite has never been the initial “shot heard round the world”. Lighting storms and aggressive dog attacks don’t threaten to increase to the point at which a society could collapse. Terrorism does. It threatens to turn a functioning nation into a failed state. It would take a monumental number of crazed dogs to destroy human civilization. But we have seen nations collapse under the impact of small armed groups progressing from terror attacks to gang warfare to outright civil war.

      Until we’ve seen an Alexander the Great Dane lay waste to cities and conquer kingdoms, people are not going to get that anxious about dog bites!!

    • Good points. The "fear" of terrorism is exploited as a marketing tool. It is considered simply a "normal" part of capitalism, no different than selling nostrums from the first half of our nation promising relief from market driven fears. The only real new issue is that politicians participate in the scam.

      I am reminded relatively recently about McCain (and a few others) lobbying for funds for his rebel buddies in Syria, most of whom turned out to be ISIS and al Queda.

    • Good points. Further, unlike the expense on disease research which benefits everyone forever, the expense on "terrorism" victims is ongoing, does not solve the problem, apparently increases the problem, and erases the underlying causes from public awareness.

      Terrorizing is a military tactic used by all nations when they think it effective (US attacks on Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Cambodia, Grant's march though Georgia, secret terror wars in Latin America), not a belief system, while "terrorism" as political belief describes only warmonger tyrants over democracy, against whom Aristotle warned, who must pose a protectors to demand domestic power and accuse their moral superiors of disloyalty.

      Only broad and intensive consideration of the underlying problems can avoid disaster and reduce violence. The right wing revolution, that has destroyed US democracy by controlling its mass media and elections, prevents all consideration of underlying problems in foreign and domestic policy.

    • Missing from the list are the death caused by States’ terrorism, commonly announced as “war” by the propaganda media that call itself “journalism”.
      The bulk of USA journalism, the Fourth Estate or forth power, is no longer independent. It has become a very sophisticated propaganda machine in line of what the BBC demonstrates in its very didactic series “The Century of the Self”. link to youtube.com

    • Problem is, the human cognitive system in its native, automatic mode doesn't really do numbers. It works by salience and sears into memory what is memorable, not what is statistically significant. It is folly, of course, to develop policy based these natural inclinations and incapacities. But it makes for good politics.

      The real problem is to get the actual risks across to the mass of onlookers in a way that can be grasped viscerally. This is probably as difficult as getting people to see the self-interest that they're voting against.

    • These are very interesting stats. It is ironic that the US media is able to make the American people fear Muslims, and give the people the impression that Muslim terrorists are the biggest threat to their existence. When it is a white Christian terrorist with a gun shooting at innocent people in a theater, an elementary school, or a Sikh temple, it does not get the publicity that a crime perpetrated by a Muslim extremist does, and most of all you do not get political candidates or leaders, making any statement condemning the use of weapons, or criticize the gun lobby. When it is a Muslim, it is open season on all Muslims, and the ugly racist comments seem endless. It also shows that those owning and running the media are okay with this biased reporting. What else can we conclude?

    • Thanks much Juan.

      Great post. Much of our education if supposed to be founded on understanding arithmetic and fractions. Too bad most people and especially Republicans don't understand this grad school stuff.

      The Republicans support the Tobacco industry which is killing over 8 million people worldwide and they instead focus on terrorism.

      There is no powerpoint that can even graphically show the massive difference between these different orders of magnitude.

      Republicans are liars when they say they want to protect lives.

      As you post shows, they lie and too many people fall for these lies again and again.

    • According to the weather channel, over a period of the last 30 years, an average of 49 Americans are killed within the US by lightning every year. So, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than a terrorist. Fear is the currency of the right wing.

  • ISIL's target wasn't Brussels, it was the whole idea of European Union (2)
    • It's a strange type of revenge, when most Muslims in Iraq, and many in Syria, are killed by the likes of ISIS themselves.

      Furthermore, at its core, ISIS is absolutely opposed to both our way of life and the manner in which we construct a state. They prove it everyday with the atrocities they commit against women, homosexuals, and all those who refuse to submit to the authority of their self proclaimed state.

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
    • Very helpful article Juan! We are organizing a discussion and reflection day with local Muslims near Oakland, CA. Your article will be widely distributed. Thanks!

    • There is a difference in propaganda effect when US reporters say that "the Islamic State" did X compared to if they said "Daesh did X." The general public then associates with Islam tout court. By the way, I, uh, do know Arabic.

  • Trump's and ISIL's Gray Zones: Radicals' Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat (5)
    • Please stop this ranting. French people, Catholics in name for the most part, but Muslims as well, are NOT religiously pious at all. The secular State is popular, and of course politicians, ("Socialist" as well as "Republicans" and national Front), try to beat up terrorism. Sending troops all over the place, and supporting US-led NATO, are the most dangerous actions taken.

  • Bravest man in Politics: Bernie Sanders harshly criticizes Israeli Occupation: 'Absurd' Settlements, 44% Unemployment (14)
    • he didn't really criticize ISRAEL;;HE oh so gently chided ISRAEL, he sure didn't say ISRAEL is steling all the water, and withholding the taxes it collects for PALESTINIANS....just say to loud and clear, BERNIE...No more pussy footing.....

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
    • You mean, "I don't believe you." Folks who say "Source Please" are taking the easy way out. Google or Bing the subject yourself, then confront your opponent with the info you've obtained.

  • Trump's and ISIL's Gray Zones: Radicals' Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat (5)
    • It is working here in the US. The hatred that was once unsaid, is now out in the open. My wife wears hijab and we live in Northern Virginia, a very diverse area. Mistreatment and outright hatred directed at her is becoming more common, most recently in the middle of a busy Starbucks.

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
  • Climate Warming Accelerating Carbon Release from Thawing Arctic Soils, Dartmouth Study Finds (4)
  • Bravest man in Politics: Bernie Sanders harshly criticizes Israeli Occupation: 'Absurd' Settlements, 44% Unemployment (14)
    • If independents (mainly) and unaffiliated voters (to a lesser degree) were able to participate in all of the Democratic primaries, I believe Sanders would be leading at this point. If not now, then certainly by the end. His losses in the South would have been blunted (60-40 or better as opposed to 66-33) and his Midwest challenges would have been overcome (Illinois, Ohio probably would have gone True Blue instead of just Michigan, where indys can vote).

      What a shame, the US has blown its last chance for real change. I would like to say that the social democratic movement has just begun, but I am afraid this primary loss for Sanders will disenfranchise so many who would otherwise have become active in politics. Probably turn 90% them off the political process for life.

    • I would never capitulate to the corporate media by supporting Clinton. It is very much Bernie or Bust for me, and for every single person I've met who has supported his campaign. Unfortunately the largest issues I have are with NAFTA (trade) and NATO (military expedition with Russia). Trump is to the left of Clinton on both issues, so while virtually everything would continue to get worse under Trump, I do not suspect anything would get better under Clinton. I would not vote though, or vote Green. That is in contrast to at least a few friends who would actually vote GOP instead.

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
    • ummm "Daesh" is an acronym in arabic consisting of the Daal, Alif, Alif, Sheen or "D.A.A.Sh." It stands for "Dowlah Islamiyyah fil Iraq wa Ash Sham" which translates to "The Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria."

      Whether you say islamic state or Daesh, you are saying the same thing.

  • Trump's and ISIL's Gray Zones: Radicals' Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat (5)
  • Bravest man in Politics: Bernie Sanders harshly criticizes Israeli Occupation: 'Absurd' Settlements, 44% Unemployment (14)
    • Good, but it is an indication of the sorry state of things when someone is called "the bravest man in politics" for daring to criticize the egregious crimes of Israel. Note that he is Jewish too. Would any Gentile do it?

  • Trump's and ISIL's Gray Zones: Radicals' Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat (5)
    • professor, i disagree with you that isis is defeated. any defeat that results in large sunni cities in ruin is not a defeat for isis but rather fertile ground for more extremism. our ongoing war on sunni iraq always was and always will be a bad idea.

  • Brussels: An Older Kind of Terrorism, and the challenge of Airport Security (5)
    • It is 100% IMPOSSIBLE for any group of humans to prevent random acts of violence against members of the group. Until this is understood by all humans, governments will continue to waste resources and decrease liberty (exactly what the attackers desire).

      It is insanely EASY for a small, willing to die, determined group of attackers, to kill a significant number of humans in any enclosed space occupied by a reasonable number of humans.

      This means that it is IMPOSSIBLE to "protect" places like transportation services (aircraft, trains, buses, etc.), shopping malls, theaters, indoor sport arenas (outdoor arenas dissipate explosives too much), or any other well populated enclosed venues.

      Compounding the problem is the fact humans are TERRIBLE at understanding risk. Although so-called "Islamic attacks" are a minuscule part of all the violent deaths in the USA every year, many Americans have deep fear of dying from an attack when they should be worried about getting hit by a car in a big-box store parking lot.

      The REALITY is, other than addressing the causes of alienation and working with the groups that depressed people live in, the only real thing societies can do is clean up the mess and console the grieving without over-reacting. Deadly revenge solves NOTHING as has been shown by almost 10000 years of written documentation.

  • Trump's and ISIL's Gray Zones: Radicals' Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat (5)
    • I saw a report on CNN how the Arab citizens and residents in Belgium complain that no police speak Arabic. Maybe I should write a short piece for you on my attempts to aid local police in acting as a liaison and outreach for Arab communities. (The Boston PD was unaware that the elder Tsarnaev brother had been kicked out of the local mosque since they had no dedicated outreach.) I was quite rudely rejected, even though I am a retired Vietnam Veteran and offered my services for free.

  • Hillary Clinton goes full Neocon at AIPAC, Demonizes Iran, Palestinians (48)
    • Be real careful about polls showing "support" for Israel.

      A BIG problem with the polls is they only measure superficial feelings and NEVER do a deep dive to question the limits where Americans would throw Israel to the wolves and there will definitely be limits.

      Right now, few Americans realize that their "support" for Israel endangers their lives, but the day that becomes clear, it is very likely that Israel will rapidly see a HUGE drop in support.

      As long as Americans have a deep racist bias against Muslim, Israel may get a pass, but if Americans are ever forced to face their racism and deal honestly with it, Israel may suffer a lot.

      I treat all the polls about Israel as fiction until a polling organization is willing to ask the deep and "ugly" questions, but due to the cultural bias in the USA against asking any questions about Israel, I am not expecting an honest poll any time soon.

  • How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks (37)
    • While I wholeheartedly agree with almost the entire content of your article, on one point I'm a bit dissatisfied. At the end you correctly call Ted Cruz and Donald Trump "dangerous people". But let's not forget that none of them has until now had the opportunity to directly spread heavock in any of the muslim societies and thus helping to create desperados - terrorists. This is the "privilege" of "reasonable" presidents like the ones the US had since the times of the coup against the then Iranian prime minister Mossadegh and in more recent times of people like Cameron(GB) , Sarkozy and Hollande (F) an - somewhat more indirectly - Angela Merkel (G), to name but a few

  • ISIL's target wasn't Brussels, it was the whole idea of European Union (2)
    • I do not agree at all. The objective of these attacks, like the objective of the attacks in Paris, New York, etc. is revenge. Revenge for the Europeans bombing and killing muslims, innocent muslims by the scores in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Revenge for Europeans professing democracy, whilst supporting the regimes in countries as Saudi-Arabia and Israel. Revenge for toppling leaders that refuse to cooperate with the West, in Afghanisatn, Iraqq, Libya, Syria.

      It is a big mistake to portray the attacks as an assault on our way of life or on our way of organising the state. Nevertheless, this is a very convenient way for western leaders to set away muslim suicide bombers. It will easily mobilize people against the attackers ans will deflect all attention form the real grounds of the attacks.

  • In attack on 1st Amendment, U of California outlaws criticism of Israel while ignoring Islamophobia (2)
  • Bravest man in Politics: Bernie Sanders harshly criticizes Israeli Occupation: 'Absurd' Settlements, 44% Unemployment (14)
    • If his message could really get out, in spite of msm and DNC blackout, he'd be elected in a landslide. With coattails.
      We gotta be able to take a step towards money out of our politics. We olds owe the youngs this. My idealism never died either, Bernie.

  • Bernie Sanders: We must defeat ISIL w/out letting Trump destroy our Constitution (1)
    • The ONLY candidate who is more supportive of the rights of the Palestinians than Bernie Sanders, is Jill Stein..