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Archives: December 2011
Top Ten Myths about the Arab Spring of 2011
1. The upheavals of 2011 were provoked by the Bush administration's overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq Bzzt! Wrong answer. None of the young people who made this year's revolutions ever pointed…Gascoigne: Syria, the Invisible Massacre
Martin Gascoigne writes in a guest essay for Informed Comment The ongoing conflict in Syria, in a year of tremulous conflict across the region and beyond, singularly fails to ignite passions in…
Egyptian Blogger-Activist Alaa on Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman interviews Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who was recently released from jail, on Democracy Now! @Alaa is a renowned leftist blogger from a family of longtime Egyptian activists.…
Christian Priests Brawl at Jesus’ Birthplace
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has now seen its annual brawl between Armenian and Eastern Orthodox priests, who are jointly responsible for its administration. Police of the Palestine Authority broke…
Egyptian Court orders Military to Cease Virginity Tests
An Egyptian court has ordered the Egyptian military to cease subjecting arrested female protesters to virginity tests. The ruling is a strike for women's rights, but also is significant as an assertion…Iranian Navy Menaces Oil Exports from Hormuz
United Nations and United States financial and economic sanctions on Iran have probably gone about as far as they can in damaging Iran's economy. They have had a significant effect, but are…Israeli Hardliners attack Police over Women’s Segregation
Haredi Jews clashed with police on Monday in Beit Shemesh, Israel, leaving one policeman wounded, over the issue of segregation of women. They shouted "Nazis!" at the police. The Haredim are the…2011 Revolutions and the End of Republican Monarchy
Egyptian reformer Saad Eddin Ibrahim observed in the late 1990s and 2000 that the Arab world was beginning to be characterized by a bizarre gryphon-like form of government, the republican monarchy. In…
Christians in a Changing Arab World are Making their own Destinies
The press is full of stories this Christmas season about the negative effects on Middle Eastern Christians of the Arab upheavals of 2011. This "vale of tears" approach does profound injustice to…
Syria Teeters: 25 Dead in Protests, 40 Killed in Bombings
On Friday afternoon and evening, Friday protests continued in Syria, according to al-Hayat writing in Arabic. The opposition maintains that the Syrian army killed some 25 of the protesters on Friday around…
Bombings Roil Iraq as Sunni Arabs Re-arm
The death toll in Thursday's bombings and attacks in Baghdad and environs rose to about 67 dead, with hundreds wounded. Most of the attacks honed in on soft targets (schools and markets)…Suleimani: The US Decline in the Middle East
The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Persian press about Qasim Suleimani, the head of the Jerusalem (Qods) Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. In it, Suleimani says…Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit, Occupy Your Heart
From Tomdispatch: Excerpt... Compassion Is Our New Currency Notes on 2011’s Preoccupied Hearts and Minds By Rebecca Solnit Usually at year’s end, we’re supposed to look back at events just passed --…
60 Dead in Baghdad Bombings; Iran and Al-Maliki
Update: 60 are dead in massive Baghdad bombings, probably by Sunni Arab guerrillas, as PM Nouri al-Maliki attempts to marginalize Sunnis politically Is Iran a consideration in Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki…
Massacre alleged in Syria
Syrian opposition groups alleged that the Syrian government committed a massacre in Idlib on Wednesday, leaving over 100 dead, most of them said to be civilians. The escalation of regime violence came…
Egyptian Women Rally against Police Brutality
Thousands of women rallied near Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Tuesday, protesting the mistreatment meted out to women protesters by security forces. In some instances, the police had pulled up the…Egypt Scientific Institute up in Flames
The Scientific Institute in Cairo has been burned. It was the second oldest such institute outside Europe, after the one in Philadelphia. Some 200,000 rare books and manuscripts are abruptly gone. The…Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Life and Death of American Drones
From Tomdispatch.com: " The drone had been in the air for close to five hours before its mission crew realized that something was wrong. The oil temperature in the plane’s turbocharger, they…Iraq on the Brink: Court Forbids VP al-Hashimi from Leaving Country
The Iraqi equivalent of the supreme court issued an order Monday forbidding Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi from leaving Iraq, according to al-Hayat writing in Arabic. The order came on the heels of…
Egyptian Protesters Demand Military Step Down in Wake of Blue Bra Beating
Demonstrations and clashes continued in downtown Cairo for the third day on Sunday, as protesters rallied against the police crackdown on Saturday, which entailed use of live ammunition and left 10 dead…Tomgram: Engelhardt, Restless Planet
From Tomdispatch: "On the streets of Moscow in the tens of thousands, the protesters chanted: “We exist!” Taking into account the comments of statesmen, scientists, politicians, military officials, bankers, artists, all the…Iraq’s al-Maliki Seeks Arrest of Sunni VP as Terrorist, Parliament in Uproar
Only a couple days after US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta declared the Iraq War over and turned the last US base in Iraq over to the Iraqi military, Shiite Prime Minister…
Success!
You did it! Thanks a million everyone for your warm and generous support. Here's to a vibrant Informed Comment in the New Year, and may it bring you many good things! I’d…
One year on– Mohamed Bouazizi’s Sacrifice
Aljazeera English on the one-year anniversary of the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia-- an act of despair that sparked the Arab upheavals of 2011: In Sidi Bouzid today,…Obama/ Maliki Conflicts on the Future of Iraq
Al-Sharq al-Awsat carried an article on December 15 about the behind the scenes conflicts between US President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. My guess is that a Maliki staffer…No War Crimes Trial for Bush/Cheney, While Chirac Convicted on minor Fraud
The United States is now officially more corrupt than the Old World. Former French president Jacques Chirac has been found guilty of corruption when he was mayor of Paris in the early…
Cole interview with Nobelist Tawakkul Karman
My interview on Arab feminism, youth activism, and revolution with Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman of Yemen is now up at YouTube. I asked her not only about high politics but…Obama and NDAA: Chipping away at the Constitution – HRW
Press release from Human Rights Watch: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 Human Rights Watch For Immediate Release US: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill A Historic Tragedy for Rights President…Tomgram: Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, The Fall of the "Liberal Elite"
at Tomdispatch: Until a few months ago, the 99% was hardly a group capable of articulating “the identity of their interests.” It contained, and still contains, most “ordinary” rich people, along with…Israel to defend its Military from Israelis
Coddling violent fanatics who attack and steal from Palestinians might just backfire on the Right wing Likud government. What? It already has? I wonder if there is a connection?? The USG Open…
Top Arab Revolution Stories the US Media Ignored
Long time human rights activist Moncef Marzouki became Tunisia's president this week. Tunisians wept, at the idea that this principled man, forced into exile by the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali,…
US Congress Abruptly Passes Resolution Against Dogs
Italian cat inherits $16 million. Feline lobby in the making?Post-American Iraq by the Numbers
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Washington this week, in something of a commemoration of the withdrawal of all US troops from his country. As the American War on Iraq draws to…
Map of countries US/Israel have bombed or in which US has bases
From Loonwatch: "This “three-decade war for domination of the Middle East” becomes apparent when we consider how many Muslim countries the peace-loving United States and her “stalwart ally” Israel have bombed." (I…Tomgram: Nick Turse, Did the Pentagon Help Strangle the Arab Spring?
At Tomdispatch.com: As the Arab Spring blossomed and President Obama hesitated about whether to speak out in favor of protesters seeking democratic change in the Greater Middle East, the Pentagon acted decisively...
Christian Hate Group Targets Peaceful Muslim-Americans
Lowes should be ashamed of itself for bowing to hate speech. Well, there is always Home Depot. Detroit's Channel 7 has a video report from Dearborn, Michigan: The grounds on which the…Saudi Woman executed for Witchcraft: A Struggle over Gender Power?
Saudi Arabia's news service announced that the kingdom has executed a Saudi woman for the practice of sorcery, according to the BBC. Amina bint Abd al-Halim b. Salim Nasir was arrested in…
Climate Change Disaster looms despite Durban Agreement
The global summit on climate change and curbing carbon emissions at Durban in South Africa ended on a positive note diplomatically. The international community rededicated itself to binding emissions limits and pledged…
Iran has US Surrounded, All Right
From Democratic Underground: Each star is a US base. But just to be clear, Iran is the one that is threatening us.Tomgram: Engelhardt, The 1% Election
Sometimes words outlive their usefulness. Sometimes the gap between changing reality and the names we’ve given it grows so wide that they empty of all meaning or retain older meanings that only…Washington Actions on Palestine don’t Differ from Gingrich’s Words
Newt Gingrich has been trying for the monetary backing and votes of Jewish Americans and Christian Zionists by taking up the positions of the Israeli far Right. He promises to move the…
Is Syrian Regime Preparing a Massacre of Homs?
Reports that the Syrian military is bringing up armor and heavy weapons to Homs has sparked fears that the regime intends to invade the city, as happened in 1982 when the military…
Iran Displays Drone, Complains to UN
Iran said Thursday that it had hacked into the unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel US spy drone flying over eastern Iran and brought it down that way. The Iranians have complained to the United…Which Bill is more Dangerous — ‘Internet “piracy”‘ —- or ‘Defense Authorization’?
Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks discusses two of the worst pieces of legislation before Congress with Glenn Greenwald. They are the so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA), on the one hand,…Tomgram: William Astore, The Remoteness of 1% Wars
America’s wars are remote. They’re remote from us geographically, remote from us emotionally (unless you’re serving in the military or have a close relative or friend who serves), and remote from our…
Gingrich slots MEK terrorists’ supporter John Bolton for State
Newt Gingrich says he would appoint John Bolton as Secretary of State in order to "reform" the State Department. Bolton is an irascible attorney who is horrible to his subordinates, makes Rod…
Fox Viewers think Mubarak Still runs Egypt
A study by Fairleigh Dickenson University researchers has found that frequent viewers of Fox Cable News are worse informed than people who watch no news at all! It is not that Republicans…Hizbullah Leader Condemns Syrian Opposition
The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hizbullah party-militia, Sayyid Hasan Nasrullah, made an appearance in largely Shiite South Beirut on Tuesday for the first time since 2008, according to al-Hayat writing in Arabic.…Tomgram: Michael Klare, A New Cold War in Asia?
When it comes to China policy, is the Obama administration leaping from the frying pan directly into the fire?
Kepler 22b and Climate Change: Instead of Obsessing over Earth-Like Planets, lets Try to Keep this one Earthlike
Dear earthlings: It doesn't do you any good to get all excited about finding earth-like planets like Kepler 22-B where the average temperature is 72 degrees F (22 C.), if you are…
Pakistan and the US: Quarrel or Divorce?
The Pakistani government is forcing the United States to depart the Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan within two weeks, as one of three steps taken to protest the killing of 24 Pakistani…Theocratic Dominance of the New Egypt may be Exaggerated
The official results of the November 28 vote in Egypt have now been announced. Observers are jumping to a lot of conclusions. It seems clear that Muslim religious parties have done better…Tomgram: William deBuys, The Parching of the West
Consider it a taste of the future: the fire, smoke, drought, dust, and heat that have made life unpleasant, if not dangerous, from Louisiana to Los Angeles. New records tell the tale:…
Top Things that Should have Disqualified Cain before Now
The most alarming thing about Herman Cain's "suspension" of his presidential campaign is what it took to drag him off the stage. It wasn't his cruelty, sexism, arrogance or rank ignorance about…