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Archives: March 2013
As they did to Iraq, they would Do to Iran (Jamiol Cartoon)
Recycled WMD charges: From Jamiol's WorldHow We’re making a Frankenstein’s Monster of our Climate (Giesen)
Tom Giesen writes in a guest column at Informed Comment The option to avoid 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) of global warming - our goal for more than 10 years -…
Dear Rightwing Catholic Islamophobes: Pope Francis just washed the feet of a Poor Muslim
Pope Francis on Maundy Thursday declined to address enormous crowds. Instead he went to a prison to emulate Jesus's act of humility before his crucifixion in washing the feet of his 12…
Vaccinations are not Harming our Children, but Coal sure is!
Yet again, researchers have found that there is no link between vaccines and autism. It is a myth, a hysteria, and a dangerous one, since large numbers of unvaccinated children are an…
Carter: Guinea Worm parasite on verge of being wiped out (Cenk Uygur)
Cenk Uygur interviews former president Jimmy Carter concerning his imminent complete eradication of the deadly guinea worm: This extremely impressive achievement of Carter and his Carter Center is one that I have…
If Guns were as Regulated as Cars . . . (Poster)
h/t Allvoices
Amnesia or Cowardice? American Anniversaries we’d Rather Forget (Engelhardt)
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com It’s true that, last week, few in Congress cared to discuss, no less memorialize, the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Nonetheless, two anniversaries of American disasters…Dear President Obama: Let’s Help Yemen instead of Droning It
This is a [pdf] letter to President Obama pleading for a substantial rethink of Yemen policy in his second term, which I among other Middle East experts signed. It was worked up…Mopping up with Muslim Sharia (Colbert Report)
Among all of the obsessions of the Red States, the fixation on the danger of Muslim law (sharia) taking over the United States is the most bizarre. How would that happen, exactly?…
Palestinians Protest illegal Israeli Theft of Water Rights
Palestinians staged a protest march on Wednesday to protest Israeli denial to their villages of their water rights. Israelis now take 80% of the water from the Palestinian West Bank and each…Republicans not liked, even by 25% of . . . Republicans
It turns out that 25% of Republicans don't like their own party. The Republican Party has a structural problem, in that it has only two main constituencies: the very wealthy and the…
Donald Trump versus the Aberdeen Wind Farm: Fiddling while Rome Burns
Scotland has approved 11 wind turbines in Aberdeen, which will supply have the town's electricity. They are being touted as job-creators and engines of economic growth, and are locally popular. (Green energy…
‘Cowboy Windfarm’ Powers Oklahoma State U
The 'Cowboy Windfarm' is now providing 70% of the electricity used by Oklahoma State University!Instead of offering to Buy East Jerusalem, the Arab League should invite Israel to Join It
Shaikh Hamad al-Thani, the leader of Qatar, proposed in his speech to the Arab League the creation of a $1 billion fund to preserve the Arab character of East Jerusalem, which is…
Iraq: A country whose Future was Stolen (Jamail)
Dahr Jamail writes at Tomdispatch.com Back then, everybody was writing about Iraq, but it’s surprising how few Americans, including reporters, paid much attention to the suffering of Iraqis. Today, Iraq is in…Qaddafi’s Arms Flooding Middle East from Libya
The UN is concerned that unsecured weapons stockpiles from the depots of the late dictator Muammar Qaddafi are flooding into Africa and the Middle East from southern Libya, where the new, elected…
How Climate Change Disrupts Industry: Michael E. Mann Video Interview
Michael E. Mann on the impact of climate change on industry:
BBC Journalists accidentally Bombed by US Air Force during 2003 Invasion of Iraq (Video)
BBC crew accidentally bombed by US Air Force during 2003 invasion of Iraq: Video at Youtube:Kerry Cajoles Afghanistan and Iraq, as Bush’s former colonies decline to Toe the Line
Secretary of State John Kerry just made trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration's two trophy states, in an attempt to shore up rapidly declining American influence in the two. In…
US Drone Campaign in Pakistan: Amazing Infographic (Serle)
Jack Serle writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Pitch Interactive have visualised every CIA drone strike and every casualty in Pakistan. A new interactive graphic, which uses the Bureau’s drone data,…
Viral Video on America’s Incredibly Skewed distribution of Wealth
A fascinating video on America's incredibly skewed wealth distribution, with the top 1% owning 40% and the bottom 40% almost nothing: and it's getting worse over time! h/t WaPo's Ezra Klein
Guantanamo Hunger Strike: Attorney: “Shocked at Conditions,” “Animal Cages”
Russia Today reports on the hunger strikes among Guantanamo prisoners, 166 of whom are said still to be living in small "animal cages" and to lack any hope of ever coming to…Palestinians Alarmed at Obama’s New Christian Zionism, Failure to Push for Settlement Freeze
Aljazeera English reports on Obama's failures and successes on his recent Mideast trip. Below, I quote translations from the Palestinian press showing for the most part extreme dismay by Obama's courting of…
Air Power is horribly Expensive and Inefficient, and Drones are no Different (Astore)
William J. Astore writes at Tomdispatch.com: Today’s unmanned aerial vehicles, most famously Predator and Reaper drones, have been celebrated as the culmination of the longtime dreams of airpower enthusiasts, offering the possibility…
The Top other thing Netanyahu Needs to Apologize For: The Gaza Blockade
The one diplomatic success of President Obama's mainly pro forma visit to Israel and Jordan was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's pro forma apology to Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan for killing 8 Turkish nationals…Global Warming is making the Arid Middle East Even Drier, threatening Water Wars
Middle East is getting drier because of climate change, impelling people to replace lost rain water with underground fossil or aquifer water that cannot be replaced. From 2003-2009, enough of this aquifer…
Iraq 10 Years Later: The Bitter Days Continue because Policy didn’t put People First (Al-Sheemary)
Banen Al-Sheemary ( @balsheem), a young Iraqi-American woman and activist, writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Ten years today, I remember sitting in front of the television and watching the…Will the CIA’s Black Sites and Subcontracting of Tortue Come out with Public Indictment? (Currier)
Cora Currier writes at ProPublica: Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment Wednesday charging Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun with six terrorism-related counts.The announcement that Harun is in U.S. custody in New York…
How the Big Banks are getting Away with It (Moyers Interview)
Former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and long-time Republican Sheila Bair tells Bill Moyers what the big banks have done and that they're getting away with it. The blurb: "Sheila…
Isaac Asimov Predicts Interactive Internet 25 Years Ago
Renowned science fiction author Isaac Asimov predicts the interactive World Wide Web in 1988, 25 years ago.* *correction from "20 yrs, which is how the poster tagged it at youtube.Israeli Right: Obama Undermined Netanyahu, Endangers Israel with Call for Palestinian State
President Obama's speech to students in Jerusalem is covered by Aljazeera. Obama did complain a little about the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, but he threw in the towel on trying to…Phil Donohue Recalls how he Was Fired From MSNBC for Being anti-war (Goodman Interview)
At Democracy Now! Phil Donohue recalls how then General Electric-owned NBC fired him from his popular and top-rated talk show on MSNBC in spring of 2003 because it feared his voice in…
Obama slights Palestinians, who stage Tent Protests
Aljazeera English reports on Obama's opening remarks on arrival in Israel, and how he called Palestine the historic homeland of the Jews but neglected to mention the Palestinians. Non-Jewish Palestinians have lived…
As Obama Greets Iranians on Nowruz, He’s Made some Medicines hard to Afford (Jahanpour)
Farhang Jahanpour writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, is one of the oldest festivals celebrated in the world. In fact, the palace of Persepolis built…As Israelis Press Obama on Iran, Let’s Remember they Urged Iraq War, Too
The Israeli leadership, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, will attempt to strong-arm President Barack Obama, during his visit to Israel, into attacking Iran. (In part this noise about Iran is to deflect…How Obama’s Jerusalem Visit Undermines Peace (Rashid Khalidi Video)
As President Obama heads to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan on what seems mainly to be presidential tourism, Rashid Khalidi at Democracy Now! explains how the United States is undermining Mideast…Global Warming has doubled the Risk of More Hurricane Katrinas (McCauley)
Lauren McCauley writes at Commondreams : Warming global temperatures have doubled the risk of "Katrina magnitude events," says a new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of…‘At least 400 civilians’ killed by US drone strikes: Pakistani Gov’t
Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: The Pakistani government estimates at least 400 civilians have been killed in drone strikes – a figure close to the Bureau’s own…
Nuke’em: Russia’s Plan to Nix Meteor Danger
US lawmakers are having a hearing on how to deal with the threat of asteroids, which polished off the dinosaurs and could polish off us. The US is now namby pamby, lacking…
Iranians in West Slam Impact of US Sanctions on People
Iranian expatriates don't agree on much. But as this video interview with a range of high-powered thinkers by the National Iranian-American Council shows, they all agree that the very severe US sanctions,…
Our Coal addiction is Killing Us
Documentary on what the 600 coal plants in the US are doing to our health and well-being. The government should announce a crash program to close them all by 2023 and replace…
What we Did to Iraq
Sunni radicals hit Baghdad Tuesday morning on the anniversary of the beginning of the US war on Iraq, killing over 50 people in attacks on soft targets (shopkeepers, pedestrians) in Shiite areas…
UAE Launches 100 Megawatt Solar Energy Plant, Largest in Mideast
Although the Gulf makes its way in life by selling petroleum, countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates don't engage in that sordid game of the American rich, of climate-change denial.…What Would a Rand Paul Libertarian Foreign Policy Look Like? (Cole @ Truthdig)
My essay, "What Would a Rand Paul Libertarian Foreign Policy Look Like?", is out at Truthdig Excerpt: "On Saturday, Paul emerged as the winner of the straw poll at the Conservative Political…
What we Lost: Top Ten Ways the Iraq War Harmed the US
As the tenth anniversary of the launching of the Iraq War approaches, I'll be making some comments about the episode at this blog, which for the years 2003-2010 intensively covered events in…
Iraq’s Teens Drowning in Hopelessness (Arwa Damon)
CNN's Arwa Damon reports from Baghdad on the sense of hopelessness among even upper-class Iraqi teens today. AFP gives support to Ms. Damon's findings: a 2011 poll of Iraqi men under 30…
Remembering Rachel Corrie, 10 Years Later
Rachel Corrie's parents speak out on the tenth anniversary of her killing by the Israeli operator of a military bulldozer, who ran over her as he approached a Palestinian home he intended…
St. Patrick’s Day Explained (ReportingSatire Video)
ReportingSatire explores St. Patrick's Day:
By the Numbers: US Drone Strikes on Pakistan “Illegal”
The Guardian reports that Ben Emmerson, the UN's special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, says that the Pakistani government has given no tacit consent to US drone strikes according to a…
Can we Get the Media to Report Climate Change? (Bill Moyers Video)
Bill Moyers interviews a prominent scientist on what can be done to bring climate change back into the media discussion: The blurb: "Encore: Ending the Silence on Climate Change March 15, 2013…Rising China’s Muslim Problem: What is the Future of the Uygurs? (Alimglu)
JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary interviews MUSA ALIMGLU: This week I asked a China and Xinjiang expert — someone who is familiar with China’s ethnic politics and the work of prominent Uyghur…Pope Francis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Women’s Equality: Why Must Religion be Patriarchal?
The selection of the new pope was carried out by a conclave of elderly men, and the only candidates were men. The new pope is a staunch social conservative who opposes women's…
Why Wasn’t the Higgs Boson Discovered in the US? Neal DeGrasse Tyson explains congressional stupidity
Scientists at a conference in Italy have confirmed the discovery of the Higgs Boson, after further experiments performed at the large hadron collider near Geneva in Switzerland, built in the late '90s…
Phoenix, Az.: Climate Change Denial HQ will be First Urban Victim of … Climate Change (deBuys)
William deBuys writes at Tomdispatch.com Of course, it’s an easy city to pick on. The nation’s 13th largest metropolitan area (nudging out Detroit) crams 4.3 million people into a low bowl in…Top Ten Ways Pope Francis heralds the Emergence of Global South
The selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new pope signals the first time the Roman Catholic Church has been headed by a non-European since St. Gregory III (d.…What the US invasion felt like to Iraqis (Kukis)
Journalist Mark Kukis (Time magazine correspondent in Iraq 2006-2009) writes in a guest piece for Informed Comment Iraqis have a phrase they use to describe the U.S. invasion and early occupation. They…
Amazing Social Media Facts 2013 (video)
Social media facts 2013, by the numbers:Falsity of Nuclear Accusation against Iraq Was Known before Bush’s Invasion
As we approach the ten year anniversary of the launching of George W. Bush's war on Iraq, it is worth my pointing out that I concluded even before the war began that…Bradley Manning Explains his Leaks in his own Voice in new Tape (Goodman)
Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! airs excerpts from a leaked interview in which Bradley Manning for the first time since his arrest can be heard explaining why he gave government documents to Wikileaks…Everybody Leaks in Washington: What the Bradley Manning Trial Tells us about a Broken System (Schanzer)
DAVID SCHANZER writes at ISLAMiCOMMENTARY When you cut through the bluster and controversies surrounding the Bradley Manning/Wikileaks case, it raises a difficult unresolved question that has great significance for our democracy: How…
Syrian Regime running out of Troops as Britain Threatens to arm Rebels
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday that he would veto the renewal of a European Union ban on weapons exports to Syria, and hinted that Britain might go it alone in…
Pakistan, Iran defy US Sanctions to Inaugurate Gas Pipeline
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani president Asaf Ali Zardari on Monday inaugurated a gas pipeline that will supply Pakistani cities with Iranian natural gas. The pipeline has been largely completed on…
Uh, Segregated Buses aren’t the Issue on the West Bank, Folks
Russia Today reports on the controversy over Israel's segregated bus lines for Palestinians coming in and out of the West Bank. UAE's The National has more. It is a little odd that…
Saudis gone Wild
Saudi revelers put the "fire" in "celebratory fire":
Japan on the Anniversary of Fukushima: Anger, Protests and Hope
On the two-year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, 40,000 people rallied in downtown Tokyo against the current conservative government's plans to start back up Japan's nuclear reactors. Asahi Shimbun reports that it…
Karzai accuses Taliban of Serving US Interests, Slams (Non-Existent) US-Taliban Talks
Once again, the erratic president of Afghanistan, had US officials shaking their heads in disbelief after he gave a speech while Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is in Kabul in which he…
Pakistan: Violence against Christian Neighborhood rooted in Blasphemy Law, Union Contest
On Sunday, Pakistani police rounded up 70 suspects in the mass arson attacks on Saturday on the Christian neighborhood of Joseph Colony on Noor Road in the Badami Bagh district. The incident…
Cairo Burning: The Great Soccer Riots of 2013 and the Revolution
Some two thousand angry youth in Port Said attempted to block ferries and sent speedboats into the canal zone, aiming at disrupting shipping in the Suez Canal on Saturday (they failed), while…
Humanitarian Catastrophe in Syria: Why don’t We Hear More, Do More?
Oxfam says that the Syrian refugee crisis is 'spiraling out of control'; Amy Christian reports: The Real News Network interviews Omar Dahi on this humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, with 70,000 dead, a…Two Bombings Kill 18 As Hagel Arrives in Afghanistan
The Taliban appear to have strategized embarrassing new Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. As he arrived in Kabul on his first visit to Afghanistan, a suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated his…
Overcoming Woman-Hatred in Afghanistan: 3 Stories
In honor of International Women's Day, here is a short documentary on women in Afghanistan, focusing on three women who have achieved something in recent years, after Taliban rule was overthrown. The…
Lebanese Soccer Team, Coach Assault Referees after Penalty Called (Video)
A Lebanese soccer/ football referee is quitting after having been assaulted for a call he made on the field at a match last weekend in a game between al-Nahda and Al-Salam Zgharta.…Obama & Brennan Brought GOP Filibuster on themselves by Extreme Secrecy on Drones
John O. Brennan was confirmed as head of the Central Intelligence Agency yesterday, after the confirmation was held up for 13 hours by a filibuster by Rand Paul and other Senate libertarians…Did the Man who Tried to buy our Presidential Election Get rich by Bribing Communist China? (Engelberg)
Stephen Engelberg writes at ProPublica Last week's admission by Sheldon Adelson's casino company that it had "likely" violated provisions of the federal law barring U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials raises some…
Mission Accomplished: Iraq as America’s biggest Blunder (Van Buren)
Peter van Buren writes at Tomdispatch.com I was there. And “there” was nowhere. And nowhere was the place to be if you wanted to see the signs of end times for the…
Syrian Rebels capture UN Troops, face Raqqah bombings, are pledged UK Armored Trucks
The Syrian civil war heated up on several fronts on Wednesday. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday painted a horrific picture of the situation in Syria and went on to pledge…Venezuela and the Middle East after Chavez
The foreign policy of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez imagined that socialism and anti-imperialism are the same thing, and that he could lead a new sort of socialist international. (He also seems…
The Syrian Civil War comes to Iraq, as 8 Iraqi and 48 Syrian Troops are Killed on Iraqi Soil
So on Saturday, Syrian rebels in the east of the country attacked another government checkpoint along the Iraqi border, al-Ya`rabiya, and took it. Some of the besieged Syrian troops, many wounded, escaped…Israel Lobby asks Congress to Approve Attack on Iran & to Exempt Israel from Sequester
News from what Ross Perot used to call the guys in sharkskin suits and alligator shoes-- the lobbyists who routinely outvote you and me on Capitol Hill: The American Israel Public Affairs…Egypt on the Brink: The Danger of a Left-Liberal Boycott of Elections
My column is out at Truthdig, entitled "Egypt on the Brink". Excerpt: "the opposition says it is withdrawing from parliamentary elections scheduled for April... The Brotherhood government under Morsi has not placated…
Why there will be Masses in the Streets Protesting Climate Change (Engelhardt)
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com: Two Sundays ago, I traveled to the nation’s capital to attend what was billed as “the largest climate rally in history” and I haven’t been able to…Austerity and the threat to Democracy, in the US, Europe and the Middle East
The "sequester" is actually, of course, the American form of austerity, or cut-backs in government spending during a recession. Austerity, or stingy government in Europe has kept employment extremely depressed compared to…Muslim Opposition to the Muslim Religious Right Grows, from Egypt to Bangladesh
The headlines this week were full of stories from the Muslim world about Muslims attacking the Muslim religious Right, whether the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or the Jama'at-i Islami in Bangladesh. The…How the US Decides Drone-kill People when it Doesn’t Know Who they Are (Currier)
Cora Currier writes at ProPublica Earlier this week, we wrote about a significant but often overlooked aspect of the drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen: so-called signature strikes, in which the U.S.…