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Archives: December 2010
8 Baghdad Bombings Target Christians
Al-Safir reports that 2 were killed and 14 wounded in a series of bombings extending over a two-hour period in Baghdad in the late afternoon on Thursday, which targeted Christians. The bloodiest…A Little More Appeal for Support
Readers will have noted that the site is being upgraded. I have hopes to extend it as a more user-friendly repository of information about US politics, foreign policy, and the politics and…
Seven Billion Human Beings: National Geographic
The National Geographic on the implications of 7 billion human beings in the world:
Racist Letters Roil Israel
CNN reports on racist letters emanating from ultra-orthodox rabbis or their wives in Israel. Thirty wives of rabbis called on Jewish-Israeli women not to marry Palestinian-Israeli men, alleging that they would universally…
Map: Provinces of Jordan
And check out the growing collection of Middle East maps at my map page.
Al-Maliki: US Troops Out!
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki made news this week with his interview in the Wall Street Journal, in the course of which he insisted that all US troops would be out of…
Turkey, 1920
Click image for large map. Turkey, 1920 (Shows Allied occupation of Istanbul, plans to give territory to Greece, Italy, in post-Ottoman Turkish-speaking territories plus Eastern Anatolia). From: Atlas of Reconstruction for Schools…
Palestinians Reject Piecemeal Talks offered by Israel
The Palestine Authority roundly rejected on Monday the suggestion by Israeli Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu that an 'interim agreement' between Israel and the PA might be achievable even though the moment was…
Map: Druze Communities
Distribution of the Druze communities in the Levant.. For more on the Druze religion see this link.
Top Ten Myths about Afghanistan, 2010
10. "There has been significant progress in tamping down the insurgency in Afghanistan." Fact: A recent National Intelligence Estimate by 16 intelligence agencies found no progress. It warned that large swathes of…Collateral Damage in Pakistan: Cloughley
Brian Cloughley writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: I started thinking about the phrase after a recent, disturbing trip to Pakistan. ‘Collateral damage’ is a seemingly bland phrase, but it…
80 Killed in Bombing, Military Strikes in Pakistan
On Saturday, a suicide bomber targeted a food aid center in Khar in Bajaur, one of Pakistan's northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing 43 and wounding 100. The development has implications for…
Santa Claus was from Turkey?
The modern Turkish town of Demre is on the site of Myra, the birthplace of Saint Nicholas, whom the world now calls Santa Claus. If they are smart, they'll build a huge…Christmas Trees, Christmas Parties among Egyptian Muslims
Some 500,000 Christmas trees were sold this year in Egypt, an extremely mysterious statistic. The country's Orthodox Coptic Church celebrates Christmas on January 7, considers the day distinctly less important than Easter,…
Christmas in Beirut
The people of Beirut, Lebanon, are dealing with their chronic political nervousness with bright lights and Christmas cheer. Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri lighted the huge Christmas tree downtown Beirut, and 120…
Abu Dhabi Hotel Does not Regret $11 Mn. Christmas Tree
Christmas means never having to say you are sorry. The Seven Emirates Hotel in Abu Dhabi says it does not either regret its display of an $11 million Christmas tree loaded down…
Israeli Mayor Forbids Christmas Trees in part of Nazareth; Christian Tourism Boom Fuels Hopes for Palestinian State
The some 50,000 Christians in the West Bank continue to labor under Israeli military occupation this Christmas, though somewhat improved tourism and prosperity have lessened the penury in which they labored in…
GOP and 9/11 First Responders Bill: Jamiol
Courtesy Paul JamiolAl-Khoei: Why We Shouldn’t Be Celebrating Iraq’s New Government: Power-Sharing Means Nothing without Reconciliation
Hayder al-Khoei writes in a guest column for Informed Comment : 22/12/2010 Bickering is still very much the order of the day in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who has just won…
Map of Egypt: Regions
Map of regions of EgyptIraq has a Government: Can we Please Come Home Now?
Iraq has marked three milestones this fall. The formal military mission of US troops was ended by President Obama on August 31, and while about 50,000 troops remain, some of them occasionally…Saudi Arabia, Distribution of Annual Rainfall
Found a better rainfall distribution map: Courtesy the National Center for Atmospheric Research, 2007Obama’s 2010 Successes and Failures in the Middle East – Cole in Truthdig
My new column at Truthdig.com is just out: "Obama’s 2010 Successes and Failures in the Middle East". Excerpt: ' As 2010 dawned, President Barack Obama had four big issues on his plate…
Hating Muslims in America
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the incoming chair of the House committee on Homeland Security has announced that he will hold hearings into the 'radicalization' of American Muslims. This, despite the fact that…Iraq’s al-Maliki Rebuffed on Incomplete Cabinet
Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that prospective Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faced severe opposition on Monday to his insistence on announcing the formation of a government without naming all the cabinet members. Among…
HRW on Israeli Racial Discrimination in West Bank
Human Rights Watch has issued a new report on racial discrimination against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. HRW writes: 'Israel operates a two-tier system for the two populations of the West…Taliban Strike Qunduz, Kabul, Kill 16
Taliban or other radicals showed Sunday that they could strike far from their strongholds in the south and east of Afghanistan. They hit the capital, Kabul, as well as the northern province…Senate Repeal of DADT in Global Context
Conservative religious fanatics lost on 'don't ask, don't tell' and anti-gay discrimination. The scary thing is, that since it is clear that fear-mongering on gays will no longer win elections in the…Lawsuit over Drones in Pakistan forces CIA Station Chief to Flee
The Guardian reports that a lawsuit brought by a Pakistani journalist over wrongful deaths in drone strikes has forced the CIA station chief in Islamabad to flee the country. The official's identity…
Iraq Arrests Dozens in Terror Sweep, Offers Help to Iran
Iraqi authorities are going for the trifecta. They are finally forming a new government, nine months after the March parliamentary elections, to be headed by incumbent Nuri al-Maliki at the head of…
Stewart: Aljazeera Pays More Attention to First Responders than Senate Republicans, US Networks
The Republican Party has since September 11, 2001, been absolutely insufferable in invoking those attacks at every possible moment for every possible reason, and in trying to portray themselves as better than…Movement for Palestinian State gains International Momentum, to Dismay of US Congress
Palestinian authorities on Thursday protested the resolution passed by the US congress on Wednesday condemning movement toward a unilateral declaration by Palestinians of a Palestinian state. The congressional resolution was actually fairly…BP Platform Blow-Out was covered up in Azerbaijan: Wikileaks
The Guardian reports from US State Department cables released by Wikileaks that the oil and gas giant, BP, experienced a platform disaster in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan in September, 2008, very…The Costs of War: Afghan Civilian Casualties Spike, says ICRC
An important price of President Obama's decision to pursue a big new military campaign in Afghanistan under the rubric of 'counter-insurgency' has been a spike in civilian casualties, according to the International…Fox Management Ordered Reporters to Spin Global Warming
Surprise! Management at Fox Cable "News" instructed journalists to spin reporting on climate change by casting doubt on the indisputable fact that the world has warmed over the past 50 years. This…Domestic Crusaders and Islamophobia in Literature
McSweeney's is publishing Wajahat Ali's important Muslim-American play: ' The Domestic Crusaders focuses on a day in the life of a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family of six eclectic, unique members, who convene…NIE Questions Progress in Afghanistan
Congress has been briefed on a new National Intelligence estimate on Afghanistan that is said to throw cold water on the idea that the US military has made significant progress in Afghanistan…Egypt: Israel’s Nukes Destabilizing to Region (Wikileaks)
Whenever any US official says that Iran's civilian nuclear enrichment program is destabilizing the Middle East by posing a proliferation problem, I wince. A civilian enrichment program is not a proliferation issue,…Karzai Wishes he had Joined Taliban
Rajiv Chandrasekaran of WaPo gets the scoop. His sources say that at a high level meeting in October, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Karl Eickenberry pressed President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to…
Former CIA Official Ray McGovern Defends Assange
Former high-ranking CIA official Ray McGovern denounces smear campaign against Julian Assange of WikileaksFareed Zakaria Destroys Beck on Lunatic Islamophobia
On his indispensable television news magazine, GPS, Fareed Zakaria demolishes Glenn Beck's mind-numbingly stupid assertion that ten percent of Muslims are terrorists. Zakaria's courage in standing up to the hate-mongers should not…Enormous Truck Bomb Kills 6 US Troops in Afghanistan as Constitutional Crisis Looms
The NYT reports that the Taliban deployed a massive truck bomb against a joint US-Afghan National Army forward operating base in the Arghandab river valley north of Qandahar, killing 6 US soldiers,…Visser: Spin-Doctors and the Changing Nature of Imperial Power in Iraq
Reidar Visser writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: Treaties, Acronyms and Spin-Doctors: The Changing Nature of Imperial Power in Iraq In the 1920s, during the early days of the Iraqi…Cardinal Ratzinger Moderated Opposition to Turkey Joining Europe on Becoming Pope: Wikileaks
The Guardian reports on wikileaks cables regarding the position of the Catholic Church on Europe's Christian character and its unease with Turkey joining the EU. (the cable is here.) The problem is…Mubarak: W. Naive, controlled by Subordinates
We now have the full text of the May 19, 2009 cable giving background in preparation for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to President Obama at the White House. This is the…
Paul Defends Wikileaks: Neocons Don’t Like Losing Grip on Empire
Rep. Ron Paul defends Wikileaks on the House Floor:Obama Should Let the UN apply Economic Sanctions to Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his far rightwing government have slapped President Obama in the face with mail gloves by refusing to extend the freeze on new colonies in the Palestinian…
On Reading the Qur’an: Hazleton
Leslie Hazleton on reading the Qur'an: Hazleton is author of After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in IslamCan ‘Desperate Housewives’ Defeat al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia? Wikileaks
US consulate confirms what everybody already knows. Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has bipolar disorder. The Red Sea Port wears a sober puritan mien during the day, but at night turns into Party…Israelis Jettison Peace Talks in Favor of Massive Land Theft; Brazil, Argentina Recognize Palestinian State
The victory of the Republican right wing in the November elections for the House of Representatives has allowed the Israeli government to simply refuse to cooperate with a weakened President Barack Obama…Why our Afghanistan War Dead don’t Seem to be News
Tom Engelhardt makes an argument for why the US casualties in Afghanistan are nowadays virtually ignored by television news and get buried in the back pages in the print media. He suggests…Cole in Truthdig: Iran is Winning, Israel Losing
My new column is out in Truthdig: Leaks Suggest Iran Is Now Winning in the Middle East" Excerpt: Iran is winning and Israel is losing. That is the startling conclusion we reach…
Egyptian Official: Israelis Might be Behind attacks by Sharks, which seem to be Beasts of Prey
Even shark attacks in the Middle East get caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The fifth victim of a shark attack this week at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt's Sinai, an elderly…
Horrific Taliban Bombing of Would-Be Pashtun Militiamen
The administrative offices of Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency were hit by two suicide bombers on motorcycles on Monday, killing as many as 51 persons and wounding 120. The Taliban Movement of Pakistan…
Is AIPAC a Wikileaks Operation?
One of the supreme pieces of hypocrisy in Washington right now is all the politicians crying treason and death penalty on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, when many of them are up to…Dec. 6: Top Ten New Wikileaks on Greater Middle East
Here are this weekend's top ten Wikileaks revelations for the Greater Middle East: The US and India wanted to slap United Nations sanctions on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his group, Jama'at al-Da'wa,…
Wikileaks and the New McCarthyism: Maybe we Just Need a More Open Government
A big issue in the Wikileaks controversy has to do with restrictions on freedom of speech in a democratic society, and the use of pressure tactics and of corporate policy to curb…
Map: Modern Iran
Modern Iran Click to go to map, click again to enlarge. Informed Comment Map Page (Under Construcion)
Jamiol: The Embarrassment of Wikileaks Leaks
Paul Jamiol on Reactions to the Wikileaks: Courtesy "Jamiol's World"
Israel’s Mega-Fire and Climate Change’s Drying Mediterranean
You can't relate a one-off event like Israel's massive forest fire near Haifa to climate change, which has to be measured over a long series. It is the worst in Israel's history.…Charges Against Cheney Filed by Nigeria in Bribery Case
The Lagos Guardian reports that the Nigerian government has preferred charges against former US vice president Richard Bruce Cheney (they always give the full names of criminals) in connection with an investigation…
The Ottoman Empire, 1798-1923
The real background of the modern Middle East: Map: The Ottoman Empire, 1798-1923