Month

Archives: September 2015

Most Russians Oppose Sending Troops To Syria: Poll

By Tom Balmforth | ( RFE/RL MOSCOW -- More than two-thirds of Russians oppose sending troops to Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad's government, while a majority approve of Moscow's use…

The Final Collapse of Bush’s Nation-Building: Konduz falls to Taliban

The Final Collapse of Bush’s Nation-Building: Kunduz falls to Taliban

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On Monday, the Taliban swept into the provincial capital of Kunduz, taking it in half a day from a large and well-equipped Afghan…

Carly Fiorina Says Waterboarding Keeps America Safe

Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel | (TheLipTv) | - - "Carly Fiorina has defended the use of CIA waterboarding by the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11, in an interview with…

UK: Israel has Attacked Gaza 696 Times Since Most Recent Ceasefire

By IMEMC News. | - - The Gaza Strip was attacked at least 696 times on different occasions since the August 2014 ceasefire, said Tobias Ellwood, the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of…

Americans are Powerful & Safe; So why do they feel Like Victims?

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Given the cluttered landscape of the last 14 years, can you even faintly remember the moment when the Berlin Wall came down, the…

Why Obama and Putin are Both Wrong on Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - President Obama seemed awfully defensive in his speech at the United Nations on Monday. The reason is not far to seek. Russia's Vladimir…

Donald Trump wants to cut taxes of self, other Billionaires by $3 Trillion

John Iadarola and Jimmy Dore | (The Young Turks) | - - "Donald Trump’s tax plan is being pitched, and covered by the media, with terms like “populist” and “tax hikes for…

US-Backed Bombing Campaign Strikes Yemeni Wedding Party, Killing Dozens

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Many women and children among the dead in 'mistake' attack Monday's accidental attack on a Yemeni wedding party drew references to the…

Disillusioned Daesh/ ISIL Fighters joined for ‘Adventure, Luxury & Saving Muslims’

By Sarah Marsden | (The Conversation) | - - They say disillusionment is the gap between expectation and reality. If the conclusions of a report just published by the International Centre for…

Jerusalem: Abbas warns Int’l leaders of ‘danger’ over Israeli-Palestinian clashes at Aqsa Mosque

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday warned international leaders at the UN General Assembly of the potential danger of ongoing events at the Al-Aqsa…

Syria: Is Bashar al-Assad winning the Diplomatic War? Rebels Fret

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, widely regarded as a war criminal with tens of thousands of deaths on his hands, is nevertheless on a…

Do the Republicans need the Muslim Vote?

by Julie Poucher Harbin, EDITOR | ( ISLAMiCommentary) | - - Over the past week-and-a-half Islamophobia seemed to dominate the headlines; first when a 14-year-old Texas student who was arrested for bringing…

To Stem the Flow of Refugees, Stop the Syrian Regime’s Barrel Bombs

By Kenneth Roth, Executive Director | ( Human Rights Watch) - - Syrian asylum-seekers are the largest component of the latest refugee surge to Europe. Germany has been extraordinarily generous in providing…

How Henry Kissinger created a world of bad guys Armed to the Teeth

By Greg Grandin | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - The only person Henry Kissinger flattered more than President Richard Nixon was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. In the early 1970s,…

Israel’s Real Fear: w/out a Demonized Iran, West will see Tel Aviv as Irrelevant

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | - - OXFORD (IPS) - Relations between Iran and Israel go back almost to the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. Iran…

US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Nusra Islamists, Pentagon confirms

US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Qaeda Pentagon confirms

RT | - - "The U.S. military has revealed that American -trained Syrian rebels surrendered equipment to an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group in exchange for safe passage. They handed over pick-up trucks…

Iranian Activists Call On Iran To End Support For Syria’s Assad

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/ RL ) Scores of Iranian political activists and intellectuals have launched an online campaign calling on Iran to end its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad…

Israeli Soldiers Assault AFP Reporters at West Bank Demo

By IMEMC News | - - Two AFP journalists were assaulted Friday by Israeli soldiers who destroyed and seized their equipment in the occupied West Bank, after the funeral of a Palestinian…

Things like Ted Cruz’s threat to Murder Iran’s Ayatollah are why Iranians don’t Trust US

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Ted Cruz said Friday at the Value Voters Summit conference in Washington, D.C., “If you vote for me, under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to…

Iraq: Can Mosul’s Christians ever Go Home to their Historic Neighborhoods?

Nawzat Shamdeen | Berlin | (Niqash.org) | - - They have been harassed, threatened, have lost all their worldly goods and forced to flee. What, if anything, would make Mosul's Christians want…

The tragedy of Iraq’s Sunnis

By Chloe Cornish IRIN | - - KIRKUK (IRIN) - Iraq is congested with armed men: Kurdish peshmerga in the north; forlorn Iraqi army troops strung across the country; ascendant Shia militia…

Are U.S., Russian Arms Supplies to Iraq, Syria a Blessing to Rebel Groups?

Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The United States and Russia are escalating arms sales to two of their major allies in the Middle East…

West Bank: Clashes as thousands march in slain Palestinian’s funeral

Ma'an News Agency | - - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Thousands of Palestinians marched in the funeral of Ahmad Izzat Khatatbeh, 25, who died on Thursday from wounds [inflicted] by Israeli forces at…

100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 achievable, necessary – Greenpeace

The Tree | - - 100 per cent renewable energy for all is achievable by 2050, creating jobs and cutting fuel costs, according to Greenpeace’s latest Energy [R]evolution report. Researched in collaboration…

With Iran deal, & Russia in Syria, is Israel being Boxed In?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - With the success of the Iran deal virtually assured and with Russia moving into Syria, Israel's hawks are facing an unprecedented setback. These…

Syria flying Russia-suppled Drones, Fighter Jets against ISIL/ Daesh

Syria flying Russia-supplied Drones, Fighter Jets against ISIL/ Daesh

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The puzzle of Russian intentions in Syria will likely be revealed by president Vladimir Putin at the UN next week. Putin will meet…

Why are U.S. Special Ops Forces Deployed in 135 Nations?

By Nick Turse | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - You can find them in dusty, sunbaked badlands, moist tropical forests, and the salty spray of third-world littorals. Standing in judgement, buffeted by the…

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, PTSD and the Psychology of War

By Arnold Oliver | (Informed Comment) | - - More than five years ago a soldier named Bowe Bergdahl left his U.S. Army unit in Afghanistan. He was captured, imprisoned in brutal…

The Scandal of Saudi’s Syria Refugee Policy

By Simon Mabon | (The Conversation) | - - The violent civil war in Syria and rise of Islamic State (IS) has forced millions to flee their homes, cascading across Europe in…

Breakdown In Saudi Organization leads to Stampede killing over 700 pilgrims near Mecca

CNN | (Video News Report) | - - "Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council of Britain says Saudi Arabia has made strides to keep pilgrims safe at Hajj but growing numbers increase…

A First: New York City Schools close for Muslim Holy Day

Deena Takruri | (Aj+ video report) "New York City public-school students will get the day off this Thursday, Sept. 24, for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Summer-school students will also get…

Will the US Catholic Church Divest from Fossil Fuels, buy Solar Panels?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In his White House address on Wednesday, Pope Francis again brought up the urgent issue of global warming, climate change is a problem…

A Majority of Iowa Republicans unsure Islam should be Legal, but Support Kim Davis

Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola | (The Young Turks Video) | - - "We hear a lot about religious freedom from conservatives these days, but what do they actually mean when they…

Al Jazeera journalists freed in Egypt

John Terrett | (Al Jazeera America Video Report) | - - "Baher Mohammad and Mohammad Fahmy were pardoned by Egypt's president this morning. John Terrett has more." Aljazeera America: Al Jazeera journalists…

Israel imposes lockdown on East Jerusalem neighborhoods

Ma'an News Agency | - - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities closed the main entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhoods with cement blocks on Wednesday, preventing Palestinians from preparing for the Eid al-Adha…

Is the United Nations being captured by Transnational Corporations?

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22 2015 (IPS) - The United Nations, which is commemorating its 70th anniversary next week punctuated by a summit…

Top 5 Signs Pope Francis is an Honest Conservative

Top Signs Pope Francis is an Honest Conservative

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The positioning of Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis, as a "liberal" or "progressive" in American politics is incorrect and indeed a little bizarre. The…

Making money off Nuclear Apocalypse while obsessing about Non-Nuclear Iran

By Richard Krushnic & Jonathan Alan King | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Imagine for a moment a genuine absurdity: somewhere in the United States, the highly profitable operations of a set of…

Why the Pope and America won’t leave each Other Unchanged

By Massimo Faggioli | (The Conversation) | - - The papal trip to the United States that Francis will begin on September 22 is the most difficult of his pontificate so far.…

Could Daesh/ ISIS bring Russia and the west together?

By Marta Ter | (Open Democracy) | - - For a couple of years after 9/11, there was a solid US-Russia anti-terrorism cooperation that basically gave the Kremlin a freer hand in…

Syrians welcomed Armenian, Iraqi, other Refugees but now Unwelcome as Refugees

AJ+ | - - "The world hasn't been very hospitable to refugees from Syria – a country with a long history of taking in people displaced from other parts of the world."…

As Russia supports Iran in Syria, Netanyahu Loses Again

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accompanied by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot and Military Intelligence chief Hertzi Halevy, visited…

Dark Money Surge: Conservatives Buoyed by Historic Flood of Money

Dark Money Surge: Conservatives Buoyed by Historic Flood of Contributions

By Sarah Lazare, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) - - A new report from Center for Responsive Politics finds single-candidate groups have spent $16.2 million total so far—- over 55 times levels…

Violent clashes in Jerusalem fed by extreme Israeli counter-measures

By Yoav Galai | (The Conversation) | - - On the evening of Monday September 14, Alex Levlovich was driving back from the Rosh-Hashana Seder, the celebration of the Jewish new year,…

Syria, Reserve army of Terrorism: Taliban Uzbek in Suicide Bombing of Shiite Village

By Joanna Paraszczuk and Barno Anvar | ( RFE/ RL ) An Uzbek militant has carried out a suicide truck bombing in the predominantly Shi'ite town of Fua in Idlib Province, part…

Majority of Palestinians lose hope in 2 States, Await Israeli Ethnic Cleansing

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A majority of Palestinians now oppose a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, with only a third believing it is still a…

Has the GOP given up on winning the Presidency? Carson, Trump on Muslims, Latinos

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Ben Carson's and Donald Trump's comments about Muslims over the weekend again showed the GOP as the party of exclusion, not inclusion (though…

What’s behind Russia’s military build-up in Syria?

By Alexander Titov | (The Conversation) | - - Evidence is emerging of a significant intensification of Russia’s military support for the Assad government. While the exact scale and purpose of Russia’s…

Turkey Risks Turmoil with end of Peace Process & of Non-Intervention Policies

By Omer Tekdemir and Oğuzhan Göksel | (Open Democracy) | - - Though often depicted as a relatively stable exception in a turbulent region, the Republic of Turkey has also wrestled with…

Islam: Acceptance of Diversity & Pluralism is Key to the Qur’an’s Theology

By Galym Zhussipbeck | ( ISLAMICommentary

Putting Pacifists on a No-Fly List is a way of Disciplining us All

By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - It was August 2002. My partner Jan Adams and I were just beginning our annual pilgrimage to Massachusetts to visit my father and stepmother.…

Holland’s Wind-Driven trains & 4 other Hopeful Green Energy Stories for Today

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - 1. In three years, all Dutch electric trains will be powered by wind turbines, either turbines in the Netherlands itself or in nearby…

Why Won’t Bernie Sanders Take “Socialist” As An Insult?: Stephen Colbert

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | - - "It's hard to insult Bernie Sanders when he doesn't mind being called a socialist. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: " Why Won't…

Iraq: Shiite Militia Abuses Mar Fight Against ISIS

Human Rights Watch | - - (Washington) – Iraqi government-backed militias carried out widespread destruction of homes and shops around the city of Tikrit in March and April 2015 in violation of…

Tikrit: ‘My Son joined Daesh/ISIL, Now I’m Living in Hell’

By Ghazwan Hassan al-Jibouri | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) | - - While [the so-called 'Islamic State' group] ruled Tikrit, many locals joined. When they were beaten there, fighters fled, leaving family members…

Reports: Reluctant Russian Soldiers Oppose ‘Secret’ Syria Mission

By Tom Balmforth | ( RFE/ RL ) MOSCOW -- Several Russian soldiers are seeking help from human rights advocates to oppose what they say are secret orders to send them to…

Aqsa Crisis: PM Netanyahu wants Israeli Forces to use Live Fire against Rock Throwing Demonstrators

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Thousands of demonstrators came out in Jordan on Friday to protest what appears to be a new Israeli assertion of authority over Muslim…

Israel has moved 600,000 Squatters onto Palestinian Land in West Bank

By IMEMC News | - - About 600 thousand settlers live in the West Bank and half of them are in Jerusalem district, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in…

How the GOP’s decades of Angry Resentment Led to Frankentrump

By Randall Stephens | (The Conversation) | - - The latest Republican presidential primary debate had it all: denunciations of President Obama, angry rants about America’s future, and all manner of bile.…

Can Digital India flourish without Freedom of Speech? PM Modi in Silicon Valley

Priya Satia | (Huffington Post) | - - The Indian community of Silicon Valley is preparing to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with open arms next week, in a route stop…

Trump Pledges to “Look into” Paranoid Charges of Muslim-American Terror camps

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump has probably benefited so far from giving long stemwinders of a speech on the hustings, saying enough outrageous things in each…

As Iran takes on ISIL/ Daesh, can it avoid the Sectarian Trap?

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | - - In an obvious attempt to show initiative and good will, President Hassan Rouhani recently declared Iran’s readiness to discuss Syria with the United…

Rights group: Israelis have killed nearly 2000 Palestinian children since 2000

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- More than 1,991 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces and extremists since 2000, according to figures released by an international rights…

A Guru for Our Time: Eqbal Ahmad and the life of Dissent from Empire

By Stuart Schaar | (Informed Comment) | - - In the early 1960s I was living in Rabat while researching my doctoral dissertation for Princeton University. My friend, the Pakistani Eqbal Ahmad…

Refugees from the Phony Caliphate: Iraqis hire People Smugglers to escape Mosul

Special Correspondent | (Niqash.org) | - - Hassan Hafouzi* and his family paid people smugglers so they could leave Mosul, the city controlled by the so-called Islamic State group. Two days after…

How GOP Candidates would Deal with Syria, Short Version

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Political Satire In the course of the second GOP debate at CNN, anchor Jake Tapper asked the candidates about Syria policy. They for…

America can — and should — Do More for Syrian Refugees

By Chris Toensing | (Otherwords.org) | - - Imagine that 58 million Americans were streaming into Canada and Mexico, many with only a small satchel and the clothes on their backs. Picture…

Rouhani: forget Geopolitics: Iran’s real Enemies are Water & jobs Shortages & Drugs

By RFE/RL | - - - Iran's President Hassan Rohani has warned that water shortages, unemployment, inflation, and problems like drug addiction are threatening the Islamic republic. Rohani made the remarks in…

Activists strip against Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Several foreign activists stripped bare near the Israeli separation wall in the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank in refusal of ongoing Israeli policies against Palestinians under…

Pope Francis Endorses Iran Deal: Another Dilemma for GOP Catholic Candidates

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Republican presidential candidates are virtually unanimous that human-caused climate change is a hoax and burning fossil fuels is good for us; that…

Islam Hysteria: 14 yr old Muslim Student Invents Digital Clock, is Arrested

The Dallas Morning News | (Video Interview with Ahmad Mohamed) | - - "Ahmed Mohamed, 14, an Irving MacArthur High student who invents as a hobby, talks about being detained and interrogated…

Favoring Christian over Muslim refugees is bad for everyone

By Sarah Hackett | (The Conversation) | - - The unfolding refugee crisis has been marked by stories of displacement, violence and despair. There have been frenzied debates about the appropriate responses,…

Obama as Grandmaster of Grand Strategy: Containing China

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - In ways that have eluded Washington pundits and policymakers, President Barack Obama is deploying a subtle geopolitical strategy that, if successful, might give…

Ashrawi: “Israel is provoking a global holy war” over Aqsa

By IMEMC News | - - PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi met with [British Consul General to Jerusalem] Dr. Alastair McPhail at the PLO Headquarters in Ramallah, September 14, 2015.…

Mexican Tour Organizers, Buddhist Healers, Baffled by Egyptian Army Attack

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Gabriela Bejarano Rangel, the sister and daughter of the Mexican organizers of the tour to Egypt that met with tragedy Sunday, has been…

Andrew Garfield of Spiderman: Trump ‘has a lot,’ Unwelcoming of those with Little

Popsugar Entertainment | (Video Interview with Andrew Garfield) | - - "Andrew Garfield spent hours with families who'd lost their homes in the foreclosure crisis to prepare for his role as a…

Israel: Rosh Hashanah Dancing Robots – Happy New Year with a Technion Touch

Technion | Shana Tova - Video| - - "Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has the touch to get you ready for the New Year - a robot picks a pomegranate from the tree…

Global Warming: Sierra Nevada snowpack at 500-year low, Worse Coming

By Valerie Trouet | (The Conversation) | - - In the Mediterranean climate of California, with its warm, wet winters and hot, dry summers, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains plays…

Contrary to Propaganda, Iran has always denounced Nukes

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | - - OXFORD (IPS) - Despite all the propaganda about the Iranian leaders’ rush to acquire nuclear weapons, ever since the start of the…

Clashes rock Al-Aqsa Compound, 3rd Holiest Muslim Shrine, for 2nd day

Ma'an News Agency | - - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed for the second consecutive day at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday, with several journalists injured as Israeli…

US Intel Chief: Iraq and Syria may not Survive as States

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Public remarks by the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency and by John Brennan, director of the CIA, suggest that Washington is…

Sanders surges in Iowa as Clinton faces Enthusiasm Gap

Anthony Salvanto | (CBS Face the Nation Video) | - - "A new CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker poll shows presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, leading in both Iowa and New…

When will War be off the Table? Iran & US Trash Talk

By David M. Faris | (Informed Comment) | - - You have to admire the sheer gall of the Republican presidential field, which has coalesced around the idea of, in Scott Walker’s…

Israel’s Deep Role in Syrian Refugee Crisis: Saga of Yarmouk

By: Ramzy Baroud | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - When Zionist Haganah militias carried out Operation Yiftach, on May 19 1948, the aim was to drive Palestinians in the northern Safad…

Could we melt all the Ice in Antarctica if we Keep on Burning Fossil Fuels?

By Andy Ridgwell | (The Conversation) | - - Here is a great “what-if”: if we (the human race) were to burn all available fossil fuels, could we melt the largest and…

Germany seeks Talks with Russia over Syria as Putin conducts Naval Maneuvers off Tartous

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Agence France Press Arabic says that Cypriot officials are reporting that Russia has asked them to alter airline routes this coming week because…

“We’re talking Survival”: Pacific Islanders call out Australia on Coal

The Tree | - - Pacific Island nations have stepped up pressure on their reckless neighbours, warning Australia and New Zealand that their inadequate action on climate change will doom island states…

Leftist Corbyn win as head of UK Labour alarms Israeli Right Wing

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party on Saturday quickly led to condemnation from the Israeli press who…

How Bush/Cheney’s War Plans delayed an Iran Deal for a Decade

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | - - OXFORD (IPS) - When negotiations between Iran and the European “Troika” broke down, the reformist government of Mohammad Khatami was discredited in…

Nearly Half of Republicans Could imagine backing Military Coup

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "New poll out from YouGov that is even more concerning than some of the other crazy polls we’ve covered recently. How…

14 Years after 9/11, US, Israel Tempted to ally with Al-Qaeda in Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Jabhat al-Nusra or Support Front is one of the major rebel groups in Syria, holding extensive territory in the hinterland of cities…

America’s Dumb Bigots: Sikh Man Beaten Before Anniversary Of 9/11

Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, John Iadarola, and Wes Clark Jr. | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "One tragic aspect of our post-9/11 legacy is Americans terrorizing, beating, and murdering…

‘Bibi in Bible Land’: The Likud Party Miscalculates and loses on Iran Deal

By Shalom L. Goldman | (Informed Comment) | - - Now that the Democratic senators have blocked a challenge to the Iran deal, pundits are looking at what the most persuasive arguments…

Can Syrian Asylee Airlift from Turkey to Sweden be Crowd-Funded? Iranian Expats Think So

By Elisabeth Braw | (RFE/ RL) | - - A group of Iranian emigres and friends has announced an ambitious project to mount a crowdfunded airlift from troubled areas around the Mediterranean…

Over Israeli, US Objections, UN votes to raise Palestinian flag at HQ

Ma'an News | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The United Nations General Assembly voted late Thursday in favor of raising the Palestinian flag at its headquarters in New York by an overwhelming…

Top 5 Reasons Obama defeated GOP, AIPAC effort to vote Down Iran Deal

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - 40 Democratic senators and two independent senators stood with President Obama on Thursday, preventing any congressional condemnation of the UN Security Council's Vienna…

Is the Obama Admin. pressuring CIA to paint a Rosy Picture of War on ISIL?

Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel | (TheLipTV Video Report) | - - "ISIS intelligence reports are being cooked by the Obama administration, according to over 50 intelligence analysts working out of the…

Why Young Iraqis Are Risking Their Lives to Get to Europe

By Marwan Jabbar | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Iraq's security crisis means that if you are “different”, you may be a threat to militias ruling the streets now. Would-be asylum…

Islamic State’s campaign may be going chemical – why no international outcry?

ISIL’s campaign may be going chemical – why no international outcry?

Michelle Bentley | (The Conversation) | - - Evidence is mounting that [so-called] Islamic State (IS) [group] is using chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria – and yet this egregious crime, which…

Clinton Calls For Tougher Response To Russia On Syria, Ukraine

By RFE/RL | - - WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state who is now a leading contender to be the next president, has called for a stronger response…

Russia Ramping up Military Involvement in Syria?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Reuters reports, based on sources in Beirut, that Russia is increasing its involvement in Syria, backing the military of beleaguered dictator Bashar al-Assad.…

As Vanguard for Climate Action, Low-Carbon Cities Could Save $22 Trillion

By Deirdre Fulton | (Commondreams.org) | - - Compact, connected, and efficient "low-carbon" cities could generate global savings of up to $22 trillion, while sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions, alleviating poverty, and…

Kurds unite, from Conservatives to Far Left, in Fight against ISIL

By Karlos Zurutuza | (Inter Press Service) | - - KIRKUK, Iraq (IPS) - Reminders of the last occupants of camp K1 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk are only visible…

Nearly all of Gaza’s Water ‘Undrinkable’

By Celine Hagbard - (IMEMC) | - - Reporters from RT (Russia Today) traveled to Gaza to look into last year’s report that 90% of Gaza’s water is undrinkable. As they sampled…

The lost fortunes of Palestine’s dynamic Ottoman-era merchants

By Charlie Hoyle | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - The pink stone mansions hidden among the modern urban geography of Bethlehem --surrounded by an eight-meter high concrete wall and penned in…

What if Kim Davis Refused to License Marriages of Inter-Racial Couples?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis was released from prison on Tuesday after having been jailed for 5 days for contempt of court because…

How Persian Literature shaped the culture of Iran and India

Sunil Sharma interviewed by Maryam Kamali | ( Iranian Medieval History) Sunil Sharma is the Associate Professor of Persianate and Comparative Literature at Boston University’s Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature…

How the Sept. 11 Attacks Changed American Lives Forever

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.org) | - - Fourteen years later and do you even believe it? Did we actually live it? Are we still living it? And how improbable is…

Why Dick Cheney is just as wrong about Iran as he was about Iraq

By William Beeman | (Informed Comment) | - - There are so many lies in Dick Cheney's address to the AEI that one hardly knows where to begin in refuting them. He…

The 3000: Why have some Tunisians joined ISIL/Daesh in Syria?

by Youssef Cherif | (Middle East Center Blog, LSE Political Science) | - - Tunisia, regarded as the Arab ‘beacon of hope’ and the cliché of Arab secularism and liberalism, raises a…

Israel plans to tear down 13,000 Palestinian Buildings in Palestine

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has produced a report [pdf] in which it finds that "Official data released…

Multiple views of Meteor Explosion over Bangkok

Attila Nagy | (Video compilation) | - - "Several dashcams captured meteor entering Earth's atmosphere and exploding over Bangkok, on the 7th of September, 2015." Meteor over Bangkok, Thailand, 7 September 2015

As Germans welcome 1000s of Refugees, EU, Turkey Wrangle over Crisis

Euractiv.com | - - Thousands of exhausted refugees and asylum seekers received a hero's welcome Sunday (6 September) as they streamed into Western Europe. But Austria warned the emergency measures are only…

Charge that Trump had Black Casino Employees hidden from him in ’80s

By Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "Black employees at the Trump Casino in Atlantic City were routinely kept out of sight whenever the…

Invented Traditions: No, Christianity doesn’t forbid Abortion

By Larry Badendyck | (Informed Comment) | - - Let me put this right up front. There is nothing whatever either in the Bible or in the canonical, fundamental assertions of…

1000s of Palestinians mourn as victim of Israeli Terrorist dies after losing her Toddler

Ma'an News Agency | - - Palestinian women cry during the funeral of Riham Dawabsha, on Sept. 7, 2015, at a cemetery in the West Bank village of Duma. (AFP/Thomas Coex) NABLUS…

Pope Francis’ call to host Refugees contrasts w/ anti-Immigrant US “Religious Right”

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Not all American Christian leaders have covered themselves in glory when it comes to the issue of Syrian refugees being accepted by the…

UN: al-Assad, ISIL, al-Qaeda committing Mass Atrocities, Endangering Int’l Security

UN News Centre | ( Office of the High Commission for Human Rights) - - Mass atrocities by Government forces and non-State armed groups continue to take place in Syria, causing immeasurable…

Trump is just as anti-Labor as the rest of the GOP

By Donald Kaul | (Otherwords.org) | - - When it comes to the way he treats workers, the Donald is as Republican as capital gains and Richard Nixon. There are those who…

American Workers need a Raise, & the Iran Deal, and Peace

By Michael Eisenscher | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | We’ll never rebuild this country if we keep wasting money on war. This Labor Day, like others before it, finds American workers squeezed…

Netanyahu: Israel Not To Be ‘Submerged’ by Syrian Refugees

By IMEMC News | - - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, on Sunday, he would not allow Israel to be "submerged" by refugees after calls for Israel to take in those…

Whether Jewish Refugees in ’30s or Syrians today, USA Falls Short of own Ideals

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Germany, a country of 80 million, will take in 800,000 refugees this year, many of them Syrians. That is 1 percent of their…

Can Bernie Sanders become the Frontrunner coming out of Labor Day Weekend?

Ed Schultz | The Ed Show | (Video Interview) | - - "Presidential Candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, joins Ed Schultz to discuss a wide range of issues including why his…

Why some European countries do more than others to help refugees

By Tim Hatton | (The Conversation) | - - Not since World War II has Europe faced a refugee crisis comparable with the situation unfolding at its borders at the moment. The…

Netanyahu Arrest Petition Hits 100,000

By IMEMC News | - - A petition to the UK government and parliament requesting that the government arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "for war crimes when he arrives in London,"…

Those forced to Europe are mostly Regime Change Refugees

By Thalif Deen | ( Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The military conflicts and political instability driving hundreds of thousands of refugees into Europe were triggered largely…

Unlike Israel’s Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia now says it supports Iran Nuclear Deal

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Saudi-owned, pan-Arab London daily al-Sharq al-Awsat (the Middle East) reported on the meeting Friday between King Salman of Saudi Arabia and President…

Donald Trump Fails Foreign Policy 101, calls Interviewer “Third Rate”

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | - - "Donald Trump was on the Hugh Hewitt radio show and fumbled his way through a foreign-policy pop quiz." AJ+: "Donald Trump Fails Foreign-Policy Quiz"

Why Don’t Rich Arab Gulf States Welcome Syrian Refugees?

By Charles Recknagel | (RFE/ RL ) | - - It's hard not to notice how almost all Syrian refugees flee westward rather than seek a safe haven in the rich Arab…

What Iran sacrificed in Deal: Accepted dependence on Imported Enriched Fuel

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | - - OXFORD (IPS) - Iran’s nuclear programme has been the target of a great deal of misinformation, downright lies and above all myths.…

UN to Back Raising of Palestinian Flag, defying Israeli Objections

By IMEMC News | - - Israel asks UN to rebuff flag initiative A draft resolution on raising the Palestinian flag at the United Nations will likely be adopted next week in…

Top 4 Issues Saudi King Salman will discuss in first visit to Obama’s White House

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Saudi King Salman is meeting Friday with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and National Security Adviser Susan…

Actually, Davis was jailed because she forbade other Clerks to marrying Same Sex Couples

Actually, Davis was jailed because she forbade other Clerks to marry Gay Couples

WLKY News Louisville | (Video News Report) | - - WLKY News Louisville: "5 of Kim Davis' deputies to issue marriage licenses, Davis still jailed"

As Syrian Refugee Boy Identified, Crisis of Conscience over Refugees

By Jon Queally, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi drowned along with his mother, Rehan, and older brother, Galip, while the family attempted to cross the sea from…

Over 1 mn. Syrian Refugees in Lebanon fear Unrest will Expel them Again

RT | (Video News Report) - - "More than a million Syrian refugees feel unwelcome guests in Lebanon, where anti-government protests are only worsening. Many fear the Syrian scenario may repeat there…

A House Divided: Iranian, Iraqi Ayatollahs square off in Baghdad Streets

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Recent crises have seen historical tensions between Iraq and Iran's highest religious leaders, who command the loyalty of millions and a deep philosophical…

Obama’s Journey: Top 10 signs of Extreme Climate Change in Alaska and why it Should Scare Us

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - American corporate news has not devoted the hours to President Obama's trip to Alaska that it deserves, focusing on the GOP clown car…

Why I Shared a Horrific Photo of a Drowned Syrian Child

By Peter Bouckaert | Director, Emergencies | (Human Right Watch) | - - I thought long and hard before I retweeted the photo. It shows a lifeless toddler, lying face down on…

GOP jumps Shark again: Call For Canadian Border Wall

Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, and Jimmy Dore | (The Young Turks Video report) | - - "Scott Walker is attempting to out-Trump Donald Trump by discussing the idea of a building a…

Martyr to Science in Palmyra: Archeologist Khaled al-Asaad

By Pierre Leriche | (The Conversation) | - - A second ancient temple at Palmyra has been razed, with a satellite image appearing to confirm the destruction of the Temple of Bel,…

Obama 1, Netanyahu 0, as Dems & Public rally to Iran Deal

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Israel lobbies don't win every fight on Capitol Hill, but over time they have tended to win the big ones in recent…

Kentucky Christian mini-caliphate still denying Gay Marriage Licenses in Name of God

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | - - "Kim Davis, a clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples one day after the Supreme Court told her…

Martin Kramer’s “Modest Proposal” for starving Gazans into having fewer Children, 5 Yrs Later

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In view of the dire UN report warning that in 5 years Gaza may well be uninhabitable for its 2 million Palestinian residents,…

Obama, 19 World Leaders tout Climate Danger at Alaska Summit, Ignore Fuel Extraction

By Leehi Yona | (Inter Press Service) | - - ANCHORAGE, Alaska (IPS) - After a one-day summit in the U.S. Arctic’s biggest city, leaders from the world’s northern countries acknowledged that…

Israeli Policies could make Gaza uninhabitable in 5 years: UN

UNCTAD Press Release | UNCTAD/PRESS/PR/2015/026 | (Geneva, Switzerland) | - - Gaza could become uninhabitable in less than five years in wake of 2014 conflict and ongoing de-development, according to new UNCTAD…

Bernie Sanders’s Surge in Iowa from Attractiveness of His Ideas: Poll

Phil Mattingly | Bloomberg Business | (Video News Report) | - - "Hillary Clinton saw her support in Iowa dwindle as voters boosted Bernie Sanders in the latest Bloomberg Politics/ Des Moines…

Remember how Congress said we Should Support Iran Reformists? Well they want the Nuclear Deal

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/ RL Parvin Fahimi, who lost her son to repression by the Iranian state, hopes the agreement global powers reached with Tehran on its nuclear program last…

War-Torn Yemen faces Disease Outbreaks w/out Humanitarian Corridor

By Kanya D'Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - An outbreak of dengue fever in Yemen’s most populated governorate has prompted urgent calls from the World Health…

Enter the Bear: Does Russia plan air strikes on Daesh/ISIL in Syria?

By Juan Cole| (Informed Comment) | - - The Israeli press is reporting that Iran has made a firmer military alliance with the Russian Federation in Syria, and that Moscow is sending…