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Archives: December 2016
Even in the Trump Era, Inequality can be Reduced
By Josh Hoxie | (Otherwords.org) | - - With Washington looking hopeless, it's up to local communities to close the gap between the richest and the rest. In a lot of ways,…
Syria: Now that the US has Failed, what does 2017 Hold?
By Christopher R. Hill | (Project Syndicate) | - - DENVER – The end of the fighting in Aleppo will not end the Syrian war, despite the countrywide ceasefire that has just…
Does Israel’s UN Tantrum Actually Further Palestine’s Struggle?
TeleSur | - - Though the motion is largely symbolical, Israel’s heavy retaliation has further isolated the apartheid state while increasing support for Palestine. Israel’s tantrum against the United Nations Security Council…
Trump’s Extreme Oligarchy
By Simon Johnson | ( Project Syndicate) | - - WASHINGTON, DC – US President-elect Donald Trump is filling his cabinet with rich people. According to the latest count, his nominees include…
Top 5 Ways Obama Sanctions on Russia work for Democrats
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - President Obama's sanctions on Russia are small potatoes and will have almost no effect on the Russian Federation. The high officials sanctioned are…
After all these Years, Iraq still generating Fake News, this time in Mosul
Special Correspondent | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Controversial videos are common on Iraqi social media. Viewed by millions, they increase social division and violence. NIQASH tries to separate two particularly…
Russia Vows Response to ‘Aggressive’ Obama Sanctions
TeleSur | - - The Russian diplomats will have 72 hours to leave the United States. The United States' new sanctions against Russia prove the foreign policy of the Obama administration is…
Kerry: Slams Palestinian Authority, but admits Israel Jeopardizes Peace
TeleSur | - - John Kerry claimed the Palestinian leadership enables terrorism as he defended the U.S. decision to let the U.N. resolution on Israeli settlements pass. After kicking off his speech…
5 Surprising Signs of Positive Change in 2016
Sarah van Gelder | (Yes! Magazine) The election divided the year into “before” and “after.” But there remain signs of hope for 2017. It was a year blown up by the election…
The Chinese Solar Juggernaut that Trump Can’t Stop
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump has pronounced solar power "too expensive" and has pledged to revive the use of coal. The former is a falsehood, the…
Erdogan-Putin Syria Bromance as Turkey accuses US of backing ISIL
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Turkey and Russia are announcing they have reached a cease-fire deal in Syria. The ceasefire reached in Aleppo will be continued past December…
Trump mires us in carbon Swamp with fossil cronies in key roles
The Tree | (Content for Climate Communicators) | - - Instead of draining the swamp as promised, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is doing the opposite, appointing powerful fossil fuel executives and dirty…
6 Reasons Feminist Carrie Fisher Was Ahead of Her Time
TeleSur | - - While all Star Wars (male) fans only remember Carrie Fisher in her sex-slave golden bikini, the late actress had a feminist conception of her role way ahead of…
After Israel Land-Theft Vote, will Trump & GOP Congress try to defund the UN?
By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The United States has had a longstanding love-hate relationship with the United Nations ever since 1952 when the…
Now is the time for Obama to Recognize Palestine
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - I'd like to return today to an argument I made two years ago in The Nation, which is that President Obama should recognize…
How a Green Energy Revolution in Small-Town America will make Trump Irrelevant
By James and Deborah Fallows | (The Atlantic video Report) | - - "A move towards sustainable energy is often talked about as an issue for big government, especially during the 2016…
Sanders: Trump’s Dangerous Nukes Talk Must be Challenged
By Jon Queally, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - 'Presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have understood that our goal must be to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, not expand them.' Deriding…
Israeli TV Regulators Ban Ad for Calling Out Racism, Homophobia
By IMEMC | - - Calling Palestinian rights ‘problematic’ and LGBT rights a matter ‘in public dispute,’ the TV authority bans a public service announcement by Association for Civil Rights in Israel.…
Israel’s Netanyahu et al. Throw Trump-like Tantrums after UNSC Slam
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - PM Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel and his cabinet ministers are trying to punch above their weight. He wants to punish the UN, and…Crony Capitalism Made Rick Perry Our Energy Secretary
By Jim Hightower | ( Other Words ) | - - The former Texas governor's only experience for the job comes from stiffing the American people — and their environment. Rick Perry…
Iraq: ISIL Attacking Civilians in Mosul Retreat
Human Rights Watch | - - Calls ‘Unbelievers’ Valid Targets (Erbil) – Fighters with the [so-called] Islamic State [Group} (also known as ISIL) have indiscriminately attacked civilian areas in eastern Mosul with…
In defiance of UN, Israel reportedly set to approve thousands of settler units
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Days after the UN Security Council approved a resolution affirming the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and called for…
Wealthy Baghdad Muslim raised 85′ tall Christmas Tree in Solidarity
NewsBeat Social | (Video News report) | - - "A Muslim businessman in Iraq put up an 85-foot-tall Christmas tree in Baghdad to show solidarity with Iraqi Christians and help Iraqis "forget…
Remember when Dems were blasted for Class War? Meet Trump’s Cabinet
By Sam Pizzigati | ( Institute for Policy Studies) | - - Donald Trump and the business kingpins populating his inner circle want to slice the tax bill of America’s top 0.1…
Top Five ways Jesus was not White
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Given the alarming rise of white nationalism in the United States and the ways in which it is often entangled with Christian nationalism,…
Palestinian Officials on UNSC Members’ Resolution: Now let them Implement it
Via IMEMC | (PNN) | - - (PNN) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the adoption of a new United Nations Security Council resolution (co-sponsored by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, and…
Why the UN Resolution on Israeli Squatting didn’t Go Far Enough
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The United Nations Security Council on Friday passed a resolution with 14 member states in favor and 1 abstaining (the US), condemning Israeli…
‘Post-Truth’ or ‘Xenophobia’ or . . . What word sums up Horrible 2016?
By Philip Seargeant | (The Conversation) | - - Every December, lexicographers around the world choose their “words of the year”, and this year, perhaps more than ever, the stories these tell…
Israeli forces suppress Bethlehem’s ‘Santa Claus march’ with tear gas, rubber bullets
By Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces Friday suppressed Bethlehem’s “Santa Claus March,” shooting tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at participants, with many suffering from tear…
Obama dismantles Bush Muslim Registry to make Trump start from Scratch
By TeleSur | - - Activists say Thursday's announcement of the dismantling of the notorious NSEERS program is a key victory in the fight against Trump's Islamophobia. After 14 years of almost…
With Fall of Aleppo, will a Russo-Iranian Middle East challenge Trump?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On Thursday, the Syrian government announced that the last of those who wanted to be evacuated from the East Aleppo pocket had been…
Why Trump’s nominee for envoy to Israel is Setting off Alarm Bells
By Mitchell Plitnick | Foreign Policy in Focus | Originally published in Lobelog | - - David Friedman’s approach to the issue of peace is clear enough: Whatever Israel’s right-wing government wants,…
How Human Carbon emissions created Arctic’s balmy Frankenweather
Andrew King | (The Conversation) | - - For the Arctic, like the globe as a whole, 2016 has been exceptionally warm. For much of the year, Arctic temperatures have been much…
President Big Brother: 1984 is 32 Years Late
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - Can you doubt that we’re in a dystopian age, even if we’re still four weeks from Donald Trump entering the Oval Office?…
Trump blames Muslim immigrants for Turkey, Berlin Violence
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - After the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey by a member of the Ankara police force who appears to have gone over…
Trump’s Normalization of White Supremacy: Will Richard Spencer Sit in Congress?
The white supremacist revealed this week he is considering running for the Montana Congressional seat. With an incoming presidency that was embroiled in charges of using white supremacist rhetoric during the campaign…
Stifling the debate on Israel
By Ramzy Baroud | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - The British government of Theresa May officially adopted on Dec. 12 a new definition of anti-Semitism that includes legitimate criticism of Israel.The…America’s Rigged Casino of Wealth and Power: Trump’s New Gilded Age
By Sam Pizzigati | ( Inequality.org In the years right after World War II, average Americans got ahead. Now Americans are getting headaches — from a ferociously top-heavy distribution of the nation’s…
Top 5 Reasons Senate Dems should block all Trump Supreme Court Nominees, Forever
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - We don't need a Trump-nominated supreme Court justice. We desperately don't need such a person. And there is no reason to have one.…
Mr. Trump: Government and War are too Serious to be entrusted to the Generals
By William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - America has always had a love affair with its generals. It started at the founding of the republic with George Washington…
Trump won b/c we Let ourselves be Divided & Conquered: Standing Rock was the Opposite
By David Korten | Yes! Magazine ) | - - We’ve been pitted against each other for too long. Now is the time to come together to fix our corrupt political systems.…
Can Israeli institutions include both more Women and more Gender-Segregating Orthodox?
Shulamit Almog | (The Conversation) | - - In one sense, women are making great strides in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). In October, the army declared it was examining the possibility…
Why do they Hate Putin’s Freedoms? Russian Ambassador assassinated in Turkey
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - It is not entirely clear why Mevlut Altintas, a young policeman in, ironically, a counter-terrorism unit in the Turkish capital of Ankara, shot…
Jewish Students and Scholars Object to US Bill Banning Criticism of Israel
By IMEMC | - - Jewish scholars and students have released statements urging the US House of Representatives and President Obama to reject the controversial “Antisemitism Awareness Act”. In a recent initiative…
Can Trump destroy the Environmental Protection Agency & the Environment . . . using the EPA?
By Robert Percival | (The Conversation) | - - Donald Trump’s election has jolted environmentalists and voters who care about conservation. Trump has called for abolishing or greatly shrinking the Environmental Protection…
Saudi Arabia Admits to Using Illegal UK Cluster Bombs in Yemen
TeleSur | - - “If Saudi forces are prepared to use cluster bombs, then why is the U.K. continuing to arm and support the regime?” a campaigner asked. Saudi Arabia admitted Monday…
Trump’s Jerusalem embassy Move an Invitation to Terrorism: 9/11 Provoked in part by Israeli Occupation
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Incoming President Trump has repeatedly pledged to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, and he just proposed the appointment of a Zionist supremacist…
SNL Cold Open: Trump as Manchurian Candidate
NBC's Saturday Night Live | (Satiric Video Clip) "President-elect Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) receives a surprise visit from Vladimir Putin (Beck Bennett) and Rex Tillerson (John Goodman)." SNL "Donald Trump Christmas Cold…
Trump’s Sec of State pick Tillerson chief of US-Russian Oil Company in Tax Haven
By Jon Queally, staff writer | Commondreams.org | - - Leaked documents show Trump's nominee for Secretary of State is director of subsidiary based in Bahamas Documents leaked to a German newspaper…
Israeli Squatters at Palestine’s Amona accept relocation to other Palestinian-owned Land
Ma'a News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Residents of the illegal settlement outpost of Amona in the central occupied West Bank voted on Sunday to approve a relocation plan put…
Point by Point Response to Likud Party Propaganda
By Jeffrey Rudolph | ( Detailed Political Quizzes ) | - - As Israel’s myriad human rights abuses and contraventions of international law have become impossible to deny, one argument that apologists…
Sorry, Trump, you can’t bring back Coal when Solar costs half as Much
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Bloomberg released a new report this week with some startling findings about solar energy. To wit: * Solar energy can now be generated…
Low-Carbon ‘Eat Local’ Movement taking Spain by Storm
By Oscar Tomasi Pancorbo | EFEAgro | Euractiv Concepts like “100% local” and “zero kilometer” products are now on an upward trend in Spain and are forcing the food industry to rethink…
Muslim Americans work with Silicon Valley to build opposition to Trump’s proposed registry
By Sarah Aziza | ( Waging Nonviolence) | - - With just over a month to go before the inauguration of Donald Trump, Muslim activists are working to block the president-elect’s long-standing…
Could Iraqi Parliament Recognition of Shiite Militias re-Tribalize the Sunnis?
By Ibrahim Saleh | (Baghdad) | Niqash.org | - - Although many Sunni politicians tried to block the passage of a November law that legitimized Iraq’s Shiite volunteer militias, some did not.…
Hard Truth: Aleppo Rebels weren’t defeated by Main Force but b/c they alienated Syrians
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Syria was in a better position to attain peace last spring, when a ceasefire had unexpected success. It would have been better if…
Can Faith and Modernity coexist under Muslimism?
By Neslihan Cevik | (Socialtrendsinstitute.org) | - - There is a new brand of Muslim religious orthodoxy on the rise in places like Turkey, which seeks to engage modernity through the sincere…
The last Time we had a President bored by Intel Briefings, we got 9/11
By Ronald Stockton | (Informed Comment) | - - Former CIA head and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently said that if President Elect Trump refuses intelligence briefings and something bad happens,…
In Aftermath of Trump’s Win, More Than 1,000 Hate Crimes in a Month
TeleSur | - - Over one-third of the incidents made mention of President-elect Donald Trump. Over 1,000 hate crimes have been reported since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, the rate…
Demonization of Putin as “Personally” behind Clinton Hack is old Propaganda Technique
Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The leaked allegations supposedly from the CIA that Russian President Vladimir Putin "personally" directed how hacked emails from the Clinton campaign should be treated…
Trump Taps Man More Far-Right Than Netanyahu to Be Israel Envoy
TeleSur | - - The U.S. president-elect choose David Friedman, who runs a group supporting ultra-right Jewish settlers in Palestine, as his ambassador to Israel. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate far-right bankruptcy…The Thin Line Between Political Censorship and Fighting Fake News in Iran
By Mahsa Alimardani | (Global Voices) | - - The Iranian government is reportedly taking steps to expand regulations on large public news channels on the instant messenger Telegram. The move would…
Trump’s plan to drown World in Oil is a Planetary Nightmare
By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - Scroll through Donald Trump’s campaign promises or listen to his speeches and you could easily conclude that his energy policy consists…
Why do GOP Presidents get to go Hard Right, and Dems are just GOP Lite?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - I belong to no organized political party. I am a Democrat. After it was confirmed that Donald J. Trump will appoint former Exxon…
It’s the Economy, Stupid: Ending ‘Religious’ Violence in the Middle East
Moha Ennaji | (Project Syndicate) | - - FEZ – The escalation of radicalism, violence, and civil wars in the Middle East since the so-called Arab Spring revolts began in 2010 has…
Donald Trump claims torture ‘works’ – but what does the science say?
By Coral Dando | (The Conversation) | - - The US president-elect Donald Trump has on several occasions insisted that torture is a good idea and that procedures such as water-boarding are…
Fearful of Trump Climate Conspiracy nuts, Scientists Fervently Copy Data
TeleSur | - - “People have felt a call to arms. We need to be outspoken,” said Adam Campbell, a researcher at Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. High on the list of…
After Aleppo, Russians prepare to defy Trump re: their Iran Alliance
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - the left-leaning Lebanese newspaper al-Safir [Ambassador] reports that the armed resistance to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the East Aleppo pocket is…
2/3s of Palestinians think 2-state solution doomed & 52% say Trump Should stay out of Mideast
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Two thirds of Palestinians believe the two-state solution is no longer viable and want Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to step down, a Palestinian…
A Yemeni Child Dies Every 10 Minutes as Saudi Attacks Continue
TeleSur | - - The U.N. said malnutrition and other preventable diseases are killing thousands of children in Yemen as its health system is on the verge of collapse. Every 10 minutes…
Trump’s Triangle in E. Asia: a Force for Peace or a harbinger of War?
By Tim Shorrock | ( Tomdispatch.com | - - Despite the attention being given to America’s roiling wars and conflicts in the Greater Middle East, crucial decisions about the global role of…
Sorry, Garrison Keillor: Keith Ellison for President could have beaten Trump, and still Can
Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - I am a fan of Garrison Keillor, of "Prairie Home Companion" fame. I am also a fan of Keith Ellison (D-MN), the prominent liberal…
Climate Scientist Enemies List: Internal Trump Memo Sparks Fears of Witch Hunt
By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | - - Trump transition team reportedly asking for names of career employees at Department of Energy who worked on Obama's climate policies…
Trump adviser reiterates pledge to move US embassy to Jerusalem
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Following up on a campaign pledge from US President-elect Donald Trump to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Trump’s senior adviser…
Why do we fall for fake news?
By S. Shyam Sundar | (The Conversation) | - - In recent weeks, the amount of online fake news that circulated during the final months of the presidential race is coming to…
Syria’s Aleppo Falling: The Government Russia actually Turned
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - By Monday morning Syrian time, the large and important district of Shaikh Saeed in southeastern Aleppo had completely fallen to the Syrian Arab…
Palestinian East Jerusalem Vanishing: Israeli Strategy Exposed in New Video
By IMEMC | - - A new video released by the Negotiations Affairs Department, titled “East Jerusalem: Israel’s Colonial Project Unraveled,” declares that Israel’s policy in the city, since the 1967 occupation,…
Jerusalem 1896: Incredible Footage of Jews, Muslims, Christians living under the Ottomans
Nahda Productions | (Historic Video) | - - "Incredible footage of Palestine and Jerusalem from the year 1896. Muslims, Jews and Christians lived next to each other and peacefully under the auspices…
Life under the Junta: Deadly Explosion at Cairo’s Coptic Christian Cathedral Kills 25
TeleSur | - - The Coptic cathedral explosion has reportedly killed 25 people and injured dozens more. A crowd gathered outside Cairo city’s biggest Coptic Christian cathedral Sunday morning chanting, "Tell the…
Why is the US at War in Yemen and will Trump Escalate?
By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - The long national nightmare that was the 2016 presidential election is finally over. Now, we’re facing a worse terror: the reality of a…
Is Bruited Sec. of State Tillerson allied with Iran & at war with Iraq?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - A couple of years ago an oil tanker showed up off the Texas coast with cargo from Iraqi Kurdistan. The problem? Iraqi Kurdistan…
In Iran, Women’s militia Leader Demands Persecution Of Gender-Rights Activism
By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | - - Minou Aslani, head of the Women's Basij organization in Iran, has condemned efforts to increase the number of women in parliament and opposed…
Those times the US meddled in other People’s Elections
TeleSur | - - U.S. concern over alleged Russian foul play in this year's election is ironic given decades of Washington's deadly foreign intervention. Revelations surfaced on Friday that a leaked document…
Amnesty International calls on Israel to drop ‘baseless’ charges against activists
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement Friday demanding Israel to drop the "baseless" charges against two Palestinian “human rights defenders” Farid…
2016 ‘One of worst Years in History for Children’: UNICEF
By Matthew Tempest | ( EurActiv.com ) | - - Syria: Abdulaziz (in red), 10, whose father was killed in the continuing conflict, spends time with his friends at the ‘Land of…
The Reich Strikes Back? Neo-Nazis Call for a Boycott of New Star Wars Movie
By TeleSur | - - White-supremacists are upset because nearly all of the major characters on the new Star Wars film are people of color. Neo-Nazi groups on the Internet are calling…
No, America, it wasn’t Russia: You did it to Yourself
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The headlines scream, "Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House" and "Obama orders review of Russian Hacking…
The Fate of Iraq’s Minorities After Mosul
By Tyler Fisher and Kamal Kolo | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The liberation of Mosul offers the international community a unique opportunity to permit the region’s most vulnerable minorities to exercise…
How We Can fight back against Trump’s Anti-EPA
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump's nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency is a slap in the face of every American…
Billionairocracy: Trump didn’t drain the Swamp, he is Drowning us in it
By Nomi Prins | ( Tomdispatch.com | - - Given his cabinet picks so far, it’s reasonable to assume that The Donald finds hanging out with anyone who isn’t a billionaire (or…
Barghouthi: Israel’s Legitimizing Squatter Settlements a Declaration of War on Palestinians
By IMEMC | - - Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa al-Barghouthi, on Tuesday, said the legitimization of settlement outposts, by the Israeli Knesset, is “a war on the Palestinian people.” In a press statement,…
German Advertisers pull ads from Breitbart, having seen this Picture
TeleSur | - - The decision to drop advertising from the far-right mouthpiece came on the back of a “No Money for The Right” campaign. German companies are the latest to pull…
Syria unlikely to be Partitioned: The Resilience of Colonial Borders
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Whenever a country falls into civil war, there are always observers who suggest that the problem could be resolved by a partition of…
Hating on “Foreigners” a key Plank of Trumpism: Can it be Fought?
By Ngaire Woods | (Project Syndication) | - - The New Xenophobia: OXFORD – Democratic governments in the West are increasingly losing their bearings. From the shift toward illiberalism in Poland and…
How Israel’s Blockade of Gaza Is Killing Women with Breast Cancer
TeleSur | - - Since Israel began its siege of Gaza in 2007, hundreds of people have died needlessly, various reports state. Hundreds of Palestinian women with breast cancer are being routinely…
How China will run rings around Trump on Green Energy, and Win Big
By Matthew Kahn | (The Conversation) | - - In mid-November, while Americans were preoccupied with election returns, China sent some of its clearest signals yet that it will continue to pursue…
More districts of East Aleppo fall to Regime & Militia Allies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Both regime sources and the Britain-based Syria Observatory said Tuesday that the Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia allies from Lebanon and…
Russia/Syria: War Crimes in Month of Bombing Aleppo
Human Rights Watch (New York) – The Russian-Syrian coalition committed war crimes during a month-long aerial bombing campaign of opposition-controlled territory in Aleppo in September and October 2016. The Violations Documentation Center,…
After Nov. 8: Countdown to Doomsday
By John Feffer | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - I didn’t vote in the pivotal American election of 2016. Thirty-five years ago, in that unseasonably warm month of November, I was in Antarctica’s…
White Terrorism in the White House? Did Trump’s Bannon, Breitbart inspire Pizzeria Shooter?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Imagine if they had been Muslims. What if a Muslim publication pushed a false conspiracy theory accusing high American officials and an ordinary…
Did Trump’s Son-In-Law Finance Israeli Extremists and Illegal Settlements?
TeleSur | - - Trump has said that Kushner, who is a married to Ivanka Trump and is an Orthodox Jew, would be “very good” as his Middle East envoy. Jared Kushner,…
John Kerry slams Israeli settlement expansion and proposed ‘formalization’ bill
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- United States Secretary of State John Kerry delivered harsh criticism of the Israeli government's settlement expansion policies at the Saban Forum in Washington…
In the shadow of Trump, a DAPL Victory and Global Protests against Fossil Fuels
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The surprise announcement Sunday by the Army Corps of Engineers that they will not permit the Dakota Access Pipeline to go under the…
All the President’s Men: The Warmongering Washington Blob is Back
By John Feffer | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Shortly after taking office in 1969, President Richard Nixon devised his “madman theory.” It was the height of the Vietnam War,…
Under BDS Pressure, G4S Ends Most Illegal Business with Israel
IMEMC | - - Human rights campaigners to intensify pressure against the company… *G4S announces sale of most of its Israel business, following intense BDS pressure *G4S remains involved in Israeli police…
Nine Things Obama Could Do Before Leaving to blunt the National Security State
By Pratap Chatterjee | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - In less than seven weeks, President Barack Obama will hand over the government to Donald Trump, including access to the White House,…
Why Trump & his Cabinet’s Jihad against “Political Islam” will Fail
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Several members of Donald Trump's new team, including National Security Adviser Mike Flynn and proposed Secretary of Defense Mike Mattis have expressed themselves…
IfNotNow’s ‘Jewish Day of Resistance’ against Trump and appointees
By Sarah Aziza | (Waging Nonviolence) | - - Demonstrators gathered in over 30 U.S. cities last Wednesday as part of a “Jewish Day of Resistance” against President-elect Donald Trump and his…
Denialist GOP House “Science Committee” Retweets Fake News Breitbart
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | - - Committee's tweet comes during hottest year on record. Displaying a troubling disregard for science, the House Committee on Science, Space, and…
Russian Pundit: Fall of East Aleppo a Geopolitical Turning Point toward Multi-polar World
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - By Friday evening outside observers like Rami Abdelrahman of the Syria Observatory in the UK were saying that even more of the East…
Israeli Occupation economically suffocates Palestinian East Jerusalem
By: Al-Shabaka | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - In an unusual move, and after years of neglect, American and European delegations and development agencies have recently been visiting East Jerusalem and…
The Election that Changed everything and Could be History’s Deal-Breaker
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - For decades, Washington had a habit of using the Central Intelligence Agency to deep-six governments of the people, by the people, and for…
Egypt’s Special Courts in time of Crisis are Nothing New
by Yoram Meital | (Informed Comment) | - - The toppling of a regime, whether by civil insurrection or military coup, invariably gives rise to a fierce struggle over the lineaments of…
Can Trump be checked and balanced?
By Ulrike G. Theuerkauf | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The US Presidential system has been much heralded as a prime example of horizontal accountability, but there is no guarantee how Donald…
Now that SecDef thinks Israeli Occupation is Apartheid, will the Lobby Blackballing Fail?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The interview of Gen. James Mattis by Wolf Blitzer at Aspen in 2013, in which the recently-retired former CENTCOM commander spoke freely on…
Pakistanis Baffled, Buoyant over Trump’s Fantastical Praise
By Frud Bezhan | ( RFE/RL) | - - The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has cited a phone conversation with Donald Trump in which it says the U.S. president-elect…
Too bad, Trump: As EVs take off, Dirty Petroleum in Death Spiral
The Tree | - - The renewable energy revolution is now well underway, but many continue to underestimate just how fast and transformative it is going to be. Despite a conservative approach…
Hateful letters to More mosques warning Trump will ‘cleanse’ US of Muslims
TeleSur | - - The threatening letters have been sent to mosques in at least seven states. “To the children of Satan,” begins the letter that was first sent to sent to…
How Rupert Murdoch & Fox Created the Fake News Industry
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The concern about "fake news" now sweeping the inside-the-beltway crowd is a little hilarious, since all corporate news (i.e. news for profit) has…
Urgent: Soil carbon release under global warming to equal U.S. emissions
By Kevin Dennehy | ( YaleNews | - - For decades scientists have speculated that rising global temperatures might alter the ability of soils to store carbon, potentially releasing huge amounts of…
Israel Plots Largest Settlement Expansion in Occupied Syrian Golan since 1980
IMEMC | - - Arab human rights organization resists Israeli plans to construct 1,600 settlement units, and expropriate 25,000 acres of Syrian land in the occupied Golan. Al-Marsad: Arab Human Rights Center…