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Archives: April 2013
The Failure of Gun Legislation in the Senate Tells us we Need to fight for our Democracy (Graeber)
David Graeber, author of The Democracy Project, writes in a guest column for "Informed Comment" The recent defeat of gun buyers’ background check legislation in the Senate—legislation backed by an almost unimaginable…
Karzai admits taking CIA money; Galbraith: We’re not getting what we pay for
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Monday confirmed an NYT report that he has been receiving cash payments in a paper bag every month from the US Central Intelligence Agency. Karzai maintained that…
How to Become an Expert in Iran’s Nuclear Program (in less than four minutes) (Video)
How to become an expert in Iran's nuclear program (in less than four minutes): courtesy EA Worldview
Egypt: ” Muslim Brotherhood Seeking Revenge on the Judges” – Moussa
The Constitutional crisis in Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood president, Muhammad Morsi, and the thousands of judges in the Egyptian judiciary, according to Amr Moussa, derives from a misplaced desire for revenge…
Drone Strikes are the Face of America to Yemenis: al-Muslimi
Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism ‘Drone strikes are the face of America to many Yemenis,’ Farea al-Muslimi told a rare US Senate hearing on targeted killing last…
Obama Jokes with White House Correspondents (Video)
President Obama at 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner
How You became a Guinea Pig for the Chemical Corporations (Rosner and Markowitz)
David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz write at Tomdispatch.com A hidden epidemic is poisoning America. The toxins are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, in the walls of our…Are Chemical Weapons use in Syria really Obama’s Red line? (Feaver)
Julie Poucher Harbin presents an interview with Peter Feaver via Islamicommentary According to an assessment signed by White House director of the office of legislative affairs Miguel Rodriguez, which was sent to…Six Myths about Bush Torture Punctured by New Report (Thompson)
Christie Thompson writes at ProPublica: Among the news that ended up being buried in the events of [two weeks ago]: A nonpartisan think tank, the Constitution Project, released a scathing, 577-page report on the…
The Changing map of Europe and the Middle East, 1000 – 2000 (10-min. Video)
The changing map of Europe and the Middle East for the last thousand years, in 10 minutes.
Steven Spielberg’s “Obama,” with Tracy Morgan as Joe Biden
Satire Spoof shown at this year's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner: Steven Spielberg's "Obama," starring Daniel Day Lewis, with Tracy Morgan as Joe Biden:Pot and Partying: Top Ten Signs the Tsarnaev Brothers Weren’t Pious Muslims
Recent press revelations have confirmed my initial suggestion that members of the Tsarnaev family were secular ex-Soviets rather than observant Muslims Only a few years ago did the late Tamerlan start exhibiting…
Glenn Greenwald on the Price of Government Secrecy (Moyers interview)
Bill Moyers interviews Glenn Greenwald on the high cost of government secrecy. The blurb for the show: "The violent Boston rampage triggered a local and federal response that, according to journalist Glenn…Serbia and Kosovo: A European Success Story? (Trix)
Frances Trix writes in a guest column for Informed Comment On 19 April 2013 the prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Hashim Thaci and Ivica Dacic, signed an agreement in the tenth…
Bush and the American Right Wing: Top Ten Ways they are Like the Children of an Alcoholic
It is a well-known syndrome in alcoholic and/or abusive families that the child runs to the abusive parent, and makes excuses for him or her. In fact there are a whole set…Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef, under threat of Jail (Jon Stewart Interview)
Jon Stewart interviews Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef on being threatened with jail for being funny about the president, and various Egyptian government conspiracy theories. And insulting the state of Pakistan. The Daily…Jesus and Muhammad and the Question of the State
I've always liked Andrew Sullivan even when I disagree with him. I'm going to disagree with him, or more specifically Alexis de Tocqueville and one of his readers who quotes him: "Muhammad…
Israeli Gen. Charges Syria Chem Weapons Use: Is Israel Allying with Sunnis to overthrow Alawites, cut off Iran?
The official stance of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel toward the Syrian civil war has been one of announced "neutrality." Netanyahu's position contrasts with that of his political ally, Avigdor Lieberman,…
America’s Murder Inc. Abroad: Engelhardt on Scahill’s Latest
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com: Chalmers Johnson’s book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire was published in March 2000 -- and just about no one noticed. Until then, blowback had been an…
Terrorism and the other Religions
Contrary to what is alleged by bigots like Bill Maher, Muslims are not more violent than people of other religions. Murder rates in most of the Muslim world are very low compared…
If you Love the Earth on Earth Day, Close a Coal Plant
Dirty coal is killing us and killing the earth. Here is a short documentary. Coal plants produce a lion's share of carbon dioxide poisoning of the atmosphere, causing rapid global warming. In…
For Fun: M.C. Escher Drawings brought to Life via 3-D Printer by Israeli Professor
Professor Gershon Elber of Technion Israel Institute of Technology uses the university's Objet 3-D printer to bring into reality the absurdist architecture of M. C. Escher :
Did the Boston Bombing Hurt the Syrian Revolution? Obama & Putin Confer as Rebels Allege Regime Massacre
The phone call between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Boston Marathon bombers were identified as Chechens, in which Obama thanked Putin for Russia's cooperation on counter-terrorism and promised…
Chechen Rock Group G Town (Music Video)
For a different view of Chechens, a performance of G-Town covering the Blues Brothers:Rep. Peter King Calls on FBI to put him under Close Surveillance and Profile Redheads
Satire. Or not. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY) called on Saturday for close and constant FBI surveillance of himself. "Let's not be politically correct," the congressman told surprised agents. "I have a…Is LindJohn’s notion of an Enemy Combatant Racist? How about attempted Assassination of the Commander in Chief?
Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain (or as I refer to them, LindJohn) have demanded that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev be charged as an enemy combatant rather than tried as an American civilian. This…Chechen Jihadis Reject Tsarnaevs (OSC)
The USG Open Source Center translates a reaction from the Caucasus Emirate Islamic insurgency on the news that the Tsarnaev brothers are accused of the Boston Marathon bombing. The CEII casts doubt…
Moroccan, Indian have lives Ruined by old, new Media, falsely Accused of Boston Bombing
US judges' famous reluctance to apply libel laws because of the First Amendment may need to be revisited. We can't be having peoples' lives ruined by being falsely accused, with photographs of…
How not to Cover a Mass Murder (Charlie Brooker Video)
Charlie Brooker and a forensic psychiatrist give the television news media tips on how and how not to cover a mass murder. Takeaway: Don't obsess about the killer or make him a…Palestinians Displaced again, to Camps in Lebanon
One of the horrible things about being stateless is that you are a flying Dutchman, never assured of being able to live in your own home. Being stateless, you have no state…
Videos on the Present and Past of Chechnya
Here are some videos for Saturday viewing that give a sense of the recent tragic history of Chechnya and of Russian policy toward it today. Also for print sources, see this brief…
Fathers and Sons and Chechnya
The anger and embarrassment visible in the interviews given on Friday by the uncle and the aunt of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, are entirely understandable. But I…Report: Highest US Officials Responsible for Use of Torture (Plus Daily Show Video)
The political reality of the United States in the world is that of blowback. Blowback is a term of art in the intelligence community for what happens when a covert operation goes…The New Muslim World: Dictators on Trial
The Muslim world has now witnessed several instances of a former dictator being exiled under threat of prosecution or actually being forced to appear in court to face charges arising from illegal…Small Government: Texas Fertilizer Plant that blew up not inspected for years
The Texas fertilizer plant that suffered a massive explosion had not been subject to an OSHA inspection for many years. The current American obsession with deregulation and ending inspections has claimed yet…CNN Fail: Imaginary “Dark Males,” “Accents,” and “Arrests” Haunt Reporters
Between about 1:00 pm and 2:40 pm ET on Wednesday, April 17, the CNN news team was at the worst I've ever seen them. The afternoon began well, with the exciting revelation…Top Ten Ways Islamic Law forbids Terrorism
Erik Rush and others who hastened to scapegoat Muslims for the Boston Marathon bombing are ignorant of the religion. I can't understand why people who have never so much as read a…
Can the Boston Bombings increase our Sympathy for Iraq and Syria, for all such Victims?
The horrific bombings of the Boston Marathon produced inspiring images of a spirited, brave Boston refusing to be cowed. Some spectators surged forward toward the danger to apply tourniquets, offer first aid,…How Washington Dropped the Ball on N Korean Nukes while Obsessing about Iran (McShane)
Michael McShane writes in a guest column for Informed Comment In a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal, Jay Solomon highlighted the disproportionate attention President Obama has paid to Iran’s…
Israel at 65: Welcome to the Neighborhood (Map)
Satire Israel (in red) is welcomed into the Muslim Middle East in 2013 Zionism: The theory that because murderous Nazis hated Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, all Jews should now crowd…Gun “Control” “Legislation,” Parodied by Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live satirizes the minimalism of the gun registration bill proposed by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
Class Hatred and Bad Memories of Thatcher
The hatred for the late Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, among a broad segment of the British public has manifested itself in visible and undeniable ways in the week after her…
Palestine PM Fayyad Resigns, a Victim of Israeli and US funding cut-off and backlash against Austerity
The man recognized by the Palestine government based in Ramallah as prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has tendered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas. The most immediate cause of the dispute between the…
Jonathan Winters, RIP (Video: of Classic Standup Routine)
Comedian Jonathan Winters has died at 87. Winters was a pioneer in improvisational standup and the use of impressions in mini-skits within the monologue. He deeply influenced Robin Williams. Dana Carvey's mix…
Arctic Summer Ice Cap will be gone in 20 Years: NOAA (Time-Lapse Video)
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now predict that the arctic will be iceless during summers in as little as ten to twenty years, as a result of global warming…Egypt: As Mubarak retrial begins, Judge Recuses Self
Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was brought to a courtroom on Saturday for the beginning of his retrial on charges of ordering hundreds of peaceful demonstrators killed in January and February 2011…
Amazing Green Energy News: World’s Largest Wind Farm opens in UK, as Libya prepares to go Solar
1. World's Largest Wind Farm The London Array offshore wind farm has just gone live, generating 630 MW of electricity in the first phase. An expansion will allow it, two years hence…
“Losing my Religion” in Tehran (Music Video)
Iranian mashup of R.E.M's 1991 hit, "Losing my Religion", set in Tehran. REM LOSING MY RELIGION at Tehran from Hamed Zarepoor on Vimeo. h/t reddit.com
Jordan, Overwhelmed by Syrian Refugees, Opens a New Camp
Jordan has received about 600,000 Syrian refugees from the civil war raging in the latter country. It has now been constrained to open a second refugee camp at Marajid al-Fuhud, paid for…Iran’s Presidential Election Heats up as Reformist Rowhani Enters Race (Jahanpour)
Farhang Jahanpour writes in a guest column for Informed Comment The next crucial round of Iranian presidential elections will be held on 14 June 2013. It has just been officially reported that…Israel’s ‘Water-Apartheid’ in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank (McCauley)
Lauren McCauley writes at Common Dreams A new report on Israel's water grab in the occupied West Bank links the widespread deprivation of Palestinian water rights to Israel's settlement expansion strategy, saying…CNN, John Kerry falsely try to tie Iran to North Korea Nuclear Crisis
It was only a matter of time before the US mainstream media struck back against Kim Jong Un's diversion of Washington's attention from Iran to North Korea. The war the US hawks…
Earthquake Near Bushehr Nuclear Plants in Iran Kills 37
On Tuesday, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Kaki, 80 km from Bushehr, the site of Iran's nuclear power generators, which are due to go online in May. The Iranian government and the…
Working America’s 40-year Decline (Garson)
Barbara Garson writes at Tomdispatch.com If you had to date the Great Recession, you might say it started in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers vaporized over a weekend and a massive mortgage-based…Syrian Economy: Stock Market Paralyzed, Insane Poultry and Meat Prices
The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases Syrian news items on the economy of the war-torn country: Syrian Economic Roundup 01 - 07 Apr 13 Syria -- OSC Summary Tuesday, April…Jon Stewart’s Satire on N. Korea goes Viral in China (Fisher)
The intrepid Max Fisher of WaPo reports that Jon Stewart's Daily Show satire of North Korea's menacing statements went viral in China, garnering 2.3 million hits! This news seems to me wonderful…
Syria: Car Bombing Kills 15 in Damascus as Regime Launches Massive Counter-Attack
A car bomb killed at least 15 persons in downtown Damascus on Monday and wounded over 60. It is not clear if the bombing is a sign of the increased vulnerability of…
Iceland: Pioneer in Green, Geothermal Energy
Iceland gets 26% of its electricity from geothermal power, and is a pioneer in the industry, such that Kenyan and other scientists go there for training. It has cut its carbon emissions…Icelandic Lawmaker Birgitta Jónsdóttir on Challenging Gov’t Secrecy from Twitter to Bradley Manning (Democracy Now!)
Democracy Now! interviews the Iceland member of parliament, access to whose twitter account was summarily demanded by the US government because of her involvement in Wikileaks and whistleblowing on US actions in…Top Ten Ways Margaret Thatcher’s Policies Made our World more Unequal
The late Margaret Thatcher had an enormous impact on Britain and the world, but her legacy has been a more unequal, less prosperous Britain and world. She championed the wealthy and threw…Deep Sanctions on Iran are Repeating the Deadly Mistakes of Iraq (Hindawi)
Coralie Pison Hindawi writes in a guest column for Informed Comment On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion (a war unleashed following twelve years of the most comprehensive…
Ontario First Major Industrial Region to Abolish Dirty Coal Plants (Coal should be Illegal)
Coal plants are the world's most abundant and most dangerous source of carbon dioxide emissions and the most important single driver of catastrophic climate change. The two biggest CO2 polluters, China and…
13-year-old Iranian Girl Sings Adele’s ‘Someone like You’
For a different view of Iranian youth than the images of anger and menace most often purveyed in US media (as Rami Khoury rightly argues): 13-year-old Iranian girl sings Adele's 'Someone like…Egypt: New Left and Coptic Christians Demand Toppling of Muslim Brotherhood Regime
A small crowd of some 500 marched in downtown Cairo on Saturday calling for the fall of the Muhammad Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, regime. It was led by the April 6 youth movement,…
Denmark 25% Wind-Powered, Going for 50% in 8 Years
Denmark gets 25% of its total electricity from wind turbines, and aims to double that by 2020. Part of its strategy is not just putting in more wind turbines but also introducing…How the US Pays off innocent Drone Victims (Currier)
Cora Currier writes at ProPublica The U.S. drone war remains cloaked in secrecy, and as a result, questions swirl around it. Who exactly can be targeted? When can a U.S. citizen be…The Real Reason for Climate Change Denial: Oil Cos. Would lose 60% of their Value
HSBC estimates that if the world adopted the policies necessary to keep global warming to only 2 degrees C. (3.6 degrees F.), oil companies would abruptly lose 60% of their value, as…
Iraq’s New One Percent Gets Rich, fails to Establish Security (Baquba Bombing kills 20)
Another deadly bombing was conducted this morning in Baquba, Iraq, killing 20 and wounding 60. Radicals detonated it outside a political rally for a small local Sunni Arab party. Diyala province is…UN, Host Countries, Running out of money for Syria Refugee Relief
The United Nations is warning that the vast scale of the Syrian refugee crisis is straining the resources of the UN, Jordan and Lebanon. Jordan has over 400,000 Syrian refugees, who are…
Homeless in the Shadow of High Tech (Moyer Video)
Bill Moyer investigates the phenomenon of homelessness and poverty in the high tech Mecca, San Jose, California. It turns out to be a good metaphor for the United States as a whole.How Corporate Media Consolidation has Corrupted our News (Democracy Now! Interview)
Democracy Now! interviews the maker of "Shadows of Liberty," a new film about how the concentration of ownership of news media in fewer and fewer corporate hands has corrupted our news. Excerpt…
Bigots Smash Window of Iraqi-American Restaurant: Then . . . Vets come to Save the Day
Vets, some of them having served in Iraq, come to eat at an Iraqi-American restaurant in Lowell to give them some business and make up for the loss caused by American lowlifes.If N. Korea is the Threat, Why is all the War Talk about a Weak Iran?
All the talk in Washington is about war on Iran, which poses no threat to the United States. But one never hears belligerence toward North Korea, which routinely menaces the US (most…Can you Pass the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Quiz? (Rudolph)
By Jeffrey Rudolph While Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was a marginal presence in 1948, it has since grown into a meaningful social and political force. And this community, true to its fundamentalist…Jon Stewart Risks Jail in Egypt by Satirizing President Morsi, Provokes Diplomatic Incident
The US embassy in Cairo's twitter feed is known for its informality and irreverence, and tweeted out a link to Jon Stewart's interventions on the charging of satirist Bassem Youssef for making…
Congress Obsessed with American Muslims, Neglects real threat of White Supremacists
The shooting of Kaufman, Texas district attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia remains a mystery. But investigators are increasingly looking into a cell of extremist white terrorists as the suspects. Two…Eyeless in Gaza: When will Israel let its People Go?
Israeli war planes struck the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Israel has roughly 7.5 million people, Gaza roughly 1.7 million. Israel bombed and destroyed Gaza's only airport and refuses to let Gaza…
How the Pentagon Helped Make Afghanistan the Most Corrupt Country on Earth (Hiro)
Dilip Hiro writes at Tomdispatch.com Washington has vociferously denounced Afghan corruption as a major obstacle to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. This has been widely reported. Only one crucial element is missing…Syrian Revolution even Bloodier in March, with record 6000 Dead
Syrian dissidents say that some 6,000 people died in Syria in March, the largest one-month toll since the movement to overthrow the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad began two years ago. The…
Egyptian Comedian Bassem Youssef on Kafkaesque Interrogation (CNN Video)
Bassem Youssef tells Christiane Amanpour about the 5-hour Kafkaesque interrogation he underwent after being summoned by the prosecutor-general. The humorless prosecutors essentially made a montage of his punch lines and asked him…
Jim Carrey: Fox ‘News’ is “A media colostomy bag… a public health issue” (Video)
Comedian Jim Carrey has hit back at Fox Cable News for its campaign of defamation in the wake of his release of a video parodying gun nuts. Carrey described the notorious far…Why this and not that? America’s topsy turvy priorities
Why this and not that? I don't understand my own country much of the time. For instance, in his first major public speech after resigning from his position as head of the…