Category
- Africa (96)
- Asia (528)
- Authoritarianism (99)
- Cats (1)
- Culture (333)
- Dehydration (1)
- Democracy (152)
- Dissent (259)
- Economy (431)
- Education (50)
- Elderly (2)
- Energy (729)
- Environment (850)
- Europe (467)
- Featured (1,369)
- fiction (5)
- Food (5)
- Guns (8)
- History (142)
- Human Rights (802)
- Immigration (13)
- International (467)
- Islamophobia (193)
- Juan Cole (264)
- Latin America (28)
- Latinos (3)
- leisure (21)
- media (278)
- Middle East (4,781)
- Arab World (3,517)
- Iran (416)
- Israel (575)
- Israel/ Palestine (1,096)
- Israel/Palestine (8)
- Kurds (173)
- Turkey (282)
- military (101)
- Modernism (1)
- nationalism (86)
- NATO (3)
- Natural Disasters (7)
- nuclear weapons (22)
- Peace (51)
- Persian mythology (1)
- Popular Culture (22)
- Poverty (3)
- privacy (19)
- racism (181)
- religion (584)
- Rights (107)
- Romance (1)
- science (75)
- Secular (West) (7)
- Secularism (18)
- South Pacific (1)
- Spirituality (18)
- Statelessness (14)
- Surveillance (239)
- Terrorism (940)
- Tolerance (2)
- Uncategorized (7,998)
- United Nations (54)
- Urbanization (2)
- US Foreign Policy (388)
- US politics (2,031)
- Anti-War Movement (4)
- Campaign Finance (21)
- Censors (18)
- Central Intelligence Agency (49)
- Civil Rights (74)
- Constitution (205)
- Democratic Party (406)
- Domestic Terrorism (14)
- Drone Warfare (17)
- Espionage (99)
- Ethnicities (183)
- Far Right (106)
- FBI (26)
- Foreign Policy (154)
- Gay Rights (11)
- Guns (39)
- Immigration (90)
- Israel Lobbies (58)
- Militarization (180)
- National Security State (306)
- Native Americans (12)
- Nuclear arsenal (5)
- penitentiaries (5)
- Pentagon (145)
- Police (17)
- prison reform (1)
- Reproductive Choice (7)
- Republican Party (1,085)
- Supreme Court (17)
- Voter suppression (14)
- Whistleblowers (3)
- Xenophobia (4)
- Veterans (15)
- Voting Rights (4)
- War (170)
- Western Religion (295)
- White Supremacists (20)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (171)
- workers (99)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (94)
Archives: October 2010
Saudi Arabia Saves Chicago Synagogue from al-Qaeda Bomb Plot
CNN reports that Saudi intelligence was the source of the information on the tracking numbers of two bomb packets sent by UPS and Fedex from Yemen by a single individual. The United…Ballot Fraud, Mafia Rule making Afghans Pessimistic: Chayes
I heard Sarah Chayes at the Michigan Theater on Thursday afternoon, speaking on Afghanistan. She is a long time expatriate in Qandahar, where she arrived late in 2001 as a reporter. She…American Noir: Arizona anti-Immigrant Law penned by Private Prison Industry, says NPR
NPR reports that Arizona's fascist immigration law was cooked up and in large part written by the private prison industry in the state, which saw dollar signs every time they glimpsed a…
Mission Impossible: Iraq
Mission Impossible: Government Formation Producer and screenwriter: The United States Starring: Nuri al-Maliki, Iyad Allawi, Ammar al-Hakim, Salih al-Mutlak, Muqtada al-Sadr, Tariq al-Hashimi Sound and Visual Effects: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan…
Scary Tea Party Compilation
You can't make this stuff up. Vote Sanity suggests that however angry you might be about the current situation, it is important that you vote for sanity. They give some examples of…Obama fails to Galvanize the Youth on Daily Show
President Obama came on Jon Stewart's Daily show on Wednesday. This was the president's chance to rally the youth, who typically don't vote in midterms. Obama defended his legislative record in wonky…
Israeli extremists Provoke Clashes in Umm al-Fahm
The extremist "Our Land of Israel" group that opposes any negotiations with Arabs or relinquishing of conquered territory staged a provocative march Wednesday in Umm al-Fahm, the second largest Palestinian-Israeli city in…
On Beating Uppity Liberal Women: Afghanistan and Kentucky
Afghanistan style (Taliban version): American style (Tea Party version): For more on woman-stomper Tim Profitt and Rand Paul see HuffPo. The episode puts Paul's youthful opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment for…
A North-South Global Climate War?
This looks to me like a sort of north-south global war, with the North inflicting profound damage on the South: Here are carbon dioxide emissions per capita by country, calculated from data…Suzuki: Our Global Economy is not Sustainable
I had the pleasure of hearing biologist David Suzuki lecture at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday night during my recent short trip to Australia. He drew on his recent slight but…Karzai and the Iranian Slush Pile
The revelation that Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai receives millions in influence peddling payments from Iran is full of ironies. It demonstrates that the US and Iran are de facto allies in Afghanistan…Williams supported Imus Firing, Censoring of Rap Music
Given the protests mounted by Juan Williams over his firing from NPR because he said he gets nervous when he sees Muslims, I became interested in how he responded to the firing…Renewed Conflict Looms as Israel-Palestine Talks still in Limbo
The Palestinian-Israeli peace talks are still in limbo, as the Israelis refuse to renew a freeze on new theft of and building on Palestinian land, while the Palestinians sensibly continue to refuse…Could Wikileaks leave Iraq without a Government?
The wikileaks document dump from the Iraq War may well derail the formation of a government by implicating caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in running death squads. We are in our seventh…
Arab Press: Iraq Wikileaks will Damage US Reputation
Wikileaks' publication of 400,000 pages of previously secret documents on the Iraq War is roiling Western capitals and Baghdad. Julian Assange maintains that some 15,000 civilian deaths beyond the official US estimates…End Federal Tax Subsidies to Fox!
In response to Jim DeMint, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly, and other wingnuts who are calling for an end of Federal government support for National Public Radio because it fired commentator Juan Williams…
Gul: Are Pakistan’s Generals Finally Breaking with Taliban?
Imtiaz Gul asks in a guest column for Informed Comment, "Is Kayani ready for North Waziristan mop-up?" When Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani begins his talks this week in Washington…
On Juan Williams’ Firing for Islamophobia and how Most European Terrorism is by European Separatists
A Europol report on terrorist attacks in Europe in 2009 [pdf] says that out of hundreds of terrorist attacks iin Europe in 2009, most were the work of ethnic separatists. About 40…Anzalone: Hamas’s Rhetoric as Spoiler
Christopher Anzalone writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: On August 31, on the evening before new U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian National Authority (PNA) peace talks were set to begin, a drive-by shooting…
Israeli Taliban Torch Palestinian Girls’ School, Destroy Olive Trees
The phrase "ethnic cleansing" conjures up a swift, comprehensive act of expulsion. But in reality, moving a large population off its land is the death of a thousand cuts, a slow, inexorable…Carr: The Inquisitorial Gaze
Matthew Carr writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: Until this year, Spain appeared to be relatively indifferent to the Islamophobic politics that have become so endemic throughout Europe. In a…
Alam: Zionism: Two Deficits
M. Shahid Alam shares with us an excerpt from his recent book, Israeli Exceptionalism excerpted from the author’s Israeli Exceptionalism (Palgrave, 2009) “We do not fit the general pattern of humanity…” David…Iran Backs al-Maliki, in Iran, for Iraqi PM
Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Iran on Monday, seeing Tehran's support for his candidacy for a second term. He met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali…
Zogby: Arab Voices — Listening and Moving Beyond Myth
James Zogby writes in a guest column for Informed Comment After decades spent trying to better explain the Arab World to other Americans, all too often I have found myself running up…
The Rumors of Multiculturalism’s death Are Exaggerated (Against Merkel)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the weekend declared "multiculturalism" dead in her country and demanded that labor immigrants be assimilated, through German language and German culture. Russia Today has video: This sort…Cole on “Iran and Islam” at USIP Iran Primer
Iran commentary in the United States generates more heat than light for the most part, and much of it is frankly driven by ignorance. Veteran journalist and Iran expert Robin Wright has…Recommended Reading at Tomdispatch.com
Tomdispatch.com has been on a tear in the past two weeks. From Bacevich on the US military as quagmire specialists to Pepe Escobar on central Asian pipelines as the new silk road,…Clinton Cabinet Member Sought Iraq Provocation
But W. Himself Proposed Ruse
Retired Gen. Hugh Shelton reveals in his new book that in the late 1990s a Clinton cabinet member asked him if was possible to fly a U2 spy plane low enough over…
Thousands Demonstrate in Tel Aviv against Racist Loyalty Oath
Could the Netanyahu Government Fall over New Settlements?
Several thousand Jews and Arabs marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the loyalty oath recently approved by the Israeli cabinet, which would force new candidates for Israeli citizenship to affirm…
Ahmadinejad Promises to Protect Qana in South Lebanon
The USG Open Source Center translates from Persian the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Qana in South Lebanon on Friday (See below). Qana is significant as the site of several…
Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar Walk out on O’Reilly’s Muslim-Baiting
The View stars Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked out on Bill O'Reilly Thursday when the right wing pundit insisted on blaming all Muslims for the September 11 attacks. They pointed out…Top Ten Questions about Chile Mine Collapse: Was it Nixon-Kissinger’s Fault?
The corporate mass media (especially television) did not treat the Chilean mine collapse as a labor story but rather as a feel-good human interest story. It not only avoided asking hard questions…Ahmadinejad Pledges to Protect Lebanon
On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed large and adoring crowds in the southern Shiite suburbs of Beirut, which had been intensively bombed by Israeli fighter jets in summer 2006, and then…Palin Fear-Mongers on Iran, Sharia
Republican gadfly Sarah Palin said in an interview with Newsmax Tuesday that Russia should be warned against helping Iran because if Iran got a nuclear weapon it would bring about Armageddon. She…
Ahmadinejad Greeted by Cheering Throngs in Beirut
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, being greeted enthusiastically by large crowds (probably mostly Shiites) who lined the streets as his retinue came into the city from the airport.…Google imagines an Atlantic Wind Grid
One of the problems with new green energy installations is the need to funnel the power, facility by facility, into the existing electricity grid. Google is trying to resolve that problem on…Cole on Ahmadinejad at Truthdig
My column on Iran's Ahmadinejad and Lebanon is up at Truthdig: Excerpt: ' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Middle East’s populist answer to the American tea party, has stirred controversy with his…Abbas: Israel has Abrogated the Peace Process
Palestinians declined to take the bait of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday. Netanyahu offered an extension of the 10-month freeze on new Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank in…Bee Study Sponsor Went Unmentioned in NYT Article
You know that New York Times story that implicated a 'tag team' of virus and fungus in the collapse of American bee colonies? And how it implicitly exonerated pesticides, which are among…
Israel Declares for Ethnic Nationalism
The Israeli cabinet has approved a measure that would require persons applying for Israeli citizenship to affirm the "Jewish and democratic" character of Israel. The new oath would at the moment affect…O’Donnell SNL Spoof
Saturday Night Live spoofs Christine O'Donnell's campaign spot in which she denies she is a witch.Pakistan Opens Khyber Crossing to NATO Supply Trucks but issues Threats over Hot Pursuit
The Pakistani government has decided to reopen the Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the route whereby 70 percent of US/ NATO supplies and 40 percent of fuel are brought by…Have Terrorism, Floods, Poverty Left 1/3 of Pakistanis Mentally Ill?
This The News article about a mental health conference in Peshawar, northern Pakistan, alleges that 1 in 3 Pakistanis suffers from mental health problems as a result of the terrorist attacks of…Maddow v. GOP Candidate Art Robinson
Rachel Maddow debates Oregon GOP candidate Art Robinson on his secret campaign backers, his proposal to disperse radioactive waste in the oceans or 'even over America,' his denial that AIDS exists, and…Republican Iott a Reenactor of SS Panzer Div. Wiking
Ohio 9th District, GOP candidate Rick Iott is a re-enactor of the Nazi 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking. Iott told the Atlantic about his admiration for Nazi Germany's military accomplishments while denying…
Qunduz Governor, 19 Others, Killed in Mosque Bombing
Insurgents in Afghanistan bombed a mosque in Taloqan, Takhar Province, on Friday, killing 20 persons and wounded 33. Among the dead was Mohammad Omar, governor of the nearby Qunduz Province, who ironically…
Israeli Settler Runs over Protesting Palestinian Children
Aljazeera is reporting on an Israeli settler hit-and-run attack by automobile on two young Palestinian boys in Silwan protesting the expansion of Israeli settlements and theft of Palestinian land there. As horrible…Levin: US paying Insurgents to Attack US
Sen. Carl Levin of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced a report on Thursday on the way the private security contractors hired by the US military (even to guard bases!) are subject…
Tatchell: Abu Dhabi between Human Rights and the New Louvre
Jo Tatchell writes in a guest column for Informed Comment A $27 billion makeover of Saadiyat Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi, is aimed at turning the UAE capital into a…Iraq, Afghanistan among 22 Food-Insecure Countries
UN FAO: 22 countries with 160 mn. people face protracted food crisis. ' Twenty-two countries are facing enormous challenges like repeated food crises and an extremely high prevalence of hunger due to…
On 10th Anniversary of Afghan War, US Stymied in Pakistan, Forced to Negotiate with Taliban
As the US/ NATO war in Afghanistan enters it's 10th year, Washington is suddenly unable even to transport the supplies its troops need through the territory of its ally, Pakistan. Rather than…Climate Change: 18 Percent more Freshwater circulating into Oceans
"Freshwater is flowing into Earth’s oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent…4th Attack on Trucks Near Quetta, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles sprayed small arms fire at a parked US/ NATO fuel convoy near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan and a long time center for the Old Taliban of Mulla Omar…
Settler Arsonists strike Palestinian Mosques, Qurans, as Israeli Army Belly Dancing Video Surfaces
Palestinians in the village of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem say that Israeli settlers snuck into their mosque and set fire to it, as well as burning copies of the Quran. Photos of…Sanchez v. Stewart: El Error del Dia
My reading of the Rick Sanchez meltdown is that he was implying in his radio interview that Daily Show host Jon Stewart is prejudiced against the working class and against Latinos (apparently…28 More US Fuel Trucks Set Ablaze in Pakistan, 6 Killed, as Convoy Boycott Continues
The Taliban Movement of Pakistan (Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan or TTP) claimed on Monday that it was responsible for yet another attack on NATO fuel trucks, this time near Islamabad. Some twenty trucks…
Palestinians Refuse Talks until Settlement is Frozen
Shorter Mahmoud Abbas: We refuse to negotiate with Israel about territory it is actively stealing from us while we are talking about its future disposition." ITN has video:Iraqi Army Ups Presence in Sunni Cities with al-Maliki’s Rise
Bobby Ghosh at Time reports that the Iraqi army in Sunni Arab cities like Falluja has increased its presence. The announcement that Nuri al-Maliki has gained the support of key Shiite factions…
Oceans Turning Acid from Carbon Emissions, Point to Biological Breakdown
The other problem with flooding carbon emissions into the atmosphere in such massive amounts, besides the certitude that it will cause the surface temperature of the earth to increase dramatically over time,…O’Donnell would have Joined Hare Krishnas
Christine O'Donnell, candidate for senator in Delaware, was clearly a religious seeker in her youth. Bill Maher played a clip last night in which she admitted that she might well have joined…Iran Wins Iraqi Elections 7 Months Later
Although it make take some time yet to form a government in Iraq, Friday may have been a turning point. If so, it was a turning point in which Iran won decisively…
On Paladino and Taking People Out
The thing that most disturbed me about the altercation between NY gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and NY Post reporter Fred Dicker was Paladino's threat to "take out" Dicker. (For more see this…Blogfather in Iran sentenced to 19.5 years for Dissent
Iran jails blogfather Hussein Derakhshan for nearly 20 years for blogging. Derakhshan made a lot of enemies when he started justifying the Ahmadinejad regime in 2008. But I remember the excitement in…