Month

Archives: July 2014

UN Official Breaks Down on Camera: “Children Killed in their Sleep – a Source of Universal Shame”

UN Official Breaks Down on Camera; another says: “Children Killed in their Sleep – a Source of Universal Shame”

'After a United Nations-run school sheltering more than 3,000 Palestinians was shelled early Wednesday, UN official Chris Gunness could not contain his grief while on camera with Al Jazeera Arabic. "The rights…

What is Congress Suing Obama about? Drones? Surveillance? Unauthorized War? Guess!

RT Redacted Tonight: "House Speaker John Boehner is suing President Obama. Is it for drone bombing or NSA surveillance? Of course not!" RT America: "You Won't Believe The Latest Constitutional Crisis"

Gaza’s Schools on the Battlefield (HRW)

By Bede Sheppard via Human Rights Watch Follow @BedeOnKidRights On July 30 a school in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) came…

Washington Condemns Israeli Shelling of UN School w/out Mentioning Israel

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- ... [O]n Wednesday, another 16 people were killed when at least two Israeli tank shells slammed into a UN school in Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, in an…

Gaza and Soweto

By Juan Cole On June 16, 1976, some 20,000 students rose up to protest in the slum of Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Here is a summary of the June 18…

Impeachment is a Cash Cow (Colbert Report)

Colbert Report: "Rising Calls for Obama's Impeachment" The Colbert ReportGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Colbert Report on Facebook ------

Veiled Mona Lisa, Missiles over Big Ben: Israeli War Propaganda Hits New Lows

By Lior Sternfeld It has been a month since the current war in Gaza started. The number of casualties is beyond our ability to comprehend. Every Israeli or Palestinian that dies breaks…

Gaza and the Art of War: Palestinians Illustrate their Suffering

By Mariam Elba via Waging Nonviolence A breathtaking piece of art highlighting the struggles of Palestinians in Gaza (Bushra Shanan) It’s hard to find the words to encapsulate how infuriating and sorrowful…

In Orgy of Destruction, IS Radicals reduce Ancient Iraqi Holy Sites To Rubble

By RFE/RL The Islamic State initially exhibited some restraint after entering northwestern Iraq in June, focusing on establishing control of the territories it held and gaining the trust of local Sunni communities.…

Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness

By Juan Cole Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying its only power plant. Gaza can no longer generate its own electricity. Without electricity, the water…

Abushagur reported kidnapped

By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab. Tripoli, 29 July 2014: Former Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur has been kidnapped according to reports, although it has not been confirmed. Abushagur, who was elected in Suq Al-Juma…

Palestinians “Philosophical,” Israel “foils Foreign Infiltration” during 1957 Occupation of Gaza (British Propaganda “Journalism”)

Gaza: Palestinians “Philosophical,” Israel “foils Foreign Infiltration” during 1957 Occupation (British “Report”)

By Juan Cole This British "report" suggests that Palestinians in Gaza were all right with being militarily occupied by the Israeli army in 1956-1957 before an absolutely furious President Dwight Eisenhower forced…

Weapons paid for by US are Missing in Afghanistan: Did they go to the Taliban?

By Luke Johnson via RFE/RL Weapons bought and paid for by the United States for Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have gone missing, according to a report by the Special Inspector General…

Israel seeks to force 400,000 People from Homes in North Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Israeli military on Monday evening sent text messages and phone calls to residents of all cities in the northern Gaza Strip and parts of Gaza City telling…

America’s Dumbest Politician On Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (The Young Turks)

By Cenk Uygur "Just one day after international watchdogs said Iran was complying with demands to scale back its nuclear program, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) called for the country to be bombed…

Unlike Iraq, Iran, Libya, N. Korea, Israel has Impunity from Defying UNSC (Gaza Ceasefire)

By Juan Cole The United Nations Security Council is theoretically a sort of sovereign in international law. If it designates a regime like that of Gaddafi in Libya as a threat to…

The Persecution of Christians by ISIS contradicts idea of a Caliphate

By Erica C D Hunter, SOAS, University of London - via The Conversation ISIS conquests across northern Iraq have been comprehensive in recent weeks. Taking control of large parts of the region,…

Israel & Palestine both Need to Root out the Hate

By Yakir Englander via ISLAMiCommentary Yakir Englander Serious illness calls for first aid, then sometimes surgery, followed by healing the source of the disease. If you ask which is most important, I’d…

Natural Gas isn’t the Global Warming Solution: It Endangers the Earth

By Naomi Oreskes via Tomdispatch.com Albert Einstein is rumored to have said that one cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that led to it. Yet this is precisely what we…

Israel’s Gaza Campaign Endangers US Security: Why Obama & Kerry are Furious

By Juan Cole The United States as a great Power is facing a large number of challenges in the Muslim world, and Israel's Gaza campaign is endangering both American diplomacy there and…

The Children of Gaza (That’s Mainly Who is There)

"Jon Snow recounts the scene in Gaza's al-Shifa hospital, where doctors struggle to treat adults and children wounded by Israeli attacks." Channel 4 News: "The children of Gaza"

In Palestine, R2P isn’t Dead; It was never on the Table

By Michael Kearney My response to students’ queries on the matter of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has generally been that the whole narrative is a bit of a distraction: R2P merely repackages…

Can People of Muslim Heritage defeat the Radical Fundamentalists?

"Karima Bennoune shares four powerful stories of real people fighting against fundamentalism in their own communities — refusing to allow the faith they love to become a tool for crime, attacks and…

Gaza: Why a ‘Cease-Fire’ is Not enough

By Juan Cole When ordinary countries fight wars they have war aims. In World War II, the US wanted to defeat Germany militarily, but then to help it return to democracy and…

Arab-Americans take on hate

By Anna Lekas Miller "[This week]... several members of New York City’s Arab-American community filed into the Good Shephard’s Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for the launch of the Take On…

Can Norway’s Dams serve as a Huge Battery storing Europe’s Green Energy?

DW: "Norway derives almost 100 percent of its energy from hydropower. For Germany's planned transition to renewable energy, a close partnership is crucially important, because Norwegian pumped storage power stations could balance…

Hannity Unleashes Shouting Points On Palestinian Guest

Cenk Uygur & The Young Turks: "Sean Hannity got into a shouting match tonight with a Palestinian guest as Hannity repeatedly asked Yousef Munayyer whether he believes Hamas is a terrorist organization…

Gaza War 2014: UN-run refugee center hit by shells, kill at least 15

Did Israel go too Far? The Massacre at the UN School/ Refugee Center

By Juan Cole Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports for The Nation from Gaza on the Israeli shelling of a UN school that killed 16 and wounded 200, even though the school's coordinates had…

Where is Palestine?

AJ+ You can't find it on a map. But millions call it home. Where is Palestine? It's complicated. But give us a little over 90 seconds, and we'll give you the gist.…

Real-Life House of Cards: DOJ says President is Judge Jury & Executioner

By Peter Van Buren via Tomdispatch.com You can't get more serious about protecting the people from their government than the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, specifically in its most critical clause: "No person shall…

Could States Rights & Decentralization Save Iraq?

niqash | Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | How can a country like Iraq – with its different sects, religions and ethnicities – be governed appropriately? Some are now suggesting that giving all…

Night of Destiny in Palestine: A Third Uprising?

By Juan Cole A new element entered the current Gaza war on Thursday, as Israel shelled a UN school full of displaced persons taking refuge there and large protests broke out in…

Iraq: Christians Say Terror Drove Them From Mosul

By Abdul Hamid Zebari via RFE/RL Rawan Jinan, a 25-year-old Iraqi Christian, says when she received an order on June 18 to leave Mosul within 24 hours, she could not believe her…

If Israel Is In Mortal Danger, Why Did Bloomberg Fly There? (The Young Turks)

Former New York Mayor and victim of Israel derangement syndrome Michael Bloomberg flew to Israel on El Al airlines on Wednesday to demonstrate that the US FAA was wrong to forbid US…

As a Sakharov laureate and a mother, I call on the EU to help save Palestinians – and Israel

By Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Via The Conversation Times are very rough for both Israeli and Palestinian families. The death toll in Gaza currently stands at around 620, 74 of…

Peace Square, Tel Aviv

Via SocialTV "It won't end until we speak". Under this banner, The Parents Circle Families Forum for bereaved Israelis and Palestinians hosted a discussion at the Cinamateque in the center of Tel…

U.N.: One Child Killed Every Hour in Gaza

By Juan Cole UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday that Israel's military actions are responsible for the death of a child every hour in recent days and…

Jihadists organize tours in their Syria, Iraq 'caliphate'

Known for kidnapping, public stonings, lashings and executions, the Islamic State (IS) is now expanding into tourism, taking jihadists on honeymoon and civilians to visit other parts of its "caliphate".

The U.S Has More Solar Workers Than Coal Miners

By Christopher DeMorro via CleanTechnica Though solar power is still far from surpassing coal as America’s primary energy source, the number of people employed by the solar industry has surpassed the number…

The World Asks: Is Israel Targeting Civilians in Gaza?

By Luisa Gandolfo via The Conversation When the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Hamas of using “telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause”, he overlooked an element of the conflict that could…

“We Need to Talk About Israel”: Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Jon Stewart, "The Daily Show": "We Need to Talk About Israel" The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook Juan says, "Tell me about it."

Gaza: Inside Israel’s massacre at al-Shujayeh: “I can’t Believe I Survived”

By Mohammed Suliman via al-Akhbar “A massacre, a massacre!” were the words my brother, who works as a doctor at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, said as he yelled over the phone urging me…

Gaza War Devastates Israeli Tourism Revenue, Points to Fragile Apartheid Future

By Juan Cole A Hamas rocket hit and destroyed a house in Yahoud, a town only a mile from Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on Tuesday, raising severe alarm in among the…

Most would-be US Terrorists Wouldn’t have Committed a Crime without FBI Entrapment

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) –The US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism “sting operations” based on religious and ethnic identity, Human…

Hottest June On Record Since 1880

By Ann Werner US government scientists have released their findings that this past June is the hottest on record since record keeping began in 1880. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)…

On ‘Human Shielding’ in Gaza: The Israeli army has tried to justify striking civilian areas

By Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini All fighting within cities and all bombardments of urban spaces, even the most "precise and surgical", is a potential death trap for civilians. Consequently, the permeation…

Is Rula Jebreal right about US Media Bias against Palestinians?

By Juan Cole Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal points to the overwhelming bias in US media against the Palestinians, calling NBC to account for having tried to remove an Arab-American reporter from Gaza…

Wagging the Dog: Gaza & MH Plane Deaths Stem from Netanyahu, Putin, Search for Popularity

Wagging the Dog: Gaza & MH17 Plane Deaths Stem from Netanyahu, Putin, Search for Popularity

By Martin Shaw Russia-Israel: domestic politics and serious blowback The Ukraine and Gaza crises alike demonstrate the risks of aggressive policy based on short-term calculations. Vladimir Putin and Binyamin Netanyahu's war-as-politics invites…

What Has $121,000,000,000 US Aid to Israel Really Bought?

AJ+ Labs "The special relationship between Israel and the United States goes deep...real deep. It's based on security, conflict and most of all money. Most of it for the Israeli military. But…

Green Energy Robin Hood: India Doubles Tax on Coal to Fund Solar and Wind

By Smiti Mittal 22,000 MW solar power capacity by 2022, a dedicated national-level program for promoting wind energy generation, implementation of the world’s largest solar power projects (with capacity of up to…

From Kerry to Selena Gomez & Rihanna, Israel’s Claims of Precision, Compassion are Dissed

By Juan Cole You always wonder where John Kerry the anti-Vietnam War activist went, who compared the US campaigns in Southeast Asia to the predations of the Mongols. It turns out he…

Ignore the Smears: Germany’s Green Energy is 1/3 of its Power, Price Falling, Coal Down

By Roy L Hales Originally Published on the ECOreport Germany’s renewable sector (RE) is flexing its muscles, with solar production up 28% and wind up 19% during the first half of 2014.…

Dodging Israeli Bombs in Gaza: A Personal Journal of Survival

By Omar Ghraieb Gaza – Every night I seem to think it’s the worst night, until I go through the next one. I got so used to the house shaking and moving…

Noise and Silence in Israel/Palestine Today

By Shachar Pinsker This is a rather long and not very happy post. You wouldn’t find here much that is new in terms of facts or even analysis of what’s going on…

Mosul w/out Christians for First time in 1,900 Years as Radical Fundamentalists Threaten Minorities

By Juan Cole For the first time in nearly 2000 years, there are virtually no Christians in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. The community is reported to have fled en…

The Colbert Report: “Questionable Compassion for Child Immigrants”

The Colbert Report: "Questionable Compassion for Child Immigrants" The Colbert ReportGet More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,The Colbert Report on Facebook,Video Archive -------------

Gaza: The Israeli Army’s Unlawful Targeting Practices are bad for Children

By Bill Van Esveld, Human Rights Watch The Israel Defense Force has an answer to the shelling yesterday that killed four children near the Gaza City port. At a media briefing yesterday,…

Obama needs Europe in responding to MH17 Crash, but NSA Spying a Bar

By Simon Reich, Rutgers University The tragic circumstances surrounding the downing of Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH17 remain unclear. The three parties who might be responsible – the Ukrainians, the Russians and the…

Gaza: Netanyahu, Goaded by the Israeli Far Right, Risks Breaking Int’l Law

Gaza: Netanyahu, Goaded by Israeli Far Right, Risks Breaking Int’l Law

Gaza invasion gets underway as pressure mounts on Netanyahu By Simon Mabon, Lancaster University “Phase two” of Operation Protective Edge has begun: Israeli military forces have launched a ground incursion into Gaza.…

Gaza meets the New Politics of the Middle East: “Islamic State,” Egypt, Turkey

By Juan Cole The Israeli security establishment was almost certainly encouraged to launch its military assault on little Gaza by the current divisions over political Islam in the Middle East. Hamas is…

Health Catastrophe in Gaza after Israel bombs water infrastructure

By: Ahmed Hadi Gaza – Bassem Siam carried two plastic gallons as he left his home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza, ignoring the intense bombardment and the continued Israeli…

Blow-Back: How Bush-Cheney Reduced Iraq to Ashes

By Dahr Jamail [This essay is a joint TomDispatch/Truthout report.] For Americans, it was like the news from nowhere. Years had passed since reporters bothered to head for the country we invaded…

Besieged and Blockaded: What Gaza is fighting Back Against

Ed. note: When war breaks out there is a tendency to focus on the nitty-gritty detail of tit for tat. But all wars have a back story. The inhumane and frankly creepy…

Muslim Hate: Muslim Americans Struggle To Prove Their Innocence

Where’s the Outrage over Spying on US Muslim Civil Rights Leaders?

TheRealNews: "Where's the Outrage Over Spying on Muslim Civil Rights Leaders?"

Falluja and Gaza: Why Counter-Terrorism fails when the Problem is Political

By Juan Cole There are such things as small terrorist groups that do a lot of harm and lack any significant social or political support. It may well be that such groups…

Netanyahu’s Last Stand: Why he Cannot Win by Bombing Gaza

Published on Wednesday, July 16, 2014 by Common Dreams By Ramzy Baroud When the bodies of three Israeli settlers - Aftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19 -…

The Pretender-Caliph and Islamic History: The Truth about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

By Asma Afsaruddin So Muslims of the twenty-first century have a caliph, do they? According to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the abolition of the caliphate in 1924 has…

“Evacuate Where? Have you Seen [how teeny] Gaza is?” – Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart on Gaza (starts at 4:50 mins in:) The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,Daily Show Video Archive

Kurdish Diva Backs Independence Defies “Islamic State” Fundamentalists

Via RFE/RL Kurdish pop singer Helly Luv has racked up more than 2.5 million hits since she released her "Risk It All" video in February urging independence for Iraqi Kurds. The video,…

Gaza: 4 Dead Boys on the Beach & Israel’s Precision War

By Juan Cole NBC.com caught the Israeli shelling of children on the beach on film. Apparently some of the children had been playing soccer with the journalists before the barrages began! There…

Life In Gaza Explained (Video)

"Gaza has been described as the world's largest open air prison. Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has had catastrophic results for average Palestinians living there. We look at the the unforgiving…

Israel/Palestine: Unlawful Israeli Airstrikes Kill Civilians

Human Rights Watch Bombings of Civilian Structures Suggest Illegal Policy Israel’s rhetoric is all about precision attacks but attacks with no military target and many civilian deaths can hardly be considered precise.…

Gaza: Families destroyed by Israel’s bombs

By: Orouba Othman His whole life passed before his eyes like a film uncut by memory. He dived into the rubble of his home, hoping to find something to defeat the idea…

Border Wars in the Homeland “Stop Stepping on the Pictures”

By Todd Miller Shena Gutierrez was already cuffed and in an inspection room in Nogales, Arizona, when the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent grabbed her purse, opened it, and dumped its…

Israel, Gaza and the Fatal Spirit of Versailles

By Juan Cole The Egyptians appear to have floated their cease-fire agreement Tuesday morning in the press, and Hamas insisted any such proposal had to be communicated directly with them. As a…

Wealth Gap Costing US in Growth (John Oliver)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Wealth Gap (HBO)

What the West means by “stability” in the Middle East

By Victor Argo “For them, a stable country is a country with a strong government favorable to the United States”: When Western governments pompously talk about “stability in the Middle East”, the…

Gaza War: Tunnels, Targets and Rockets: Hamas/ IJ Strategy & Tactics

Editor's Note: Even Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas sarcastically what they expected to achieve with rocket attacks on Israel. As Human Rights Watch notes, Hamas's indiscriminate firing of unguided rockets inevitably…

Quashing Jewish Dissent on Israel

By Shalom Goldman A New Yorker cartoon of a few years back shows Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Looking at Moses, one Israelite says to the other, “Well, he’s…

How its Iran Sanctions hurt US Economy: Cutting off your Nose to Spite Your Face

The National Iranian American Council There are very few studies measuring the cost of sanctions to the sanctioning countries. In the case of Iran, where unprecedented U.S. and international sanctions may soon…

Electric Auto Sales Skyrocket as Oil Price Rises on Iraq, Libya Woes

By Christopher DeMorro It’s no secret that electric vehicle sales are on the rise, but it seems that EV sales may have hit a turning point, both in America in abroad. The…

Rand Paul to Rick Perry: Why Send US Troops to an Iraq that Won’t Defend Self?

By Juan Cole Texas Gov. Rick Perry, apparently considering another run for president (assuming he can remember to do it), attacked Rand Paul as an "isolationist," calling him "blind" to the danger…

Brad Pitt Foundation to Build Solar Homes for Native Americans

Native News Online reports that Brad Pitt's Make it Right foundation will build solar-powered homes for Native Americans in Montana. ----- Related video added by Juan Cole Native News Update

Israel and Palestine: An Animated Introduction

"Easy to understand, historically accurate Jewish Voice for Peace mini- primer about why Israelis and Palestinians are fighting, why the US-backed peace process has been an impediment to peace, and what you…

Netanyahu’s Bad Faith: From Gag orders to War as Bread and Circuses

By Carlyn Meyer In a stunning revelation published by the Jewish daily news magazine, Forward, JJ Goldberg uncovers an almost pathological new low for PM Netanyahu’s deceptive ‘bait and switch’ style of…

Helpless Giant: How Imperial US Elites Tied America Down All by Themselves

By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch For America’s national security state, this is the age of impunity. Nothing it does -- torture, kidnapping, assassination, illegal surveillance, you name it -- will ever be…

The Court Trial of Bibi Netanyahu

By Juan Cole Dark Satire: Irony alert Prosecutor: "Justices of the International Criminal Court, I shall demonstrate to you that this man (points at detained Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu in orange jump…

Is Pope Francis the Green Pope?

By Robyn Purchia Pope Francis is putting a smile on environmentalists’ faces again. In an address at the University of Molise on Saturday, an agricultural and industrial region in southern Italy, Pope…

Draft notices sent out 100 Years Late

By Cory Doctorow A US Selective Service database merge used two-digit years, and didn't sanity-check its threatening notices to 19th century men who'd apparently failed to sign up for the draft by…

Palestine 1896

First film footage taken of Ottoman Palestine (Lumiere Bros.), in 1896. Palestine 1896 h/t William Dalrymple Kemal Karpat wrote that according to the Ottoman Census of 1893, the population of most of…

The Map: A Palestinian Nation Thwarted & Speaking Truth to Power

By Juan Cole Reprint edn. ... As part of my original posting, I mirrored a map of modern Palestinian history that has the virtue of showing graphically what has happened to the…

Top 7 Really Disturbing News from Iraq

1. Last Wednesday Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki angrily lashed out at the Kurds, accusing them of harboring the terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State.' Since the Kurds have in fact fought the…

Gaza’s Children Trapped by Israeli Airstrikes, Naval Bombardment, over 20 Dead

By Sarah Lazare As the human rights crisis grows more acute in this besieged strip, the number of dead and injured children continues to rise As Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters, and…

NSA Spying: Now It’s Personal

By Eva Galperin and Nadia Kayyali via EFF Imagine that you watched a police officer in your neighborhood stop ten completely ordinary people every day just to take a look inside their…

World Council of Churches Endorses Fossil Fuel Divestment

Geneva, Switzerland — The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a fellowship of over 300 churches which represent some 590 million people in 150 countries, endorsed fossil fuel divestment…

Escaping Mosul and ISIS Assassination Campaigns

niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | Refugees from the Ninawa province, of whihc Mosul is the capital, queue to get into Iraqi Kurdistan. One local journalist explains why streets in the…

Israel’s Groundhog Day: Reverse Snowballs and the Horror of Lawn-Mowing

by Juan Cole A horrible video is circulating on social media, of a Palestinian father in Gaza who is bringing a toy to his four year old son, only to find once…

Israeli Army: We have been instructed to Hit Hamas Hard

By Robert Naiman The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a new war on Palestinians in Gaza, a war whose purported justifications make George W. Bush's excuses for his illegal invasion of…

American Torturers: We’re all Jack Bauer Now in The 25th Hour

By Rebecca Gordon Once upon a time, if a character on TV or in a movie tortured someone, it was a sure sign that he was a bad guy. Now, the torturers…

Will Afghanistan Break up Too? Abdullah Threatens Rival Gov’t As Kerry Raises “Concern”

By Charles Recknagel As disappointed Abdullah Abdullah supporters label Afghanistan's early election results a "coup d'etat," there is every reason to take seriously their threats to form a parallel government rather than…

Bhutan Hatches Ambitious Plan To Convert All Cars To Electric

By Christopher DeMorro Originally posted on EVObsession Situated on the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalayan mountains, the Kingdom of Bhutan has fewer people than the state of Rhode Island and even…

Stop Saying ‘If X fired Rockets at U.S.’: It’s Racist, & assumes we’re Colonial

By Juan Cole Is anyone else disgusted by the propaganda trick of trying to get Americans to sympathize with Israel's massive attack on the civilian habitations of Gaza by saying "if the…

The Fall of the New Year Throne (Complete Sword & Sorcery Novel of ancient Persia)

By Juan Cole The Fall of the New Year Throne Many, many thanks to everyone who followed the serialized sword and sorcery novel I have posted here since last January. I had…

Kentucky Fried Brain Senator: No Global Warming because Mars’ atmosphere like Earth’s

Kentucky Fried Brain Senator: No Global Warming b/c Mars’ temp. like Earth’s

By Anthony Elizondo via LiberalAmerica Image via Firebrand Progressives Last week the denial of climate change continued. This time in the form of Kentucky State Sen. Brandon Smith (R). In…

NSA Targetting of Innocent Muslim-Americans Raises 1st Amendment Alarms

By Deirdre Fulton Following Intercept report, rights groups and Muslim-American organizations slam NSA targeting Rights organizations responded harshly to reports that the National Security Agency and FBI covertly monitored the emails of…

Israeli Rhetoric Hides War Crimes against Gaza

By Chloé Benoist As Israeli forces began their assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s leaders and media ramped up a rhetoric offensive, using dehumanizing discourse to garner support for deadly military action…

ABC News’ Diane Sawyer Mistakes Stricken Palestinians for Israelis

By Juan Cole In the current round of fighting between mighty Israel and the little Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes have killed 53 Palestinians. The supposedly deadly little rockets fired from the Gaza…

Saudi ARAMCO Nat’l Gas Plans undercut US Fracking, Point to big Water Problems Ahead

By Tina Casey via Cleantechnica File this one under E for ewps, at least as far as the export market for US fracked natural gas goes. The US natural gas industry has…

The Return of Jim Crow in North Carolina

By Lauren McCauley Rights Groups Call for Halt to 'Worst Since Jim Crow' Voting Law Hundreds of people were turned away outside of a packed courtroom in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Monday…

Oil and Terrorist Groups: Iraq’s ISIS, others are driven by search for Oil Wealth

Oil and Terrorist Groups: Iraq’s ISIS, others Seeking Black Gold

By Michael T. Klare via Tomdispatch Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, the East and South China Seas: wherever you look, the world is aflame with new or intensifying conflicts. At first…

Bush Trifecta lands on Obama: Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan Imploding

By Juan Cole President Barack Obama of Hawaii had fondly dreamed of bidding turbulent and unrewarding West Asia farewell and turning the attentions of American diplomacy to East and South East Asia.…

Not Serious re: Terrorism: GOP House Cut out funding for al-Qaeda, Iraq Records & Research

Representatives on the Hill talk a good game about going back into Iraq or pursuing a global war on terror, but they aren't actually very interested in all that. Exhibit A: they've…

Mother Of Murdered Israeli Teen Condemns anti-Palestinian Violence

"With the Israeli army saying it is commencing a new military operation against Gaza, and Hamas vowing revenge, the words of a mother of a murdered Israeli teen need to be heard."…

German who spied on Parliament for NSA recruited by CIA

By Nadia Prupis The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took part in a spying operation against Germany that led to the arrest of a double agent and has jeopardized its alliance with the…

Iraq: Al-Baghadi Criticizes Wealthy Gulf Leaders, as Russia, Iran, Gun for Him

By: Sami Kleib There was no mention of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s speech. However, he did make a statement that Gulf leaders should not take lightly. He…

Gaza by the Numbers: Who the People are, how They got There

By Juan Cole Population of Palestinians of Gaza: 1.7 million Number of Palestinians in Gaza whose families were expelled as refugees from their homes in what is now southern Israel: 1.2 million…

Exiled Governor of Mosul: We Need Local Troops to Take it Back

niqash | Special Correspondent | Erbil | Prominent Sunni Muslim politician, Atheel al-Nujaifi, who is also the governor of Ninawa province in-exile, talks about why he fled the city when Sunni Muslim…

Palestinians attack Jerusalem Rail to Protest Annexation of Arab East

By Hanna Baumann The destruction of tram stations during the protests in East Jerusalem is much more than vandalism, it shows that Palestinians are not quietly acquiescing to the ‘unification’ of the…

Oil-Rich Iran Planning To Spend $60 Million On Solar PV This Year

By James Ayre The US’s sometimes pseudo-antagonist, Iran, is apparently planning to spend $60 million on solar PV power projects this year, according to recent reports. That represents a pretty significant uptick…

90% of NSA Data from non-Targets, 1/2 accounts had info on US Citizens

By Jon Queally Washington Post reveals unprecedented look at how 'voyeuristic' spy agency manages private communications it collects New reporting by the Washington Post based on materials leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward…

5 Most alarming Developments in Iraq

By Juan Cole 1. Airstrikes killed 7 and wounded 30 in Mosul on Sunday. But it isn't clear who was flying the planes! The US denies it was Americans, and the spokesman…

Middle East Crisis: Juan’s “Ask Me Anything” at Reddit Discussion

By Juan Cole Mirrored from LevantineWar at Reddit.com I am Juan Cole, author of the new book The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East I teach Middle…

Shiite Volunteers: Asset for Iraqi Army or Drawback?

By Daoud al-Ali | Baghdad | niqash | Volunteers on the streets of Baghdad who have responded to the call to defend Iraq. Thousands of Shiites have volunteered to fight Sunni extremists…

Highway Patrol Officer aims Knockout Punches at Woman along Freeway

CNN: "A highway patrol officer was caught on camera hitting a woman with what a witness says were "knockout punches." Aviva Shen at Thinkprogress writes: "The officer said the woman was walking…

Egypt’s Generation Gap over Gen. al-Sisi: Arguing with your Mom

By Amr Kotb This conversation about the political situation in Egypt provides a good example of the generational gap numerous young Egyptians are struggeling with. My mother and I have been arguing…

Can Palestinians ever Get a Break in the American Press?

By: Yazan al-Saadi As tragedy and uninterrupted terror strikes the besieged Palestinian population once more, Western media outlets have been busy producing and presenting articles and television reports on the events taking…

Bring Back our Children: Palestine-Israel Children’s Crusade by the Numbers

By Juan Cole The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and the conflict it produces has in the past week taken on a horror-film aspect, as reprisal killings against children and teens…

Top Things you need to know about the next Israeli-Palestinian crisis

By Hugh Lovatt "Destroying Hamas infrastructure and removing its leaders could also lead to de-centralisation" The abduction and killing of three young Israelis has brought to the fore painful memories for Israelis…

China’s New Soft Power: Transformers 4, X-Men & Hollywood

By Chris Homewood, University of Leeds What do The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Godzilla have in common? Aside from belonging to the summer blockbuster class of 2014,…

How are Iran’s Special Forces intervening in Iraq?

By Golnaz Esfandiari To help Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government battle militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran could potentially offer significant assistance through its powerful…

Unitarians divest from Fossil Fuels: Clear Commitment on Climate Change

By Robyn Purchia In some good new in the fight against climate change, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) passed a resolution calling for divestment of their $175 UUA Common Endowment Fund from…

In Midst of Tikrit Campaign, al-Maliki refuses to step Down

By Juan Cole Despite the Iraqi parliament's failure to reach a quorum on Tuesday, in a clear slap in the face to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other incumbents running for another…

Inside the Mosul of the ‘Islamic State’: Manhunts, Salafi Coercion and Fired Christians

Niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | It has been several weeks since Sunni Muslim extremists took over the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Locals continue to adapt to their new circumstances;…

Algerian Soccer/ Football and the Black Box of French History

By Francis Ghilès Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB When Algeria qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup by winning against Russia, the Algerian press celebrated their team’s qualification as the greatest…

If you read Boing Boing, the NSA considers you a target for deep surveillance

By Cory Doctorow via Boing Boing In a shocking story on the German site Tagesschau (Google translate), Lena Kampf, Jacob Appelbaum and John Goetz report on the rules used by the NSA…

Americans need to Answer: When Will Palestinians get their Fourth of July?

By Juan Cole Americans are commemorating the Fourth of July today, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The grievances that the four million inhabitants of British North America had in 1776…

Can Meditation Slow Ageing? One Nobelist thinks So

By Jo Marchant It’s seven in the morning on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The low sun glints off the waves and the clouds are still golden from the dawn. The…

As Israeli Vigilantes pursue revenge killing of Palestinian Children, Troops Go on Unlawful Rampage

Via Human Rights Watch (Jerusalem) – Israel’s military operations in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers have amounted to collective punishment. The military operations included unlawful…

Rumi on the Environment: Behind the Beauty of the Moon is the Moon-Maker

[For more of Rumi see 53 Secrets from the Tavern of Love: Poems from the Rubiayat of Mevlana Rumi -ed. ] By Aisha Abdelhamid Rumi: “Behind The Beauty Of The Moon Is…

As Hundreds of US Troops are Sent to Iraq, Fears of Mission Creep

By Lauren McCauley Lawmakers and anti-war groups raise flags about additional troop deployments and calls for executive "flexibility" As the number of American troops sent to Iraq nearly doubled on Monday and…

Can Tony Blair Mess up Egypt even Worse?

By Juan Cole Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has agreed to advise the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Blair maintains that he will not be paid to do so,…

Juan’s Interviews re: “The New Arabs,” Majority Report, The World, Daily Beast

By Juan Cole Today is the anniversary of the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi in Egypt, one year ago. I have a detailed account of this event and of the movement that led…

Not War on Poverty but War on the Poor: Washington’s Real Foreign Policy Aims

By Noam Chomsky via Tomdispatch The question of how foreign policy is determined is a crucial one in world affairs. In these comments, I can only provide a few hints as to…

Israel’s search for missing settlers shines light on depth of the West Bank’s occupation

By: Ola al-Tamimi Ramallah – What does the occupied West Bank look like 47 years into the occupation? The Palestinian state was about to be announced but negotiations failed again. The two…

Police: No Searching Journalists’ Cellphones w/out a Warrant, Either (SCOTUS Decision)

By Josh Stearns According to the Supreme Court, police need a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest. The unanimous decision, which was handed down this week, is being heralded…

Baghdadi is like “the KKK Wizard who declares himself Holy Roman Emperor”

Syrian Opposition: Baghdadi “Caliphate” lame attempt to take Spotlight off his Crime Spree

By Juan Cole Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's proclamation of himself as "caliph" is rather like the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan declaring himself the Holy Roman emperor. A small criminal/ terrorist…

SCOTUS: Corporate “Persons” have Religions, can Deny You Birth Control Coverage

By Mindy Fischer On Monday the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on the Hobby Lobby case. They ruled in a 5-4 decision that corporations who have religious objections to birth control…

Ruling Hindu Tea Party wants to “Develop” India for its 1%

By Gyanendra Pandey New Delhi Through the President's address to Parliament on June 9, 2014, the newly elected Indian Government has officially outlined its short and longer-term agenda. The emphasis, as expected,…

Uneasy Caliphate: Inside Hawija in Iraq

By Shalaw Mohammed | Hawija NIQASH visited Hawija, a large northern Iraqi town near Kirkuk, which is currently controlled by Sunni Muslim extremists and local tribes. The town is dominated by ISIS’…

Blackwater: Nice State Dept. you have here, shame if Anything happened to It

State Department official documented in memo that mercenary threatened him just weeks before Nisour Square massacre By Jon Queally As the trial continues against Blackwater mercenaries accused of a bloody massacre that…

In the Deaths of 3 Israeli Teens, Likud Policies are also Implicated

By Juan Cole The kidnapping and killing of three Israeli squatter youth whose parents usurped Palestinian land has produced a paroxysm of hatred and calls for reprisals in Israel. Whoever is responsible…