Month

Archives: September 2017

How did the Persecution of Burma’s Rohingya Arise?

By Engy Abdelkader, JD, LL.M. | (The Conversation) | - - Some 420,000 Rohingya Muslims, a religious and ethnic minority community in Myanmar, have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since August this year.…

Much of U.S.’s Puerto Rico “Destroyed” by 138 mi/hr Storm, Pleads with Trump for Aid

By TeleSUR | - - Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has asked U.S. President Donald Trump to declare the island a “disaster” area. Hurricane Maria tore across Puerto Rico as the strongest…

Israel threatens Bedouin communities with Forced Relocation

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces have notified residents of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar that they are at risk of imminent forcible transfer from their…

Trump blasts Iran for backing Syria, ignores Russia, Praises Saudis

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump more or less threatened to wipe out the 25 million people of North Korea in his speech at the UN. Then he…

How GOP plans to repeal Health Care will blight millions of Lives

By Simon Haeder | (The Conversation) | - - At the end of July, the nation held its collective breath as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) looked poised to achieve his…

Those 90 Companies that Caused Climate Crisis? They Should Pay for It

By Sarah van Gelder | Yes! Magazine | - - The companies responsible for the climate crisis should cover the costs of fighting wildfires and recovering from hurricanes. Pacific Northwest forests are…

Are US troops in Afghanistan causing Talibanism?

By Ann Jones | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Here we go again! Years after most Americans forgot about the longest war this country ever fought, American soldiers are again being deployed…

Iraq Supreme Court strikes down Kurdistan referendum, Clashes in Kirkuk

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iraqi Supreme Court has ordered that the referendum on independence planned for September 25 be halted. The problem is that the Iraqi…

Israeli Right Wing Faction Announces a Plan for Ethnic Cleansing

By Ian Berman. | (Informed Comment) | - - - Essentially an offer that says ‘Get Out or We Will Make Your Life a Living Hell, or Worse.’ The Platform Provides 3…

A Sustainable future depends on Women’s Equality

H. Patricia Hynes | ( Truthdig ) | - - I am looking at the faces of 10-year-old girls from across the world—faces brimming with expectancy. The U.N. report, “The State of…

Muslim Rohingya Refugees from Burma: “The Army… burned down my house.”

TeleSur | - - "The army came and burned down my house. I was inside the house at that time," one survivor said. Rohingya refugees arriving at treatment centers in Bangladesh covered…

Tunisia: A Gender Equality Manifesto

Manifesto of the Under-Signed | Tunisia | - - During the 61st anniversary commemorating the enactment of the Personal Status Code, the Tunisian Head of State Beji Caïd Essebsi made two announcements…

China to buy $300 mn. in Lab-Grown Meat from Israel

TeleSur | - - China currently imports approximately £10 billion worth of meat annually to help feed its 1.4 billion people. China has signed a multimillion-dollar deal to purchase lab-grown meat from…

Hamas pledges to dissolve Gaza administration, hold elections

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Hamas, the de facto ruling party of the Gaza Strip, has pledged to dissolve its administrative committee that runs the besieged coastal enclave…

The Pentagon’s Next War: Extreme Hurricanes & other Climate attacks on US Borders

By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Deployed to the Houston area to assist in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, U.S. military forces hadn’t even completed their assignments when they…

Trump as Stephen King’s ‘It’: Lashing out at Clinton, N. Korea

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Beltway Bandits who are always opining about Trump transitioning from campaign mode to presidential stature, and pronouncing after he does something petulant,…

Iraqi PM to Secessionist Kurds: “You’re Playing with Fire!”

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Iraqi prime minister Haydar al-Abadi threatened on Saturday to deploy military force against Iraqi Kurdistan if it goes through with the referendum on…

Which Lives Matter?: Fresh St. Louis Protests over Acquittal of Accused Killer

By TeleSur | - - Saturday’s demonstrations were markedly calmer after nearly three dozen people were arrested the day before. Protests have continued for a second day in St. Louis, Missouri following…

Given Fundamentalist impact on Syria, Women’s Freedoms in Doubt

By Manal Ismael | ( Global Voices Online ) | - - In early September 2017, a piece of paper with a potent message targeted against women, held by a group of…

Can Turkey’s Erdogan ride Rohingya Crisis to global Muslim Leadership?

By Simon P. Watmough | The Conversation | - - The emerging humanitarian crisis that has been rocking Myanmar - where an estimated 370,000 Rohingya have been forced out of the country…

Floridians with Solar Inverters had Electricity after Irma & other Green energy success stories

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - After Hurricane Irma in Florida, millions have been without electricity. But those Floridians who had solar panels plus an inverter or a Tesla…

Can Yosef Abramowitz make Solar Power Bloom in Fossil Fuels-Addicted Israel?

i24 News | (Video News Report) | - - i24 News: "Yosef Abramowitz-Captain Sunshine-Solar Energy Pioneer" from Wikipedia: "Abramowitz was born in 1964. He lived in Israel as a child from 1969–1972,…

Saudi-led Airstrikes on Yemen Deadly for Children

Human Rights Watch | - - UN Should Create International Inquiry, Return Coalition to ‘List of Shame’ (Beirut) – The Saudi-led coalition carried out five apparently unlawful airstrikes in Yemen since June…

London Covered but 83 Iraqis killed in ISIL attack largely ignored by US TV News

TeleSur | - - Security officials say that the attacks are an attempt by the terrorist group to project strength after losing their strongholds in Iraq. The so-called Islamic State group carried…

Russia rebuffs Israeli demand for 40 mi. Buffer with Iran in Syria (Haaretz)

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - According to Haaretz Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked Vldadimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation, to keep Iranian troops and Hizbullah militiamen…

Can Iran keep its Influence in Baghdad?

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Iran wants to reunite the fighting Shiite Muslim political parties in Iraq that once gave it unconditional support. But that job is far…

Superstorm Donald Hits GOP, aims to Ravage US

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) | - - If Trump succeeds in ramping up military spending and gutting everything else, we’ll be left with a bunch of…

How solar power can protect US military from threats to the grid

By Joshua M. Pearce | The Conversation | - - As the U.S. military increases its use of drones in surveillance and combat overseas, the danger posed by a threat back at…

Book-Burning, Trump’s Torchbearers & Reading Donald Duck

By Ariel Dorfman | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - The organizers of the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville last month knew just what they were doing when they decided to carry torches…

Rice Vindicated: She did Unmask Trump, Bannon– but they were meeting UAE

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The United Arab Emirates crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan slipped into the United States on December 15 for a secret meeting…

AT&T and Verizon Need to Hang Up On Fossil Fuels

By Todd Larsen | Otherwords.org | - - One text at a time, America's largest telecommunications companies are fueling climate change. Smartphones are a huge part of our lives. We use them…

Burma Muslims: Dear Peace Nobelist Kyi, It’s too Late

By Farhana Haque Rahman, Director General, Inter Press Service | (IPS) | - - Rohingya refugees trudge through the rain and mud as they arrive at Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh after days…

UN to name Companies linked to W. Bank Settlements

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The United Nations Human Rights Council reportedly plans to go ahead with the publication of a list of companies operating in illegal Israeli…

Saudi Arabia wants to improve Image; Here’s How

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Saudi Arabia is alleged to be hiring a PR firm to improve its tattered image in the West . As usual, such a…

Chinese Americans came at Same Time as Bannon’s Irish

AJ+ | (Video Report) "There are now more than 4 million Chinese people living in the United States. Surprisingly, most of these immigrants came in the last few decades, starting in the…

Antarctica Ice Melt will trigger Abrupt Global Heating

By Chris Turney, Jonathan Palmer, Peter Kershaw, Steven Phipps, and Zoë Thomas | (The Conversation) | - - Melting of Antarctica’s ice can trigger rapid warming on the other side of the…

If she had said, “Back off, you Creep!”

By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | - - The image of Donald Trump looming ominously behind Hillary Clinton still disturbs me on a visceral level. He may have belittled his…

Our failing Forever Wars and the End of Democracy

By William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - When it comes to the “world’s greatest military,” the news has been shocking. Two fast U.S. Navy ships colliding with slow-moving commercial…

What will Iran do if Trump tears up the Nuclear Agreement?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Recently I was asked whether, if Trump succeeded in undermining the Joint Plan of Collective Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal, whether Iran…

UN: Rohingya Crisis ‘Textbook Example’ of Ethnic Cleansing

TeleSur | - - Top U.N. official Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the "brutal security operation" against the Rohingya was "clearly disproportionate" response to the attacks led by the insurgent The United…

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Why we should be wary of Calls for an “Islamic Reformation”

By Todd Green | ( Mizan Project ) | - - This year marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation in Germany, a monumental event in Christian history that generated permanent…

Our CO2 intensified Harvey & Irma; Worse is yet to Come

By Andrew King | (The Conversation) | - - There has been no let up since Hurricane Harvey dumped record-breaking rains on the Houston area of Texas. Hurricane Irma lashed parts of…

Will Iraqi Kurdish Independence Referendum Further Roil the Middle East?

By Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President in June 2017 announced September 25 as the day for a referendum on independence from…

On 9/11: How we slighted the real Threat, Climate Change, and Hyped Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The US is commemorating the victims of September 11 today at the same time it is mourning the serial devastation that struck Texas…

China studies Banning fossil fuel Car, going 100% Electric

TeleSur | - - Last year, China became the largest supplier of electric cars – electric and gasoline-electric hybrids rose 50 percent over 2015 to 336,000. China, one of the world's largest…

Space Wars: The Pentagon Wants Trillions for High Tech

But they haven't won any wars down here recently By Alfred W. McCoy | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - [This piece has been adapted and expanded from Alfred W. McCoy’s new book,…

Yair Netanyahu slammed for ‘Classic Anti-Semitic” Cartoon, like by Nazis

Yair Netanyahu slammed for ‘Classic Anti-Semitic” Cartoon, liked by Nazis

IMEMC News Yair Netanyahu, who is reportedly behind much of his father’s social media stunts, recently published a cartoon portraying George Soros as the All-Powerful Jew who controls the world, according to…

GOP Mayor of Miami to Trump: ‘If this isn’t Climate Change I don’t know what is’

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump may be provoking a big exodus of Cuban-Americans in south Florida out of the Republican Party. His attack on DACA or Obama's…

Muslim-hating Heckler harasses Sikh Politician; he replies with ‘Love and Courage’

Brampton Focus | Jagmeet Singh | Rally Video | - - Jagmeet Singh, who grew up in Windsor, Canada, is a member of the Ontario legislature. His family is originally from India…

As ISIL dwindles, Iraq fears extremists fleeing Syria

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Iraqi forces are upset about the safe passage granted to Islamic State fighters from Syria. They will enter Iraq, where, locals say, thousands…

Tax Cuts for the Rich Help the Rich, Not You

By Josh Hoxie | ( Inequality.org ) | - - Big money will pull out all the stops to sell you a tax plan that exclusively benefits the wealthy. Don’t buy it.…

Gov. Rick Scott enabled Irma’s Fury through Climate Denialism & Should Resign

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Florida Gov. Rick Scott did not cause Irma, but he enabled the Frankenstorm. Before becoming governor in 2011, Scott had been an entrepreneur…

Rush Limbaugh flees Irma after calling Hurricane & Climate Change Fake News

New York Daily News | (Video News Clip) | - - Rush Limbaugh lambasted stories about Irma as deadly Category 5 hurricane as "fake news" intended to bolster a "climate change agenda"…

Burma: Rohingya Describe Military Atrocities

Human Rights Watch | - - Military’s ‘Unfinished Business’ Has Hallmarks of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ (New York) – Ethnic Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burmese security forces in Burma’s Rakhine State have described killings, shelling,…

Israel’s Sara Netanyahu Faces Possible Indictment for Fraud

TeleSur | - - The announcement comes as the legal heat is turning up for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, for cases of bribery and fraud. Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli…

Tesla 3 Arrives: Beginning of End of Climate Change? (Video)

People w/ Electric Cars aren’t trapped in Miami Beach with no Gasoline

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Some people in South Florida are finding it difficult to flee Irma because they cannot fill their tanks up with gasoline. Many gas…

You’ve Got Veil: Secular Tajikistan Gov’t sends Millions of Texts imposing Hijab Ban

RFE/RL's Tajik Service | - - DUSHANBE -- Private mobile-phone companies in Tajikistan have begun sending out text messages to millions of citizens, reminding them to obey a new law that makes…

Why Climate Criminals like Exxon should pay for Hurricane Destruction

By Jake Johnson, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) | - - "It may take tens to hundreds of billions of dollars to support disaster relief and recovery among Gulf Coast communities affected…

Burnt out by Climate Change: Our Hurricane Compassion Fatigue

By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | - - Harvey’s destructive force on Texas and Louisiana has generated many compelling pictures and disturbing stories. Irma’s violent impact has already started in…

What are American Soldiers really still dying for in the Mideast?

By Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - I used to command soldiers. Over the years, lots of them actually. In Iraq, Colorado, Afghanistan, and Kansas. And I’m still fixated on…

Bannon & Trump lost Long ago: White Christians not a Majority in US

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In 1976,when Jimmy Carter was elected, a big majority (81%) of Americans identified as both white and Christian, with 4 in 10 of…

Sint Maarten: Live footage of Hurricane Irma destroying the Maho Beach WebCam

PTZtv | Webcam video | - - "Live footage of Hurricane Irma destroying the MahoBeachCam.com camera located at AAA Rent-A-Car in St Maarten. We will rebuild!" Live footage as Hurricane Irma destroys…

Trump “presidency” as Ponzi Scheme: Madoff in the White House?

John Feffer | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Here and abroad, Trump's wealthy backers understand that his populist rhetoric is a masquerade. In 1993, I arrived one fall evening in…

On top of everything, Will the Middle East run out of Water?

By George Joffe | (The Conversation) | - - The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) already the most water stressed region in the world, faces a worsening crisis in terms of…

Deporting Dreamers will cost US $400 bn. over 10 Years

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump's consiglieri, Jeff Sessions, came out yesterday to smear the some 800,000 young people in the DACA program, undocumented people brought to the…

Weathering the Violence of Climate Change

By Gulrez Shah Azhar | (Project Syndicate) | - - SANTA MONICA – With India experiencing its worst drought in 140 years, Indian farmers have taken to the streets. At a protest…

The rise and rise of Iran: How Tehran has become pivotal to the future of the Middle East

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (The Conversation) | - - Iran and the US are once again on a dangerous collision course. President Trump’s search for excuses to decertify the July 2015 nuclear…

The only Winners around Trump are the People who messed up the Mideast

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - It was bloody and brutal, a true generational struggle, but give them credit. In the end, they won when so many lost. James…

“If he only had a Heart”: Trump as empty Kettle (Cartoon)

Paul Jamiol | Jamiol's World Cartoons | - - Via Jamiol's World Editorial Cartoons

Have we Won yet? Was ISIL a flash in the Pan?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - With the Iraqi campaign against ISIL having wrested from it Mosul and Talafar, and with Hawija and Qaim really the last two areas…

Do Muslim Americans need a Civil Rights Movement?

By Emily Cury | (The Conversation) | - - The past year has been a difficult one for American Muslims. According to a July 2017 Pew survey, 48 percent of Muslims report…

Politics Above Law: How Trump channels Far Right icon Carl Schmitt without Knowing It

By Andrew Kolin | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump’s various public statements have made clear that he is not an avid reader. He has remarked that he does not have…

Gaza: Over 1 million children in ‘unlivable’ circumstances

By Jonathan Fenton-Harvey | (Informed Comment) | - - Over a million children in Gaza are living in impoverished circumstances due to electricity shortages, causing problems for public health and education, warned…

Green Energy Jobs: Top 7 Pieces of Rare Good News for US Workers on Labor Day

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - 1. The Christian Science Monitor says that in 2016, US solar businesses employed 260,077 workers – up 25 percent from 2015. 2. That…

Will Trump Kill the Dream for These Immigrants?

By Marcelo Rochabrun | (ProPublica) | - - With the president reportedly at the point of canceling DACA, some of its 800,000 beneficiaries describe what they gained — and now fear losing…

How Trump’s pardon of Arpaio changed America

By Ebony Slaughter-Johnson | (Otherwords.org) | - - The president called a man who freely violated people's constitutional rights a "patriot." What does that make his victims? During a speech to a…

Syria’s Heritage, and the World’s, that the War Destroyed–From Palmyra to Castles

Written by Alreem Kamal | ( GlobalVoices.org) | - - Syria's story is one that has been weaved through families from one millennium to the next. Subjugated as a Roman province under…

Are Muslims allowed to be Sympathetic Victims in US Media, or only Perpetrators?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Libyan activist Hend Amry makes an important point about the relative lack of interest of television news in stories such as the persecution…

Media Ignore Harvey’s Devastation of Working Class Communities

By Jake Johnson, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) | - - "Hurricanes don't care if you're rich, poor, white, or black—but that doesn't mean that every person is equally vulnerable to a…

Burma: Satellite Shows Massive Arson against Muslims by Buddhists

Human Rights Watch . | - - 700 Buildings Destroyed in Single Muslim Village in Rakhine State (New York) – New satellite imagery shows several hundred buildings burned in Burma’s Rakhine State,…

Khizr Khan: Liberty requires Vigilance & Sacrifice in defense of Constitution

The Atlantic | (Video Report) | - - “Liberty requires vigilance and sacrifice so we remain standing in defense of our Constitution and its values,” says Khizr Khan. The lawyer and Gold…

Texas Wind turbines went right on Turning under Harvey’s impact, as Refineries Shut Down

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Extreme weather is in our future. Caribbean hurricanes of the future will be more and more violent and destructive because of manmade global…

Arabs, Thomas Friedman and the “iron fist”

By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com) Writing about conflicts in the Middle East for the New York Times yesterday, columnist Thomas Friedman talked of "the power that is lost to a society…

Heavy Smoke from SF Russian Consulate Chimney as Moscow Fears Search by US

By Mike Eckel | ( RFE/RL ) | - - WASHINGTON -- Russia's Foreign Ministry said that U.S. law enforcement officials intend to search its San Francisco consulate and some diplomatic residences,…

Beyond Charlottesville: Can we End Structural Violence against People of Color?

By Gregory Alonso Pirio | (Informed Comment) | - - The importance of opposing the resurgence of emboldened KKK, Neo-Nazis and other hate-filled white supremacists that were on display in Charlottesville cannot…

Cop Arrests Nurse For Doing Her Job (TYT Video)

Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian and Maytha Alhassen | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "A police officer in Salt Lake City arrested a nurse because she refused to break the…

Is Deregulation behind explosions at Texas Chem Plant, polluting of Air and Water?

By Jake Johnson, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) | - - "People don't know what's seeping into their air and their homes." "Now the thing's exploded, and people don't know what's seeping…

The Racism Heard Round the World: Even Fascists Denounce Nazis more than Trump

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - When the neo-fascist National Front is more willing to condemn neo-Nazis than Trump, we have a problem. On race relations,…

Muslim Rohingya Refugees Drown as They flee Buddhist Persecution in Myanmar

TeleSur | - - Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Friday. Bangladeshi border guards have recovered two dozen bodies from the country’s shore in the last two…

Where Do “Alt-Right” Groups Get Their Money?

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | - - "As white nationalists protest across the country, we wanted to know who's financially funding their hate. And there's more money in it than you…