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Archives: December 2015
How his Syria Intervention brought Putin in from the Cold in 2015
By Carl Schreck | ( RFE/ RL | - - In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama fielded a question about Russia while addressing a group of American business leaders in Washington.…
Israeli police detain 5 after Israeli wedding incited murder
Ma'an News Agency | - - JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli police have arrested five Israelis involved in a Jerusalem wedding ceremony that incited violence towards Palestinians, Israeli media reported Tuesday.The groom of…
Most important Neglected Middle East Stories of 2015
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The past 12 months saw enormous political, economic and military changes in the Middle East, which have left its geopolitics changed for the…
Why Americans Should Support Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions of Israeli Squatter Settlements
By Thomas Buonomo | (Informed Comment) | - - It is clear that the Israeli government under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of entering into serious negotiations…
In Retrospect: A Year of Sharpening Contradictions
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Reprint, revised Note: The horrific murder of 12 persons and the wounding of 11 in the attack on the staff of the satirical weely Charlie Hebdo…
What It Takes To Defeat ISIL’s Ideology
By Charles Recknagel | RFE/RL Daniel Koehler is among a handful of people in the West who work with Islamist militants returning from Syria in an effort to reintegrate them into normal…
Year in Review: Paris Attacks must not become Pretext for a new ‘Global War on Terror’
Petra Gümplová | (Open Democracy) | - - It will only exacerbate the causes of terrorist attacks, diminish society’s capacity to cope rationally with risks, and permanently damage freedom, democracy, and international…
Rare victory for Freedom of speech in Turkey, as Pianist allowed to quote Omar Khayyam
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In a rare victory for freedom of speech in Turkey, the country's Supreme Court of Appeals has completely overturned a lower court ruling…
Top 5 Things for which We should be grateful to Arabic Writing
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - When a teacher in rural Augusta county, Virginia, decided to expose her students to the Arabic script (a piece of calligraphy writing out…
Palestine Tourism For True Rapprochement Between People
By Siraj Center | (IMEMC) | - - The Siraj Center makes up the Travel Department of The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People (PCR). The Siraj Center is a nonprofit tour…
Carbon Emissions stall as renewables move into top gear
The Tree | - - As the news broke ... that global greenhouse gas emissions reached a plateau in 2014, a flotilla of announcements from both countries and companies at the Paris…
Muslims Shield Christians from al-Shabab Terror
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "Al-Shabaab is a terrorist group that operates in Somalia and Kenya. Lately they have been attacking buses full of civilians, particularly…
Europol: 1% of 2014 European Terrorism by Muslims
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Europol* report on European terrorism for 2014 would obviously look different for the horrible year of 2015. So too was 2011 an…
Israeli PM: ‘Arab terror and Jewish terror’ are different
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- In lieu of a growing Israeli focus on Jewish extremism, Israel’s Prime Minister on Sunday said that comparing “Arab terror and Jewish terror”…
Daesh/ ISIL hasn’t weakened al-Qaeda– Its Affiliates are Stronger than Ever
By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | - - Experts predicted that the rise of the Caliphate declared by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) would be disastrous for al-Qaeda(AQ). One report that concluded “The…
Yemen: US-Backed Saudi Coalition illegally bombing Residential Areas
By Human Rights Watch | - - (Beirut) – The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen carried out at least six apparently unlawful airstrikes in residential areas of the capital, Sanaa, in…
Will Mosul rise against Daesh/ ISIL? If not, who can liberate it?
By Nawzat Shamdeen | (Niqash.org) | - - “Everyone says zero hour is coming closer. Some of the politicians – including the Prime Minister – have said that operations to liberate Mosul…
Eyes on Mosul next, as Iraqi Army advances in Ramadi in face of Stiff ISIL/ Daesh Resistance
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Iraqi prime minister Haydar al-Abadi announced Friday that after the city of Ramadi was recovered from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), the Iraqi army would…
Biggest Trump Lies 2015: 76% of what Donald Trump Says is Garbage
Nik Zecevic and Margaret J. Howell | (TheLipTV video report) | - - "Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has won the 2015 PolitiFact “Lie of the Year” award. While investigating Trump’s statements during…
The Regime Strikes Back: Syrian Gov’t advances, Bolstered by Russia
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Russia's aerial intervention in Syria is apparently yielding some modest battlefield advances for the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia is also resupplying…
When did Justifying Large Scale Civilian Deaths in Bombardments become a Bipartisan Consensus?
By Stephen Zunes | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - There's a bipartisan effort to justify the killing of civilians in the "war on terrorism." There has been a lot of…
Saudi’s Suffragists: Women vote for first time, are elected to City Councils
By Katherine Mackenzie | (Inter Press Service) | - - ABU DHABI (IPS) - The triumph of 19 women in what is being seen as a landmark and historical election in a…
Palestine: Friday clashes erupt across occupied West Bank as Israeli Occupiers use Lethal Force
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Weekly Friday demonstrations took place across the occupied West Bank on Friday, locals said. Locals told Ma’an that clashes broke out between Palestinians…
In Iraq’s Ur, Archeologists Explore History’s Potential to Unite A Divided Land
By Ahmad Thamer Jihad | (Niqash.org) | - - The best way to combat the damage done to Iraq's antiquities during the current security crisis is to put more effort into exploring…
Christmas and Christians in the Middle East
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Whether Christmas is joyous sad or nervous-making for Christians in the Middle East this year depends very much on the country in which…
Oh little town Near Bethlehem, cut off from Highway by Israeli Military
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The movement of residents in Ras Al-Wad southwest of Bethlehem has been cut off for weeks by Israeli military forces, locals said Wednesday.…
British Muslim Family Not Allowed To Board Plane To Visit Disneyland: Are US visa officials Islamophobes?
AJ+ | (Video Report) | - - "On a family trip to Disneyland, one British Muslim family wasn't allowed to get on the plane. No reason was given. And they're not the…
Would Syrian Refugee Baby Jesus be allowed to immigrate to the US?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In this political season in which Syrian refugees have become a political football, it is worthwhile remembering that baby Jesus is depicted by…
Poll: Bernie Sanders would beat ‘Embarrassment’ Trump by a Landslide
Wochit News | (Video report) | - - A Quinnipiac Poll has found that 61% of Americans say Donald Trump does not share their values, 50% would be positively embarrassed to have…
Islamophobia in 2015: The Good, the Bad and the Hopeful
By the Bridge Initiative Team | - - Looking back at the last twelve months, it can initially appear that Islamophobia was pretty bad in 2015. And indeed it was. Attacks against…
If Iraq can take Ramadi from ISIL/ Daesh, it will Need to reach out to Sunnis
By Balsam Mustafa and Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | - - After days of mounting expectation, the Iraqi government finally announced a serious offensive to retake the city of Ramadi, the…
ISIS and the Abuse of History
By Akil N. Awan and A. Warren Dockter | ( History Today) | - - Volume 66 Issue 1, January 2016 N. B. IC house style is Daesh, but this is a…
Ghoul’s Glossary: A Donald Trump Translation Dictionary
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Constitution, US: 1. An time-consuming optional document that can be abrogated for lack of time. 2. syn. politically correct (s.v.) criminal: 1. syn.…
How SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Could Boost Commercial Space Travel
ABC News | (Video News Report) | - - "SpaceX founder Elon Musk says that the ability to reuse rockets, like its Falcon 9, will dramatically reduce future launch costs." ABC: "How…
Did Obama Really “Surrender the Middle East to Putin?”
By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | - - A perusal of the “writing on the hall” commentary of the Right Wing in the last two months--since a small Russian force…
Surprise! Male Chauvinist Pig Trump gets vulgar with Hillary Clinton
Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "During the Democratic debate Hillary Clinton returned from the bathroom break a bit late. What’s the big deal?…
Is its Syria Adventure destabilizing Turkey?
By Nadir Firat | (Informed Comment) | - - Riza Saka, a lawyer turned TV pundit, declared that “Turkey has nothing to fear” from the shooting down of the Russian SU-24 plane.…
4,000 Sick Gaza Palestinians need to Leave for Treatment, but are blocked by Israeli, Egyptian Blockades
Ma'an News Agency | - - GAZA (Ma'an) -- Around 4,000 sick Palestinians in Gaza need to travel through the Rafah crossing on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt, Gaza's Ministry…
Obama: Is the Media Hyping the threat from Daesh/ ISIL?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - President Obama gave an interview on National Public Radio on Monday in which he attempted to reassure the US public about the threat…
6 US Troops killed by Taliban Suicide Bomber in Afghanistan
Curated by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - BBC Monitoring translates from Pushtu a report from the 'Afghan Islamic Press' from Kabul on 21 Dec., which says that "A suicide…
Which war did the Republican candidates serve in? Reflections on GOP War Talk from an Iraq vet
By Ramon Mejia | ( Waging Nonviolence) | - - As a U.S. Marine veteran who was deployed to Iraq in 2003, I can’t even begin to describe the disgust I felt…
Will Spain’s Bernie Sanders be a power Broker in wake of Elections?
By Paul Kennedy | (The Conversation) | - - Although Spain’s two big parties technically remain the largest after this year’s general election, they find themselves in a radically transformed political landscape…
Trump & GOP: Saber Rattling re: Iranians can never be too Aggressive
By Mahsa Alimardani | (Global Voices Online) | - - GOP candidate Donald Trump was the first to attack Iran early on in the [last] debate, calling it a “terrorist nation.”. The…
Human Rights in Turkey: Is Turkish Press Freedom Doomed?
By Lorena Di Carlo | (Inter Press Service) | - - MADRID (IPS) - The last week of November marked another phase of an ongoing shift in the Turkish Government´s approach to…
Is Clinton right that Trump is Helping ISIL?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - During Saturday night's Democratic debate, Sec. Hillary Clinton at one point alleged, "And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory…
5 Questions For Syria Hawks
David M. Faris | (Informed Comment) | - - Last month’s horrific attacks in Paris and last week’s massacre in California – which was at most loosely connected to Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)– have…
US Arms sales don’t Fight Terrorism & War, they Provoke Them
By Jeremy Ravinsky | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Nothing recruits terrorists like corrupt security forces committing human rights abuses with impunity. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps / Flickr) Recent, disparate…
Israel’s working poor
By Jacob Wirtschafter | ( Your Middle East) | A poverty report has added fuel to long-standing debates about religion, intercommunal politics, and Israel’s national priorities. An energy boom and its high-tech…
In the Middle East’s New Century, can Western Imperialism stop Thwarting Democracy?
By Jeffrey D. Sachs | (Project Syndicate) | - - Jeffrey D. Sachs | (@JeffDSachs) - - NEW YORK – The United States, the European Union, and Western-led institutions such as the…
Clinton: Trump chief recruiter for ISIL; Sanders: Take out Daesh First, Assad Later
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The second Saturday-night Democratic debate had a lot of discussion on foreign policy. It is a shame that the Democratic National Convention put…
‘Off the Charts’ Violence against Muslims Ravaging US Communities
By Sarah Lazare, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - New data confirms anecdotes of rising Islamophobic violence reflect nationwide trend. From an attack on a hijab-wearing sixth grader in the Bronx…
The rise of Daesh/ ISIS, explained in 6 minutes
Vox | (Video Report) | - - "Its history goes back way before the group ever existed." Vox: "The rise of ISIS, explained in 6 minutes"
After Daesh/ ISIL, will Iraq be any Better?
Niqash.org | (Baghdad) | - - As the Islamic State becomes weaker in Iraq, locals anticipate a post-extremist era. But even the most optimistic Iraqis know it won't be easy. Some of…
Shin Bet: Jewish Terrorists Out to ‘Violently Overthrow’ Israeli Government
By IMEMC | - - Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, on Thursday, cautioned that a Jewish terror organization is seeking to “violently overthrow” the Israeli government, Israeli media reported. Israeli soldiers…
41% of Trump Supporters want to bomb Aladdin and Jasmine
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Public Policy Polling asked US voters if they favored bombing "Agraba." Some 30% of Republicans said "Yes!" Obviously, this is a a little…
Rural Fury over Arabic Script in World Cultures Module forces closing of Augusta, Va. Schools
AJ+ | (Video news report) | - - "VA's Augusta County School District shut down over security concerns posed by parents who were angry about an Arabic calligraphy lesson. Officials didn't mention…
It Begins: Congress turns Iranian-Americans into 2nd Class Citizens
By Elham Khatami | (NIAC) | - - Now I’m a Second-Class Citizen I was lucky. My parents immigrated to the United States from Iran before I was born. They settled in…
Where are women’s voices in the Syria peace talks?
Lisa Davis | (OpenDemocracy) | - - The US may be tempted to congratulate itself for wrangling Russia to the table for today’s meeting on Syria’s peace talks. Yet an indispensable party is missing:…
Israelis shoot 78 Palestinians & repress Santa Claus Protest in Bethlehem
Ma'an News Agency | - - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Friday shot and injured at least 78 Palestinians, two critically, when clashes broke out across the occupied Palestinian territory for…
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Wheaton College suspended a tenured professor of Political Science for quoting Pope Francis that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. So, do…
Dutch Pranksters tell People Bible verses are from Qur’an & Hilarity Ensues
RT | (Video report) | "Dutch pranksters have conducted an experiment aimed at testing public prejudice towards Islam. They took to the streets and read extracts from a book which they claimed…
Fearmongering against Muslims is a Bipartisan Sport & Hurts us All
By Olivia Alperstein | (Otherwords.org) | - - Representative Loretta Sanchez’s bogus claims about Muslims reflect the kind of prejudice that holds America back. Representative Loretta Sanchez voiced the fears of a…
Pakistan’s New Weapon Against Taliban Is Education
AJ+ | (Video News Report) | - - "One year after 132 kids were killed in a school attack, Pakistan's army has found another way to fight the Taliban. " Pakistan's New…
Syrian Refugees from Civil War spiraling down into Extreme Poverty
By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2015 (IPS) - When German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her immigration policies early this week — and announced…
Could an end to Syria’s civil war be in sight?
By James Gelvin | (The Conversation) | - - If, as cliché has it, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, isn’t the…
UN Secretary-General Accuses Israel of ‘Breeding’ Palestinian Attacks
By IMEMC | - - This past Tuesday, in Jakarta, Indonesia, the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem was organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of…
Nobelist Malala to Trump: Your Islamophobia is creating the grounds for Terrorism
Wochit News | (Video report) | - - "Malala Yousafzai had a few words for Donald Trump and other politicians for attacking the Muslim Religion She stated in an interview directed towards…
How Israeli settlements stifle Palestine’s economy
By Nur Arafeh, Samia al-Botmeh and Leila Farsakh |Al-Shabaka/ Ma'an News Agency | - - Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian…
No, GOP, you can’t win by Carpet-bombing
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - At the GOP debate Tuesday night, Ted Cruz came out swinging wildly. Blitzer: Senator Cruz, you have said you would, quote, "carpet bomb…
If the Dead could Speak: The Real People Syrian Regime Tortured to Death
By Human Rights Watch | - - "If the Dead Could Speak" reveals some of the human stories behind the more than 28,000 photos of deaths in government custody that were smuggled…
Is Corporate Media Enabling GOP Hate Speech?
By Sarah Lazare, staff writer| (Commondreams.org) | - - Watchdogs say corporate media is stoking racist and fear-mongering rhetoric The moderators of last night's CNN presidential debate provided a two hour platform…
“No-Fly List” Riddled with Errors, impossible to Get off of
By Raymond Bonner | (Special to ProPublica) |- - This story was co-published with The Daily Beast. As the Senate debated a proposal earlier this month that would have barred gun sales…
Flash Point: Could Turkey block Russian access to Mediterrranean?
By Tony Wesolowsky | ( RFE/ RL) | - - Could Turkey block Russia's access to one of the world's most strategic waterways? That question has arisen with mutual relations in a…
Sign of new Intifada? Majority of Palestinians support knife attacks
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The majority of Palestinians support the recent string stabbing attacks against Israelis, a poll released Monday found. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian…
Top 5 Ways Saudi Arabia really could fight Terrorism, & not by a Vague Coalition
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Over the past three days, Saudi Arabia has abruptly put together a 35-nation Muslim coalition to fight terrorism. Saudi interest in this fight…
Spectaculection: Bread, Circuses and decline of US Media
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Sometimes what matters most takes up every inch of space in the room and somehow we still don’t see it. That’s how I feel…
GOP Congress plans $100 bn. tax cut as Xmas Present for Corporations
By Jessica Schieder | (Otherwords.org) | - - This year-end tax package is a grab bag of gifts for corporations and a lump of coal for working families. Given the commitment House…
Trump, Daesh/ ISIL, and the Cliché of Civilizations
By By John Feffer | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - A few politicians and intellectuals decry "Islamofascists," but the real target of Islamophobia is the mainstream Islam of mosques, moderate…
Int’l Criminal Court group will fact-find in Israeli-Occupied Palestine
Ma'an News Agency | - - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A delegation from the International Criminal Court is expected to visit the occupied Palestinian territory in February, a Palestinian Authority offical said. A…
With Oil at $36/barrel, Have Democrats just Won the Presidency?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The price of petroleum fell Monday to levels not seen since the crash of 2008, at one point hitting $35 a barrel in…
Does Paris Climate Accord hang Women, Indigenous Peoples out to Dry?
By Stella Paul | (IPS) | - - PARIS, Dec 13 2015 (IPS) - After 2 weeks of intense negotiations, on Saturday evening, the 21st UN climate conference (COP21) in Paris finally…
Even After World has Acted: GOP candidates on climate change
Touchvision | (Video News Report) | - - "What would happen to the committments President Obama is making at this week's Paris Climate Conference if a Republican wins the 2016 election?" Touchvision:…
No, Donald Trump, Real Muslims haven’t applauded your Fascist Plan to Ban them
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Arabic press reported with a straight face GOP presidential contender Donald Trump's allegations that he has lots of Muslim friends and that…
George W. Bush Cold Open – Saturday Night Live
Will Ferrell | (Saturday Night Live Video Spoof) | - - "President George W. Bush (Will Ferrell) announces he's entering the presidential race and assesses the current crop of GOP candidates." George…
Sell that Coal Stock: The future belongs to Wind and Solar, COP21 or No
By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Historically, the transition from one energy system to another, as from wood to coal or coal to oil, has proven an enormously…
Is the US Suddenly entering a Major new War in Iraq & Syria?
Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy) | - - The spreading influence of ISIS is forcing Washington into a strategic decision: escalate. Suddenly, and without almost anyone noticing, the war against ISIS in…
Is Corporate Media a danger to Society? Coverage of Trump v. Sanders
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - ABC World News has given one minute to Bernie Sanders this year (actually, it is just 20 seconds). It has given 81 minutes…
Can Historic climate agreement protect the world’s most vulnerable people?
The Tree | - - 195 countries reached across traditional divides today to unite behind the greatest moral challenge of our time and seal the deal on a historic climate accord. The…
What Islamophobia and ISIL/ Daesh have in Common: The Political Use of Fear
By Ian Buruma | (Project Syndicate) | - - NEW YORK – There are many roads to political disaster: greed, hubris, the charisma of the demagogue, and, perhaps most dangerous of all,…
After the COP21 Paris Climate Accord, what we need is an Int’l Climate Court
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The climate pact forged at Paris lacks real teeth and so in and of itself will not solve our carbon dioxide and methane…
Daesh in the Digital Realm
By Michael Degerald | (History x ISIS) | - - In popular discussion of the Islamic State, several topics have received the vast majority of the attention. The group’s executions, treatment of…
Should an al-Qaeda Ally have a seat at the Syrian Table? Al-Assad rejects talks w/ any armed Group
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Riyadh conference of the Syrian opposition this week included political groups but also nine armed bands. One of the nine, the Free…
Deepening Inequality Driving US Middle Class into Oblivion
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - "The hollowing of the middle has proceeded steadily for four decades, and it may have reached a tipping point," Pew Research Center…
Paris COP21 will only slow Climate Change: Here’s What’s going to happen to you and your children
By Katja Frieler | (The Conversation) | - - At the Paris climate summit, delegates are deciding on a global goal for temperature rise. At the time of publication, the latest draft…
Top 10 Signs the US is the Most Corrupt Country in the World
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Revised Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly "corrupt" always imply that the United States is not corrupt.…
How U.S. Interventions Dismembered the Middle East
By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Despite everything, hawks are still pushing President Obama to send ground troops to Syria. He would be wise to reject…
Russo-Turkish Conflict over Syria & Iraq Boils: “Manifestations of impotent Rage”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Turkish and Russian government have continued their war of words that followed on the shooting down of an Su-25 bomber on Nov.…
Obama: “Who will rid me of this Troublesome ‘caliph’? Someone? Anyone?
By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - In the many strategies proposed to defeat the Islamic State (IS) by presidential candidates, policymakers, and media pundits alike across the American political…
Trump Cancels trip to Israel after Parliamentarians slam him as Neo-Nazi
By IMEMC | - - After criticism from both the left and the right, Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that he will delay his visit to Israel and Jerusalem. The wealthy business tycoon…
Mark Zuckerberg Stands With Muslims & Fox goes after Him
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks video report) | & Media Matters | - - 1. Media Matters Tweet: Fox co-hosts attack Mark Zuckerberg over expressing support for the Muslim community: https://t.co/c0M3YVpg7l…
Iraqis wrangle over who should free Mosul: Kurds, Russia, US or Shiite Militias?
Iman Asaad | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) | - - Who would be the best to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State group? A survey of Iraqi opinions on NIQASH's Facebook page received…
Robert Gordon U in Scotland Strips Trump of Honorary Degree
Contessa Brewer | (CBSN video news report) | - - "In the wake of his controversial plan to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., Robert Gordon University in Scotland is revoking an…
If Defeating ISIL/ Daesh is so imp’t, why isn’t Ramadi Campaign all we’re talking about?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Given the large number of vehement pronouncements by US presidential candidates about the dire threat from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), and attacks on President…
The Conservative Rhetoric of Hate: How to Lose Friends and legitimate Extremist Worldviews
BY TAREQ A. RAMADAN | (Informed Comment) | - - Highly essentialist and virulent anti-Islamic, anti-Arab 'conservative' platitudes on Islam and Muslims being disseminated by outspoken members of the GOP (such as…
The real Threat to Peace? Marco Rubio Is Winning the Neocon Primary
By Sina Toossi | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - With pundits and columnists dissecting and critiquing every word uttered by GOP front-runners Ben Carson and Donald Trump, comparatively little attention…
10 facts the government doesn’t want you to know about Syria
By Ian Sinclair | (Open Democracy) | - - Following the Paris terrorist attacks on 13 November 2015, the British government has got its wish to join the air campaign against Islamic…
US nonprofits ‘donate $220 mn.’ to Israeli Squatter settlements on Palestinian West Bank
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Over $220 million has been given in tax-exempted US funds to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank over the last five…
Global Outrage at Trump Islamophobia; French PM: “Mr Trump…is feeding hatred and misinformation”
Euractiv.com | - - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump yesterday (8 December) defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, comparing his plan to the World War Two detainment…
Oh, no! Not another American war against evil!
By Ira Chernus | (Informed Comment) | - - This time, it’s the Islamic State (IS). After the attacks in Paris, Barack Obama, spokesman-in-chief for the United States of America, called that…
Feeding the Monster: Islamophobia, Ratings, and Elections
Karam Dana | (Informed Comment) | - - Just when you think GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has done it all, you are proven wrong. Reminiscent of the Chinese Exclusion act, the…
Top 6 Times US government Excluded Millions based on Race or Religion
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other bigots on the far right are nothing new in American history. Rather, they remind us of the…
America’s biggest enemy is our own American Exceptionalism
Bjarne Rostaing | (Informed Comment) | - - American Exceptionalism has an appealing patriotic buzz, though we owe the phrase to Josef Stalin, who was exasperated by American communists and their assumption…
Hope: World Economy Grew but CO2 Emissions Slowed in 2015 (Less Coal, more Wind & Solar)
Pep Canadell | (The Conversation) | - - Despite robust global economic growth over the past two years, worldwide carbon emissions from fossil fuels grew very little in 2014, and might even…
‘You ain’t no Muslim, Bruv’ retort to London Attacker goes Viral
By Jon Queally, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - With anti-Muslim and xenophobic sentiment on the rise in the wake of Paris attacks, social media hashtag aims to pushback against reactionary…
Western Invasions can’t fix the Middle East because they wrecked the Middle East
By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | - - MADRID (IPS) - One hundred years ago, on 6 May 1916, two men, Briton Sir Mark Sykes and French diplomat François Georges-Picot,…
Israeli Occupation Court Sentences Palestinian Legislator for Thought Crimes
By IMEMC News | - - An Israeli court sentenced, Sunday, democratically-elected leftist Palestinian legislator, and a senior political leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Khaleda Jarrar…
Trump vs. the Founding Fathers on Muslims Coming to US
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In his never-ending trolling of the American public, Donald Trump has now come out and urged banning Muslim immigration into or even entrance…
Obama vs. Daesh/ISIL: Freedom is more powerful than Fear & We Refuse to take the Bait
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - President Obama addressed the nation on Sunday night, in an attempt to calm the public mood after the San Bernardino killers were tied…
Our new Cold War is with Global Warming
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - For six centuries or more, history was, above all, the story of the great game of empires. From the time the first wooden ships…
ISIL/ Daesh can be Starved of Oil Revenue: Here’s How
By David Stupples | (The Conversation) | - - The high costs of running the Islamic State’s “caliphate” and fighting a ground war are largely met from selling oil, supplemented with donations…
A brief guide to Climate Change, COP21 and the Middle East
By Lina Eklund | ( Your Middle East "When it comes to climate change the Middle East is part of the problem and will definitely be affected by it," Dr. Lina Eklund…
Vacuum of Knowledge: What you Need to know about the History of Syria
Via ISLAMICommentary Column » ‘By the Book’ with Joseph Preville by JOSEPH RICHARD PREVILLE and JULIE POUCHER HARBIN for ISLAMiCommentary on DECEMBER 4, 2015: Is there a more tragic country in the…
Peak Inequality? 400 US Billionaires are wealthier than 190 Million fellow Americans
By Chuck Collins & Josh Hoxie, | (Institute for Policy Studies) | - - This report exposes the extreme wealth concentrated within the fortunes of the 400 wealthiest Americans and compares this…
Turkish Dr. faces Prison for Comparing Pres Erdogan to Gollum of Lord of the Rings
AJ+ | (Video news report) | - - "Turkish doctor Bilgin Ciftci posted a meme with side-by-side pictures comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to “Lord of the Rings” character Gollum.…
Top Seven Myths about Muslims
By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | - - MADRID, Dec 3 2015 (IPS) - Of all over-written, under-reported issues and regions, the Middle East is perhaps one of the oldest,…
Right-wing Israeli groups “raid” 3rd Holiest Muslim Shrine
Ma'an News Agency | - - JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Right-wing Israeli groups on Sunday raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of Israeli forces, witnesses told Ma'an. Witnesses said 43 Israeli…
Shiite Iraqi politicians denounce Turkish ‘Invasion,’ call for Aerial bombardment
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Sawt al-`Iraq reports that sources in the Turkish military announced Saturday that about 150 Turkish troops had been placed into northern Iraq along…
In the Actual fight against Daesh/ ISIL, the Key is Cutting off Mosul
By Special Correspondent | ( Niqash.org) | - - The Sinjar victory saw the route between Mosul and Raqqa cut. But local truckers have found another way in the desert that extremists…
12 Million homeless, displaced Syrians facing Disaster as Winter Approaches
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- More than 12 million people in Syria -- nearly half of whom are children -- are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance before…
Roof, Dear and Tashfeen Malik: ‘Self-Radicalized,’ ‘Terrorism,’ ‘Lone Wolf’ and Double Standards
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Federal officials are now investigating the San Bernardino massacre as an "act of terrorism" rather than just workplace violence. But when Dylann Roof…
Syria: Mission Impossible
By John Feffer | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - p>Imagine this new TV series coming to HBO in 2016. The planet faces an unprecedented peril. The international community brings together…
How Turkish President Erdogan went Wrong: Dividing and Not Ruling
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Receb Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, was once seen as a political breath of fresh air and a beacon of change in…
Syrian Refugees in Jordan’s Camps Reply to Dr. Ben Carson
AJ+ | (Video report) | - - "After a recent visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson described it as “really quite nice.” We went to…
For Pacific Islanders, Paris Climate Summit is Life or Death
Euronews & Scott B. Power | - - "Dozens of activists at the COP 21 summit in Paris have taken part in the so-called Run for your Life, a relay race from…
Beyond ISIS: Suicide by World War IV
By Andrew Bacevich | (Tomdispatch.com) |- - Introduction by Tom Engelhardt Let’s consider the two parties in Washington. I’m not referring to the Republican and Democratic ones, but our capital’s war parties…
How the NRA is harming American Security: Mass Shootings as Serial Terrorism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - As I write, the full story behind the heinous San Bernardino shootings, which left 14 dead and 17 wounded, is still not known.…
Senators McCain & Lindsay want to “Reoccupy” Iraq and Invade Syria: Should We?
By Brian Glyn Williams (Informed Comment) - - In light of the recent terror attack in Paris by a group of predominantly French/E.U. Muslim citizens, President Obama has faced an increasing chorus…
Can Muslim Fundamentalism be Criminalized? Militant Secularism in Central Asia
By Farangis Najibullah and Charles Recknagel | ( RFE/RL) | - - Nabijon spends nearly 10 hours a day inside his one-room barbershop on a dusty backstreet in Khujand, Tajikistan's second-largest city.…
Dilemma of the Left: How to be anti-racist, anti-War and yet oppose Radical Islamism?
By Max Farrar and Rumana Hashem | (Open Democracy) | - - After the 13/11 atrocities in Paris, with global elites increasingly turning their dreams to a military solution to the ‘existential…
Upheaval in Palestine and Israel: Occupation and beyond (96 Palestinians, 17 Israelis Killed since Oct. 1)
By Mahmoud Jabari | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - It can be argued that the rising escalation in tensions and confrontations between the Israelis and Palestinians over the past two months…
8,124 Murders by Firearm in US in 2014 vs. 29 (Equiv. 144) in UK
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Revised The United States continues to be peculiar in handing out powerful magazine-fed firearms to almost anyone who wants one and not requiring…
US to send Spec Ops troops to Iraq to fight ISIL, but do Iraqis want them?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Tuesday that the US would send more Special Operations troops to Iraq to fight Daesh (ISIS,…
Terrorist mocks Islam, talks ISIL, then shoots Muslim-American Taxi Driver on Thankgiving
TomoNews | (Video Report) | - - 1. TomoNews | - Update: The shooter is allegedly one Anthony Mohamed, the first name indicating a Christian. The original title of this posting was…
Former US Military Chief: US invasion of Iraq spawned ISIL: (“Huge Error”)
By Nadia Prupis, staff writer| (Commondreams.org) | - - The U.S. is poised to repeat all the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq after 9/11, says former head of…
After 2008 Wall Street Crash, did US White Working Class Drink itself to Death?
Barbara Ehrenreich | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - The white working class, which usually inspires liberal concern only for its paradoxical, Republican-leaning voting habits, has recently become newsworthy for something else: according to economist…
Don’t wait for Gov’ts in Paris to fix Climate Change: We can do it Ourselves
James Dyke | (The Conversation) | - - It’s now almost certain that 2015 will be the warmest year ever recorded. However, rather than reduce green house gas emissions – something that…
The End of Press Freedom in Turkey?
By Joris Leverink | (Inter Press Service) | - - ANKARA, Turkey (IPS) - Days after the 1 November general elections in Turkey, Beyza Kural, a reporter with the independent press agency…
Putin: Turkey was protecting ISIL oil Smuggling; Russia urges Assad-Kurdish Alliance
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in Paris that his government had intelligence that the reason Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet…
Snowden restores 4th Amendment: NSA halts mass Warrantless spying on your Telephone Records
By David Greene and Nadia Kayyali | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - - The NSA’s collection en masse of the call detail records of millions of ordinary Americans ended quietly at…
ISIL/ Daesh exults at our loss of Liberties: “8 Men caused a nationwide state of emergency”
by Charles Kurzman | ISLAMiCommentary Two years ago, al-Qaeda’s Iraqi franchise took Raqqa, Syria, from al-Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, and was promptly kicked out of al-Qaeda. Within the year, the rulers of Raqqa…
Shooting of pro-Kurdish Human Rights Lawyer Deepens Turkey’s Political Crisis
GlobalVoices.org | - - On November 28, Tahir Elçi, one of Turkey's most prominent pro-Kurdish lawyers, was holding a press conference close to the very same minaret he referenced in his tweet…