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Archives: June 2015
2 Israeli Squatters /week injured by Palestinians & 39 Palestinians /week by Israeli Forces
Ma'an News Agency | - - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Three Israeli settlers [later reports say four] were injured in a shooting late Monday near the illegal settlement of Shvut Rachel south…
The #SaudiCables reveal how Money Controls Media, Politicians & … MTV?
By Mohamed Hassan | ( Global Voices Online) | - - The half million leaked cables to be released about Saudi Arabia's foreign policy by WikiLeaks, which have sparked debates across the…
After NBC says “You’re fired!” for bigotry, crybaby Donald Trump brandishes Lawsuit
Associated Press | (Video Report) | - - "Donald Trump says he may sue NBC after the network announced it's ending its business relationship with the mogul and presidential candidate over Trump's…
Tunisians fight back
By Christine Petré | Your Middle East | - - In an interview with Swedish radio I was asked if there is any support for these radical Islamist ideals among people in…
Tehran Press on Talks: From “Iran will be US Strategic Ally” to “US Sanctions here to stay”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iranian press has reacted in a whole range of ways to the current round of negotiations at Vienna between Iran and the…
Israeli naval forces intercept Gaza Aid flotilla
Update: Israeli forces had already hijacked the lead vessel in the four-ship convoy by early morning on Monday ET. BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli naval forces are preparing to intercept the Gaza-bound Freedom…
CNN Mistakes Dildo Banner For ISIS Flag
AJ+ | (Video Report) | - - "A CNN reporter saw a sex toy banner at a London Pride event and thought it was an ISIS flag." AJ+: "CNN Mistakes Dildo Banner…
America’s “Wars on . . .” have become an unhealthy Addiction
By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - War on drugs. War on poverty. War in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. War on terror. The biggest mistake in American policy, foreign and domestic, is…
Is Congress Using Trade Rules to Blacklist Critics of Israel?
By Rachel Ida Buff | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Legislation to fast track new trade pacts specifically targets supporters of the BDS movement against the Israeli occupation. In 1952,…
No, GOP, biblical Marriage was not between one man and one woman
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The freak-out by the Republican presidential candidates over the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage provokes me to revise and reprise the points…
Climate Change-Driven Drought in Karachi hits Poor Hardest
By Zofeen Ebrahim | {Inter Press Service) | - - KARACHI (IPS) - Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with…
Think California’s Drought Is Bad? Try Palestine’s.
By Laith Shakir | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - While Israelis water their lawns and swim in Olympic-sized pools, Palestinians a few kilometers away are literally dying of thirst. California…
New TV Show About Cairo’s Jewish Community draws Fans, Critics
Aj+ | (Video Report) | - - "“The Jewish Quarter” – a new series about Cairo's once-thriving Jewish community – is angering both Egyptians and the Israeli Embassy in Egypt." AJ+: "New…
In first, Court orders Dutch gov’t to protect citizens from climate change
The Tree | - - The Dutch government has put its citizens in danger by failing to address greenhouse gas emissions, a court [has] ruled . . . In a landmark verdict,…
Lone Wolves and Soft Targets: Or how our Press, Politicians are being Played by ISIL
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - I saw a lot of headlines on Friday trying to link violent attacks by radical Muslims in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, but I…
As Love wins out at Supreme Court, did Justices in Minority encourage States, Fundamentalists to Defy Ruling?
By Danielle Weatherby, Timothy Holbrook and Robert A. Schapiro | (The Conversation) | - - Editor’s note: Today the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that marriage is a legal right – striking down…
A Black President Eulogizes a Black Reverend and State Senator Slain for Being Black
Barack Obama | (PBS NewsHour Video) | - - "President Barack Obama delievered the eulogy at the funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of deadly shootings at Emanuel African…
Israelis demolish 1,000 Palestinian Homes in Negev Per Year
By IMEMC | - - The Israeli Interior Ministry and Land Administration Agency, in cooperation with the Regavim NGO and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), have been demolishing 1,000 Arab homes in…
Iran Talks Down to the Wire: Diplomatic Breakthrough or Prelude to War?
By Jasmin Ramsey | -- WASHINGTON (IPS) - A final deal on Iran’s nuclear programme wouldn’t only make non-proliferation history. It would also be the beginning of a better life for the…
Top 6 Achievements of Obamacare: (Hint, millions more insured)
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) has beaten back all judicial challenges, it is worth revisiting its vast success. A single-payer…
Why Boycotting Israel will Backfire, just as Netanyahu’s Blockade of Gaza Has
By Guy Laron | (Informed Comment) | - - Many people who support a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict believe that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has a good…
As Kobane comes under ISIL attack, Kurds Encircle, cut off “caliphate”
By Amy Austin Holmes | (Informed Comment) | - - (Kobane, Syria) The liberation of Kobane in late January led to jubilant celebrations almost everywhere. It was both a turning point in…
Journalists Pay the Price in Egypt’s Crackdown on Dissent
By Kitty Stapp | - - NEW YORK (IPS) - The Egyptian government is holding a record number of journalists in jail, a press freedom group said Thursday, despite promises to improve…
Top Five ways for Washington to Fail in Iraq
By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - In one form or another, the U.S. has been at war with Iraq since 1990, including a sort-of invasion in 1991 and a…
America’s Homegrown Extremists Twice as Deadly as Muslim Radicals
AJ+ | (Video report) | - "Homegrown groups with no connection to Islam have killed almost twice as many people as Muslim groups, according to a study by New America . The…
Humans Causing the Sixth Great Extinction of other Life Forms, on which we Depend
By Gerardo Ceballos | (The Conversation) | - - Vitus Bering, the famous explorer, led perhaps the most ambitious scientific expedition ever in the 1730s. Commanding 10,000 people, he was in charge…
If Southerners want a Symbol, Why not the Moultrie Liberty Flag?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- There was a rash of Confederate flag removals on Wednesday. The governor of Alabama had it removed from the statehouse. The governor of Virginia…
Will Iraq Be Libya? Can the Shiite Militiamen Avoid Turning on Each Other?
Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) - - Iraq's Shiite militias have been celebrated and criticised. Now, as differences in everything from weapons to leadership to loyalties become evident, tensions between the…
Palestinian Member of Israeli Parliament will join Gaza Aid Flotilla, Risks loss of Immunity
Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Arab MK [Member of Knesset or Parliament] Basel Ghattas said this week that threats by fellow Israeli lawmakers to remove his parliamentary immunity…
As 700 Die in Pakistan from Extreme Heat, Pakistanis Deny Climate Change
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Pakistan is in the midst of an extreme heat wave with highs around 110 degrees F., which has killed 700 persons in the…
Is the Confederate flag unconstitutional?
By Alfred L Brophy | (The Conversation) | - The tragedy in Charleston has revived the movement to take the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds. On Monday June…
Dear GOP: Play the Angry White Man card Enough & you might attract Racist Donors
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video) | - - "The leader of a rightwing group that Dylann Roof allegedly credits with helping to radicalise him against black people before the Charleston…
The Would-be Bush Trifecta, Brought to you by the Family Bankers
By Nomi Prins | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - [This piece has been adapted and updated by Nomi Prins from her book All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power, recently out in…
Iranians pin Hopes on success of Kerry-Zarif Nuclear Negotiations
By William O. Beeman | (Informed Comment) | - - I have just returned from a three-week trip in Iran in which I interviewed hundreds of Iranian citizens. I think many know…
What South Carolina needs to do for Racial equality (taking down the flag is just symbolic)
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - - Governor Nikki Haley announced on Monday that she would attempt to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the statehouse, recognizing the pain…
Selling the Gaza Assault: Israel’s Self-Inquiry is Self-Serving
John Hickman | (Informed Comment) | - - The document titled "The 2014 Gaza Conflict, 7 July – 26 August 2014: Factual and Legal Aspects" released by the Israeli government on May…
Wife of Israeli Cabinet member tweets Racist Obama Joke, had called for Innocent Palestinians to be Punished
Nik Zecevic and Margaret Howell | (TheLipTV News Video) |- - "A racist joke about President Obama posted on Twitter by Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes, the wife of Israeli interior minister Silvan Shalom,…
Democracy in retreat in Half the 193 UN Member States
By Thalif Deen | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Democracy is on the retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the U.N.’s 193 member states, according…
Wikileaks Docs Reveal Saudi intrigues against Bahrain’s Arab Spring
By Faten Bushehri | (Global Voices) | - - The Saudi Cables, released by WikiLeaks, includes a treasure trove of information in secret exchanges between Saudi diplomats on restive Bahrain Saudi Arabia's…
Top 5 Reasons Confederate Flag should stop Flying at SC Statehouse
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - 1. The Confederate flag in its current form was adopted by the seceding slave states to differentiate their banner from the Stars and…
Massive turnout for Bernie Sanders in Denver: Is he Gaining on Hillary Clinton?
By Sarah Lazare, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Massive turnout is latest sign the Vermont senator is gaining on Hillary Clinton At least 5,500 people gather in in a gymnasium…
Her War: Kurdish Women Commandos take on ISIL/ Daesh in Syria
RT | (Video Report) | - - "In the face of the deadly threat posed by the so-called Islamic State, many Kurdish women decide not to leave their survival to fate. Instead,…
Patterns of Racial Violence in the US: Charleston Shooting wasn’t a “One-Off” Event
By Ethan Zuckerman | (The Conversation) | - - When you read about Dylann Roof, think about the patterns he represents. There’s more than one. Over the next few days, we’re going…
Our Jihadis and Theirs: The Real (Armed) Dangers of American Life
By Tom Engeldhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Consider this paragraph a holding action on the subject of getting blown away in America. While I write this dispatch, I’m waiting patiently for…
PM Netanyahu wants a Free Press, just not in Israel
By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | - - Continuing his assault on transparency and independent voices in the media, Prime Minister Netanyahu denied investigative journalist Raviv Drucker’s Freedom of Information Law…
European Islamophobic Networks influenced Roof to Kill in Charleston
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Muslim-hatred of the Geert Wilders and Marine LePens in Europe, for which Daniel Pipes, and Pamela Geller, and the whole Islamophobic network…
1871: First US Anti-Terror Law banned White Racist attacks on Black Officials, Voters
Dara Lind | (Vox Video Report) | - - "Was the shooting that killed 9 people in Charleston's Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday terrorism? Vox's Dara Lind explains." Vox: "The Charleston shooting…
Israel releases 16 Squatter Youth suspected in arson of Church of Loaves & Fishes
By IMEMC | - - Israeli police detained and have now released 16 young Jewish settlers, Thursday, after an overnight arson attack damaged a revered shrine in northern Israel. The arson attack…
5 Radical Takeaways from the Pope’s Letter on Climate
By Janet Redman | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - Francis recognizes that there's no way to stop climate change without confronting the way the world does business. That's huge. Pope…
How Lindsey Graham & GOP lost the Chance to be Presidential over Charleston
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in my view never had any chance of becoming president, though he has thrown his hat into the ring…
Pope to Developed World: Greed is Causing Climate Change, Inequality
Jon Queally, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | - - Leader of Catholic Church says the richest owe the poorest a 'great social debt' for creating the climate crisis, ignoring warnings…
Sexism, Racism and Terrorism: Roof’s Misuse of Women to justify Lynching
By Lisa Wade | (The Conversation) | - - Many important things will be said in the next few weeks about the murder of nine people holding a prayer meeting at a…
Wars, Disasters displaced 14 Million last Year, 50% Children
By Roger Hamilton-Martin | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - A horrific year of war, humanitarian crises, human rights violations and persecution has caused a sharp rise in global forced displacement. The…
Rhodesian Flag, Confederate Flag: Roof & the Legacies of Racial Hate
Benjamin Foldy | (Informed Comment) | - - When the perpetrator in the horrific massacre at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston was first publicly identified as Dylann Storm Roof, a near-instantaneous…
Our reply to Dylann Roof’s Hate: Donate to “Mother Emanuel” AME Church
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - There are many essential responses to the racist terrorism that attacked Emanuel AME Church, which the state of South Carolina should take. It…
Since 2002, Right-wing White Terrorists have Killed More Americans Than Muslim Extremists
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video) | - - "When we have certain kinds of attacks in this country, there is terrorism world-wide, it’s a global conspiracy and they are coming…
End of Sykes-Picot: Is Independence for Iraqi Kurdistan a Decade Away?
Niqash.org | Sulaymaniyah | - - As Iraqis and Syrians fight, Kurds are holding elections and drafting laws. After Kurds also won in Turkish elections, nationalists hope the 100th birthday of the…
From Iran: Sanctions help the Hardliners
William Beeman | (Informed Comment) | - - Bill Beeman writes from Iran: I am continuing my trip through Iran traveling from Yazd to Isfahan via Na'in Discussions with a variety of…
Down the Iraqi Rabbit Hole (Again): Washington in Wonderland
By Andrew J. Bacevich | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - There is a peculiar form of insanity in which a veneer of rationality distracts attention from the madness lurking just beneath the surface.…
Another White non-Terrorist Kills 9, Makes Bomb Threats
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Update: Suspected shooter Dylann Roof has been apprehended. He had a gun with him at the time. It is being alleged that he…
Why Conservatives fear Pope’s Climate Letter: A Radical Attack on the Logic of the Market
Steffen Böhm | (The Conversation) | - - What makes Pope Francis and his 187-page encyclical so radical isn’t just his call to urgently tackle climate change. It’s the fact he openly…
French Telco CEO Receives Death Threats, is Cyberstalked over Withdrawal from Israel
By IMEMC | - - Orange boss Stephane Richard has taken legal action after receiving death threats against himself and family members amid a row over withdrawing his brand from Israel, legal…
Can Big Coal, Oil be Put on Trial for Global Warming Damage by Victims?
By Thalif Deen | - - UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 2015 (IPS) - The United Nations, which is tasked with the protection of the global environment, has asserted that climate change affects…
Juan Cole & Jocylene Cesari: “Europe’s Muslims after Charlie Hebdo: Challenges and Misconceptions”
David Speedie, Juan Cole & Jocylene Cesari | Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (Video) | - - "Months after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, questions remain about Europe's Islamic communities. How…
Can the GOP live down Donald Trump’s Middle East “Policy”?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Comedians, bloggers, and pundits are ecstatic about The Donald throwing his toupee in the ring for the Republican nomination. The stories write themselves.…
Climate Denial as a Corporate Criminal Conspiracy
By Naomi Oreskes | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Recently, the Washington Post reported new data showing something most of us already sense: that increased polarization on Capitol Hill is due to the way the Republican…
Israel’s Ultranationalist Squatters March in Jerusalem, beat Palestinian Journalist
Channel 4 News | (Video Documentary) | - - "Bussed in from nearby settlements, Israel’s ultranationalist right were defiant at a rally for Jerusalem day this year. Hardline views have become more…
Europe to reach 20% Renewable Energy Goal by 2020 & You’ll Never Guess How
Euractiv | - - [ N.B. 13% of US electricity is from renewables, including hydro; almost no transportation is powered by renewables.] While most EU member countries are on track to meet…
Women’s Voices Matter, especially in the Middle East
By Lauren Feeney | (Informed Comment) - - Before there were nine million Syrian refugees, civil wars in Yemen and Libya, mass death sentences being handed down in Egypt, there was a…
The Middle East Policy of President John Ellis “Jeb” Bush: Iraq, Iran Wars?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Jeb Bush announced his run for president on Monday. It is hard to know what his Middle East policy would be from his…
Flash Fiction: “The Office”
N.B. Fiction with mature themes. By Juan Cole | The Office Adib was winning at cards again. Bashir was already out, sitting in a corner with his French novel. …
In defeat for Israel Lobbies, Professors’ Union censures U of Illinois Over Salaita Firing
By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Attorneys for Professor Steven Salaita called the move by leading academic group 'a serious blemish on the university’s record' The university rescinded…
Saudi Arabia Lashing Blogger Reveals What Religion Fears Most
Cenk Uygur & John Iadarola | (The Young Turks Video) | - - "The public flogging of jailed blogger Raif Badawi is now “sure” to resume after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld…
Why Pelosi, Hillary and House Democrats turned on Obama over Asian free trade
By Harley Shaiken | (The Conversation) | - - Over the last several days, President Barack Obama pulled out all the stops to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) – aka fast track…
Pres. Erdogan sees Syrian Kurds’ advance against ISIL as “danger” to Turkey
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The leftist Kurdish Protection Forces (YPG) and their Arab allies, the Euphrates Volcano, continued their assault on Sunday on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) positions…
Next year in Mosul: Iraqi Kurds cut off ISIL/ Daesh Supply Lines
VICE News | (Video report) | - "A year after the Islamic State's lightning conquest of Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international coalition's…
The Immorality of harming the Earth: Burning Fossil Fuels is Today’s Golden Calf
By Tom Giesen | (Informed Comment) - - In the latter half of the nineteenth century, we began to burn fossil fuels rather casually, without much reflection, as if an epoch-marking discovery…
5,000 Hanging Skirts: How Women Remember War Rape in Kosova
By Frances Trix | (Informed Comment) | - - On 12 June, 5,000 skirts and dresses were hung on 45 clotheslines in the football stadium in Prishtina, capital of Kosova. “The laundry…
The Forgotten Costs of War in the Middle East
By David Vine | (Tomdispatch.com) | - First, they tried to shoot the dogs. Next, they tried to poison them with strychnine. When both failed as efficient killing methods, British government agents…
Can Leftist Kurdish Militia cut ISIL/ Daesh off from Turkish Supply Routes and Kill the Caliphate?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The intrepid Liz Sly of the Washington Post gets the story of the attempt of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and their…
Young Middle East Millennials’ Digital Split From Fundamentalism (Cole Interview)
Elliot Hill | (TheLipTV Video Interview) | - - "Millennials in the Middle East are forming a clear generational gap between themselves and their elders, with the digital revolution effecting a sweeping…
Bernie Sanders On How We Should Pay For War
By John Iadarola | (The Young Turks Video Report) | - - "John Iadarola (Think Tank) discusses Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders' recent policy announcement regarding war spending. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants…
“The Gaza Kitchen: Cuisine, Resistance, and Remembrance in Palestine” with Laila El-Haddad
By JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary Cooking and conflict? It’s a different approach, but it works, and these blended themes still resonate five years after she and co-author Maggie Schmitt first began…
Norway Insurance Co. divests from Israeli Firms in Palestinian West Bank
By IMEMC News | - - The Norwegian insurance giant, KLP Kapitalforvaltning, has divested two international building material companies from its investment portfolio because of their operations in the West Bank settlements.…
Hillary Clinton kicks off Campaign in NYC: Says Heir to FDR pro-Middle Class Policies (Full video)
NewsGoingViral | (Full Video) | - - Hillary Clinton kicks off campaign at Roosevelt Island, New York City. Positions self as heir of New Deal, Four Freedoms, middle class prosperity. Hillary Clinton…
How the Jurassic Park Franchise changed the real world of ancient DNA Research
By Elizabeth Jones | (The Conversation) | - - The park is almost open. Two decades on and Jurassic Park has morphed into Jurassic World, the one and only dinosaur theme park.…
Wind Power rapidly bringing Clean Electricity to masses in Global South
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Google is in talks to invest in Kenya's enormous Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, which will cost $700 million. The project will increase…
House Deals Major Blow to Obama’s Secret Asian Trade Agenda
By Maira Sutton | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - - The Senate's Fast Track bill package failed in the House today, following a landslide vote to reject a piece of the legislation…
Yemen: Caught between Saudis & Houthis, Children Pay Price of War
By Belkis Wille | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - The deliberate targeting of schools has become a flashpoint in the war between Yemen's rebels and a Saudi-led coalition. Hisham Yahya,…
World’s Richest Nations at G7 Imperil Earth by Slow CO2 Reductions
By Lucy Cadena | (Inter Press Service) | - LONDON (IPS) - One of the promises made by the leaders of the world’s seven richest nations when they met at Schloss Elmau…
Tens of thousands participate in Israel’s annual gay pride Parade
AFP | (Video Report) | - - "Tens of thousands of people turned out on Friday for Israel's annual Gay Pride parade, dancing in the streets of Tel Aviv and waving rainbow-coloured…
Al-Qaeda in Syria rubs out 23 members of Druze Religious Minority, Persecutes Others
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The al-Qaeda-linked Support Front has murdered 23 men from a single Druze clan in Qalb Lawzah, Idlib Province, Syria. Druze villagers fled in…
Pharrell Williams to G7: Green Energy is a Jobs Issue for unemployed Youth
Pharrell Williams | (The Guardian Video) | - - "Pharrell WIlliams, the Grammy award-winning artist makes an impassioned plea for green jobs to be put at the top of the agenda at…
Has US started Arming Iraq’s Shiite Militias against ISIL/ Daesh?
Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) The hostility between the US and Iraq's Shiite militias seems to have slowed. One leading militia member even went to the US. Is this the beginning…
Expelled for Life: A Palestinian Family’s Struggle to Stay on Their Land
By Jen Marlowe | (Tomdispatch.com) Nasser Nawaj’ah held Laith’s hand as, beside me, they walked down the dirt and pebble path of Old Susya. Nasser is 33 years old, his son six.…
Since 1967: 95,000 Palestinian Children Incarcerated by Israel
By IMEMC News | - - A human rights group submitted, on Wednesday, a report to UN about Israeli torture and mistreatment of Palestinian children. Military Court Watch (MCW) lodged the submission…
Has ISIL/ Daesh killed 50,000 in one Year? Iraq’s Horrors by the Numbers
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Human Rights Commission of Iraq, a body attached to the Iraqi parliament, issued statistics on Wednesday for the one-year impact of Daesh…
A Year after the Fall of Mosul, Yazidi Kurdish Survivors of ISIL Massacres Struggle On
VICE News | (Video Report) | - - "A year after the Islamic State's lightning conquest of Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international…
Saudi Arabia Fixated on Iran When Sunni Extremists Are Real Threat
By Russ Wellen | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | - - "Saudi Arabia’s perceived need to keep Iran at bay is distracting it from the danger that the Islamic State poses…
ISIL and the Middle East Generational Shift (with Juan Cole)
Elliot Hill | (The LipTV Video) | - - "With ISIS rampaging through Syria and Iraq, and a generational shift in politics and religion happening across the Middle East, we dissect some…
How each State in the Union can have 100% Green Energy by 2050: The Stanford Plan
By Bjorn Carey | ( Stanford News Service) | - -
Modest Increase in Iraq Training Mission shows Obama still Uninterested & Maybe he’s Right
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - The Obama administration got itself some headlines on Wednesday morning by pledging to send a few hundred more military trainers to Iraq and to…
It isn’t Israel that is being “delegitimized” but the Occupation of Palestine
By: John V. Whitbeck | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - June 5 marked the 48th anniversary of the “preemptive” attack on Egypt with which Israel launched the fateful “Six-Day War” that…
Donald Rumsfeld Blames Bush For Iraq Democracy Fail
Mark Sovel & Elliot Hill | (The Lip TV - Video) | - - "Donald Rumsfeld said George W. Bush was wrong about Iraq in a recent interview with British newspaper The…
Jon Stewart on Iran, Israel and Directing Rosewater: “It Turns out the Middle East is Somewhat of a Hotbed”
By Alexander Bisley | (Lumiere Reader) | - - N.B. Rosewater is now streaming at Amazon Instant Video and will be available on Netflix beginning June 10 It’s slightly surreal interviewing Jon…
Egypt: Year of Abuses Under al-Sisi — President Gets Western Support While Erasing Human Rights Gains
Human Rights Watch | - - (Beirut) – President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt has presided over the flagrant abuse of human rights since taking office a year ago pledging to restore…
Implications for ICC? SCOTUS Jerusalem Decision shows Limits of Israel Lobbies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - It has been the position of the US presidents for decades that the status of Jerusalem in international law is unsettled. That is…
Obama: We don’t have a “complete strategy” against ISIL
CBS News | (Video Report) | - - "President Obama said Monday the United States does not have a complete plan to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State…
Israeli Military Blockade makes Fishing, Farming in Gaza Deadly for Palestinians
By Mel Frykberg | - - RAMALLAH, West Bank (IPS) - Three Palestinian fishermen were injured last week after Israeli naval forces opened fire on fishing boats off the coast of al-Sudaniyya…
By the Time Washington wakes up to China’s Eurasian Strategy will it be too Late?
By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - For even the greatest of empires, geography is often destiny. You wouldn’t know it in Washington, though. America’s political, national security, and foreign…
Did Jeb Bush’s brother “Create ISIL” in Iraq?
by Brian Glyn Williams It was one of those moments that politicians dread. An unscripted incident last month when a voice in a crowd pinned down a candidate on an issue he…
Turkey: How Pres. Erdogan damaged the AKP Brand
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Justice and Development Party (AKP) decisively lost its majority on Sunday, falling to only about 40 percent of the vote. The other…
US view of Iraqi Army, before & after 2003 (Political Cartoon)
By Khalid Bendib | (Otherwords.org) | (Political Cartoon) Via Otherwords.org
At 450, Florida’s St. Augustine Faces Rising Waters of Manmade Climate Change as Governor Fiddles
Aljazeera America | (Video) "St. Augustine is one of the many cities seeing this alarming trend and fears that they may one day be submerged"
Fighting for Privacy, Two Years After Snowden
By Richard Esguerra | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - - Two years ago today, Glenn Greenwald published in the Guardian a single document confirming a key piece of the NSA's surveillance program,…
UN Special Rapporteur: Israel Must Abandon Plans to Relocate Bedouin
IMEMC | - - United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur Makarim Wibisono, today, repeated his call for the Israeli occupation to abandon its plans for the forced relocation of Palestinian Bedouins in the…
Green Energy Surging and you’ll never Guess Why
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- The adoption of wind and solar for electricity generation around the world is happening at a growing pace, and the likelihood is that it…
Israeli forces suppress protest over fraudulent purchase of West Bank church
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Saturday suppressed a march protesting the recent purchase by Israeli setters of a church compound in the southern West Bank. The 38 dunam compound, known as…
A Turkish Syriza? A radical democratic party and the new politics of the Mideast
By Omer Tekdemir | ( Your Middle East) Dr Omer Tekdemir analyzes a radical force in Turkish politics, which strives to protect democracy and represent all identities in society. Turkey’s forthcoming election…
Global Warming: G7’s Coal Plants are Weapons of Mass Destruction aimed at World’s Poor
By Sean Buchanan | (Inter Press Service) | - - LONDON, Jun 6 2015 (IPS) - As heads of state and government of the G7 states prepare for their Jun. 7-8 summit…
Weapons of the Wet: ISIL/ Daesh Cuts water to Iraqi Towns south of Ramadi
Ben Wedeman | (CNN Video) | - - "Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) ISIS has closed off a dam to the north of the Iraqi city of Ramadi -- seized by its forces last…
Iraq needs another National Party: Tariq Aziz’s Baath Party Ruined the Country
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and former foreign minister of Iraq, is dead at 79. He died in prison in the custody…
Surprise! Corporate Media declining to report on Big Money in Politics
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - "Now more than ever before Americans deserve to know about the need for campaign finance reform,' advocacy groups declare" As the U.S.…
Will the fight against ISIL Bankrupt the Iraqi Gov’t? Is it hemorrhaging hundreds of billions?
By Ibrahim Saleh | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) It's hard to get an accurate figure on how much Iraq's fight against the Islamic State group has cost. Local experts believe it's in the…
Yemen: Saudi Airstrikes kill 58, including dozens of Women and Children
RT | (Video report) -- "Saudi-led coalition warplanes are continuing to pound Houthi targets in Yemen despite the rebels agreeing to UN-backed peace talks. The strikes have killed 58 people across the…
Will Turkey’s Election end hopes for Turkish-Kurdish Rapprochement?
By Mustafa Gurbuz | (Informed Comment) | - - Whatever the election outcome on Sunday, prospects for Kurdish Peace Process are grim. Yet, regardless whether largely Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) passes…
The Wrath of Netanyahu: What does Orange Telecom’s departure from Israel really Mean for BDS?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Stephane Richard, the CEO of the French telecommunnications company Orange embroiled himself in an international incident on Wednesday during a visit to Cairo,…
The True Cost of America’s Ongoing Wars: Sebastian Junger, Spencer Ackerman et al.
Michael Moynihan, "The Business of Life" | VICE News Video | -- "The AUMF (The “Authorization of the Use of Military Force”) was a bill passed in the immediate wake of 9/11…
The “Bomb Iran!” Lobby Gears Up for 2016
By Sina Toossi | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | - "A tight-knit group of neocon dead-enders is pushing Iran to the forefront of the GOP's foreign policy agenda." In a recent…
Caught in ISIL crossfire, 8.2 Million Iraqis In Need of Emergency Humanitarian Assistance
By Kanya D'Almeida | - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - As fighting drags on between Iraqi armed forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), millions of refugees caught between…
It’s Getting hot in Here: There never was a Pause in Global Warming: Scientists
By Jay Lawrimore | (The Conversation) | - National and international studies have shown that the Earth is warming, and with this warming, other changes are occurring, such as an increasing incidence…
On eve of Turkish Election, Leftist Women Turn backs on Pres. Erdogan in Twitter Campaign
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In Turkey, left of center and Kurdish women took to Twitter on Wednesday to post pictures of themselves turning their backs to President…
Boston Terrorism suspect Rahim switched from Hate Speech Activist Geller to Police as Target
WCVB Channel 5 Boston | (Video) | - - "Boston terror suspect Usaamah Rahim originally plotted to behead conservative activist Pamela Geller but changed his mind and decided to target Massachusetts police…
Coal comeback in Europe threatens Climate, Environment (already kills 18,000 a year)
Euractiv | - - Forcible displacements, thousands of deaths and harmful CO2 emissions – the “2015 Coal Atlas”, published by Germany's Heinrich Böll Foundation, shows some of the devastating effects of coal…
Syrian Refugees Blocked, Stranded in Jordan Desert
Human Rights Watch | - - (Beirut) – Jordanian authorities have severely restricted informal border crossings in the eastern part of the country since late March, 2015, stranding hundreds of Syrians in…
“Nationalism and terrorism are constructed things to divide us”: Macedonian elections and a Balkan “War on Terror”
By Frances Trix | (Informed Comment) | - Now it appears, thanks to EU mediation, there will be new national elections in Macedonia next April 2016. In one sense it is quite…
Adelson Tabloid slams Obama for Listening to ‘Court Jews’ in Questioning Israel’s Credibility
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - President Barack Obama gave an interview on Israeli television on Tuesday in which he said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's position on rejecting a…
Turkish Elections: Will the Country go Full Putin?
Gulay Icoz | (The Conversation)| - Following a month of fierce campaigning, the people of Turkey are preparing to head to the polling stations for the nation’s general election. This is set…
Wins and Losses for Liberty and Privacy in USA Freedom Act
By Cindy Cohn and Mark Jaycox | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act today by 67-32, marking the first time in over thirty years that both…
Going for Broke in Ponzi Scheme America
Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | - [Note to TomDispatch Readers: I’ve long had a weakness for commencement addresses, or at least for what they might be rather than what they usually are, which…
Lawyer: Palestinian children facing torture in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian children are being beaten and tortured in a "heinous" way by Israeli soldiers during interrogation, a Palestinian Authority lawyer has said. Hiba Masalha, a lawyer for the PA…
US Air Force Absent as Daesh/ ISIL advances on North Aleppo against Sunni Rebels
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - Daesh (ISIL, ISIS), the murderous terrorist organization that has taken over the eastern desert of Syria and the western desert of Iraq, along with…
United Tells Muslim Woman Passenger ‘No Soda For Terrorists’
Jose Marcelino Ortiz and Nik Zecevic | (TheLipTV Video) | -- "United Airlines discriminated against Muslim passenger Tahera Ahmad following a request she made for an unopened can of Diet Coke during…
Can Nigeria’s new Muslim President defeat Boko Haram Extremists?
By Lisa Vives | -- NEW YORK (IPS) - Muhammadu Buhari, his hand on the Holy Book, was sworn in as Nigeria’s president at an open-air ceremony this past Friday in the…
Are there Echoes of the old Anti-Semitism in today’s Islam-Hatred?
Anne-Ruth Wertheim | (Informed Comment) | - Recently, the head of the Dutch national police Gerard Bouman warned against the poison that was seeping into his organisation: Muslims were continually being forced…
SlutWalk: Israeli Women March For Equal Rights In Jerusalem
AJ+ | (Video) | - "It's a city where women have been forced to sit at the back of buses. Now Israel's women are demanding equal rights in Jerusalem with a "SlutWalk"."…
Thank you, Edward Snowden: An End to General Warrants as so-called PATRIOT Act expires
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The US government behemoth dedicated to spying on us all in contravention of the Constitution will likely be only slightly inconvenienced by the expiration of…
Iraqi Army, Shiite Militias Retake area west of Ramadi from ISIL/ Daesh
Press TV | (Video) -- Reports coming out of Iraq suggest that government forces have managed to recapture a 5-kilometer area in the west of the flashpoint city. The latest advances follow…
Kurdish Muslims abandoning Islam for Zoroastrianism in Disgust at ISIL/ Daesh?
By Alaa Latif | (Niqash.org) The small, ancient religion of Zoroastrianism is being revived in northern Iraq. Followers say locals should join because it's a truly Kurdish belief. Others say the revival…
As new Gaza Aid Effort sets Sail, Activists mark 5 years since Israeli attack
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Activists in Gaza City on Sunday marked five years since Israel's deadly attack on the first Freedom Flotilla in 2010, a day after the ship leading Freedom Flotilla…