At a time when it’s become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation’s political conversation — drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% — electoral politics and the 2012 presidential el…
Archives for February 2012
Omar Khayyam (5)
Get up and come here for the sake of my heart, and lend your beauty to solving my problem. Bring an earthenware cup full of wine for us to drink, –quick before we’re clay in the ground that they quarry to make cups. translated by Juan Cole from Whinfield 5
Santorum Hypes Iran ‘Threat’
GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum warned North Dakota on Wednesday that it was in the cross-hairs of an Iranian attack. Among the news about Iran that had Americans thinking about that country was an announcement that Iran is making its own nuclear fuel and using it for a reactor. Iran has a small medical research […]
Ahmadinejad Speech on Nuclear Energy Advances (Full Text)
The USG Open Source Center translates the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the inauguration of three civilian nuclear projects Iran: Ahmadinezhad Inaugurates Nuclear Projects Speech by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad in Tehran at a ceremony marking the simultaneous launch of three nuclear projects — live. Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television Thursday, […]
Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, Imperial Hegemony and Its Discontents
In the years of conscious, self-inflicted decline at home, “losses” continued to mount elsewhere. In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western dominati…
Active Nuclear Arsenals and Iran’s Absence
These are some of the countries that say they are afraid of Iran. Between them they have thousands of deadly atomic weapons. But note that Iran has no nuclear weapon, no nuclear weapon program, and no prospect of a nuclear weapon for at least 10 years (according to the US National Intelligence estimate) even if […]
Omar Khayyam (30)
Your hand can seize today, but not tomorrow; and thoughts of your tomorrow are nothing but desire. Don’t waste this breath, if your heart isn’t crazy, since ‘the rest of your life’ won’t last forever. trans. Juan Cole from Whinfield 30
Syrian Assault on Homs Heats up as Obama Scolds Chinese
Syrian forces renewed their heavy bombardment of the Baba Amru district of Homs on Tuesday morning, in the fiercest attack in days. The attack is producing a humanitarian crisis, with food shops closed, electricity knocked out, and people fleeing (some to Jordan). The brutal Baath regime’s determination to subdue the rebellious city, even if it […]
Greek Lessons for the Arab Spring: Majid
Anouar Majid writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Greek Lessons for the Arab Spring As the Arab Spring enters its second year and the whiff of democratic possibilities hovers in the air of many an Arab nation, a question that continues to be left unanswered is whether an Islamist worldview and democracy can […]