(By “Jill Saunders”) “Jill Saunders”, a pseudonym, frequently attends the weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. In this reflective piece, “Jill” questions the very idea of ‘protest tourism’ in the West Bank. The wind from the open window blows dusty air across my face as our minibus winds down the roads from […]
Archives for April 2014
Top 5 Reasons Solar Energy will Save the World
(By Juan Cole) 1. The research and development monies now going into solar energy are great enough to fuel innovation and bring down prices rapidly. First Solar expects solar generation manufacturing costs to fall from 63 cents a watt to 35 cents a watt from now through 2017! 2. Honda is experimenting with a zero-carbon […]
A War of another Kind: Joint US-Yemeni Strikes on al-Qaeda kill 68
(via AFP) Dozens killed as Yemen, US mount air war on Qaeda (via AFP) An “unprecedented” US and Yemeni aerial campaign in Yemen killed at least 68 Al-Qaeda militants in a bid to head off attacks by the network’s local affiliate, officials said Monday. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been linked to a […]
High Inequality Results in More US Deaths than Tobacco, Car Crashes and Guns Combined
In 2009, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a study that revealed what seems to be a shocking truth: those who live in societies with a higher level of income inequality are at a greater risk for premature death. Here in the United States,…
The Romantics and the Orient: What English Poetry owes to the Middle East
(By Samar Attar) Many times I have asked myself how can I concentrate on the British Romantic Poets when people in Syria, the country of my birth, have been killing each other for the last four years, supposedly in the name of liberty and freedom? Thousands of men, women and children have been killed, maimed, […]
How Torture became Normalized in America
(By Rebecca Gordon) The US military involvement in Iraq has more or less ended, and the war in Afghanistan is limping to a conclusion. Yet leaks of Senate torture reports about actions in 2002 to 2006 are still breaking news. Don’t the problems of torture really belong to the bad old days of an earlier […]
Triumph of the Immigrant American Spirit: Meb Keflezighi and the Boston Marathon
(By Juan Cole) Yesterday Boston responded with its vigorous spirit of community and transcendence to the cowardly terrorism that marred the Boston Marathon in 2013, coming out in record numbers for the 2014 event. The fastest man in the competition is being touted as the first American male to win since 1983. But of course […]
Rebel In-Fighting Endangers Syrian Civilians in their Territory
(By Issam Abdel Hamid) Ordinary people say their lives are at risk due to disputes between rival rebel groups. Tensions between Syrian rebel forces stationed in civilian areas are causing problems for residents, who say they risk being caught in crossfire or regime strikes. People in towns and villages far from the front lines say […]
A People’s History of Muslims in the United States
(By Alison Kysia) When I teach history related to Islam or Muslims in the United States, I begin by asking students what names they associate with these terms. The list is consistent year after year: Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Muhammad Ali. All of these individuals have affected U.S. history in significant ways. If we […]
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