Geneva, Switzerland — The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a fellowship of over 300 churches which represent some 590 million people in 150 countries, endorsed fossil fuel divestment this week, agreeing to phase out its own holdings and encourage its members to do the same. The WCC Central Committee is made […]
Archives for July 2014
Escaping Mosul and ISIS Assassination Campaigns
niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | Refugees from the Ninawa province, of whihc Mosul is the capital, queue to get into Iraqi Kurdistan. One local journalist explains why streets in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are so quiet, what’s worrying his family and friends there the most and how he himself managed to […]
Israel’s Groundhog Day: Reverse Snowballs and the Horror of Lawn-Mowing
by Juan Cole A horrible video is circulating on social media, of a Palestinian father in Gaza who is bringing a toy to his four year old son, only to find once he enters his home that his son’s head has been crushed by Israeli shrapnel. That is the face of Israel’s current military operation […]
Israeli Army: We have been instructed to Hit Hamas Hard
By Robert Naiman The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a new war on Palestinians in Gaza, a war whose purported justifications make George W. Bush's excuses for his illegal invasion of Iraq smell nice by comparison. So far, the United States, Netanyahu's chief enabler, has been unwilling to stop the carnage, as it could […]
American Torturers: We’re all Jack Bauer Now in The 25th Hour
By Rebecca Gordon Once upon a time, if a character on TV or in a movie tortured someone, it was a sure sign that he was a bad guy. Now, the torturers are the all-American heroes. From 24 to Zero Dark Thirty, it’s been the good guys who wielded the pliers and the waterboards. We’re not only living in […]
Will Afghanistan Break up Too? Abdullah Threatens Rival Gov’t As Kerry Raises “Concern”
By Charles Recknagel As disappointed Abdullah Abdullah supporters label Afghanistan's early election results a "coup d'etat," there is every reason to take seriously their threats to form a parallel government rather than accept one led by rival candidate Ashraf Ghani. This is because Abdullah is part of a powerful network that has both the political […]
Bhutan Hatches Ambitious Plan To Convert All Cars To Electric
By Christopher DeMorro Originally posted on EVObsession Situated on the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalayan mountains, the Kingdom of Bhutan has fewer people than the state of Rhode Island and even fewer cars on its poorly-paved roads. But after several visits between Bhutan officials and executives for Nissan and Mitsubishi, an ambitious plan to […]
Stop Saying ‘If X fired Rockets at U.S.’: It’s Racist, & assumes we’re Colonial
By Juan Cole Is anyone else disgusted by the propaganda trick of trying to get Americans to sympathize with Israel’s massive attack on the civilian habitations of Gaza by saying “if the US was subjected to rocket fire by X [usually Mexicans], what would it do?” This hope that Americans are racists and that their […]
The Fall of the New Year Throne (Complete Sword & Sorcery Novel of ancient Persia)
By Juan Cole The Fall of the New Year Throne Many, many thanks to everyone who followed the serialized sword and sorcery novel I have posted here since last January. I had written a version of it in the early 1990s. I wasn’t satisfied with it and ultimately got drawn into other projects. The book […]
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