By Juan Cole President Obama’s speech launching his war on ISIL avoided the qualifications that he had earlier made, which had produced caviling inside the Beltway from politicians who confuse careless belligerency with decisiveness. From a language of containing ISIL, he was forced to speak of degrading and destroying it. He went back and forth […]
Archives for September 2014
ISIL isn’t Medieval: Revolution, Terror and Statemaking are Modern
By Kevin McDonald, Middlesex University Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who claimed that ISIS is “medieval”. In fact, the […]
ISIL Fighting With Weapons From US and 'Moderate' Syrian Rebels: Report
By Sarah Lazare via Commondreams.org The Islamic State (IS) is now in possession of lethal weapons formerly owned by so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels, as well as large quantities of arms produced in the United States, a new report (PDF) reveals The study — conducted by Conflict Armament Research, a research organization that tracks weapons proliferation […]
US, Iraq have same child homicide rate – UNICEF
RT America: “America leads all Western nations in the number of child homicide victims, according to a new report from UNICEF. In 2012, there were four adolescent homicides per 100,000 people in the US, which is on par with the child death toll in Iraq. RT’s Ameera David takes a look at the troubling figures.” […]
Gaza and Israel: Serial “Ceasefires” and the 70-Year War Continues (Chomsky)
By Noam Chomsky On August 26th, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) both accepted a ceasefire agreement after a 50-day Israeli assault on Gaza that left 2,100 Palestinians dead and vast landscapes of destruction behind. The agreement calls for an end to military action by both Israel and Hamas, as well as an easing of […]
Climate Change is the real Terrorist (Young Turks)
Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks “Atmospheric volumes of greenhouse hit a record in 2013 as carbon dioxide concentrations grew at the fastest rate since reliable global records began, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. “We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human […]
Hamas, Shmamas: It’s about Israeli National Ambitions
By Brian K. Barber, special to Informed Comment Much recent commentary on forging a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israel makes two deceptive and unproductive claims: 1) Hamas is responsible for the recent violence and must alter its behavior; 2) More generally, both Israel and Palestinians must make “painful concessions.” This preoccupation with Hamas severely […]
3 Years War? Obama to Bomb Syria in fight against ISIL
By Juan Cole Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura at WaPo report on a Monday evening dinner at the White House attended by foreign policy experts, in which President Obama expressed confidence that he had the authority to bomb ISIL positions in Syria. In other reports, Obama officials have leaked that they think this is a […]
“Obama to outline campaign against ISIS” (Juan Cole at Chris Hayes, “All In”)
Juan Cole at MSNBC Juan Cole hosted by Chris Hayes, “All In”: “Obama to outline campaign against ISIS” ————- screenshot
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