ODN/ ITN “Photographed on Saturday, images were taken of at least 35,000 walruses who beached themselves on a remote Alaskan coastline. The huge gathering was spotted during the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual arctic marine mammal survey. And according to experts, the phenomenon is being blamed on the melting of arctic ice due to […]
Archives for October 2014
In Iraqi Classrooms, Sunni Muslim Extremists Ban Evolution, Patriotism And Literature
By Ahmad Mohammed | Kirkuk | via Niqash.org In areas under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists, teachers have been issued a special set of instructions. Among other things they say that males and females are to be separated, all mentions of evolution are to be removed from textbooks and anything that encourages patriotism –like […]
As the Globe Warms, So Does the Climate Movement
By Todd Gitlin via Tomdispatch.com Less than two weeks have passed and yet it isn’t too early to say it: the People’s Climate March changed the social map — many maps, in fact, since hundreds of smaller marches took place in 162 countries. That march in New York City, spectacular as it may have been […]
7 Surprising Reasons Turkey is entering war on ISIL
By Juan Cole The Turkish parliament voted by a large margin Thursday to allow Turkish troops to make incursions into neighboring countries if necessary to defeat the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This authorization is necessary according to the Turkish constitution. Likewise, parliament voted to allow foreign troops involved in the […]
Lessons from French Morocco: “Fanaticism Anxiety” about Muslims has been with us since the Colonial Era
By Edmund Burke III Today we hear a great deal about the question of what went wrong in Middle Eastern societies. For an historian of the early twentieth century world, it’s déjà vu all over again. Similar questions and similar anxieties were being voiced a century ago. Very much like fin de siècle Europeans, we […]
Statement by Professors of Jewish Studies in North America Regarding the AMCHA Initiative
Received by email attachment) Statement by Professors of Jewish Studies in North America Regarding the AMCHA Initiative We the undersigned are professors of Jewish studies at North American universities. Several of us have also headed programs and centers in Jewish studies. Many of us have worked hard to nurture serious, sustained study of Israeli politics […]
Denying ISIL Legitimacy and the problem of Radical Returnees
By Akil N. Awan via The National Interest Last week, President Barack Obama chaired a special meeting of the UN Security Council in which member states passed a resolution establishing an international legal framework to help prevent the recruitment and transport of would-be foreign fighters from joining terrorist groups. As expected, United Nations Security Council […]
Palestine goes to UN Security Council to Demand Israeli Withdrawal by 2016
By Juan Cole AP reports that Palestine is presenting a resolution to the United Nations Security Council (through its “Arab Group”) calling for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by 2016. Palestine will argue that Israel has systematically and over decades violated all the international laws regulating military occupations, and […]
Netanyahu’s Nuclear Hypocrisy on Iran; In fact, Everyone in the ME needs to Disarm
By Farhad Malekafzali With negotiations to limit Iran’s enrichment in return for easing of economic sanctions on the verge of failure, hopes for a step-by-step diplomacy to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program are once again dashed. The decade old debate regarding Iran’s nuclear program has largely centered on denying Iran capacity to build nuclear weapons because […]