2014

By Brian Whitaker, author of Arabs without God In the midst of sectarian turmoil in the Middle East, one section of Arab society rarely gets much attention: those who reject religion entirely. And yet such people do exist, their numbers appear to be growing and they are beginning to find a voice. Social media have […]

Dissent

The Israeli version of Steven Salaita: Occupation University fires Professor for Insufficient Zionism

contributors

By Amir Hetsroni This is how I became the Israeli version of Steven Salaita: I was teaching at Ariel University when administrators summoned me to a pre-dismissal disciplinary hearings claiming that my views on religion (too atheist), welfare (overly capitalist), gender (not enough feminist) and Zionism (not Zionist and willing to withdraw from practically all […]

Israel

How the Gaza War Backfired on Netanyahu

contributors

By Ramzy Baroud (Maan News Agency) Netanyahu’s war-turned-genocide in Gaza has backfired badly — his strategy has helped resurrect Hamas, the very movement he tried desperately to crush. Aside from being a major military setback, Israel’s war on Gaza has also disoriented the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu like never before. Since the announcement […]

Barack Obama

Russia denounces Obama Plan for Syria Air Strikes as Violation of Int’l Law

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Russia on Thursday pushed back against President Obama’s state plans for taking on the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) in Syria. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich remarked on television: “The US president has spoken directly about the possibility of strikes by the US armed forces […]

Counter-Terrorism

Obama’s ISIL Actions are Defensive, Despite Rhetoric of going on Offense

Juan Cole

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 […]

Iraq

ISIL isn’t Medieval: Revolution, Terror and Statemaking are Modern

contributors

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 […]

Free Syrian Army

ISIL Fighting With Weapons From US and 'Moderate' Syrian Rebels: Report

contributors

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 […]

Crime

US, Iraq have same child homicide rate – UNICEF

contributors

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.” […]

Israel

Gaza and Israel: Serial “Ceasefires” and the 70-Year War Continues (Chomsky)

contributors

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 […]

Archives for 2014