By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Thousands demonstrated in Sanaa on Saturday morning against the Houthi take-over of the Yemeni government. Down south in Aden, there were big demonstrations on behalf of workers The murky political situation in Yemen has left the US unable to continue its drone strikes and other counter-terrorism operations, since Washington […]
Archives for January 2015
The Latest Blow to Israeli-Palestinian Peace
By Stephen Zunes | (Foreign Policy in Focus) — The United States blocked the latest UN resolution to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine for the most disingenuous of reasons. Though not technically using its veto power, the Obama administration is responsible for the defeat of a draft UN Security Council resolution passed at the […]
Now the DEA is Collecting our Phone Records: RIP 4th Amendment
By Hanni Fakhoury | (EFF) Think mass surveillance is just the wheelhouse of agencies like the NSA? Think again. One of the biggest concerns to come from the revelations about the NSA’s bulk collection of the phone records of millions of innocent Americans was that law enforcement agencies might be doing the same thing. It […]
Obama, blindsided by Boehner, Snubs Netanyahu
By Alexandra Halaby | (IMEMC & Agencies) — White House: Netanyahu Visit ‘Departure From Protocol’ Hours after the State of the Union address by U.S. President Obama, Boehner had invited Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address Congress. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address the U.S. Congress on March 3. The date of […]
Poll: Americans support Obama on Negotiating with Iran
By Nancy Gallagher | (The Conversation) In his State of the Union address, the President’s core message was that the US has emerged strong from the twin crises caused by the 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 global recession. And the challenge he posed to Congress on foreign policy is this. Do we want to […]
How Stable is Saudi Arabia?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) This article appeared at The Nation earlier this month. I’m reprinting an excerpt on the occasion of King Abdallah’s death . . . the kingdom faces a severe budget shortfall because of the plummeting price of petroleum. All this instability takes place against a backdrop of substantial regional turmoil. […]
America’s Walking Dead: The Perpetual War Machine
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) When it comes to the national security state, our capital has become a thought-free zone. The airlessness of the place, the unwillingness of leading players in the corridors of power to explore new ways of approaching crucial problems is right there in plain sight, yet remarkably unnoticed. Consider this the […]
Ragtag Kurdish Forces Face ISIL assaults at ‘The Kobani of Iraq’
By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | (Niqash.org) — NIQASH visits the northern Iraqi town of Kharabaroot, near Kirkuk, which has become the frontline for fighting between Iraqi Kurdish military and extremists from the Islamic State group. The Kurdish forces there come from Iran, Syria and Iraq and because of this, and because of the length […]
Floods and fires across Southern Africa raise alarm bells on climate change
SABC News | — “Floods and fires across the southern african region are raising alarm bells on climate change once again. These effects are being felt across the globe as sea levels rise, tropical storms smash into coastlines, once-fertile lands battle with floods or drought and permafrost in the polar regions melts. Although Africa contributes […]