By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) – On January 18, 2015 an Israeli military operation lead to the death of Jihad Mughniyah in Quneitra, in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. According to a retired Israeli general, the timing of the operation that led to the death of Jihad Mugniyah, several other […]
Archives for February 2015
Journalist Greste Freed by Egyptian Junta, but Press Freedom still Hostage
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Peter Greste, an Australian journalist working for Aljazeera English, has been released from an Egyptian prison after a 400-day ordeal in which he was jailed merely for reporting the news. Greste was preemptively released by a presidential pardon from Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military dictator. Nothing is more […]
Iran and the West on Revolution Anniversary: 36 Years of Futile Estrangement
By Farhang Jahanpour | (Informed Comment) – Anniversary of Iranian Revolution February 2nd marks the 36th anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran after 14 years of exile. After ruling Iran for 37 years as a staunch U.S. ally, Mohammad Reza Shah left Iran on January 16, 1979, never to return. Demonstrations […]
War Is the New Normal: Seven Deadly Reasons Why America’s Wars Persist
By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) – It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Pentagon insiders called it “the long war,” an open-ended, perhaps unending, conflict against nations and terror networks mainly of a […]
Being An Antiwar Activist In Israel Is Dangerous
AJ+ | – “Being an antiwar activist in Israel is dangerous. Israelis who protested against the 2014 Gaza offensive were threatened, harassed and attacked. Some even lost their jobs. Yoav Eliassi, also known as “The Shadow,” is a right-wing rapper and driving force behind a movement to stamp out dissent in Israeli society.” AJ+ “Being […]
Ironies of Empire: US now Allied with Shiites Trained by Assassinated HIzbullah Leader
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The revelation by the Washington Post’s Adam Goldman and Ellen Nakashima that the car-bomb assassination of Hizbullah commando Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in 2008 was a joint CIA/ Israeli Mossad operation comes at an awkward time for Washington. The administration of George W. Bush did not target Mughniyah […]
GOP Pres. Candidates warn Iran Nukes can hit NYC (despite No Nukes, ICBMs)
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) – “”Three likely presidential candidates shared the stage Sunday night before a roomful of wealthy donors, engaging in a rapid-fire policy discussion that underscored sharp disagreement within the GOP over global affairs and national security. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul took part in a largely […]
With US Tanks, are Iraq’s Shiite Militias getting stronger than the Army?
by Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Iraq’s unofficial Shiite militias are an essential part of the fight against the extremist Islamic State group. But they act independently of the army, and are sometimes brutally murderous. Army officers now note that the militias have better weapons and better working conditions and that’s why their […]
Is there New hope for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange?
By Gustavo Capdevila | (IPS) Julian Assange in one of his rare public appearances in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been in hiding since June 2012. Credit: Creative Commons GENEVA, Jan 30 2015 (IPS) – There is a window of hope, thanks to a U.N. human rights body, for a solution to […]