By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – It began in Hebron, which Palestinians call “al-Khalil,” the city of Abraham. Hundreds of thousands of Israel squatters had been enticed into this Palestinian city of 400,000 by the Likud government with cheap rent in cookie-cutter apartment buildings constructed on stolen Palestinian land. The raids on Palestinian olive […]
Archives for March 2015
Climate Change: Can the Insurance Industry be saved from Bankruptcy?
Link TV | – “The reinsurance industry insures insurance companies to help reduce risk associated with underwritten policies. Insurance rates have risen in areas with extreme weather events. Frank Nutter, President of Reinsurance Association of America, says climate change is a big factor for reinsurance and insurance companies. “The consequences of climate change are quite […]
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories ‘must end’ – White House chief of staff
RT | – US officials continue to maintain that American policy towards Israel will undergo changes in the wake of pre-election comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he stated that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch. Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories has lasted for nearly five decades and “must […]
The Rise of ISIL & the Political Bankruptcy of Arab Politics in the Levant
By Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) The rise of the so called ‘the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (al-Sham)’ or the ISIL—the Daesh in Arabic—is fundamentally the result of both the poverty of Arab Politics and the failure of the Islamic clerical leadership in formulating and institutionalizing the mechanics necessary for modern governance. […]
What exactly have the US & EU been doing to Iran’s Economy?
By Luke Johnson | (RFE/RL) Iran has been targeted by a steady dose of economic and military sanctions over the past 35 years, resulting in a maze of red tape intended to compel Tehran to end its support for international terrorism, improve its human rights record, and to assuage concerns that it is seeking to […]
All the Wars and Coups of President Ted Cruz
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Texas Senator Ted Cruz, one of three Cuban-Americans in the Senate, is throwing his hat into the ring for the 2016 presidential race today. Cruz has made a career out of slamming President Obama for being weak and presiding over the collapse of countries like Yemen (as though […]
Israeli control of their water a continuing threat to Palestinians: Report
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinians are suffering from unfair distribution of water resources as Israel is consuming the vast majority of Palestinian water, Palestinian officials said Sunday. A Palestinian farmer harvests wheat during the annual harvest season in Tequa village in the West Banker city of Bethlehem on June 2, 2012. (MaanImages/File) The Palestinian Central Bureau […]
US “War on Drugs” ruined Mexico even worse than it did Afghanistan
By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) – They behead people by the hundreds. They heap headless, handless bodies along roadsides as warnings to those who would resist their power. They have penetrated the local, state, and national governments and control entire sections of the country. They provide employment and services to an impoverished public, which distrusts […]
Obama with Drama: Translating his comments on Israel’s Netanyahu from the Vulcan
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Now that Leonard Nimoy is most unfortunately no longer with us, Barack Obama is the primary exemplar in American popular culture of the maddeningly calm, excruciatingly logical way of speaking that Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry forever associated with the alien race, the Vulcans and the character Mr. […]