By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The tragic deaths last January, just now being revealed, of two Western hostages in drone strikes on a relatively empty housing complex in northern Pakistan near the Afghanistan border underlines that the Obama administration is killing people from the air without knowing who they are and is killing […]
Archives for April 2015
Is Iranian power on the rise?
By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) – As the Iranian nuclear talks neared preliminary agreement, and as the Houthis drove into southern Yemen, world leaders and commentators warned that Iran is on the rise in the Middle East. This, they continued, had to be stopped by imposing tougher sanctions and opposing the Houthis, perhaps […]
Why Gaza Casualties were so High: Israel relaxed rules re: high-explosives in populated areas
By: Charlie Hoyle – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The unprecedented number of Palestinians killed in the 2014 war in Gaza was linked to changes in the military rules of engagement regarding civilian protection measures by Israel’s army, a London-based NGO said this week. In a new report entitled ‘Under Fire,’ Action on Armed Violence found that […]
Double Standard: Petraeus Avoids Prison, But Whistleblowers Not So Lucky
Newsy | – “Retired Gen. David Petraeus was sentenced Thursday for mishandling classified government documents, but why was his punishment relatively light?” Newsy: “Petraeus Avoids Prison, But Whistleblowers Not So Lucky”
Tensions Boil Over After Baltimore Police Call Protesters “Lynch Mob”
By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) Demonstrators still seeking answers over the mysterious and troubling death of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal injury while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department, circled City Hall on Thursday after Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that he had called in state troopers to help […]
A Letter of Apology to My Grandson: A Pox on Twenty-First-Century America
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) Dear Grandson, Consider my address book — and yes, the simple fact that I have one already tells you a good deal about me. All the names, street addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers that matter to me are still on paper, not in a computer or on an […]
Rand Paul: GOP Hawks are Obama’s “Lapdogs;” McCain: Paul ‘Worst Candidate’
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The philosophical difference between the Libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and the GOP hawks has burst into open name-calling. First, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that Paul had been more wrong than right, and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) jumped in, calling him “naive.” On Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” on […]
Mobilizing For Mosul, Iraq: Scholars Work To Save Town’s Heritage from ISIL
By Coilin O’Connor | (RFE/RL) – While much of the world stands by as the militant Islamic State group takes a sledgehammer to the Middle East’s cultural legacy, a team of Czech scholars is working feverishly to try and save one Iraqi town’s architectural heritage. All across the large swaths of Syria and Iraq that […]
2015 Darwin Award: Paris would-be Church bomber Shoots own Leg, Calls 911
France24 | — “This church in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif may have escaped being attacked last week-end. “Documentation was found that said without ambiguity that a person known to authorities would carry out an attack on 1 or 2 churches,” says French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.” France24 English: “France Terror threat – All we […]
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