By Golnaz Esfandiari | (RFE/RL) | – Narges Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) co-founded by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, was arrested on May 5 at her home in Tehran, according to her husband. Speaking to RFE/RL by telephone from Paris, Taghi Mohammadi said the officers […]
Archives for May 2015
We’re all Iraqis now: How Bush’s Wars Militarized Baltimore & Ferguson Police
By Michael Gould-Wartofsky | (Tomdispatch.com) | – Last week, as Baltimore braced for renewed protests over the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) prepared for battle. With state-of-the-art surveillance of local teenagers’ Twitter feeds, law enforcement had learned that a group of high school students was planning to march on the Mondawmin […]
Afghanistan’s Endless War: Between the US, Taliban and ISIL
By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | – War is largely a seasonal activity in Afghanistan. Winters are harsh and fighters need to work fields and tend herds. With spring, another fighting season is underway. This year will be different from its many predecessors. US ground troops are no longer engaged in large numbers; […]
Young Muslim-Americans Draw Their Own Muhammad
AJ+ | – “Muslims condemned the attack at a Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas. But some of them started drawing cartoons of their own.” AJ+: “Muslim Americans Draw Their Own Muhammad”
How Muslim-Americans can avoid being Trolled by Israel-Firsters: Look again at the Prophet’s example
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – In the period from roughly 610 to 622 CE (“AD”), Muhammad ibn Abdallah of the noble Quraysh tribe in the western Arabian city of Mecca preached monotheism to an outraged polytheistic city dedicated to the worship of ancient Near Eastern goddesses, and the commerce of which deeply depended […]
What Islamic State learned from the mad men of the ad world
By Mike Marinetto | (The Conversation) | – John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty were the mad men of the 1980s. Their BBH ad agency was the marketing genius behind Levi’s jeans, Audi cars and Lynx male deodorants. But the marketing nous and brand awareness techniques employed by the likes of BBH are now […]
Cunning Stunts in Iraq: ISIL Sleeper Cells Are Secret Weapon in Ramadi
Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Refugees from Ramadi trying to escape the city and extremists. Last week’s small extremist victories in Ramadi were fuelled by the work of sleeper cells, who spread rumours and panic that saw security forces abandoning the city and locals fleeing for Baghdad. But those worst fears were never […]
Video Shows Ethiopian-Israeli Soldier Beaten By Police – Violent Clashes In Tel Aviv
AJ+ | — “Clashes on the streets of Tel Aviv. Thousands of Israelis of Ethiopian origin have taken to the streets after a video appeared online. It appeared to show an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier being beaten by two Israeli police officers.” A+: “Video Shows Ethiopian-Israeli Soldier Beaten By Police – Clashes In Tel Aviv”
Rohingya Muslim Minority Migrants targeted by Buddhists found in Mass Grave
Wochit News / IRIN | – “Dozens of police and volunteers exhumed six more bodies on Saturday in the second day of digging out a mass grave near a suspected human trafficking camp on a hillside deep in a southern Thai jungle. The digging site, in Sadao district in Songkhla province, on Friday yielded four […]