By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. In recent years it has faced severe internal divisions, especially a Saudi-Qatar split over the Muslim Brotherhood, which Riyadh wanted to crush but which Qatar generally has supported. After […]
Archives for July 2015
15 Feet within 50 Yrs? Study finds alarming acceleration in sea level rise
Charlie Rose | (CBS News Video) | – – “Higher sea levels could lead to stronger hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms, causing major problems for coastal cities. CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reports on new research that suggests sea levels are rising faster than previously thought.” CBS Evening News: “Study finds alarming acceleration in sea level […]
On Edge over Syria, Kurdish issues, Turkey tense after horrific Bombing
By Cengiz Gunes | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State appears to have stepped up its war with the Kurds by bombing a meeting of socialist activists as they gathered in the town of Suruç. The incident is not only a terrible blow to the Kurds, but threatens further unrest in Turkey, where a […]
Is the ISIS War About Oil After All?
By Jack Werner | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The unfolding intervention against the Islamic State shows that oil doesn't just guide U.S. foreign policy. It constrains our ways of thinking about it. Foreign intervention is 100 times more likely if oil reserves are present in a country experiencing civil war. That’s the […]
Can Marijuana heal Broken Bones?
Nik Zecevic and Margaret Howell | (TheLipTV) | – – “Marijuana helps broken bones heal faster, according to a study which also found that bones treated with marijuana were stronger and less likely to fracture again. The study by researchers at Tel Aviv University found that rats with broken bones healed much quicker when given […]
Requiem for the Home Front: Before War was Covert & Elite
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Almost three quarters of a century ago, my mother placed a message in a bottle and tossed it out beyond the waves. It bobbed along through tides, storms, and squalls until just recently, almost four decades after her death, it washed ashore at my feet. I’m speaking […]
Terrorist kills 31 at Socialist Rally for Kobane in Turkey
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – According to Alarabiya, on Monday a young woman aged 18 detonated a suicide bomb belt at a socialist youth rally in Suruç, Turkey, just ten miles from the border with Syria. Some three hundred members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associates were on a summer […]
Security Council Defies GOP, AIPAC on Hill by Approving Iran Nuke Deal
By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – When all 15 members of the Security Council raised their collective hands to unanimously vote in favour of the recently-concluded nuclear agreement with Iran, they were also defying a cabal of right-wing conservative U.S. politicians who wanted the United Nations to […]
Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children: Chokeholds, Beatings, Coercive Interrogations
Human Rights Watch | – – (Jerusalem) – Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11. Security forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their […]