Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli Knesset member this week convened a meeting to stop Palestinians from “preventing the expansion” of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria — the biblical term used by the Israeli government for the […]
Archives for August 2015
Syria: Kurdish YPG Expels “bloodthirsty” ISIL “gangs” from Hasaka (VICE News)
VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “The northeastern city of Hasakah is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in Syria. Its population of Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Christians was until recently politically divided between equal zones of Kurdish and Assad regime control. Immediately following the fall of the strategic border town […]
Putin pitches Grand Alliance against Daesh/ ISIL, but Syria Rebels want al-Assad Gone
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian Federation is a key player in Syria, and backer of the dictatorial government of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday attempted some diplomacy, however, welcoming a delegation of Syrian rebels against the authoritarian al-Assad in Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said just […]
GOP Hopefuls Get $62M From Fossil Fuel Donors: Origins of Climate Denialism?
Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel | (TheLipTV Video Report) | – – “Eight out of the 17 Republican presidential candidates have received at least $62m in donations from a small number of wealthy individuals and corporations with close ties to the fossil fuel industries, according to a report by Greenpeace and the Center for Media […]
Settlement Expansion Largely Responsible for Violence in Occupied West Bank
By Kanya D’Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Just weeks after an 18-month-old baby was killed in an arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma, located south of Nablus city in the Occupied West Bank, a United Nations special committee has blasted Israel’s policy of settlement expansion, saying […]
Good Earth News: Are Tar Sands & Fracking Doomed by Long Oil Glut?
By Michael T. Klare | (Tomdispatch.com | – – The plunge of global oil prices began in June 2014, when benchmark Brent crude was selling at $114 per barrel. It hit bottom at $46 this January, a near-collapse widely viewed as a major but temporary calamity for the energy industry. Such low prices were expected to force […]
Did Ayatollah Sistani just save Iraq from Iran-backed militias by pushing Gov’t Reforms?
Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org)| – – During last week’s protests, secret plans were made to use demonstrations to topple the government. But a senior Shiite spiritual leader seems to have stepped in at the last minute to save the country from chaos. At the end of July thousands of locals took to the […]
Why Partitioning Iraq is a Terrible Idea
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I think the remarks of outgoing US Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno on the possible partition of Iraq have been reported in a sensationalist way. He just said that Sunni-Shiite relations in Iraq are at a nadir and that the country could look different in the […]
GOP Pres. Candidates AWOL on Clean Power Plan
The Tree | – – Exactly one week after the United States government finalized its historic Clean Power Plan, the traditional opponents of the transition from dirty energy to clean renewables have failed to muster any credible attacks, let alone offer plans of their own. Last week’s Republican presidential debate included ten candidates, but not […]