AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “ISIS beheaded 82-year-old Khaled Al-Asaad on August 18, 2015, in the 2,000-year-old city he spent his life restoring. Syria’s most prominent antiquities scholar is the latest victim of the Islamic State group’s war on history.” AJ+: “ISIS Kills 82-Year-Old Scholar In Ancient City Of Palmyra He Helped […]
Archives for August 2015
To Contain Carbon Bomb, US Must End Fossil Fuel Leasing on Public Lands
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – ‘Each new lease puts us farther down the path toward climate catastrophe,’ says Friends of the Earth If the U.S. government wants any chance of meeting its stated global climate pledges, it should start by curbing emissions from publicly owned property and end new fossil […]
70 Top nuclear Experts: Iran Deal a ‘Net-Plus’ for Non-Proliferation Worldwide
By S. Chandra | (Inter Press Service) – – WASHINGTON (IPS) – As the U.S. Congress prepares to vote next month on the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was agreed on July 14 between the world’s leading powers and Iran, and has been approved by the U.N. Security Council, eminent nuclear non-proliferation […]
Huckabee’s virtual Genocide: erases Palestinians from West Bank, declares it “Israel”
IMEMC | – – US presidential contender Mike Huckabee said during a visit to Jerusalem, on Wednesday, that he did not consider the West Bank occupied by Israel. The Republican and Baptist minister, a regular visitor to Israel, attended a fundraiser for his campaign on Tuesday at an illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian […]
Defying Saudis, Iran: Muslim thinkers call for Action on Climate Change at Istanbul Conference
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Attendees at the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul from 20 countries produced, and 60 of them signed, a declaration this week warning of the dangers of climate change and urging urgent action to curb carbon dioxide emissions. But, I fear the press reporting on […]
Despite Sordid Past, Nuclear Deal can Repair US-Iran Relations: An open letter to Congress and the White House
Francis A. Mlynarczyk, Jr. and Walter M. Cadette | (Informed Comment)| – – Washington has an opportunity to repair its tattered relations with Iran. The opportunity is there on the premise that Washington, in fact, makes good on its P5+1 commitments to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for circumscriptions on Iran’s nuclear program. […]
Iran’s Support for Syria Pragmatic, not Religious (or, Who are the Alawites?)
By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | – – The Shia government in Teheran and the Alawi regime in Damascus have had warm relations since Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and many attribute that to a common affinity for Shia Islam. While Alawis have embraced their relatively recent inclusion in the Muslim world, for the vast majority of their history […]
Hard to get Good Help: Are US Generals just Incompetent?
By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Thomas Jefferson Hall, West Point’s library and learning center, prominently features two quotations for cadets to mull over. In the first, Jefferson writes George Washington in 1788: “The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace.” In […]
As Oil Prices Crater, Algeria needs an Actual Economy or big Trouble Looms
By Allan Christelow | (Informed Comment) | – – Like other oil producers, Algeria faces difficulties with the sharp decline in prices since 2014. But unlike oil producers in the Gulf region, Algeria has a strong tradition of public discussion, a tradition that has managed to survive the concentration of wealth in the hands of […]