By IMEMC | – – US President Barack Obama, this week, signed into law a sweeping trade agreement which protects Israel from boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) by countries who oppose the ongoing military occupation of Palestine. The agreement — H.R. 644: Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 — was passed 75-20, on […]
Archives for February 2016
Syrian Ceasefire: A Signal that Russia is winning the War?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Whether or not the cessation of hostilities in Syria holds, it is a major turning point in the revolution and civil war that began in 2011. As of Saturday morning in Syria, the major fronts between the regime and the Muslim Brotherhood factions were quiet. There […]
Iran Election Results Show that when US rewards Pragmatists, they Win
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Early results in Iran’s parliamentary elections suggest that the centrists, pragmatists and independents will have more seats than the Khomeinist far right. For the first time since the 1979 revolution, no one bloc will dominate the national legislature. The far right had had 66% of the […]
US Mil. ‘Expert’ equates Muslim Veiling with ‘Passive Terrorism’; One woman has Questions for Him
By Domenica Ghanem | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The U.S. military apparently thinks Muslim women’s clothing choices — rather than, say, drone strikes — are a driver of terrorism. Women are used to getting blamed for wearing too little. Can they now also be blamed for wearing too much? Misogynists have spun […]
Poll: Trump Barely Has Any Support Among Latinos
TeleSur | – – According to a new poll, more than 80 percent of all Latinos in the U.S. view Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump unfavorably. The popularity of United States Republican presidential Donald Trump, who is leading in the race to the nomination, has been tanking in recent months within the Latino community across […]
Egypt Jails Novelist Ahmed Naji for 2 years for His ‘Sexually Explicit’ Novel
By Mohammed Hasan | ( Global Voices | – – A Cairo appeals court sentenced Egyptian novelist and journalist Ahmed Naji for two years in prison for publishing a chapter containing “sexually explicit” scenes from his novel The Guide of Using Life in a magazine. Egyptian novelist and journalist Ahmed Naji has been sentenced to […]
European Union, Palestinian PM condemn Israel’s deliberate destruction of EU-funded Structures
Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Thursday condemned Israel’s “deliberate” destruction of EU-funded structures in the occupied Palestinian territory, as he called on the international community to take action. “Israel must be held accountable for its deliberate targeting of EU-funded humanitarian aid structures built for the […]
Rubio’s 7 Fallacies on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In last night’s Republican debate co-sponsored by Telemundo, billionaire bigot Donald Trump, usually a resident of Mars, briefly came back to earth long enough to suggest he could broker a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians by being even-handed. It is not a matter, he […]
Money Pit: America’s Forever War in Mideast has Gained us What, Exactly?
Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | It may be hard to believe now, but in 1970 the protest song “War,” sung by Edwin Starr, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That was at the height of the Vietnam antiwar movement and the song, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, became something of a […]