By Stephen Pascoe | (The Conversation) | – – To mark the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, we’ve got a package with an explanatory article about the secret accord (below) . . . The Sykes-Picot accord was conceived at a high point in Britain and France’s imperial power. Hammered out in the midst of […]
Archives for May 2016
Surges, Mission Creeps & Drones in the Mideast: America’s Forever War
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – There are the news stories that genuinely surprise you, and then there are the ones that you could write in your sleep before they happen. Let me concoct an example for you: “Top American and European military leaders are weighing options to step up the […]
Annual ‘March of Return’ draws thousands of Palestinians to the Negev
Ma’an News Agency | – – NEGEV (Ma’an) — Thousands of Palestinians participated in the annual ‘March of Return’ on Thursday afternoon near Bedouin towns in the Negev (Naqab) in southern Israel, commemorating the 1948 Nakba amid the conclusion of Israeli independence day celebrations. Palestinians in Israel, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners emblazoned with […]
Baghdad gov’t paralysis made capital vulnerable to massive ISIL bombings
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) launched a series of suicide car and truck bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 and wounding nearly 200 persons. Baghdad security had improved over the past couple of years, but the Coalition United for Reform blamed political wrangling on sectarian and […]
Aside from Super-Rich, All Americans are poorer this century
TeleSur | – – Soon, researchers predict, the middle class will no longer be the largest class in the United States. Households in the United States made less money in 2014 than they did in 1999, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, a decline that transcends class. According to the […]
Sadiq Khan and the End of Islamophobia
By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The victory of Sadiq Khan has "normalized" Muslims in UK politics in much the same way that JFK normalized Catholics in American politics. But American Muslims are still waiting for their JFK moment. Even his own sister was mortified. In the recent mayoral […]
In Resistance and Creativity, the Occupied Palestinians find Hope
By Victoria Brittain | (OpenDemocracy) | – – The village of Nabi Saleh is a story of resistance in the face of theft and violence. Rawabi encapsulates the vision of a neo-liberal pacified Palestine. And then there is Gaza… On a warm spring evening in the occupied West Bank Bassem Tamimi was looking over his […]
Majorities of Muslim Arabs in N. Africa want a Separation of Religion and State
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – You know those silly anti-sharia laws passed by evangelicals in US state legislatures? They may as well not bother. (Sharia is Muslim law; but it is much more diverse and fluid than fundamentalists of both stripes think it is). It turns out a lot of Muslims […]
Is Donald Trump at War with the Republican Party?
By Jack Rasmus | (TeleSur ) | – – Trump’s appeal is reminiscent of Reagan’s back in 1980 because of their unabashed attack on what they say is a failed political establishment. With his win last week in Indiana’s Republican primary, it appears increasingly likely that Donald Trump will now be the Republican nominee to […]