Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – “Iraq’s Sunni Muslims desperately need their politicians to present a united front and act in their interests. But the politicians cannot agree on a vision for the post-Islamic State future.” Last Sunday, Iraqi parliamentarians voted to ban their colleagues from participating in conferences held outside the […]
Archives for May 2017
Trump “Religious Freedom” Order Opens Way for LGBT Bias
Human Rights Watch | – – License for Actions Harmful to Women, LGBT People (Washington, DC) – An executive order issued by President Donald Trump on May 4, 2017, opens the way to overriding regulations that protect women’s health, Human Rights Watch said today. While media attention has largely focused on the order’s efforts to […]
Paying for Facebook? Will Egyptian Social Media Users have to Register With Gov’t?
By Afef Abrougu. | ( Global Voices ) | – – Sixty Egyptian members of parliament recently approved a draft law on “the regulations of using and exploiting social media networks.” If adopted by the parliament, the law would require social media users in Egypt to register with a government authority in order to use […]
Trumpcare is the best Advertisement for Nationalizing Insurance
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The sadism and greed of the American Republican Party was on full display Thursday, as the House GOP voted to destroy Obamacare and remove the coverage for pre-existing conditions (50 million Americans suffer from them). Oh, this sabotage is camouflaged, but the way Trumpcare would work […]
Dems to GOP After Trumpcare Vote: hey, hey, say Goodbye (in Next Election)
By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) | – – President Trump celebrated with House Republicans in the White House Rose Garden amid growing call to ‘make them pay’ As Republicans joined President Donald Trump for a victory photo op and beer bash at the White House following the passage of the American Healthcare […]
Syria: Rebels denounce De-escalation Zones ok’d by Russia, Iran, Turkey
TeleSur | – – Signatories to the agreement say that there should be a cessation of hostilities in safe zones designated by the three powers by Friday. Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday signed a memorandum on creating safe zones in Syria, while a delegation of the armed Syrian opposition walked out and shouted angrily […]
American Amnesia in the Garden of War
By John Dower | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Some years ago, a newspaper article credited a European visitor with the wry observation that Americans are charming because they have such short memories. When it comes to the nation’s wars, however, he was not entirely on target. Americans embrace military histories of the heroic “band […]
Picture of the Day: Iranian Woman Tambourine Player, 1848
British Museum | Persian Costumes | – – “Portrait of a young woman; single-page painting mounted on album folio. A young woman kneels on a yellow and white carpet while holding a large tambourine to the right with both hands. She wears an orange blouse, a blue jacket fastened at the waist, and a bright […]
How President Bannon’s Whiteboard Sank Trump
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump’s approval ratings are in the toilet compared to any other modern president at this stage of his presidency. At least some of that public disapproval comes from his repeated attempts to issue overly broad or discriminatory or otherwise unconstitutional executive orders. These were promptly blocked […]