Kurds, nationalism, separatism, Middle East
Archives for January 2018
An Empire of Graveyards
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) |- – Recently, a memory of my son as a small boy came back to me. He was, in those days, terrified of clowns. Something about their strange, mask-like, painted faces unnerved him utterly, chilled him to the bone. To the rest of us, they were comic, but to him […]
In blow to Trump, Syrian Kurds call on al-Assad to Save them from Turkey
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The hopes of the Trump administration to use the Syrian Kurds as a wedge against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus may be rapidly fading. The liberal Lebanese newspaper Elbalad [The Country] reports that the Autonomous Administration of the Kurdish-majority Afrin region of northern Syria, […]
Human Rights Win in Iran: Thousands of Death Sentences for Drugs Dropped
Centre for Human Rights in Iran | Trans. & Ed. Global Voices Online An estimated 4,000 prisoners currently on death row in Iran for drug-related crimes could have their death sentences revoked, following a judicial order based on the country’s newly amended drug trafficking law. The order, issued by Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani on January […]
Palestinians: If Jerusalem is Off the Table, Peace is Off the Table
IMEMC News & Agencies International | – – Palestinian officials denounced, on Thursday, renewed statements by US President Donald Trump that Jerusalem is off the negotiating table and threats to cut all US aid to the Palestinians if they do not return to the negotiating table with Israel, saying that, if Jerusalem is off the […]
Plummeting Tourism to US, costing $10 bn., blamed on Trump Slump
TeleSur | – – Some in the travel industry attribute the decline to something they call the “Trump slump.” Travel to the United States has declined. While some in the [$244 bn.] tourist industry are asking why, others are pointing their fingers squarely at U.S. President Donald Trump. The U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office […]
China surges with 52 Gigs of new Solar as Trump kneecaps US sector with 30% Tariffs
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Clean Technica reports that China blew the top off expectations for its solar installations in 2017, It put in 52.83 gigawatts. The incredible 2017 solar surge in China brought its total solar installed capacity up to 130 gigawatts. As a cursory look at these statistics makes […]
It is all about the Oil: US Diplomats on Mideast Obsession
By Edward Hunt | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – A Rare Glimpse into the Inner Workings of the American Empire in the Middle East In recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, four former U.S. diplomats provided remarkably candid commentary on recent U.S. involvement in the Middle East, revealing a number of […]
US partisan divide over Israel at its widest ever, new poll finds
Middle East Monitor | – – The US partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats over Israel is now wider than at any point in the last forty years, a new poll by the Pew Research Centre has found. According to Pew, 79 per cent of Republicans say they sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians, […]