By Shalom Goldman | (Informed Comment) | – – This season, the best-selling book in the U.S. is Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu are mentioned frequently in Michael Wolff’s account of the chaos and confusion in the Trump White House. Wolff points out that for […]
Archives for March 2018
The New Censorship: Beware Authoritarian leaders claiming to Fight “Fake News”
By Courtney C. Radsch | (Project Syndicate) | – – Laws meant to curb “fake news” may be well intentioned, but their implementation has been sloppy, with few mechanisms to ensure accountability, transparency, or reversibility. Governments are outsourcing censorship to the private sector, where maximizing shareholder value, not upholding journalistic freedom, drives decision-making. WASHINGTON, DC […]
Yes, Newsweek & RT, Syria’s Regime uses Chemical Weapons
By Brian Whitaker | ( al-Bab.com) | – – False claims in the UN security council: Syria’s Bashar Ja’afari At a meeting [last month] of the UN security council Syria claimed the US and France now doubt that the Assad regime has ever used chemical weapons. The claim was false but it provides an interesting […]
Did an Emirates-Israel alliance Help elect Trump more than Russia?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the surprises thrown up by the Gulf crisis and by the Mueller investigation is how entangled the United Arab Emirates is with Israel, and how the lobbies of the two states in Washington powerfully shape American policy. While the Israel lobbies have received scholarly […]
Book Review: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
By Alice Evans | ( British Politics and Policy at LSE) Book Review: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge When was the last time you heard a person of colour challenge structural racism – the role of government policies, organisational practices and popular representations in reinforcing racial inequalities […]
Iran: Women Protesters against Veiling face Regime Prostitution Charges
By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) The hijab became compulsory in Iran after the 1979 revolution. A small number of Iranian women, risking arrest to protest compulsory head scarves, have rekindled debate about Iran’s so-called hijab rule. The Islamic scarf, or hijab, is one of the pillars of the Islamic republic and among its most […]
The last time the US enacted Punitive Tariffs it enabled the Great Depression
By Charles Hankla | (The Conversation) | – – President Donald Trump finally appears poised to make good on his promised threats to slam the door on free trade and erect walls around the country’s economy. Citing the need to protect national security, he released plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on foreign steel […]
UN: War Crimes being Committed in Syria’s East Ghouta
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned Syrian (and Russian?) officials that there is credible evidence that they are committing war crimes in East Ghouta, and perhaps crimes against humanity. A war crime is a single action that violates […]
Is the Saudi Elite Cannibalizing itself?
By Hugh Miles | (Middle East Monitor) | – – The weekend of 4-5 November 2017 was an eventful one in Saudi Arabia; a missile from Yemen exploded at Riyadh Airport and the Deputy Governor of Asir died in a helicopter crash. Important incidents, no doubt, but not enough on their own to keep that […]