By Nate Terani | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Understand this: I’m an American veteran. I’m also a Muslim-American in a country in which, in these years, that hasn’t exactly been the happiest category to fall into. Now, let me tell you a little story. Recently, I had an ominous dream. It was noon on […]
Archives for March 2018
Afghanistan: How a Shrine Bombing in Kabul tells us Trump’s Surge won’t Succeed
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – This year, the merriment of Now-Ruz in Kabul was marred by a suicide bombing that killed at least 33 persons and wounded 68, according to the Afghani Ministry of Health. The perpetrator was allegedly a member of ISIL (which really needs another name, since it isn’t […]
Israel: 8 months for slap in teen journalist Ahed Tamimi Plea Bargain
Middle East Monitor | – – Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi is to serve eight months in an Israeli jail after reaching a plea bargain, Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported. Details have yet to be made public after the court held a closed session today, however the paper reported that Tamimi would plead guilty to four […]
How Racism in the West is Changing: from Exploitation to Competition
By Anne-Ruth Wertheim | ( Joop ) In addition to racism in our parts predominantly taking the guise of Islamophobia in recent decades, now all those moldy myths about differences in IQ between the races people are being dusted off. Not that horror stories about Muslims have vanished or any other prejudices about minority groups. […]
Turkey: Mass Deportations of Syrians to dangerous Areas
Human Rights Watch | – – EU Should Raise Issue, Pledge Aid at Conference (Brussels) – Turkish security forces have routinely intercepted hundreds, and at times thousands, of asylum seekers at the Turkey-Syria border since at least December 2017 and summarily deported them to the war-ravaged Idlib governorate in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. […]
Buried, altered, silenced: 4 ways government climate information has changed since Trump took office
By Morgan Currie and Britt S. Paris | The Conversation | – – After Donald Trump won the presidential election, hundreds of volunteers around the U.S. came together to “rescue” federal data on climate change, thought to be at risk under the new administration. “Guerilla archivists,” including ourselves, gathered to archive federal websites and preserve […]
Syria: A Market bombing kills 38 and Explains why Government won Syria War
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A rocket fired by rebel forces at a market, Kashkul, in the Jaramana suburb of Damascus on Wednesday killed dozens of people. It strikes me that this incident encapsulates the deep tragedy of the Syrian civil war. Jaramana is a mixed Christian and Druze neighborhood 3 […]
Increasingly Ludicrous WH denial that Austin bombings were “terrorism”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Update: The suspect in the central Texas bombings is dead, after he detonated a bomb in his car on being surrounded by police, and was shot. Two more package bombs were found in Austin and San Antonio Fedex offices on Tuesday, giving evidence of originating with […]
Actor Cynthia Nixon, NY Governor Hopeful, attacked over Israel Boycott
Middle East Monitor | – – A leading pro-Israel activist is attempting to derail an American actor’s bid to become the governor of New York over her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Cynthia Nixon, one of the stars of the “Sex and the City” television series and movies, announced on […]