By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times reports that FBI agents produced a warrant at the offices in the Rockefeller Center of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that allowed them to gain access and to spend hours going through and confiscating documents and equipment. Trump lambasted […]
Archives for April 2018
If the world doesn’t stop Chemical Massacres at Syria, who is Next?
By Michelle Bentley | (The Conversation) | – – Seven years into its catastrophic conflict, Syria has witnessed yet another major chemical strike. This time the target was the rebel-held city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, just outside Damascus. The death toll currently stands at around 70 – making the attack as deadly as the […]
Why are only tinpot War Criminals Punished? What about the Architects of the Iraq War?
By Peter Singer | (Project Syndicate) | – – It is unlikely that former US President George W. Bush or any member of his administration will ever stand trial for initiating a war of aggression in Iraq. But it is still worth recounting the illegality of that act, not least because it is directly relevant […]
Peace in Islam: Qur’an 73:10 on Patience as Tolerance
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Chapter 73 of the Qur’an, “The Robed” (Al-Muzammil), contains what is probably the earliest Islamic injunction to turn the other cheek. 8 Remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him wholeheartedly– 9 the Lord of the East and the West. There is no god save He, so […]
Trump on Syria Chem Attack: Putin responsible for supporting “Animal Assad”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Sunday, Trump responded to the use by the Syrian regime of a chlorine-filled barrel bomb in the rebel enclave of Douma, a district of East Ghouta. Since Trump had launched 59 Tomahawk missiles on the Shuayrat Air Base last year this time after regime use […]
Yemen War: Do We Americans bear a Responsibility to Halt it?
By Olivia Alperstein | (Otherwords.org) | – – American taxpayers are helping to fight someone else’s war in Yemen, and the blood is on our hands. Since March 2015, the United States has supported a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that’s intervening in a civil war in Yemen. […]
Russia says Syrian rebels to be brought out of Douma
Middle East Monitor | – – Russia’s military said an operation would begin on Sunday to bring fighters of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group out of their besieged enclave of Douma, Interfax reported, after the Syrian government said the group had asked for negotiations. There was no immediate comment from Jaish al-Islam. The group so […]
Why Electric Cars are Better: Massive Keystone Pipeline Oil Leak Twice as bad as Thought
TeleSur | – – The spill gave further ammunition to environmental groups and other U.S. opponents of another pipeline the company has proposed, the long-delayed Keystone XL. The Keystone crude oil pipeline leak in November in rural South Dakota was nearly double the original estimate, making it one of the largest U.S. inland spills since […]
Syrian Regime kills dozens in Chem attack on Douma Holdout Enclave: Why?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Saudi-backed fundamentalist militia “Army of Islam” in the Douma district of East Ghouta near Damascus alleged Sunday that the al-Assad regime had dropped a barrel bomb full of chlorine and other chemicals on the rebel enclave on Saturday. Initial reports said that some 41, including […]