By Frida Berrigan | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Guns. In a country with more than 300 million of them, a country that’s recently been swept up in a round of protests over the endless killing sprees they permit, you’d think I might have had more experience with them. As it happens, I’ve held a […]
Archives for April 2018
As Lebanon prepares to vote, Amnesty for the disenfranchised provokes Fierce Debate
Haley Bobseine | (Informed Comment) | – – After almost a decade of multiple postponements stalling the national political process and depriving citizens of their right to vote, Lebanese parliamentary elections will be held next month under a new legal framework. Passed in June 2017, the new election law replaces the majoritarian system with multi-member […]
Comey did it to himself & Us, by gutting Privacy, Encryption, & 4th Amendment
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In former FBI director James Comey’s interview with ABC News, he attempted to position himself as an upholder of the rule of law, of the constitution, and even of the truth. Human beings are very good at forgetting their own misdeeds and building narratives that justify […]
Behind the Struggle with Mueller & Comey: Trump is the Triumph of Privilege over Law
By Martin Powers | (Informed Comment) | – – Frustration and bewilderment are common in media accounts of this administration’s expansive chaos. Even well educated writers turn to expletives, as if proper language were inadequate to convey the shock and dismay. Still, it is not that difficult to identify the source of puzzlement: neither Trump […]
Saudi Arabia’s Yemen Campaign escalates into War of Missiles
Khalil Dewan @KhalilDewan | Middle East Monitor | – – As Mohammed Bin Salman’s global tour continues in a bid to stabilise Riyadh’s economy, his foreign policy needs revising to ensure political and security risks aren’t deepening. After three years fighting in Yemen’s civil war, the Houthis have stepped-up their strategy and are going after […]
Will Bolton and MEK pull an Iraq War-like Chalabi-type Scam on Iran?
By Nadejda K. Marinova (Author of Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country: How Host States Use Diasporas (Oxford University Press, 2017).[1] Informed Comment | – – On the fifteenth year anniversary of the Iraq war, several things are evident. One is the carnage that the war inflicted, with over 500,000 and by […]
European Union: Turkey further than ever on Human Rights, Rule of Law
Middle East Monitor | – – Turkey will on Tuesday receive the European Commission’s most critical report since it launched its bid to join the European Union over a decade ago, with Brussels warning that years of progress towards membership were being lost, officials said on Saturday. With the exception of cooperation on Syrian refugees, […]
Trump can’t Actually care much about Syrians if he only let in 11 Refugees this Year
TeleSur | – – “We are seeing the impact of the Trump administration’s words and policy and actions that slams the door on refugees,” says Oxfam America. The United States has accepted only 11 Syrian refugees so far this year, human rights organizations announced Saturday, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against strategic […]
The Tragedy of American Great Power Moves on the Middle East: Trump Can, so he Will
By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – As assumed, the US, the UK and France launched their coordinated airstrikes on Syria in the early hours of Saturday, April 14 to punish the Bashar Al-Assad government’s alleged chemical attacks on the rebel fighters in Douma, a city close to Damascus. Russia’s counter-threats to shoot […]