By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraq’s foreign ministry came out strongly against the US, British and French missile strikes on Syria. In a statement issued Saturday, the ministry called the attacks “an extremely dangerous step”that could result in a weakening of regional security. Spokesman Ahmad Mahjub said, “The ministry underlines the […]
Archives for April 2018
How the CIA’s secret torture program sparked a citizen-led public reckoning in North Carolina
By Alexandra Moore | (The Conversation) | – – President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, is reported to have overseen a U.S. site in Thailand where torture of a suspected terrorist took place. Later she allegedly helped destroy evidence of torture. Her nomination, pending congressional approval, is viewed by many as further […]
Sweden’s new Carbon Tax on Air Travel aims helping Environment
By Valéry Laramée de Tannenberg | EURACTIV.fr | translated by Freya Kirk | – – Sweden has introduced a new carbon tax. From 1 April, all passengers boarding a flight departing from Sweden will be charged extra fees. EURACTIV’s partner le Journal de l’environnement reports. From 1 April, passengers boarding a flight departing from Swedish […]
2 Dead, 30 wounded: Israeli troops again Fire on Peaceful Palestinian Protesters at Gaza Border
TeleSur | – – “I have no fear of dying because there is no life in Gaza,” one Palestinian told AFP. As Friday protests resumed near the border fence between Gaza and Israel, occupation forces opened fire injuring at least 30 more Palestinians and killing two. Mohammed Hamada Hijila, 36, was killed in an airstrike […]
Reality Show violence in the Age of Trump: Striking Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Trump along with allies British prime minister Theresa May and French president Emannuel Macron struck Syria on Friday evening. It was not a piece of military strategy designed to win any war aims. It will have no effect on the situation in Syria at all. […]
Russia, Iran and Syria respond to Trump’s Threats
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The UK-based Arabic language daily, al-Arabi al-Jadid (a secular, left-leaning newspaper helmed by Azmi Bishara from Qatar) reports on the responses of Syria and its allies to sabre-rattling from Trump and from the UK and France. A key advisor to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s clerical leader, is […]
Syria: would a new foreign military intervention be legal?
By James Sweeney | (The Conversation) | – – Just days after an alleged chemical attack killed and injured scores of civilians in Douma, Syria, the US, UK and France agreed in principle that international action is needed to hold the perpetrators to account. But they didn’t make clear what form their action would take […]
Israel must hold killers of Reporter Yaser Murtaja in its own Military to account: CPJ
Committee to Protect Journalists | – – Beirut–The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned comments by Israel’s defense minister over the weekend that appear to justify the killing of Palestinian journalist Yaser Murtaja in Gaza, and called on authorities to hold to account anyone who shot journalists with live ammunition. Murtaja died on April 7 […]
Top 5 Lessons from the History of America’s Defeats
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – The lessons of history? Who needs them? Certainly not Washington’s present cast of characters, a crew in flight from history, the past, or knowledge of more or less any sort. Still, just for the hell of it, let’s take a few moments to think about […]