( Middle East Monitor) – So much for the Israeli army supposedly wanting to “reduce” the number of Palestinians it shoots. An Israeli soldier shot and killed another Palestinian child in the besieged Gaza Strip on 21 August. Omar Hasan Abu Al-Nil was just 13. The boy succumbed to his wounds last Saturday. According to […]
Archives for September 2021
Now Close Gitmo, Too
By Farrah Hassen | – ( Otherwords.org ) – I was a college student on 9/11. The ensuing “War on Terror,” anchored by the bombing and U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, has been with us ever since — virtually my entire adult life. President Biden was right to end the war in Afghanistan and follow through […]
Don’t Compare Texas Abortion law to Islamic Law: Most Muslims are and have been More Liberal
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Texas “heartbeat law” banning abortion after six weeks has prompted comparisons of Texas evangelicals to Afghanistan’s Taliban. There is a resemblance globally of religious-Right movements on women’s issues, since religious conservatism is usually patriarchal and aims at controlling women. If, however, the comparison is between Christianity and Islam in […]
Palestinians are newly Unified, demonstrating against Israeli Colonial Violence and Expulsion from Jerusalem
( Middle East Monitor) – In terms of state-building and diplomatic negotiations, the occupied West Bank has been perceived in starkly different terms from Gaza. With the international community funnelling financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the former, the concept of a fragmented Palestine has been duly enhanced. To the undiscerning, the PA represented […]
Will the End of the Afghanistan War provoke Reconsideration of American Militarism?
By David Bacon | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Many in the U.S. media continue to credit the good intentions of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, while belaboring its failure over 20 years to achieve any of them. But to say that the United States wanted a progressive, liberal democratic, and secular government […]
Why Ida Dumped Unprecedented Floodwaters on NYC, Northeast: It was Global Heating from Burning Fossil Fuels
By Russ Schumacher | – Record downpours from Hurricane Ida overwhelmed cities across the Northeast on Sept. 1, 2021, hitting some with more than 3 inches of rain an hour. Water poured into subway stations in New York and Boston. Streets flooded up to the rooftops of cars in Philadelphia. The storm had already wreaked […]
Why We Need Electric Cars: Climate-driven Hurricane Ida Knocked out Gulf Oil Production, 1/5 of US Refinery Capacity
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Louisiana’s petroleum refineries are out of action in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Refineries run on electricity, and electricity has been knocked out in New Orleans and environs, perhaps for another couple of weeks. Here’s the kicker: Louisiana refineries account for nearly 1/5 of America’s refining capacity. Raw crude oil […]
Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan: Did the Mighty, Cutting-Edge US Military Machine founder on Guerrillas’ humble Improvised Explosive Devices?
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Victory always seems to be just around the corner or at the end of the tunnel, until it isn’t. With the humiliation of defeat compounded by the difficulties extricating US personnel, second guessing is well underway and will likely last for years. The corruption of the government […]
Calculating the costs of the Afghanistan War in lives, dollars and years
By Neta C. Crawford | – The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan, providing an uncertain punctuation mark to two decades of conflict. For the past 11 years I have […]