2021

Naftali Bennett once led Effort to insert Israeli Propaganda into Wikipedia, now He’s Trying to Influence US Foreign Policy

( Middle East Monitor) – Online Palestinian outlet Quds News Network resurfaced a video clip this week from over a decade ago featuring current Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The video shows Bennett helping to lead a training session teaching Israelis how to insert themselves into Wikipedia (the free online encyclopaedia that unknown persons can […]

Bush

Top 4 Times US Troops were Bombed under Republican Presidents and No one Resigned or was Impeached

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The silly season has descended permanently on Washington, D.C., so that minor congressmen are calling for the resignation or even impeachment of President Joe Biden over the ISIL-K bombing at Abbey Gate in the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26. Chris Cilizza called out the Nikki Haleys, […]

Afghanistan

‘The Taliban Are Looking for Me:’ Many Unable to Flee Afghanistan Face Grave Risks

Human Rights Watch

Patricia Gossman | Associate Asia Director | – Human Rights Watch – Thursday’s bombing at Kabul’s international airport has drastically curtailed evacuation flights for at-risk Afghans. The effort was already winding down, after getting out some human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, journalists, interpreters, and others, but leaving many more behind to face growing threats. […]

Afghanistan

The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next

The Conversation

By Ali A. Olomi | – The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now – and what might take place next – is looking at the past and how […]

Israel/ Palestine

Bennett’s “Natural Growth” Rhetoric can’t conceal Israel’s colonial Land Grab

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is playing with words to advance the colonial state’s de-facto annexation of the occupied West Bank. In an interview with the New York Times, Bennett used spin about compromise which amounted to nothing other than promoting colonial expansion while retreating on formalising another land grab. […]

Afghanistan

US Troops caught up in ISIL-K – Taliban Civil War: Why it Proves Biden was Right to Leave

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera Arabic reports that ISIL-K (the so-called “Islamic state group” of Iraq and the Levant in Khorasan) claimed responsibility for the horrific bombings in Kabul on Thursday near Baron Hotel and at Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport. According to AP, the bombings killed 60 Afghans and wounded […]

Afghanistan

What is ISIS-K, the Organization that Bombed Kabul Airport?

The Conversation

By Amira Jadoon and Andrew Mines | – An attack on a crowd gathered outside Kabul’s airport on Aug. 26, 2021, has left at least 60 people dead, including at least a dozen U.S. Marines. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the coordinated suicide bomb and gun assault, which came just days after President Joe Biden warned […]

Israel/ Palestine

Biden says he’s prioritizing Human Rights, but is welcoming an Israeli Prime Minister who boasts about War Crimes

Sahand Yazdanyar

( Otherwords.org ) – Biden can’t say he’s putting human rights first and then welcome a prime minister who boasts about war crimes to the White House. By Sahand Yazdanyar | August 25, 2021 In April 1996, Israeli artillery shells rained down on a United Nations compound where hundreds of civilians were taking refuge. As […]

China

Beijing in the Mideast: China’s Asian Infrastructure Plan and Turkey’s Black Sea Ambitions

Global Voices

By Emre Demir | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – Despite mounting opposition from political and civil society groups due to potential environmental and political issues, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is determined to proceed with the controversial Kanal Istanbul project, an artificial, 45-km long shipping canal that will connect the Sea of Marmara to the Black […]

Archives for 2021