2024

Expressing Outrage at USC over its Decision to cancel Asna Tabassum’s Valedictory Address at Commencement

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Carol Folt President, University of Southern California president@usc.edu Andrew Guzman Provost, University of Southern California atguzman@usc.edu Errol G. Southers USC Associate Senior Vice-President of Safety and Risk Assurance southers@usc.edu Dear President Folt, Provost Guzman and Associate Senior Vice-President Southers: We write on behalf of […]

Far Right

Haiti Today, America Tomorrow? When Democracies Die, Mobs Take Over

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Haiti has descended into chaos. It’s had no president or parliament — and no elections either –for eight long years. Its unelected prime minister Ariel Henry resigned recently when gang violence at the airport in Port-au-Prince made it impossible for him to return to the country after a trip to Guyana. […]

Bill of Rights

In Fit of anti-Palestinian Hatred, Congress tries to Outlaw “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chanting of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Since Congress, which appears to have a disproportionate number of genocidal maniacs in its ranks, is all right with the Palestinians being subjected to mass […]

Corruption

SecState Blinken is Squelching Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Units for Killings or Rapes

ProPublica

By Brett Murphy | – ( ProPublica ) – A special State Department panel recommended months ago that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that they committed serious human rights abuses. But Blinken has failed to act on the proposal in the […]

Colonialism

Colonialists have long used Starvation as a Tool of Oppression

The Conversation

By Ateqah Khaki, The Conversation and Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation | – In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we continue our conversation about forced famine and its use as a powerful tool to control people, land and resources. Starvation has, for centuries, been a part of the colonizer’s “playbook.” We speak with two […]

Climate Crisis

Playing Russian Roulette with our Only Planet: Middle East Gets Failing Grades on Climate Action

Juan Cole

This is my latest column for Tomdispatch.com. Do check in over there for Tom Engelhardt’s essential introduction. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Last September witnessed what used to be a truly rare weather phenomenon: a Mediterranean hurricane, or “medicane.” Once upon a time, the Mediterranean Sea simply didn’t get hot enough to produce hurricanes more than […]

Colonialism

Palestinian History: Understanding the Past, Engaging with the Present

Juan Cole

My 20-minute presentation on Israel Palestine is the first segment in the below below. In recognition of Arab American Heritage Month and in light of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UM-Flint, in partnership with the Arab American Heritage Council, invited historians Juan Cole, University of Michigan Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, and […]

Artificial Intelligence

A Brief History of Kill Lists, From Langley to Lavender

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – The Israeli online magazine +972 has published a detailed report on Israel’s use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system called “Lavender” to target thousands of Palestinian men in its bombing campaign in Gaza. When Israel attacked Gaza after October 7, the Lavender system had a database of 37,000 Palestinian men […]

censorship

The NYT’s Palestinian-Israeli Lexicon: Special Edition of the Ghoul’s Glossary

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American humorist and, oddly, horror author, Ambrose Bierce (d. 1913), produced a serial, staccato newspaper column consisting of humorous and sardonic definitions of words, which he later published as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary. (He initially had to entitle it “The Cynic’s Wordbook,” which doesn’t have the same ring, because […]

Archives for 2024