2024

Madison, Wisconsin (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Barely a day after Iran fired drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles westward across the desert skies towards Israel, in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Hossein Salami, issued the following statement: “From now on, if Israel attacks Iranian […]

Iran

Israel’s Limited Attack on Iran Appears Aimed at De-Escalating Conflict

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/RL ) – Israel had vowed to make Iran pay for Tehran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on April 13. But Israel’s suspected military response early on April 19 appeared to be limited in scale and scope and aimed at de-escalating tensions with Iran. Tehran said it shot down three quadcopter […]

Islam

Learning about Patience and Impatience: Top Three Principles from the Great Sufi Scholar al-Ghazali

The Conversation

By Liz Bucar, Northeastern University | – From childhood, we are told that patience is a virtue and that good things will come to those who wait. And, so, many of us work on cultivating patience. This often starts by learning to wait for a turn with a coveted toy. As adults, it becomes trying […]

Featured

Israel and Iran: Itching for War, Playing with Fire

Fariba Amini

Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long wanted war with Iran and has all along been trying to get the U.S. involved, under different U.S. administrations. On Friday morning, Israel launched missile strikes on military bases near the Iranian city of Isfahan. A desperate Netanyahu, seeing Western […]

Anti-intellectualism

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

Committee on Academic Freedom

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