A colleague writes to the University of Michigan Academic Freedom Network: In light of the current events in Palestine, a large number of filmmakers have made their films about Palestine available online for free. These are links to films you can view and share. This is not an endorsement of all the views expressed, but […]
Archives for March 2025
Israel’s Renewed Gaza Genocide on Black Tuesday: 420 Dead (175 Children) and 540 Wounded
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that Israeli airstrikes shattered the supposed ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday, dropping heaving munitions on inhabited apartment buildings and killing entire extended families who lived in them, with a death toll of at least 420, and over 500 wounded. Many bodies were still under […]
Letter from a Palestinian Political Prisoner in Louisiana: Mahmoud Khalil
Note from Juan Cole: I used to write letters to totalitarian governments on behalf of Amnesty International complaining about their detention of political prisoners for mere thought crimes. One of the worst offenders was Communist Czechoslovakia, which did not even bother to reply. I could not have imagined in 1987 that in 2025 people in […]
The New Age Militarists – And their Threat to our Common Future
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Alex Karp, the CEO of the controversial military tech firm Palantir, is the coauthor of a new book, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. In it, he calls for a renewed sense of national purpose and even greater cooperation between government and the tech […]
Columbia University must Reject Trump Ultimatum and Stand up at long last for the Freedom and Independence of the Academy
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Dr. Katrina Armstrong Interim President, Columbia University officeofthepresident@columbia.edu David Greenwald Claire Shipman Co-Chairs, Columbia University Board of Trustees secretary@columbia.edu Dear Dr. Armstrong, Mr. Greenwald and Ms. Shipman: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) […]
Trump’s Air War on Yemen Escalates as Civilian Population Suffers Food Insecurity, Cholera Epidemic
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration began bombing Yemen last weekend, when the US Air Force launched 47 air raids on at least seven provinces, killing some 53 persons. On Monday the air raids continued, hitting not only the capital, Sanaa, but also Saadeh in the north, the hometown of the movement of […]
Gaza Palestinians Suffer as Netanyahu pins hopes on Fickle US President
Paul Rogers ( openDemocracy.net ) – Trump has backtracked since meeting with Netanyahu last month Why was Donald Trump’s suggestion on turning Gaza into a Middle Eastern Riviera so helpful to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu? To understand this, it is worth briefly looking back to earlier phases of the century-old conflict. Israel became a […]
Shattering the Myth of the “Holy Land”
( The Times of Israel) – Could someone earn a commendation for deliberately breaking the holiest object ever created, one that was crafted and inscribed by God Himself? According to a midrash [scripture interpretation], this is exactly what happened to Moses. In our weekly scripture reading, Exodus 30:11–34:35 [“Ki Tisa”], Moses shatters the tablets after […]
How Trump’s Tariffs are driving Asia and the Gulf into China’s Arms
London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – US President Donald Trump’s America First trade policy has seen the global economy enter a new era of protectionism in the two months since he took office. The US leader has embarked on a series of trade wars with countries that run trade deficits with the US, including […]
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