By Brian Whitmore | ( RFE/RL ) | – – He wasn’t ostracized. He wasn’t isolated. And certainly nobody threatened to shirtfront him. In the space of a year, Vladimir Putin has gone from being the pariah of Brisbane to being the star of Antalya. The contrast between last year’s G20 summit in Australia and […]
Obama to Hawks: You can’t Occupy all the Countries in the Middle East
By John Hickman | (Informed Comment) | – – There was something very reassuring about President Obama’s delivery of a carefully reasoned explanation for his Middle East foreign policy during Monday’s Press Conference in Antalya, Turkey. Against the anxious handwringing of the reporters and the improbable outrage of pundits, the president exhibited his trademark self-possession […]
Swedish FM worries about Muslim & Palestinian Youth Despair, draws Israeli Rebuke
By IMEMC | – – Following the Paris attacks on Friday, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom made a connection between Islamic State extremism and the Israeli occupation, causing a feud between the two governments, that the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned its Swedish envoy on Monday. In an interview with a Swedish TV channel, following the […]
Paris attacks: how effective has the military response been?
By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Even as Parisians were trying to assess the scale of the attacks by Islamic State (IS) which killed 132 people on November 13, politicians were promising a decisive and effective military response. French President Francois Hollande assured, “We will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic […]
After Paris, Rights Groups warn against Police State Tactics
By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – ‘Whilst closed oppressive societies breed hatred and barbarism, open reflective states built on rights, freedoms and the rule of law ultimately prevail.’ As some European leaders pitch a reactionary response to Friday’s brutal attacks in Paris, human rights and civil liberties groups are warning against […]
Trump: We Should Strongly Consider Closing Mosques
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video) | – – “Who’s going to step in after Paris to demagogue? Donald Trump of course. He would hate to do it, but he would “have to consider” closing mosques in the U.S. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you […]
Exxon investigation: A warning shot for fossil fuel companies as climate lies unveiled
The Tree | – – In the first concrete legal action against ExxonMobil’s web of climate lies, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced he will investigate whether the oil giant knowingly misled the public and investors about the dangers of climate change. Last month from InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed […]
How Islamic law can take on ISIL
By Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im | (The Conversation) | – – The media coverage of the terrorist atrocities of Friday November 13 in Paris would seem to promote an almost mythical image of the [so-called] Islamic State group (ISIL, ISIS). What humanity needs, however, is to demystify ISIS as a criminal organization. And that need is […]
Can we Take another Year of GOP Candidates’ ‘Bright Ideas’?
By Martha Burk | (Otherwords.org) | – – Can we really take another year of nasty rhetoric and nonsense proposals? We’re officially just under a year away from Election Day 2016. We’ve already been bombarded for months with red-hot anti-tax, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, and anti-poor rhetoric from a fool’s dozen Republican candidates. Can we really take […]