Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – A wave of victories against extremists should have seen civilian life slowly return to Iraq’s liberated cities. Instead there’s chaos and nobody knows who’s in charge. What kind of forward planning does the government have in mind? The cities from which Iraq’s pro-government forces have expelled the […]
Iran Deal: Michele Bachmann Psyched For Judgment Day
Mark Sovel and Elliot Hill | (TheLipTV) | – “Michele Bachmann spoke about the coming End of Times and the return of Jesus Christ to Earth in an interview with Understanding the Times radio host Jan Markell on Sunday where the former US Congresswoman criticized President Obama’s Middle East policy following the recent announcement of […]
UN Denounces Israel for imprisoning Palestinians without Charge, Trial Policy
By IMEMC | – Israeli practices of detaining Palestinians without charge or trial is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which defines humanitarian protection for civilians, the United Nations has said. The comments made by a spokeswoman for the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) came just days after Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian lawmaker, […]
With 311 Civilians dead in Yemen Strikes, Saudis & US must Investigate War Crimes
Human Rights Watch | – (Washington, DC) – Saudi Arabia, other coalition members, and the United States should ensure that coalition forces take necessary steps to minimize harm to civilians during military operations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing letters to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Sa`ud of Saudi Arabia and US Secretary of Defense […]
Triassic Graveyard: 200 Mn Years ago, CO2 emissions like ours led to Mass Extinction
By Jessica H. Whiteside | (The Conversation) – Just over 200 million years ago, the end-Triassic mass extinction killed off more than half of the species of organisms living on Earth’s land and in the oceans. We are only just beginning to understand how this – and the period of runaway global warming that followed […]
Marriage Mosul-Style: Love In The Time of The Caliphate
By Khales Joumah | (Niqash.org) | — (Mosul) – Despite restrictions of life under extremist rule and an uncertain future, locals in Mosul are still getting married. In fact, rumour has it that even the leader of the Islamic State group recently joined them in matrimonial bliss. It has been almost ten months to the […]
Child Labor On Israeli Farms Exposed
AJ+ | – Human Rights Watch has exposed Palestinian child labor on farms in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Children – many of whom drop out of school to provide for their families – are subject to long hours and hazardous work environments while earning an average of $19 USD a day. […]
What the Tsarnaevs didn’t Know: The Untold Story of Chechen Non-Violence
By Rebecca Gould | (Informed Comment) While the Boston bombing trial continues to dominate the media, its perpetrators, the Tsarnaev brothers, are associated with a geography scarcely known by Americans: Chechnya. If there is any examination of Chechnya’s history, rarely does it go beyond this: the bombers hailed from a Republic whose leader, Dudaev, had […]
Oil Train Derailments, Exploding Towns & the Hidden Cost of Fracked Oil
By Tom Giesen | (Informed Comment) On July 6th, 2013, at about one AM, an unattended 74-car oil train loaded with fracking-derived Bakken crude oil came free on a railroad grade above the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, careened into town, derailed, exploded and burned. Forty-seven persons died. The town center was demolished. So far, that […]