By RFE/RL White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the United States is “at war with ISIL” on September 12, after Secretary of State John Kerry refused to use the phrase. “The United States is at war with ISIL in the same way that we are at war with Al-Qaeda and its Al-Qaeda affiliates all […]
The Plutocracy Strikes Back: The Pathologies of Rule by a Handful of Billionaires
By Steve Fraser via Tomdispatch.com George Baer was a railroad and coal mining magnate at the turn of the twentieth century. Amid a violent and protracted strike that shut down much of the country’s anthracite coal industry, Baer defied President Teddy Roosevelt’s appeal to arbitrate the issues at stake, saying, “The rights and interests of […]
The Death of Palestine: Israeli Ambition and Palestinian Weakness
By Tareq Ramadan Given the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations alongside the current policies of the Netanyahu administration, the recent Gaza episode can be viewed, in part, as one manifestation of a broader Israeli policy aimed at preventing Palestinian political unity and, by extension, preventing the materialization of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. Before the […]
Arabs without God
By Brian Whitaker, author of Arabs without God In the midst of sectarian turmoil in the Middle East, one section of Arab society rarely gets much attention: those who reject religion entirely. And yet such people do exist, their numbers appear to be growing and they are beginning to find a voice. Social media have […]
The Israeli version of Steven Salaita: Occupation University fires Professor for Insufficient Zionism
By Amir Hetsroni This is how I became the Israeli version of Steven Salaita: I was teaching at Ariel University when administrators summoned me to a pre-dismissal disciplinary hearings claiming that my views on religion (too atheist), welfare (overly capitalist), gender (not enough feminist) and Zionism (not Zionist and willing to withdraw from practically all […]
How the Gaza War Backfired on Netanyahu
By Ramzy Baroud (Maan News Agency) Netanyahu’s war-turned-genocide in Gaza has backfired badly — his strategy has helped resurrect Hamas, the very movement he tried desperately to crush. Aside from being a major military setback, Israel’s war on Gaza has also disoriented the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu like never before. Since the announcement […]
ISIL isn’t Medieval: Revolution, Terror and Statemaking are Modern
By Kevin McDonald, Middlesex University Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who claimed that ISIS is “medieval”. In fact, the […]
ISIL Fighting With Weapons From US and 'Moderate' Syrian Rebels: Report
By Sarah Lazare via Commondreams.org The Islamic State (IS) is now in possession of lethal weapons formerly owned by so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels, as well as large quantities of arms produced in the United States, a new report (PDF) reveals The study — conducted by Conflict Armament Research, a research organization that tracks weapons proliferation […]
US, Iraq have same child homicide rate – UNICEF
RT America: “America leads all Western nations in the number of child homicide victims, according to a new report from UNICEF. In 2012, there were four adolescent homicides per 100,000 people in the US, which is on par with the child death toll in Iraq. RT’s Ameera David takes a look at the troubling figures.” […]