By Sarah Lazare As a tenuous ceasefire takes hold, the besieged Gaza strip must contend with the path of death and destruction left by Israel’s month-long military assault, including 1,939 Palestinian lives lost, 9,886 wounded, over 200,000 displaced, and more than 10,000 Palestinian housing units severely damaged or completely ruined. Israeli critics of the “Operation […]
Families of Afghan Civilians Killed by US/NATO Cannot get Justice
By Bruce Pannier via RFE/RL Amnesty International has released a report documenting the inability of the families of Afghan civilians killed in attacks by U.S. and other foreign forces to obtain justice. The report, titled “Left In The Dark,” calls on the Afghan government to ensure that accountability for unlawful civilian killings is guaranteed in […]
The Politics of Energy and the Destabilization of Palestine
By Tareq Ramadan The latest Israeli military campaign directed towards the 139-square mile, densely-populated Palestinian Gaza Strip has already led to the deaths of more than 1,900 Palestinians[i] (more than 80% are civilians including at least 440 children), the wounding of more than 9,500 which includes 2,800 children[ii], the homes of some 65,000 people destroyed[iii], […]
Do White Media use unflattering Photos of Black Victims of Police Violence? #Iftheygunnedmedown
AJ+: “From Michael Brown to Renisha McBride to Jordan Davis: how black people who are killed get portrayed in the media — and the courtroom — has often led to outrage. And after the deaths of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, the hashtags #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, #APHeadlines and #DangerousBlackKids are one way people have flipped […]
Iraq Intervention? More like Ceaseless Escalation
By Elliott Colla, author of Baghdad Central While visiting Baghdad last year, I was struck by what Iraqis said every time I tried to apologize for the 2003 invasion: “Don’t apologize for that. We needed an invasion to get rid of Saddam Hussein.” And then they would add, “But you do need to apologize for […]
6 Robin Williams Movies That Teach Us Progressive Values
By Mindy Fischer via Liberals Unite There’s no doubt that Robin Williams could make us laugh, but he did a whole more than that. He made us think and dream. Because he wasn’t afraid to tackle the tough social issues in our society. In his personal life he was involved in nearly 30 charity organizations […]
Need for Tough Love: Defending the Gaza Assault Hurts Israeli, American Interests
By Gregory Harms Almost two-thirds of Americans feel Israel’s operations in Gaza were justified. When given sufficient information, and when thinking outside ideological parameters, Americans commonly draw reasonable conclusions and are in agreement by a two-thirds majority. In the case of the Gaza-Israel conflict, a knowledge deficit and ideology are to explain why the population […]
Blown Chances in Gaza Israel and the U.S. Miss Many Chances to Avoid War
By Sandy Tolan via Tomdispatch.com Alongside the toll of death and broken lives, perhaps the saddest reality of the latest Gaza war, like the Gaza wars before it, is how easy it would have been to avoid. For the last eight years, Israel and the U.S. had repeated opportunities to opt for a diplomatic solution […]
Lauren Bacall’s Best Lines
via “Layla Raymanova” “here’re Lauren Bacall’s (1924-2014) best lines from the movie TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.” Little-known fact: Lauren Bacall and former Israeli president Shimon Peres are first cousins, both with the birth name Perski.