By Amr Kotb This conversation about the political situation in Egypt provides a good example of the generational gap numerous young Egyptians are struggeling with. My mother and I have been arguing over the past ten months. Since August of last summer, she – an ardent supporter of the January 25 revolution – has been […]
Can Palestinians ever Get a Break in the American Press?
By: Yazan al-Saadi As tragedy and uninterrupted terror strikes the besieged Palestinian population once more, Western media outlets have been busy producing and presenting articles and television reports on the events taking place. These “news reports” – for the lack of a better terminology – are presented as factual and true, objective and neutral, unblemished […]
Top Things you need to know about the next Israeli-Palestinian crisis
By Hugh Lovatt “Destroying Hamas infrastructure and removing its leaders could also lead to de-centralisation” The abduction and killing of three young Israelis has brought to the fore painful memories for Israelis of the second Intifada. But in spite of their horrendous fate levels of violence on both sides have actually remained relatively low over […]
China’s New Soft Power: Transformers 4, X-Men & Hollywood
By Chris Homewood, University of Leeds What do The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Godzilla have in common? Aside from belonging to the summer blockbuster class of 2014, they all feature China in some form or another. Many of these Chinese moments are fleeting – the future X-Men, for example, mount […]
How are Iran’s Special Forces intervening in Iraq?
By Golnaz Esfandiari To help Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government battle militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran could potentially offer significant assistance through its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which reportedly has been active in Iraq during the past decade, analysts say. What Can Iran Offer? Afshon […]
Unitarians divest from Fossil Fuels: Clear Commitment on Climate Change
By Robyn Purchia In some good new in the fight against climate change, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) passed a resolution calling for divestment of their $175 UUA Common Endowment Fund from fossil fuel companies at their 2014 General Assembly in Providence, Rhode Island, over the weekend. “The UUA has a long-standing history of fighting […]
Inside the Mosul of the ‘Islamic State’: Manhunts, Salafi Coercion and Fired Christians
Niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | It has been several weeks since Sunni Muslim extremists took over the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Locals continue to adapt to their new circumstances; tensions are rising because of fighting outside the city, fuel and food stocks continue to dwindle and the Sunni militia are starting to […]
Algerian Soccer/ Football and the Black Box of French History
By Francis Ghilès Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB When Algeria qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup by winning against Russia, the Algerian press celebrated their team’s qualification as the greatest victory ever. In France large street celebrations were accompanied by the usual firecrackers and Algerian flags and were followed by clashes between groups […]
If you read Boing Boing, the NSA considers you a target for deep surveillance
By Cory Doctorow via Boing Boing In a shocking story on the German site Tagesschau (Google translate), Lena Kampf, Jacob Appelbaum and John Goetz report on the rules used by the NSA to decide who is a “target” for surveillance. Since the start of the Snowden story in 2013, the NSA has stressed that while […]