Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kevin Liptak at CNN reports that Trump on Thursday tweeted on the Idlib campaign of the current Syrian government and its Russian backer. Trump said, “Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province,” he tweeted. “Don’t do it! Turkey […]
2019: Americans Slept while Street Revolts Reshaped Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Algeria
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In 2019, the Middle East was shaken by a new round of street revolts. As the year began, Abdelaziz Bouteflika had announced a fifth run for the presidency of Algeria. Then the peaceful “revolution of Smiles” broke out and by April he had resigned. A small elite has for decades […]
A Subdued Christmas for Middle Eastern Christians amid New Wave of Popular Protests
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Chaldean Christians in Iraq have been asked by their Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, to hold subdued private Christmas ceremonies this year to honor the over 500 Iraqi protesters who have been killed by government security and paramilitary security forces. Public celebrations have been canceled. The Iraqi street crowds want an […]
Would Refugee Baby Jesus have been Torn from Mary’s Arms by Trump?
Revised Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) | – – In this political season in which refugees have become a political football, it is worthwhile remembering that baby Jesus is depicted by the Bible as being a political refugee not once but twice. NBC reports, “Officials at Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for separating […]
That’s not Good. Popular ToTok App is Emirates Spyware
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – ( Lily Hay Newman at Wired explores the implications of the revelation that the ToTok app is actually spyware for the United Arab Emirates. The app is fiendishly clever in the sense that there is nothing virus-like about it. It is just a communications application that wants to know who […]
Under Int’l Pressure Israel reverses ban on Hundreds of Gaza Christians visiting Holy Sites, though Cruel Blockade Continues
N.B. The day after we published this piece, the Israeli government reversed itself and issued permits to Gaza Christians to visit their holy sites at Christmas. Unfortunately, they haven’t reversed themselves about patient exit visas for medical care or the other blockade measures. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel is barring a few hundred Gaza […]
Could the Int’l Criminal Court brand Israel’s Netanyahu a War Criminal?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A prosecutor on the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, has opened an investigation into Israeli and Hamas war crimes, drawing a furious response from caretaker Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Palestine filed the case in some large part because of the Trump administration’s brutal policies against the Palestinians, in which […]
Climate Crisis Rages in Australia, with 14 of 15 hottest Places in World and Sydney Fire-Besieged
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Australia has been turned by the climate crisis into a huge oven. On Wednesday, 14 of the hottest places in the world were in Australia. Firefighters are combating 100 wildfires in New South Wales (NSW), with some of them encroaching on Sydney, Australia’s largest city. NSW declared a 7-day state […]
The Miseries of Settler Colonialism: Jeff Goldberg thinks Israelis are the Seminoles
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Phil Weiss at Mondoweiss, the most lucid and informed voice on the American Jewish left doing journalism critical of right wing Zionism, reports on remarks of The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg at a Jewish Community Center forum in Manhattan. In Weiss’s telling, Goldberg argued to his audience that Israelis are […]
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