BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A United Nations (UN) probe said, on Thursday, that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes killing scores of Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 suppressing weekly protests in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past year. Santiago Canton, Chairman of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said, in a statement, […]
Racism v. Racist: Why Brenda Lawrence and Rashida Tlaib are Right
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As I noted yesterday, in Michael Cohen’s opening statement during his public testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, he alleged that Donald Trump is a racist, saying: ‘ He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a “shithole . […]
Top Six Pieces of Dirt Cohen Dished on Trump in his Opening Statement
Michael Dean Cohen’s prepared remarks for his public congressional testimony on Wednesday were obtained by Politico. Here are what struck me as the top 6 most egregious revelations about Trump’s venality: 1. Trump running for president was just a public relations stunt. He expected to benefit financially “Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was […]
In Middle East, Impunity for Human Rights Abuses reigned in 2018: Amnesty
Beirut (AFP) – “The crackdown on civil society actors and political opponents increased significantly in Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” the rights watchdog said in its annual regional report. “Is it acceptable for activists to undergo arbitrary detention, torture, sexual harassment … and even enforced disappearances simply for expressing their opinions in a peaceful way,” […]
New Archeological Evidence for the Kaaba, Sanctuary of Peace, in Early Islam
During the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, believers circumambulate the square ‘House of God’ called the Kaaba. It is said to have predated Islam, and to have been cleansed of idols by the Prophet Muhammad in January of 630, when the town of Mecca swung to his leadership by acclamation. There is some new archeological evidence […]
A Victim of Trump? Iran’s Centrist Foreign Minister Mysteriously Forced Out
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned via Instagram on Monday, apologizing for his inability to continue in office and for any shortcomings in his past service to the nation. A member of parliament said that Zarif had submitted letters of resignation to President Hassan Rouhani on several occasions but […]
Not Trump’s America: On How the Oscars looked Like the Real America this Year
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump calls women he finds uppity “pigs,” he discriminated against African-American tenants, he slapped a visa ban on Muslims and Arabs, and he denigrates Mexican-Americans as rapists and drug dealers against whom he intends to build a wall. Trump’s America is a thin, diminished slice of the country, the barracuda […]
Can AIPAC sell Netanyahu’s Kahanist Terrorists to Middle America?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American television news, having fainted with the vapors at the very idea that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) might openly say that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobby for Israel that directs money to the campaigns of American politicians, has abruptly fallen silent on the issue of Israel’s […]
Leftist Syrian Kurds Rejoice that Trump will Keep Hundreds of US Troops in Syria
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The left wing Democratic Union Party of Kurds in Northeast Syria and its paramilitary, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), warmly welcomed President Trump’s about-face and decision to keep at least 200 US troops in Syria on Friday. A YPG militia commander said that this American step “will prevent the region […]
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