By Andy Price | (The Conversation) | – – Let’s be under no illusion about the significance of what we have just seen: a Labour Party leader calling, at the party’s annual conference, for the nationalisation of public utilities – not to cries of derision or the dropping of jaws, but to a standing ovation […]
Saudi King seeks Recognition for letting Women Drive, a basic right
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a decree on Tuesday permitting women to drive as of June of next year. Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to forbid its female citizens from driving automobiles. This unusually misogynistic position derived from two sources. One is […]
Is Trump setting US course toward War with China?
By Alfred W. McCoy | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – [This piece has been adapted and expanded from Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.] For the past 50 years, American leaders have been supremely confident that they could suffer military setbacks […]
Saudi Arabia: Official Hate Speech Targets Minorities
Human Rights Watch | – – Incitement Leads to Discrimination Against Shia, Other Groups (Beirut) – Some Saudi state clerics and institutions incite hatred and discrimination against religious minorities, including the country’s Shia Muslim minority, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘They Are Not Our Brothers’: Hate Speech by […]
If Trump were really President, he’d Forgive Puerto Rico’s Debts and Rescue it
By Juan Cole | (informed Comment) | – – I’m not sure what Donald Trump thinks the job of president consists of. One task is to swing into action when 3.4 million Americans are living without electricity, 40% of them without potable water, and hundreds of thousands without shelter. When some 80% of its agricultural […]
How Arab Nationalism & Fundamentalism pushed away the Kurds
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Kurdistan referendum held today is probably not as likely to produce immediate turmoil in the Middle East as some pundits would have it. The “Domino Theory” that if the Kurds secede from Iraq then they will secede from Turkey, Iran and Syria as well, may […]
Trump tries to Camouflage Muslim Ban with a Few Venezuelans and N. Koreans
TeleSur | – – The addition of North Korea and Venezuela broadens the restrictions from the original, mostly Muslim-majority list. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela and North Korea will be added to the list of countries banned from traveling to the United States. The order outlines different restrictions for each country on […]
Trump Casino and White House, Inc.
By Nomi Prins | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – During the 2016 election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly emphasized that our country was run terribly and needed a businessman at its helm. Upon winning the White House, he insisted that the problem had been solved, adding, “In theory, I could run my business perfectly and […]
Merkel barely holds on as Neo-Fascists enter German Parliament
By Catherine Stupp | ( EURACTIV.com ) | – – Angela Merkel’s CDU came in first place–but lost a huge amount of supporters. The far-right AfD will move into the Bundestag for the first time. [Clemens Bilan/ EPA] Chancellor Angela Merkel secured her fourth term in office in Sunday’s (24 September) parliamentary election but her […]








