(By Juan Cole) New Jersey governor and presidential hopeful Chris Christie used the term “Occupied Territories” to refer to Gaza and the West Bank in his talk this weekend to Sheldon Adelson’s “Republican Jewish Coalition” in Las Vegas. He was forced to apologize to the uber right wing Adelson. Now the far right billionaires want […]
Tea Party Opponents of Muslim Cemetery Claim Islam is not a Religion
TN Tea Partiers freak out on TV reporter for covering their effort to block Muslim cemetery (via Raw Story ) Tempers flared in a confrontation between anti-Islamic activists and proponents of a plan to build an Islamic cemetery adjacent to a mosque in Murfreesboro, TN. WSMV Channel 4 reported that supporters of the Islamic Center […]
The Shame of American Politics: GOP Presidential Hopefuls now Trek to Las Vegas seeking Adelson Blessing
(By Juan Cole) A series of pro-corporation Supreme Court decisions and the latter’s disingenuous equation of money with speech, including “Citizens United”, have turned the United States from a democracy to a plutocracy. It is not even a transparent plutocracy, since black money (of unknown provenance) has been allowed by SCOTUS to flood into elections. […]
Saudi King channels John McCain, demands Obama Take Hard Line on Iran, Syria, Muslim Brotherhood
(By Juan Cole) President Barack Obama met late Friday with King Abdullah b. Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia at the latter’s desert camp, flying out from Riyadh by helicopter. The tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States have come about in part because Riyadh, after being skittish about George W. Bush’s muscular Neoconservatism in […]
Is Paul Ryan a Racist? Or Just Exponent of the “White Man’s Party”?
So, IS Paul Ryan a Racist? (via Moyers & Company) Our political class is feuding about whether Rep. Paul Ryan is a racist. Rather than fearing that this donnybrook degrades political discourse, we should welcome it. Ryan sparked the controversy when he blamed poverty on “a tailspin of culture”… ——– Related video: The Young […]
Crimea, Egypt, Syria: Cole Interview on Ian Masters’ “Background Briefing”
My radio interview with Ian Masters at KPFK on developments in Egypt, Ukraine and Syria is now available on the web: Play it above or if it doesn’t display (it takes 20 seconds to load), the audio file is here The blurb: “Then we examine the effectiveness of E.U. and U.S. sanctions on Putin’s Russia, […]
Is Pope Francis good for the Democrats? Obama in the Vatican
(By Juan Cole) Could enormous popularity of Pope Francis spill over into American politics? Pope Francis is worried about inequality, a Democratic Party issue, and his statements and actions on the subject are a stunning rebuke to “evangelical Catholics” such as Paul Ryan, who tend rather to celebrate economic inequality or to deny it or […]
Obama White House Operatives Plumping for Hillary Clinton over Joe Biden (TYT)
“The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur reacts to a CNN report that “Obama White House Operatives Plumping for Hillary Clinton over Joe Biden”
Twitter strikes Back at Turkish Gov’t Ban in Courts
TWITTER HAS LAUNCHED a legal challenge against the block placed on its services in Turkey. Turkey effectively put up a wall between it and Twitter last week. Initially travellers to its domain were sent to a government website before a Turkish court…
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