(By Mustafa Habib, Baghdad) He ended his ten year-long political campaign in a televised speech lasting around 11 minutes. In that speech Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said a number of disturbing things: that current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a dictator, that Iraq’s Parliament is paralyzed and that the country’s judiciary is too politicized. […]
The Iran Breakthrough TV News is Ignoring: Uranium Stockpile falls below amount Needed for Bomb
(By Juan Cole) US television newscasters have often slipped up and spoken of an Iranian nuclear “weapons program,” even though no UN inspectors have found firm evidence of any such thing and Iran maintains that its program is for peaceful purposes. Now that there is positive evidence of thorough Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic […]
Racializing Politics: We don’t say “Slav” Democracy troubled in Ukraine, why Talk about “Arab” Failures?
The troubles that Ukraine is having (and that Russia and the former Yugoslavia also had) in its post-Soviet politics, with a struggle between authoritarianism and democracy and between a Moscow orientation versus a Brussels one, are very similar to the difficulties that have beset many countries of the Arab world in the past few years. […]
The other Face of Putin’s Olympics: Pussy Riot Whipped, Beaten for Protest Song at Sochi
Channel 4 News: “Members of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot are beaten with whips by Russian security police after trying to perform at the Winter Olympics.”
Tens of Thousands on Twitter Drop Turkey’s President over Internet Censorship Law
(Via AFP) Turkey president loses Twitter followers over web law (via AFP) Turkish President Abdullah Gul has lost tens of thousands of Twitter followers after signing into force a controversial law voted in by parliament that would tighten controls over web use. Gul, a frequent user of social media, lost almost 80,000 followers… —— […]
Court Upholds Making fun of NSA, DHS, slaps Down their Nuisance Suit
VOA reports, ‘The U.S. National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security suffered a legal defeat Tuesday as a feisty T-shirt designer reaffirmed the right to ridicule these large and powerful federal agencies. As VOA’s Jim Randle reports, the issue concerns satire, free speech, and the process of democracy.’
Bill Nye Science Guy to Debate GOP Rep Gohmert on Gravity
(By Juan Cole) Satire David Gregory’s Meet the Press today hosted a debate between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on whether gravity is just a theory. “Sure,” Gohmert said, “things fall down all the time. But that doesn’t mean gravity is a law. Look at the Leaning Tower of […]
Palestinian Children Arrested by Israeli Troops Face Abusive Violence
Three in four Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank last year endured physical violence during arrest and interrogation, according to Defense for Children International Palestine research. Data compiled by DCI-Palestine from 98 affidavits of Palestinian children aged 12 – 17 also showed that night arrests between midnight and 5 […]
Three Years Later: Can the Libyan Revolution Succeed?
Libyans on Monday celebrated the third anniversary of the beginning of their popular revolution against the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. The commemoration was bittersweet, since although personal freedoms have much expanded, 3,000 non-governmental organizations have been founded, and political activity is relatively unconstrained on paper, the persistence of militias and low-intensity violence have cast a […]
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