The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration last year published a series of photos over past decades showing expansion of farming in Saudi Arabia’s Syrian Desert, using underground aquifers as a water source. This fossil water is a non-renewable resource and will be gone, at this rate in 50 years. NASA writes: “In this series […]
Israel-Palestine at the Oscars: Amy Goodman’s interviews on 5 Broken Cameras and the Gatekeepers
Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! has been interviewing the makers and subjects of Oscar nominees for best documentary, including the Palestinian film “5 Broken Cameras” and the Israeli one, “The Gatekeepers.” They are in remarkable agreement that the Likud government’s dedication to colonizing the Palestinian West Bank is a disaster for all concerned, including Israel. The […]
Taming Capitalism Gone Wild (Bill Moyers Interviews)
Bill Moyers and his guests look at how Wall Street has captured the government regulators that are supposed to be its watchdogs, how restaurant workers are underpaid, and generally how the super-wealthy are getting away with murder while the 99% have it stuck to them.
Syrian Revolution Darkens Further, with Damascus Bombings and Hizbullah Involvement
The Syrian regime bombed its own people again on Thursday, this time sending fighter jets to bombard the old district of Deraa in the south. The bombings killed 18 persons. It wasn’t the first time the regime has deployed aerial bombardment against civilian cities, but it was the first such strike at Deraa (the place […]
Hagel with a Smear or, the Senate Republicans as HS Mean Girls (Jon Stewart’s Daily Show)
Jon Stewart at the Daily Show skewers Senate Republicans, especially Lindsey Graham and John McCain for holding up the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense over petty partisan politics. He points to their hypocrisy in having been uninterested in an investigation of the Iraq War fiasco but their odd conspiracy theories on the […]
What Future for the Women’s Movement? (Rosen)
Ruth Rosen writes at Tomdispatch.com: In 1968, the Phillip Morris Company launched a memorable campaign to sell Virginia Slims, a new brand of cigarettes targeting women, itself a new phenomenon. It had a brand-new slogan: “You’ve come a long way, baby.” The company plastered it on billboards nationwide and put it in TV ads that featured […]
Tunisian Democracy Challenged as Prime Minister Resigns
The resignation of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali in Tunisia has created a political crisis that the elected government will have to deal with. Jebali is a politician of the Muslim religious right, from the Ennahda Party, and had led an Ennahda-dominated cabinet in coalition with two smaller secular parties, Moncef Marzouki’s social democratic Congress for […]
WaPo says Gasoline Price Increase Mysterious, Ignores US blockade of Iran Oil!
The Washington Post is surprised by the ‘mysterious’ high cost of gasoline in the US but does not mention in this article that the US government, at the insistence of the Israel lobbies, reduced Iran’s petroleum exports by 40% in 2012 by strong-arming countries to leave it in the ground and not import it on […]
Surprise! Talking to Iran just Might Work this Time (Jahanpour)
Farhang Jahanpour* writes at the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research Room for optimism in Iran and the P5-plus-1 talks Iran and the P5-plus-1, which includes the United States, will meet again on 26 February in Kazakhstan. This is the first time that the two sides will meet in an atmosphere of continuing mutual […]