I sip at wine, but never to get drunk, and I assail no one, save for my glass. I venerate the finest vintage so as to avoid self-worship of your sort. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 337
Annals of Settler Colonialism (6): German Namibia #savagesunite
In an early instance of Neoliberalism, the German concentration camps for the remnants of the genocided Herero were sometimes given to private companies to run for a profit. Likewise, many private companies and corporations profit from the Occupation of the Palestinian territories, such that Rashid Khalidi has refered to the ‘settler industrial complex.’
Health-Killing Coal Plant Finally Closes in Alexandria, Va.; Virginia: Put in Wind Turbines!
A notorious polluting coal plant has finally been closed in Alexandria, Va. It had been giving locals lung and heart problems for years. Ironically, the plant probably had actually been affecting the health of members of Congress. Its fuel source was mountain top coal mining, the most environmentally destructive kind of mining. It was not […]
Did Bashar al-Assad Betray Qaddafi?
The polemicists of the fringe left and the far right who depict the Baathist regime in Syria as a beleagured victim of Western plotting may have to retool their noise machines. It turns out that the authoritarian government of Bashar joined with France to destroy Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. An intelligence official for the Libyan rebels […]
Omar Khayyam (273) “Do good, and cast it upon the waters”
My sweetheart — may she live as long as my heartbreak — today began her kindnesses anew. She locked eyes with me for an instant, then was gone– […]
Annals of Settler Colonialism (5): German Namibia #savagesunite
The German settlers and authorities round up 13,000 of the remaining Herero. They put them in concentration camps, where 4,000 died of mistreatment. Almost all of the Herero were now in camps. Although the Israelis do have large prison camps where they hold thousands of Palestinians for engaging in resistance to Occupation, they haven’t put […]
The Dead Pile up in Syria as Historic Aleppo Market Burns
Reuters reports that heavy fighting raged in Deraa, Aleppo and elsewhere all weekend in Syria: Amateur video captured the burning of the historic 17th century Aleppo covered market or souq: The loss of the market is not as important as the loss of even one human life, much less some 30,000 killed, but it is […]
Settler Violence and Ethnic Cleansing: Mahmoud Abbas at the UN on What Israel is doing to the Palestinians
Mahmoud Abbas complains of Israeli settler colonialism in the Palestinian West Bank and warns of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. The speech, at the UN General Assembly, did not get the same coverage on US television news, let us say, as that of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu. All the time Netanyahu […]
Obama set precedent with Drone Killings for Romney to become Terminator-in-Chief (Ross)
Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: President Obama’s personal involvement in selecting the targets of covert drone strikes means he risks effectively handing a ‘loaded gun’ to Mitt Romney come November, says the co-author of a new report aimed at US policymakers. ‘If Obama leaves, he’s leaving a loaded gun: he’s […]
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