History

By Laura Robson | (Informed Comment) | – – The idea that partition and population exchange might represent “solutions” to Middle Eastern conflict, long advocated by a wide variety of observers and commentators, is being put to the test. Diplomats and pundits alike have proposed the sectarian partition of both Syria and Iraq for years. […]

Donald Trump

Washington’s demonization of Foes jumps Shark with Sean Spicer on Hitler

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – White House spokesman Sean Spicer is as ill-suited for his job as his boss Donald Trump is ill-suited for his own. The most astonishing things routinely slip from the lips of both. But Spicer’s belligerent malapropisms soared to new heights of WTF on Tuesday with his […]

American Jews

What history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments

contributors

By Ingrid Anderson | (The Conversation) | – – This February, more than 100 gravestones were vandalized at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society Cemetery outside of St. Louis, Missouri and at the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called anti-Semitism in the U.S. a “very serious concern.” An ADL task […]

Archaeology

No, supremacists, the Vikings wouldn’t have put up with “Teuton” Donald Trump

contributors

By Keith Ruiter | (The Conversation) | – – It has been suggested that Donald Trump “may get his assertive rather than passive manner from his alleged Viking ancestors”. Or so says Russian genealogist Aleksey Nilogov, who has been finding some traction for his beliefs on nationalistic eastern European news sites such as the Estonian […]

Cold War

The Untold Violence of the Pax Americana

contributors

John W. Dower | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – [This essay is adapted from “Measuring Violence,” the first chapter of John Dower’s new book, The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War Two.] On February 17, 1941, almost 10 months before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Life magazine carried a lengthy essay by […]

Archaeology

Syrian Musicians Celebrate Palmyra’s Liberation

contributors

TeleSur | – – The city and its ruins, designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980, have traded hands several times during Syria’s six-year civil war. The 15-year-old’s voice floated over the ancient Roman theater, heavily damaged then abandoned by Islamic State group members Thursday as Syrian army forces drew near, eventually liberating the […]

art and photography

Photo of the Day: Sad Girl, Happy Girl, Iran 1900 (Sykes)

Juan Cole

British Museum | Sir Percy Sykes | – – Two rural Iranian girls of the Qajar era, 1900, one sad, one mischievous. Via British Museum Museum number: Sykes.453 Description: Lantern slide, showing two young girls posing. Iran. Producer name: Photographed by: Gen Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes KCIE Date: 1900 (circa) Materials: glass

art and photography

Understanding Islam means understanding its and our Multiculturalism

contributors

Kishwar Rizvi | (The Conversation) | – – There has been much misinformation about Islam. Reports in Western media tend to perpetuate stereotypes that Islam is a violent religion and Muslim women are oppressed. Popular films like “American Sniper” reduce places like Iraq to dusty war zones, devoid of any culture or history. Fears and […]

Archaeology

Top Five ways Jesus was not White

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Given the alarming rise of white nationalism in the United States and the ways in which it is often entangled with Christian nationalism, it is worthwhile remembering whose birth, exactly, is being commemorated today. The association of Christianity with whiteness is relatively new in history, as […]