Human Rights

(By Khaled Diab via Your Middle East ) A growing number of Arab men are not only championing the rights of women but also challenging traditional ideals of masculinity. Sexual harassment in Egypt has reached such epidemic proportions that it has even infiltrated the campus of the country’s oldest secular university. At the heart of […]

Domestic Surveillance

NYPD closes Unit that Spied on Muslims

Juan Cole

The New York Police Department has ended its “secret” spying on Muslims. The decision by the nation’s largest police force to shutter the surveillance program represents the first sign that William J. Bratton, the department’s new commissioner…

Dissent

The FBI’s Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Considerations

Juan Cole

Another FOIA lawsuit brought against the government by the EFF has resulted in the release of previously withheld documents. The papers cut loose this time detail the FBI’s facial recognition database and other parts of its “Next Generation Identification…

Christianity

On Eve of Pope’s visit to Israel, Radical Israeli Settlers attack Christian Village

Juan Cole

(By Quinn Coffey) Just weeks before Pope Francis’ first official visit to the Holy Land, a number of Christian holy sites in Israel and Palestine have been targeted in ‘price tag’ attacks by the radical Israeli settler movement. These attacks have been increasing since 2008. Just weeks before Pope Francis’ first official visit to the […]

History

Mussolini buys Crowds during visit to Libya (1937) – Historical Video of the Day

Juan Cole

Italy ruled Libya from 1911 until midway through WW II, with the fascist years being especially harsh. This newsreel gives a sense of how the Italian colonial administration regimented the population (likely with a combination of bribes and threats) for a spectacle during brutal dictator Benito Mussolini’s visit to his colony in the late 1930s. […]

Barack Obama

Uncle Sam’s Eternal Gua-Gulag: US Continues to Imprison Dozens of Yemenis Cleared or Never Charged

Juan Cole

(Human Rights Watch) (Washington, DC) – The US should expedite the return of Yemeni detainees cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Barack Obama. Human Rights Watch released a video showing the plight of families of Yemeni detainees. All Guantanamo detainees should be returned or resettled, or charged […]

CIA

US sent CIA Director as Ambassador to Tehran after CIA overthrew Iran’s Democratic gov’t (US now Complaining about Hostage-Taker Amb.)

Juan Cole

The decision of the Obama administration and the resolution passed by Congress barring entry to Iran’s designated ambassador to the United Nations has angered Tehran and provoked demonstrations in Iran. Hamid Aboutalebi has served as ambassador to several European countries. He is accused by Washington politicians of having participated in the taking of US diplomats […]

Human Rights

Jazz legend John McLaughlin Plays Ramallah, Palestine to counteract Palestinian “Isolation”

Juan Cole

Jazz guitar legend John McLaughlin plays for Palestine (via AFP) The Palestinian territories are rarely a destination for jazz musicians let alone stars of an art form that is more at home in big cities such as New York and Chicago. Which makes the performance of jazz guitar legend John McLaughlin before a packed… […]

Human Rights

Military Occupation as Bullying: The Palestinian Struggle for Dignity in Hebron

Juan Cole

(By Johannes A. Makar) Eyewitness Hebron: Follow young Badr in his city of bullies This February, after crossing the Taba-Eliat border from Egypt, less than 36 hours before the deplorable bomb attack there, I arrived in Jerusalem. After spending a couple of days in the city, I hopped on the bus to Hebron from the […]