Human Rights

Glenn Greenwald: Good journalism is measured by how angry you make the people you’re covering (Video)

Greenwald’s video appearance at the Socialism conference in Chicago (via We are Many:

Syria, NSA Spying, Popular Mobilization and History: Cole Interview in La Prensa (Ricky Martinez)

Interview with Juan Cole by Ricky Martínez (These are the English notes of the interview rearranged in pyramid form; they were translated and published in a different sequence in Spanish at La Prensa of Panama City). Many thanks to Mr. Martinez for a wide-ranging conversation! RM: How is Syria different from Libya? Syria is different […]

Human Rights

Chinese Humorists Satirize the Snowden/ NSA Surveillance Scandal (Video)

Juan Cole

Next Media Animation (a Taiwanese subsidiary of a Hong Kong firm) satirizes the Snowden/ NSA surveillance scandal by cartoon (English subtitles):

Afghanistan

Report: Highest US Officials Responsible for Use of Torture (Plus Daily Show Video)

Juan Cole

The political reality of the United States in the world is that of blowback. Blowback is a term of art in the intelligence community for what happens when a covert operation goes bad and comes back to bite you on the ass. The US spent the 1980s encouraging Muslim radicals to engage in ‘freedom fighting’ […]

Egypt

Pope Francis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Women’s Equality: Why Must Religion be Patriarchal?

Juan Cole

The selection of the new pope was carried out by a conclave of elderly men, and the only candidates were men. The new pope is a staunch social conservative who opposes women’s ordination as priests and women’s right to control their own bodies and limit family size, key issues for women’s health and well-being. It […]

Human Rights

On How Americans are being Gouged and Made more Unequal by the Internet Monopolies (Moyers Video Interview)

Juan Cole

Bill Moyers interviews Susan Crawford on the virtual monopoly on internet provision held in the US by a few companies, who overcharge those who can afford their rates, exclude the poor, and give us slow, crappy service compared to more advanced and enlightened countries where being slaves of the corporations is frowned upon. The blurb […]

Human Rights

Wikileaker Bradley Manning “Illegally Punished,” 4 months off Life Sentence

Juan Cole

A military judge has found that Bradley Manning, who released large numbers of low-classified State Department cables to Wikileaks, was illegally punished while in the brig at Quantico, when he was denied exercise and kept on ‘suicide watch’ (chained and naked) against the counsel of his psychiatrist. Although Manning did nothing more than Daniel Ellsberg […]