nationalism

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) – Morsi was convicted of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during the clashes that erupted in December 2012 Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, along with 14 other defendants, was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in maximum security prison and five years of parole over the […]

Featured

What if US & UN Sanctioned Israel over its Nukes as they did Iran over Enrichment?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – There is a lot of talk about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and the ways in which an Iranian bomb would provoke Saudi Arabia and others to acquire nuclear warheads of their own. But for decades, the primary impetus to a nuclear arms race in the region […]

Israel

The rise of the Israeli far right & the future of Palestine

contributors

By Ghassan Khatib | (Ma’an News Agency) – The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies last week at the polls amounts to a major defeat of left and center-left parties in Israel and is merely one more indication that Israeli society is continuing a strong trend of radicalization. Over the last 20 years, […]

Featured

Tom Friedman & funding ISIL: Israel/Iran Derangement Syndrome

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Being a liberal Zionist was always a tough thing to pull off, but it is becoming increasingly just impossible. The intrinsic contradiction between wanting social justice and equity at home and supporting a militaristic and Apartheid Israel abroad produces what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. It is hard to […]

Militarization

The Impotence of the Big Dick strain of American Nationalism

Juan Cole

By Nan Levinson | (Tomdispatch.com) Let’s face it: we live in a state of pervasive national security anxiety. There are various possible responses to this low-grade fever that saps resolve, but first we have to face the basis for that anxiety — what I’ve come to think of as the Big Dick School of Patriotism, […]

Apartheid

When will it Explode? Jerusalem’s Silwan district is a Global Powder Keg

contributors

Vice News | — “Throughout the past several months, Jerusalem has been a scene of clashes and violent attacks. Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just steps away from Jerusalem’s Old City, has been at the heart of the unrest, and is becoming one of the most contentious neighborhoods in the most contested city in the world. […]

Copts

Dissident Youth, Facing Military-Media Crackdown, begin new Exodus from Egypt

contributors

By Muhammad Moneib | (Your Middle East) — “A lot of posts share tips and tricks about finding a legal way out of Egypt” Perfectly timing the theatrical run of Ridley Scott’s epic new movie, starring Christian Bale as Moses, God’s prophet who leads the oppressed Israelites out of ancient Egypt through the miraculous parting […]

Elections

Will the next Israeli Gov’t be even more Far Right & Colonial?

contributors

By Mitchell Plitnick (IPS) | — The Israeli government is headed for yet another round of elections. Although the official election date for the next Knesset is November 7, 2017, no one ever expected this government to last that long. The voting will likely take place in March of 2015. What do the new elections […]

Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan: Can a Bastion of Tolerance and Democracy survive in the Middle East?

contributors

By Richard Foltz | — Having committed ourselves to military involvement in Iraq, we in North America should be asking ourselves exactly what goals we hope to achieve. Personally, after recently spending three weeks in the region, I am not convinced that “preserving the territorial integrity” of the present Iraqi state should be one of […]