International Politics and Economy

(Reprinted at Informed Comment courtesy Tomdispatch.com.) – These days, our global political alliances seem to shift with remarkable rapidity, as if we were actually living in George Orwell’s 1984. Are we at war this month with Oceania? Or is it Eastasia? In that novel, the Party is able to erase history, sending old newspaper articles […]

Corruption

Israel PM Netanyahu’s Wife Goes on Trial for Corruption and Fraud

Stephen Weizman

Jerusalem (AFP) – The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on trial Sunday for allegedly using state funds to fraudulently pay for hundreds of meals, part of a list of legal troubles facing the family. The start of Sara Netanyahu’s trial was the latest chapter in a saga intensely scrutinised in Israel but […]

Featured

If Brett Kavanaugh were African-American, Would he be Going to Jail instead of to SCOTUS?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Brett Kavanaugh may or may not be an attempted rapist, but one thing is clear. The Republican senators are according him all the honors of white privilege. That includes a presumption of innocence that statistically speaking, white juries do not accord African-American defendants. One in every six women in the […]

Sexual Assault

Why Powerful Men can Roar, but Rape Victims are Discounted as “too” Emotional or “Calm”

Gail Ukockis

“Good” rape victims must show the right emotions to be taken seriously

Rape

But He Doesn’t Look Like a Rapist

Gail Ukockis

(Informed Comment) – The uproar over Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged attack of a 15-year-old has resulted in many irrational reactions, which even included a bizarre conspiracy theory created (and later retracted) by a respected lawyer. When considering the picture of Kavanaugh, I had to wonder if the allegation would have stirred up as many heated denials […]

Crime

A Fourth Woman has contacted Montgomery County with Kavanaugh Rape Allegations

Juan Cole

The local newspaper in Montgomery County, Maryland, is reporting that investigators there are aware of a fourth accuser (counting attorney Michael Avenatti’s anonymous one). The Sentinel writes: “Government investigators confirmed Monday they’re aware of a potential second sexual assault complaint in the county against former Georgetown Prep student and Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh. While investigators […]

Far Right

Bannon Promises ‘War Rooms’ to install Far Right in European Elections

AFP

By Franck IOVENE Rome (AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon on Saturday said he would set up “war rooms” across Europe to help form a pan-continental right-wing movement ahead of European Parliament elections in 2019. Speaking at the congress of the Italian far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, Bannon called for people across […]

Corruption

Who was High Israeli Official in Manafort Ukraine Corruption Case?

Juan Cole

I wrote in my column on Sunday, “Manafort’s Plea Deal is a Constitutional Crisis, we Just don’t Know it Yet:” Manafort has to give to the Federal government over $40 million in ill-gotten gains. Manafort has been convicted of lobbying for pro-Russian politicians and interests in Ukraine, of not registering as a foreign agent, and […]

Left Politics

Bernie Sanders & Yanis Varoufakis call for Progressive Front against Trump’s Neo-Fascist International

Open Democracy

By Luis Martín | – Via OpenDemocracy.net Calling on progressives worldwide to form an international movement to combat the rise of authoritarianism represented by Donald Trump. Senator Bernie Sanders, the former US presidential candidate, and Yanis Varoufakis, co-founder of DiEM25, are today calling on progressives worldwide to form an international movement to combat the rise […]