International Politics and Economy

By Bertie Vidgen and Taha Yasseri | – In a landmark move, a group of MPs recently published a working definition of the term Islamophobia. They defined it as “rooted in racism”, and as “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”. In our latest working paper, we wanted to better […]

Islamophobia

Facebook’s ‘Virtual Coercive’ Implicated in Rohingya Genocide

The Conversation

By Robert Huish and Patrick Balazo | – New technology can have profound impacts on society in ways never intended. The radio carried codes during the First World War, but later became a household fixture. Early telephones were leased in pairs but after Western Union, a telegraph company, adopted “exchanges,” it led to rapid long-distance […]

Far Right

The Antisemitic Turn of the Rising Far Right ‘Alternative for Germany’ Party

Open Democracy

By Samuel Salzborn | – ( OpenDemocracy ) – The AfD wants to use Israel to exploit the false notion that whoever is pro-Israel could not be antisemitic, and to find strategic allies in its fight against Muslim immigration.

Corruption

Was even Trump’s Inauguration a Corrupt Scam? And, Was Ivanka in the Middle?

ProPublica

By Ilya Marritz, WNYC, and Justin Elliott (ProPublica) – As the inaugural committee planned the landmark celebration, internal concerns were raised about whether Trump’s Washington hotel was overcharging for event space. The spending could be a violation of the law. When it came out this year that President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised and spent […]

Corruption

Cohen: Trump Knew Illegality of Hush Money Payments to Porn Star, Nude Model

AFP

Washington, United States | AFP | – Donald Trump has said he never directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to break the law. US President Donald Trump knew it was wrong to order election-eve payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him, his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen said in his first […]

Corruption

If Cohen and Pecker are Guilty of Campaign Finance Felonies, isn’t Trump?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The special counsel’s investigation into hush money Trump paid to a Playboy model and a porn star turns out so far to be much more significant than Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s collusion with Russia in 2016. The law on campaign finance violations, while not air tight, is far clearer […]

Islam

The Rightwing ‘American Spectator’ doesn’t Want you to read my ‘Muhammad: Prophet of Peace ‘

Juan Cole

The good news is that The American Spectator reviewed my new book about the beginnings of Islam and the centrality to it of peace, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires. The bad news is that Andrew Harrod, the reviewer, appears not actually to have read the book. He just attended a talk […]

Corruption

Trump is now an Unindicted Felon: US Att’y for Southern District of New York

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Mueller sentencing document for Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, is not nearly as important as that from the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Robert Khuzami, Thomas McKay and their colleagues not only laid out 5 major crimes committed […]

Nonviolence

Why Gandhi’s ideas on Nonviolence continue to thrive, even in the post-truth era

The Conversation

By Tom Shillam | – (The Conversation) Gandhi is still relevant – and can inspire a new form of politics today Seventy years after Gandhi’s assassination on the streets of New Delhi, Ramachandra Guha’s new book, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-48, reopens a familiar debate around his legacy. What was Gandhi’s message? […]