International Politics and Economy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Steve Bannon ran, and is still likely pulling the strings at, Breitbart, the “Stormfront” in a business suit with a skinny tie. Bannon once characterized it as enabling what he called the “alt right,” by which he meant a slightly more presentable version of the skinheads, […]

Democracy

Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission Hearkens Back to Jim Crow

contributors

By Diallo Brooks | (Otherwords.org) | – – Politicians have stolen our right to vote before. They’ll do it again if they get the chance. Joseph Cox watched his friends and neighbors go to the polls for the first time. The fight to get to that moment had been long, bloody, and vicious. But as […]

Democracy

Iraq’s Next Elections will be the most Important in its History

contributors

Mustafa Habib. | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – In Iraq, larger political parties disagree on everything except maintaining the status quo: Parliament just passed a law that will badly affect the smaller parties competing in the next elections. It has been said before. But this time it may well be true: Iraq’s next elections […]

Arms Sales

Should Western Countries be Selling Masses of Arms to Saudi Arabia?

contributors

By Riccardo Labianco | (The Conversation) | – – Since the catastrophic Yemeni civil war began in 2015, the British public has woken up to a serious problem: the use of UK-manufactured arms by Saudi Arabia. Various NGOs, campaigners and many MPs are increasingly worried about evidence that since the beginning of the conflict, Saudi […]

Democracy

Guess What Iraq’s Biggest Problem Really Is

contributors

By Pamela Abbott, Andrea Teti and Kevin M. DeJesus | (The Conversation) | – – With the defeat of the so-called Islamic State (IS) on the battlefield looking imminent, Iraq is confronting a monumental challenge: to repair a deeply fractured society fraught with ethno-religious, geographic and socio-economic divisions. It must end infighting within its political […]

Corruption

Accountability: Pakistan PM Resigns After Supreme Court Corruption Ruling

contributors

TeleSur | – – The ruling comes after months of hearings over Nawaz Sharif’s alleged corruption. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned on Friday after the country’s Supreme Court disqualified him from office over corruption claims against his family. The Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that Sharif has “stepped down” despite having “serious […]

Central Intelligence Agency

How our Intel Agencies Screwed us by Letting Sessions, Trumpies get away with Russia Scheme

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller at WaPo report from a US intelligence source that former Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, told Moscow that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Jeff Sessions twice in the summer of 2016. This revelation directly contradicts Sessions’ […]

Corruption

Can Trump use the presidential pardon to thwart the Russia investigations?

contributors

By Austin Sarat | (The Conversation) | – – Speculation is mounting that President Donald Trump could issue a pardon to members of his family and close associates who are suspected of colluding with Russia in the 2016 campaign. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, recently cautioned about “the possibility […]

Authoritarianism

Morocco’s Rif Revolt: Only a Democratic Response is Sufficient

contributors

By Hsain Ilahiane | (Informed Comment) | – – Since October 2016, the Berbers (Imazighen) of the Rif, a region on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, have been carrying out one of the most sustained and largest demonstrations of public discontent and rage in Morocco since the protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Reminiscent […]