International Politics and Economy

By Nick Ashdown | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP roared into parliament on the back of a rainbow coalition of alienated progressives and minorities. Now, armed conflict is pulling it back into the messy tangle of Kurdish politics. “It started like a forest fire,” said HDP deputy and honorary president Ertuğrul […]

Campaign Finance

Kochs’ Victory: House of Reps. Votes to Protect Anonymous ‘Dark Money’ Donors

contributors

TeleSur | – – The House of Representatives approved a bill that campaign finance refomers say will open the door to illegal influence on political campaigns. The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to protect the identities of wealthy individuals and others who make anonymous, or “dark money,” donations to politically active nonprofit […]

Featured

British Trumpism? Anti-Immigrant “Britain First” White Terrorist kills Member of Parliament

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The assassin shouted “Britain First!” as he repeatedly stabbed Jo Cox in the stomach with a hunting knife and then shot her with an old revolver several times. He also cut a 77-year-old man who unsuccessfully attempted to intervene. Cox, 41, and mother of two, served […]

Afghanistan

US still in Conventional War in Afghanistan via . . . Drones?

contributors

By Jack Serle | ( Bureau of Investigative Journalism) | – – US drones hit Taliban more than terrorist networks despite end of Afghan war The majority of US airstrikes in Afghanistan in 2016 have been in support of ground troops including Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, rather than targeting suspected terrorists. An investigation by […]

Dissent

Thousands Protest Drone Wars at US Air Force Base in Germany

contributors

TeleSur | – – Protesters say the base is being used to coordinate U.S. drone strikes in several countries which they argue violates German constitution. Several thousand demonstrators formed a human chain along the perimeter of a U.S. Air Force Base in southwest Germany Saturday in protest against drone operations by the United States. The […]

African-Americans

Muhammad Ali Understood the Racist Roots of War and Militarism: And he called them out fearlessly.

contributors

By Phyllis Bennis | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – With all the discussion and debate these days about intersectionality and the need for progressives to link our movements against racism and against war, the name of Muhammad Ali belongs right up in our pantheon with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harry Belafonte, Joan […]

Featured

World More violent in past Year, but Middle East drives Deterioration

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The 2016 Global Peace Index has been released, with the bad news that the world is slightly more violent this year than last. But much of the increase of violence happened in the greater Middle East, in Syria, Libya, Turkey, etc. If you subtracted the Middle […]

Authoritarianism

UN: Return Saudi-led Coalition to ‘List of Shame’ Secretary-General’s De-Listing Opens Door to Political Manipulation

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (New York) – The United Nations secretary-general should immediately return the Saudi-led coalition to his “list of shame” for violations against children in Yemen, Human Rights Watch and 19 other organizations said today in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On June 6, 2016, the secretary-general announced that he […]

Democracy

Welcome to the Party, America! 11 Muslim women who have been PM or President

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Hillary Clinton gave a victory speech Tuesday night positioning herself as the logical conclusion of the first women’s rights meeting at Seneca Falls in 1848. Along the way, other milestones have included women gaining the right to vote, in 1919 and the first woman elected to […]