International Politics and Economy

By Katherine Mackenzie | (Inter Press Service) | – – ABU DHABI (IPS) – The triumph of 19 women in what is being seen as a landmark and historical election in a largely traditional and conservative country is a massive gain for women. A United Arab Emirates (UAE) daily newspaper called this a right step […]

Left Politics

Will Spain’s Bernie Sanders be a power Broker in wake of Elections?

contributors

By Paul Kennedy | (The Conversation) | – – Although Spain’s two big parties technically remain the largest after this year’s general election, they find themselves in a radically transformed political landscape – and neither has a clear mandate to govern. The Popular Party (PP), which secured its best ever result in 2011, winning 186 […]

Arms Sales

US Arms sales don’t Fight Terrorism & War, they Provoke Them

contributors

By Jeremy Ravinsky | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Nothing recruits terrorists like corrupt security forces committing human rights abuses with impunity. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps / Flickr) Recent, disparate terrorist attacks have shown that far from being “degraded and destroyed,” the Islamic State’s reach is growing. Unwilling to commit large numbers of […]

Democracy

In the Middle East’s New Century, can Western Imperialism stop Thwarting Democracy?

contributors

By Jeffrey D. Sachs | (Project Syndicate) | – – Jeffrey D. Sachs | (@JeffDSachs) – – NEW YORK – The United States, the European Union, and Western-led institutions such as the World Bank repeatedly ask why the Middle East can’t govern itself. The question is asked honestly but without much self-awareness. After all, the […]

Featured

41% of Trump Supporters want to bomb Aladdin and Jasmine

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Public Policy Polling asked US voters if they favored bombing “Agraba.” Some 30% of Republicans said “Yes!” Obviously, this is a a little bit of a trick, since voters being asked such a question assume it is a real policy issue. But wouldn’t you want to […]

Corruption

GOP Congress plans $100 bn. tax cut as Xmas Present for Corporations

contributors

By Jessica Schieder | (Otherwords.org) | – – This year-end tax package is a grab bag of gifts for corporations and a lump of coal for working families. Given the commitment House Republicans profess to balancing the federal budget, you’d think tax breaks for profitable businesses would be a low priority. But this holiday season, […]

Climate Change

Top 10 Signs the US is the Most Corrupt Country in the World

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. VOA reports : While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, […]

censorship

Turkish Dr. faces Prison for Comparing Pres Erdogan to Gollum of Lord of the Rings

contributors

AJ+ | (Video news report) | – – “Turkish doctor Bilgin Ciftci posted a meme with side-by-side pictures comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to “Lord of the Rings” character Gollum. Ciftci faces a two-year sentence for “insulting the head of the state” – and trilogy director Peter Jackson lends his expert opinion. ” […]

Islam-hatred

Dilemma of the Left: How to be anti-racist, anti-War and yet oppose Radical Islamism?

contributors

By Max Farrar and Rumana Hashem | (Open Democracy) | – – After the 13/11 atrocities in Paris, with global elites increasingly turning their dreams to a military solution to the ‘existential threat’ posed by terrorism that claims an Islamic Caliphate as its goal, leftists find themselves in a quandary. How to oppose this simplistic […]