International Politics and Economy

By Luisa Gandolfo | (The Conversation) | – Only weeks after Israel’s snap Knesset elections, the Likud party was bluntly reminded that winning the most seats does not guarantee an easy ride. It met its latest challenge with a series of coalition-saving deals with the HaBayit HaYehudi (Jewish Home) party, whose leader Naftali Bennett agreed […]

Arab World

Egypt: Mubarak, Sons, given 3-year Wrist Slap for Massive Corruption

contributors

Reuters | — “Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are sentenced to three years in jail without parole in the retrial of a corruption case. Nathan Frandino reports.” Reuters: “Egyptian court sentences Mubarak, sons to 3 years in jail”

nuclear weapons

Why won’t US, Israel Ratify Nuclear Test Ban Treaty but seek Iran Sanctions?

contributors

By Kanya D’Almeida UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – With the four-week-long review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) underway at the United Nations, hopes and frustrations are running equally high, as a binding political agreement on the biggest threat to humanity hangs in the balance. Gamma spectroscopy can detect traces of radioactivity from nuclear tests […]

Banking

The Wall Street Connection: The Clintons and their Banker Friends

contributors

By Nomi Prins | (Tomdispatch.com) | – The past, especially the political past, doesn’t just provide clues to the present. In the realm of the presidency and Wall Street, it provides an ongoing pathway for political-financial relationships and policies that remain a threat to the American economy going forward. When Hillary Clinton video-announced her bid for the […]

Iran

Overwhelming US Public Approval of Iran Talks gives Momentum to Peace Deal

contributors

By Carlyn Meyer | (Informed Comment) — For years, AIPAC and the Netanyahu government in Israel have tried to mark the Iran nuclear talks as a “Jewish” or ‘Israeli’ concern distinct from a world interest in nuclear non-proliferation. In this way, they were able (with plenty of help from the media) to control the framework […]

Featured

Israel’s Government Ratchets even Further Right: Great Moments in Colonialism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Binyamin Netanyahu has succeeded in putting together a shaky coalition of parties that would give him 61 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament. In such fragile coalitions, each small party has enormous power, since if it left, it would cause the government to fall and provoke new elections. […]

Islam

Young Muslim-Americans Draw Their Own Muhammad

contributors

AJ+ | – “Muslims condemned the attack at a Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas. But some of them started drawing cartoons of their own.” AJ+: “Muslim Americans Draw Their Own Muhammad”

Featured

How Muslim-Americans can avoid being Trolled by Israel-Firsters: Look again at the Prophet’s example

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – In the period from roughly 610 to 622 CE (“AD”), Muhammad ibn Abdallah of the noble Quraysh tribe in the western Arabian city of Mecca preached monotheism to an outraged polytheistic city dedicated to the worship of ancient Near Eastern goddesses, and the commerce of which deeply depended […]

Featured

Tom Cotton’s ‘Chickenhawk’ Taunt at Iran FM Demeans Jeb Bush, GOP Field

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – So freshman senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) got into a Twitter slamming match with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif this week. Zarif spoke at New York University on Wednesday and asserted that if there were a UNSC deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program, international sanctions would be […]