International Politics and Economy

By Nicole Lee, Curtin University (The Conversation) – After the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria, large stockpiles of the illicit drug captagon have reportedly been uncovered. The stockpiles, found by Syrian rebels, are believed to be linked to al-Assad military headquarters, implicating the fallen regime in the drug’s manufacture and distribution. But as […]

Jewish History

What Hannukah Teaches us about Violence and Peace

Yakov M. Rabkin

( The Times of israel ) – Biblical accounts teem with violent episodes. Just a few days ago, we read in the synagogue the story of Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Simeon, massacring the entire male population of a city in a devious scheme using a religious pretext. (Genesis 34) Their father was so aggrieved […]

Climate Crisis

Repression of Climate and Environmental Protest is intensifying across the World

The Conversation

By Oscar Berglund, University of Bristol and Tie Franco Brotto, University of Bristol (The Conversation) – Climate and environmental protest is being criminalised and repressed around the world. The criminalisation of such protest has received a lot of attention in certain countries, including the UK and Australia. But there have not been any attempts to […]

Featured

The Great Sufi Qushayri on “Responding to Evil with the Greatest Good” (Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men in Islam)

Juan Cole

In honor of the season’s ‘Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men”

Dissent

Protesting New York University’s Arbitrary Repressive Actions toward Faculty and Students Protest Gaza War

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Linda G. Mills President, New York University linda.mills@nyu.edu Georgina Dopico Provost, New York University georgina.dopico@nyu.edu Dear President Mills and Provost Dopico: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express […]

Democracy

Post-Election Beatitude: Beating the Blues

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Whatever postures our country has projected to the world – shining city on a hill; leader of the free world; model of democracy; the indispensable nation; a rules-based order–all have crumbled like a house of cards. Our country’s failures, however, are deeper and older than the recent […]

Donald Trump

Seeds of Resistance: Reviving the Peace Movement in the Age of Trump

William D. Hartung

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When the election results came in on November 5th, I felt a pain in the pit of my stomach, similar to what I experienced when Ronald Reagan rode to power in 1980, or with George W. Bush’s tainted victory over Al Gore in 2000. After some grieving, the first question that […]

Democracy

No Extermination without Representation: Election 2024

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On Tuesday, the American people go to the polls in one of the most consequential elections for the United States and the world. Normally, outsiders should not interfere in other countries’ elections, although the United States has a habit of interfering in other countries’ elections, often overtly and […]

Democracy

Pennsylvania’s Undecideds: The 2024 Election Will Likely Turn on the Democrats’ Ground Game

Bob Dreyfuss

( Tomdispatch.com ) – If you’re like many of my friends, I know what you’re thinking: OMG, how is it even possible that half the country is going to vote for that guy? And there’s a slightly less common corollary to that: I mean, really, who are these people who say that they’re undecided? Who […]