International Politics and Economy

By Allegra Harpootlian | – (Tomdispatch.com) – We’re only a few days into the new decade and it’s somehow already a bigger dumpster fire than the last. On January 2nd, President Trump decided to order what one expert called “the most important decapitation strike America has ever launched.” This one took out not some nameless […]

Arms Sales

Is Iran Conflict a War for the Arms Corporations? Congress Needs to End Profiteering

OtherWords

By Sarah Anderson | – (Otherwords.org) – Surging stock prices for military contractors gave several CEOs an early payday after Trump’s Iran aggression. The prospect of war with Iran is terrifying. Experts predict as many as a million people could die if the current tensions lead to a full-blown war. Millions more would become refugees […]

Arms Sales

The Real Winners of Iran Conflict: Threat of War Inflates Stock Holdings of Military Contractor CEOs

Inequality.org

By Sarah Anderson | – (Inequality.org) – As long as the top executives of our privatized war economy can reap unlimited rewards, the profit motive for war in Iran — or anywhere — will persist. CEOs of major U.S. military contractors stand to reap huge windfalls from the escalation of conflict with Iran. This was […]

Algeria

2019: Americans Slept while Street Revolts Reshaped Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Algeria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In 2019, the Middle East was shaken by a new round of street revolts. As the year began, Abdelaziz Bouteflika had announced a fifth run for the presidency of Algeria. Then the peaceful “revolution of Smiles” broke out and by April he had resigned. A small elite has for decades […]

Democracy

Bush Falsely Promised a New Iraq, but now it is being Forged by Crowds in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square

Open Democracy

After the death of hundreds of people since the eruption of Iraq’s revolution in October, there is no return to the old system.

Islamophobia

No, the Muslim Brotherhood did not Invent Islamophobia

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) Columnist Melanie Phillips appears to be claiming that Islamophobia isn’t real A column by Melanie Phillips in last week’s issue of the Jewish Chronicle has been causing dismay both inside and outside Britain’s Jewish community – so much so that on Tuesday the paper’s editor issued an apology “to any reader who is angered […]

Democracy

From Tory Landslide to Trump non-Impeachment: Can Filthy Rich Liars sink Democracy in Britain and the U.S.?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The danger to democracy posed by our new information system plus our new levels of wealth concentration cannot be overestimated. The degree of inequality both in the US and the UK is now virtually unprecedented, as is media consolidation. That is, fewer and much wealthier people own more and more […]

European Union

Britain Votes Overwhelmingly to Leave Europe Now with Boris Johnson Landslide

The Conversation

By Laura Hood | – Results are still rolling in but it looks as though Prime Minister Boris Johnson has secured a big victory in the British general election. He looks set to have gone from a minority government to a very large parliamentary majority. Projections based on exit polling and early results indicate his […]

Islamophobia

Top 5 Reasons Buddhist Myanmar has been Charged with Genocide of Rohingya Muslims

The Conversation

By Catesby Holmes | – Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi is defending Myanmar in court against accusations of genocide. According to a case brought by the country of Gambia at the United Nations’ International Court of Justice, the Myanmar military in August 2017 carried out a systematic, targeted campaign of terror, rape and murder […]