International Politics and Economy

America’s Arms Sales Addiction: The 50-Year History of U.S. Dominance of the Middle Eastern Arms Trade

(Tomdispatch.com) – It’s no secret that Donald Trump is one of the most aggressive arms salesmen in history. How do we know? Because he tells us so at every conceivable opportunity. It started with his much exaggerated “$110 billion arms deal” with Saudi Arabia, announced on his first foreign trip as president. It continued with […]

Democratic Party

Top 4 Things Rep. Ilhan Omar was Right about, from Stephen Miller Racism to Trump Impeachment

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This week The Southern Poverty Law Center reported from Hatewatch that Trump administration official Stephen Miller spent the period before 2016 sending white supremacist messages to the Breitbart Nazi-lite site. He was upset about the turn against Confederate symbols after the massacre in a church by Dylann Roof, and he […]

Drones

Drone Strikes and Tears

Tomdispatch

By Allegra Harpootlian | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Think back to the last time you cried at work. Did the tears come after your boss sent you a curt email? Or when you accidentally cc’d (instead of bcc’d) everyone? Maybe you just had a really, really long day and that one last little misstep pushed you […]

Far Right

Trump, Johnson, Erdogan: The International Alt-Right’s Bluster and Surrender

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – From the U.S. to the U.K. to Turkey, it is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced to retreat. It is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced — by opposition, by circumstance, by the laws […]

Culture

The Rats of Oran: The Far Right’s War on Culture

John Feffer

By John Feffer | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – The far right is on a roll. Just a few years ago, liberals and conservatives would have considered its recent political victories a nightmare scenario. Right-wing extremists have won elections in the United States, Brazil, Hungary, India, and Poland. They pushed through the Brexit referendum in the […]

Democracy

Tunisia Had Successful Democratic Elections, but can the New President face down the Political Elites

The Conversation

By Omar Safi | – The election of Kais Saied, a 61-year-old former law professor and political outsider, to the Tunisian presidency was not surprising: he represents the Tunisian ideal of how the ruling class should be. The size of the vote in his favour was impressive. He won 73% of the vote in the […]

Democracy

Thank You, Tunisia: The only Democracy in the Middle East

Middle East Monitor

By Mohammad Ayesh | – The overwhelming election victory of Tunisia’s new President, Kais Saied, and the statements he made in its aftermath send a very clear message: the counter-revolution in Tunisia has failed; it has been defeated; it has ended. Tunisians have always embraced the saying, “If people fight for life, destiny will listen […]

film

By rejecting stereotypes, Slam and Ramy show us authentic Arab Muslim men on screen

The Conversation

By Sherene Idriss | – There is a long history of damaging stereotypes of Arab and Muslim men on screen. Because of this, audiences from culturally diverse migrant backgrounds understandably crave more positive representations of their ethnic and cultural communities. Two new screen productions – Ramy and Slam – tell stories embracing the complexity of […]

Ethiopia

Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for Freeing Ethiopia’s Dissidents, but Challenges still Await

The Conversation

By Mohammed Girma | – Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He becomes the 100th Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the first Ethiopian to receive the accolade. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock Abiy is the 12th winner from Africa to be awarded the prize. Last year it […]