Middle East

Palestinian Activist: The Problem is not Ignorance of Israeli Occupation’s Brutality, it is Inaction

“I am tired of reporting the same brutality every day, of thinking of new ways to describe the obvious.” Those are the words of Mohammed El-Kurd, the renowned Palestinian activist from East Jerusalem. He and his family are threatened with expulsion from their homes. They have committed no crime, but are being kicked out solely […]

Dissent

Iran: Deadly Repression of Khuzestan Protests: Hundreds Arrested; At Least 9 Deaths, Including a Child (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – The rising death toll and mass arrests raise grave concerns about the Iranian authorities’ response to recent protests in Khuzestan and other provinces, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release peaceful protesters, provide information about deaths, and allow an independent international investigation into […]

Russia

Is Russia Helping Syria or Stripping it of its Few Remaining Resources?

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas | – All the standard public relations ploys were in evidence for the recent meeting between Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad and Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus. More than 230 officials from 30 federal executive bodies, five Russian regions, and the Russian defence ministry had trekked to the Syrian capital. There were […]

Archaeology

The U.S. Committed Cliocide (Destruction of History) in Iraq, and even Returning Gilgamesh Can’t Fix it

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US government has returned 17,000 archeological artifacts to Iraq, many of them over 4,000 years old. This, according to Al Jazeera The objects and tablets were looted from the country during the chaos of the Bush administration’s rule of that country and were smuggled into the U.S., then sold […]

BDS Occupied Territories

Israel is determined to Criminalize Boycott Movement, but Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream struck a blow for First Amendment

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor) – Ben & Jerry’s decision to suspend its operations in the occupied Palestinian West Bank is an event that is proving critical to Palestinian efforts, which ultimately aim at holding Israel accountable for its military occupation, apartheid and war crimes. By responding to the Palestinian call for boycotting apartheid Israel, the […]

Dissent

‘Hopeless And Dissatisfied’: Growing Anger At Iranian Officials As Khuzestan Water Protests Spread

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Golnaz Esfandiari and Mohammad Zarghami | – ( RFE/RL) – Analysts say economic desperation and growing frustration in Iranian society have led to angry demonstrations around the country that began with people protesting water shortages in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. “If the society wasn’t hopeless, it wouldn’t take to the streets. It wouldn’t […]

Featured

Half of Palestinians Killed by Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza in May were Civilians and other War Crimes: HRW

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human Rights Watch conducted a detailed study of military actions by Israel and the Hamas party-militia in Gaza and concluded that both committed war crimes during the Israeli assault on the Palestinian enclave this spring, but that deaths of Palestinians at Israeli hands were 21 times higher than Israeli deaths.Three […]

al-Qaeda

Imperial Overstretch: Is the American Empire going the way of the Soviet Union?

Tom Engelhardt

By Tom Engelhardt | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was all so long ago, in a world seemingly without challengers. Do you even remember when we Americans lived on a planet with a recumbent Russia, a barely rising China, and no obvious foes except what later came to be known as an “axis of […]

Featured

Sleight-of-Hand in Baghdad: The Biden Pull-Out from Iraq that Isn’t

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mursi Abu Tawq at Al-Zaman (The Times“) in Baghdad reports that President Joe Biden on Monday announced that the US combat mission in Iraq would end by December 31 of this year, beginning a new stage of military cooperation between the US and Iraq. The remarks came after a White […]