Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – GAZA (Ma’an) — The Committee to Support Palestinian Journalists said on Saturday that Israel has detained 43 journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory since October 2015, including two foreign reporters. The New York-based committee said in a report that during detention and imprisonment, journalists have reported torture, medical negligence, […]

Arab Spring

Thousands protest Gov’t in Egypt over Saudi Hegemony

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thousands of Egyptians came into the streets Friday in the first major demonstrations in 2 and a half years, to protest the bestowal of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir on Saudi Arabia. Many Egyptians believe that the islands belong to Egypt, and it is unconstitutional […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Parliamentary committee debates racial discrimination in maternity wards

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A meeting of a Knesset committee held Wednesday debated the issue of segregation between Palestinian and Jewish women in Israeli maternity wards, following media reports and allegations of racial discrimination in Israel’s hospitals, according to a Knesset press release. A recent report by Israel Radio exposed […]

Iraq

Daesh and Territorial Control Reconsidered

contributors

By Michael Degerald | ( History X ISIS ) | – – It might seem strange to open this essay by speaking about circulation and vitality in regard to Daesh [ISIS, ISIL]. Yet when we think of a nation-state, circulation is rarely the first thing that comes to our minds. Imagine a room where air […]

Israel/ Palestine

US Slams Israel over Extrajudicial Killings, Torture & Racism then Meekly offers extra Billions

contributors

TeleSur In a rare move by Washington, the 2016 U.S. report on human rights said Israel unlawfully killed over 70 Palestinians and tries minors in military courts. The United States accused Israeli Defense Forces of “excessive use of force” in the Palestinian territories, and “arbitrary arrest and associated torture and abuse, often with impunity,” as […]

Iraq

Fall of Iraq, Rise of Sunnistan? Sunni Politicians In Washington Promote Idea of Partition and a Sunni Region

contributors

Mazin Sahib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Leading Sunni Muslim politicians have opened an office in Washington to represent Sunni interests. There’s talk of an autonomous Sunni region again as a result. But other Sunni MPs say its all nonsense. In Dhuluiya victims of the IS group demanded that families associated with IS […]

Featured

Negotiations, “Elections,” and al-Qaeda’s assault on Syrian Ceasefire

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – There were five major stories in the US and European press about Syria today: 1. The cessation of hostilities is in danger of breaking down (typically Western politicians and press blame this on the Syrian regime, but as far as I can tell, it is because […]

censorship

Turkey’s Pres. Erdogan demands Germany prosecute comedian over satirical poem

contributors

RT | (Video News Report) | – – “Turkey has made a formal request to the German government to prosecute a TV comedian over a crude poem about the Turkish President.” RT: “Erdogan demands Germany prosecute comedian over satirical poem”

Israel/ Palestine

Erekat: Escalation of Israeli squatter settlement construction a ‘war crime’

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced on Wednesday recent Israeli plans to expand illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling it a “war crime.” “The continued Israeli colonization of Palestine is a war crime under international law,” Erekat said in a statement. […]