Middle East

William Beeman | (Informed Comment) | – – Bill Beeman writes from Iran: I am continuing my trip through Iran traveling from Yazd to Isfahan via Na’in Discussions with a variety of ordinary people in shops, on the street and in a couple of cases in private homes are very revealing about the public attitude […]

BDS Occupied Territories

French Telco CEO Receives Death Threats, is Cyberstalked over Withdrawal from Israel

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Orange boss Stephane Richard has taken legal action after receiving death threats against himself and family members amid a row over withdrawing his brand from Israel, legal sources said Tuesday, according to AFP. Richard filed a complaint at a Paris court last week before heading to Israel in a bid […]

Apartheid

Israel’s Ultranationalist Squatters March in Jerusalem, beat Palestinian Journalist

contributors

Channel 4 News | (Video Documentary) | – – “Bussed in from nearby settlements, Israel’s ultranationalist right were defiant at a rally for Jerusalem day this year. Hardline views have become more influential than ever in Israel – with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wider public. Inigo Gilmore went to meet the settlers.” […]

Arab World

Women’s Voices Matter, especially in the Middle East

contributors

By Lauren Feeney | (Informed Comment) – – Before there were nine million Syrian refugees, civil wars in Yemen and Libya, mass death sentences being handed down in Egypt, there was a moment of profound hope. It is easy to lose track of the emotions that first defined the Arab Spring among headlines full of […]

Arab Americans

In defeat for Israel Lobbies, Professors’ Union censures U of Illinois Over Salaita Firing

contributors

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – Attorneys for Professor Steven Salaita called the move by leading academic group ‘a serious blemish on the university’s record’ The university rescinded Salaita’s tenured faculty appointment at school’s the American Indian studies program after he issued a series of Tweets condemning those who defended Israel’s […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Arabia Lashing Blogger Reveals What Religion Fears Most

contributors

Cenk Uygur & John Iadarola | (The Young Turks Video) | – – “The public flogging of jailed blogger Raif Badawi is now “sure” to resume after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld his sentence at the weekend, his wife has told The Independent. Ensaf Haidar spoke out amid growing fears among human rights groups that […]

Featured

Pres. Erdogan sees Syrian Kurds’ advance against ISIL as “danger” to Turkey

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leftist Kurdish Protection Forces (YPG) and their Arab allies, the Euphrates Volcano, continued their assault on Sunday on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) positions in northern Raqqa Province in Syria, taking the village of Salouk on the outskirts of Tel Abyad. Tel Abyad lies on the border […]

Iraq

Next year in Mosul: Iraqi Kurds cut off ISIL/ Daesh Supply Lines

contributors

VICE News | (Video report) | – “A year after the Islamic State’s lightning conquest of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international coalition’s only reliable boots on the ground in northern Iraq. The Pentagon’s hopes of recapturing the city by spring 2015 have been dashed by […]