religion

By MariaGloria Polimeno | (The Conversation) | – – Hisham Barakat, Egypt’s most senior prosecutor, has been killed by a car bomb that hit his motorcade in Cairo. The attack came just a month after Islamic State (IS) urged its followers to attack Egypt’s judges and its “deep state” in revenge for their jailing scores […]

Featured

The Great Wall of Turkey? Ankara imagines DMZ w/ Kurds, ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So I am going to tell you a story about Turkey, Syria and the United States. It may or may not be true. Its details may or may not have happened, though there is reason to think they did. It is a story. The point is […]

Archaeology

No, GOP, biblical Marriage was not between one man and one woman

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The freak-out by the Republican presidential candidates over the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage provokes me to revise and reprise the points below. Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have formally pledged: “We will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us […]

Iraq

Will Iraq Be Libya? Can the Shiite Militiamen Avoid Turning on Each Other?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – – Iraq’s Shiite militias have been celebrated and criticised. Now, as differences in everything from weapons to leadership to loyalties become evident, tensions between the militias are rising. Last Saturday was the anniversary of senior Iraqi spiritual leader, Ali al-Sistani’s call to arms. The cleric, who is seen […]

Arab Spring

Wikileaks Docs Reveal Saudi intrigues against Bahrain’s Arab Spring

contributors

By Faten Bushehri | (Global Voices) | – – The Saudi Cables, released by WikiLeaks, includes a treasure trove of information in secret exchanges between Saudi diplomats on restive Bahrain Saudi Arabia's meddling in Bahrain's internal affairs has been revealed in top secret documents released by whistle blowing site WikiLeaks from June 20. WikiLeaks published […]

Arab Americans

European Islamophobic Networks influenced Roof to Kill in Charleston

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Muslim-hatred of the Geert Wilders and Marine LePens in Europe, for which Daniel Pipes, and Pamela Geller, and the whole Islamophobic network are cheerleaders and enablers, was a key influence on Dylann Roof, according to his manifesto. These same hatemongers helped whip Norwegian white supremacist […]

Christianity

Israel releases 16 Squatter Youth suspected in arson of Church of Loaves & Fishes

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Israeli police detained and have now released 16 young Jewish settlers, Thursday, after an overnight arson attack damaged a revered shrine in northern Israel. The arson attack struck the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where many Christians believe Jesus fed the […]

Christians

Pope to Developed World: Greed is Causing Climate Change, Inequality

contributors

Jon Queally, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | – – Leader of Catholic Church says the richest owe the poorest a ‘great social debt’ for creating the climate crisis, ignoring warnings of its dangers, and refusing to act ‘The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,’ reads Pope Francis’ […]

African-Americans

Rhodesian Flag, Confederate Flag: Roof & the Legacies of Racial Hate

contributors

Benjamin Foldy | (Informed Comment) | – – When the perpetrator in the horrific massacre at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston was first publicly identified as Dylann Storm Roof, a near-instantaneous Twitter trawl of his social media uncovered his Facebook profile picture. In the picture, Roof sports two flag patches on his left breast: […]