religion

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Several members of Donald Trump’s new team, including National Security Adviser Mike Flynn and proposed Secretary of Defense Mike Mattis have expressed themselves troubled about “political Islam” (or in Flynn’s case, just “Islam”). Mattis seems to have confused Daesh’s (ISIS, ISIL) idea of a neo-Caliphate (bringing […]

Antisemitism

IfNotNow’s ‘Jewish Day of Resistance’ against Trump and appointees

contributors

By Sarah Aziza | (Waging Nonviolence) | – – Demonstrators gathered in over 30 U.S. cities last Wednesday as part of a “Jewish Day of Resistance” against President-elect Donald Trump and his appointment of Stephen Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor. The group responsible for organizing the day’s events is IfNotNow, an organization of […]

Donald Trump

Hateful letters to More mosques warning Trump will ‘cleanse’ US of Muslims

contributors

TeleSur | – – The threatening letters have been sent to mosques in at least seven states. “To the children of Satan,” begins the letter that was first sent to sent to three California mosques but has has now been dispatched to mosques all over the country. “You Muslims are a vile and filthy people.” […]

Arab Americans

Trump Effect: 867 Hate Incidents in Just 10 Days After Election

contributors

TeleSur | – – Educators have reported an increase in students using racial slurs, verbally harassing their classmates and writing white nationalist graffiti. The “Trump effect” is already taking a heavy toll across the United States just weeks after the presidential election with a disturbing spike in racist incidents, including in the nation’s schools, according […]

Iraq

Does Turkey’s Erdogan Dream of Neighboring Mosul?

contributors

By Lucy DerTavitian | (Informed Comment) | – – The battle over Mosul appears to have ignited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expansionist Ottoman era fantasies. He gained a few more adversaries recently when he claimed that Mosul, along with Aleppo, Western Thrace in Greece, and Kosovo, are part of Turkey. Erdogan’s comments come at […]

Antisemitism

Israel’s sliding definition of anti-Semitism in the Trump era

contributors

By Heike Schotten | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – You would think that support for Israel is fundamentally at odds with anti-Semitism. If you thought that, however, you would be wrong. The past few days have witnessed a bizarre pile-up of prominent Israel-supporters going out of their way to defend or excuse what seem […]

Donald Trump

American Muslims & the Trump Administration with Juan Cole

Juan Cole

Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs | Video Interview | – – “The election of Donald Trump was a shock to the American political system and, in its wake, many are deeply concerned about what his ascendancy will mean for the civil rights of minority groups. History Professor Juan Cole, an expert on the […]

Donald Trump

Is Lt.-Gen. Flynn Right that Islam is not a Religion?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The new National Security Adviser to incoming President Donald J. Trump, Lt.-Gen. Michael Flynn, has called Islam a “cancer” and maintained that it is a “political ideology” masquerading as a religion. He made this generalization about the religion of 1.6 billion people out of the 7.4 […]

Assyrians

Woman demeans Christian Assyrian-American as ‘Terrorist’ for Speaking Jesus’ Language

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Aramaic was the language spoken by Jesus. Although the New Testament survives in koine Greek, likely it had an Aramaic substrate. The Gospels make clear that Jesus spoke Aramaic by occasionally quoting his original words in that language. Jesus says to the little girl he heals, […]