religion

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act in 1990, and since then the FBI has been issuing annual reports on crimes of bias or hate crimes. I thought it might be useful to compare the year 2000, Bill Clinton’s last in office, with 2013 and with […]

Islam-hatred

Is Cruz even Worse re: anti-Muslim Hate Speech than Trump?

contributors

By Dan Dinello | (Informed Comment) | – – With his policies of bombing, bigotry and banning, Ted Cruz-ader fuels Islamophobia at home and promotes an anti-Muslim religious war abroad. “We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion,” said Ted Cruz describing his “strategy” for defeating ISIL. By definition, this would include obliterating cities and towns. In […]

Iraq

With Iraq’s Shiite Gov’t in Collapse, Can Country finally get past US-crafted Sectarianism?

contributors

Niqash.org | Baghdad | – – Iraq’s Crises Highlight Major Divide Between Country’s Shiite Politicians The Shiite political alliance that dominates Iraq is cracking under pressure from the country’s crises. But some who appear to be foes today, may actually be friends once the protest signs have been put away. The current protests against the […]

Islam-hatred

Ad for Honey Maid Graham Crackers Challenges Hatred of Muslim Women

contributors

Written by Bridge Initiative Team | – – Honey Maid, the famous Graham cracker brand behind such delectable pleasures as “Morning Sticks” and “Teddy Grahams,” has thrown its cap in the ring of pluralism. In a new advertisement that is part of its “This is Wholesome” campaign, the company showcases a Muslim woman interacting with […]

Democracy

Why Are there no Iranian Suicide Bombers? Evolving Islamic Democracy Matters!

contributors

By Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) | – – The emergence of political Islam in the mainstream politics in the Middle East and across other Muslim countries since the 1970s has impacted socioeconomic and political development in so many different ways. The return of religion–a symbol of traditionalism–to the mainstream debate about and the […]

Haredim

Israel’s “chained women” fight for right to divorce

contributors

By Michael Blum | ( Your Middle East | – – Israel’s “chained women” fight for right to divorce. She is one of Israel’s “chained women” — the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of wives denied a divorce by their husbands and prevented from breaking free by the country’s use of Jewish law. The 30-year-old mother of […]

Iraq

Iraq: Shiite Militias issue threats against US Troops going to Iraq to fight Salafi ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Recently US troops started fighting the [so-called] Islamic State in Iraq [ISIL], with ‘boots on the ground’. But is keeping a distance between the US and some old Shiite enemies hampering the fight? Or is it just good tactics? Iraqis found out that just about […]

Islam-hatred

The Ted Cruz solution won’t stop terrorism in the U.S.

contributors

By Robert Pape and Walker Gunning | ( Chicago Tribune) | – – Most Americans felt the Brussels bombings in the pits of their stomachs. That’s natural. Terrorism’s greatest weapon is not those it kills immediately, but its ability to spread fear after the fact. That fear makes terrorism not just a political issue, but […]

Arab Americans

The Trump Doctrine: End NATO, Patrol Mosques, Nukes for Japan & Allies

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Anderson Cooper’s interview with Donald Trump on Tuesday evening had the advantage of allowing come-backs and close questioning. At one point Cooper pointed out to Trump that he sometimes behaved like a 5-year-old, as with his attacks on Heidi Cruz. At another, he wondered why Trump […]