US politics

By Farrah Hassen ( Otherwords ) – Two years ago, filmmaker Mohannad Abu Rizk asked children in Gaza about their dreams. One young girl responded, “My dream is for us to stay alive and to live in peace. We have a right to stay alive.” She’s one of the 2.2 million Palestinians living in the […]

censorship

The University of Pennsylvania must Defend its Faculty’s Right to Condemn War Crimes

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill President, the University of Pennsylvania president@upenn.edu John Jackson Provost, the University of Pennsylvania provost@upenn.edu . . . Dear President Magill and colleagues: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its […]

Arms Sales

Bad Times in Gaza and Ukraine: Good Times for the Military-Industrial Complex

William D. Hartung

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The New York Times headline said it all: “Middle East War Adds to Surge in International Arms Sales.” The conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and beyond may be causing immense and unconscionable human suffering, but they are also boosting the bottom lines of the world’s arms manufacturers. There was a time when such weapons […]

Immigration

Biden’s Border: Record Contracts for Private Industry on the World’s Deadliest Frontier

Tomdispatch

By Todd Miller ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On September 23rd, at about 2:30 a.m., a Border Patrol surveillance camera captured two people crossing the international boundary between Mexico and the United States on the outskirts of Nogales, Arizona. A Border Patrol vehicle arrived quickly, but not before one of them had fled back into Mexico. […]

Congress

Dear Congress: Your Resolution against Rashida Tlaib is Delusional, full of Fake History and Falsehoods. Here’s Why.

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Congressional resolution censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian to serve in the national legislature, is a major scandal. It is rife with propaganda, fake history, and racism. It puts me in mind of Mark Twain’s observation that “America has no native criminal class . . . except Congress.” […]

Barack Obama

Juan Cole: The Rise and Fall of Oil and the US Invasion of Iraq

Juan Cole

Here is the closing plenary panel of a conference held in mid-September by the Qatar branch of Georgetown University on “The Invasion of Iraq: Regional Reflections.” Juan Cole is the first speaker in the video below, on the changing relationship of the United States to Iraq and to energy markets in the Bush, Obama, Trump […]

Donald Trump

Does Biden’s Hypocritical Middle East Policy now Threaten our Own Democratic Stability?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The political fallout from Israel’s response to the invasion, murders and kidnappings of its innocent civilians is impacting the American electorate as never before. Indirectly, US foreign policy in Israel-Palestine has become a threat to our own democracy. Young people, especially of color are turning away from […]

Arab Americans

Don’t Silence Palestinian Voices: Their Absence from News Coverage is Unfair and Harmful

OtherWords

By Sarah Gertler | ( Otherwords.org ) – Like many of us, I’ve been glued to media coverage of the terrible violence in Gaza and Israel. I was deeply shaken by the brutal killings of over a thousand Israelis on October 7. The families of Israelis killed and taken hostage deserve justice for these crimes. […]