US politics

By Kevin A. Young, UMass Amherst (The Conversation) – Donald Trump’s first term as president saw some of the largest mass protests seen in the U.S. in over 50 years, from the 2017 Women’s March to the 2020 protests after George Floyd’s murder. Things feel different this time around. Critics seem quieter. Some point to […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Shock and Awe: Move Fast and Break Things

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Yes, “shock and awe” is back in the second age of Donald Trump. His border czar, Tom Homan, used that very phrase to describe border policy from day one of the new administration and, whether the president has actually said it or not, it’s now regularly in headlines, op-eds, and so […]

censorship

Letter from a Palestinian Political Prisoner in Louisiana: Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil

Note from Juan Cole: I used to write letters to totalitarian governments on behalf of Amnesty International complaining about their detention of political prisoners for mere thought crimes. One of the worst offenders was Communist Czechoslovakia, which did not even bother to reply. I could not have imagined in 1987 that in 2025 people in […]

Artificial Intelligence

The New Age Militarists – And their Threat to our Common Future

William D. Hartung

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Alex Karp, the CEO of the controversial military tech firm Palantir, is the coauthor of a new book, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. In it, he calls for a renewed sense of national purpose and even greater cooperation between government and the tech […]

Academic Freedom

Columbia University must Reject Trump Ultimatum and Stand up at long last for the Freedom and Independence of the Academy

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Dr. Katrina Armstrong Interim President, Columbia University officeofthepresident@columbia.edu David Greenwald Claire Shipman Co-Chairs, Columbia University Board of Trustees secretary@columbia.edu Dear Dr. Armstrong, Mr. Greenwald and Ms. Shipman: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Air War on Yemen Escalates as Civilian Population Suffers Food Insecurity, Cholera Epidemic

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration began bombing Yemen last weekend, when the US Air Force launched 47 air raids on at least seven provinces, killing some 53 persons. On Monday the air raids continued, hitting not only the capital, Sanaa, but also Saadeh in the north, the hometown of the movement of […]

Donald Trump

Saudi Arabia, Rehabilitated, is Mediator in Ukraine War, and maybe with Iran

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

By Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University (The Conversation) – Saudi Arabia is 2,000 miles from Ukraine and even more politically distant, so at first glance it might seem like it has nothing to do with the ongoing war there. But the Gulf state has emerged as a key intermediary in the most serious ceasefire negotiations […]

Academic Freedom

The Trump Administration is an Existential Threat to Academic Freedom and Higher Education: Middle East Studies Assn.

Middle East Studies Association

Board of Directors, the Middle East Studies Association The second Trump administration has ushered in an existential threat to academic freedom and higher education in the United States. The current campaign targeting universities is an extension of earlier right-wing efforts to attack and defund teaching about race, gender, and sexuality at the state level, but […]

Authoritarianism

Withholding Consent from the Trump Regime

Tomdispatch

By Nan Levinson ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Not even two months since Inauguration Day and it’s already been quite a trip. Ping-ponging between vindictive pettiness and unconstitutional overreach while using everything in his power (and much that isn’t), Donald Trump has served up a goulash of dubious orders with a slathering of venom on top. […]