US politics

By Edward Hunt | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – While Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza, the United States is directing a major military operation in the Red Sea, where U.S. warships are maintaining a persistent presence to protect shipping lanes. With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States […]

Anti-intellectualism

Zionism, Anti-Palestinianism, and the Fall of Harvard’s Claudine Gay

Charles Hirschkind

Berkeley, CA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Much of the media conversation about the recent resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has (rightfully) framed her abrupt removal in the context of the current right-wing assault on liberal education and, particularly, its targeting of the policies and practices designed to promote racial equality on US […]

Debt

The Military-Industrial Complex Is the Winner (Not You) – Overspending on the Pentagon Is Stealing Our Future

William D. Hartung

( Tomdispatch.com ) – 2023 was a year marked by devastating conflicts from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to Hamas’s horrific terror attacks on Israel, from that country’s indiscriminate mass slaughter in Gaza to a devastating civil war in Sudan. And there’s a distinct risk of even worse to come this year. Still, there was one […]

Bill of Rights

Academic Freedom Violations at Indiana U against Professor Abdelkader Sinno and artist Samia Halaby

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Abdelkader Sinno Indiana University Samia Halaby Rahul Shrivastav, Provost and Executive Vice President provost@indiana.edu Rick Van Kooten, Executive Dean, College of Arts and Sciences rvankoot@indiana.edu . . . Dear Provost Shrivastav and colleagues: We write on behalf of the […]

censorship

Setting the Record Straight: Weaponizing Antisemitism to Cancel Academic Free Speech

Ted Swedenburg

( Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette) – As someone who believes deeply in human rights for all, who has spent a great deal of time in Palestine and Israel and cares a great deal about the people there, and who is very concerned and grieved about the loss of life in Israel on Oct. 7 and […]

Donald Trump

Trump and the End of the American Century

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – With recent polls giving Donald Trump a reasonable chance of defeating President Biden in the November elections, commentators have begun predicting what his second presidency might mean for domestic politics. In a dismally detailed Washington Post analysis, historian Robert Kagan argued that a second Trump term would feature his “deep thirst […]

Dissent

Gaza: 400K Rally in DC against “Genocide Joe;” Massive Protests in Johannesburg, London, other Capitals

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Millions of protesters came out around the world on Saturday, answering the call of Palestinian activists to rally against the ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza on a “Global Day of Action for Palestine.” Close to home, an estimated 400,000 demonstrated in Washington, D.C., and scattered what looked like bloodied dolls […]

Democratic Party

Could Israel’s Gaza Atrocity Spiral into a Red Sea War and Sink Biden’s Reelection?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden and his administration believe that they can support the extremist Israeli government in its genocidal assault on the innocent noncombatant Palestinians of Gaza without a political cost at home. They also believe that they can manage the conflict, so that it does not spiral into a wider Middle […]

Houthi

US-UK Airstrikes Risk strengthening the Houthi Rebels in Yemen and the Region

The Conversation

By Mahad Darar, Colorado State University | – The U.S.- and U.K.-led strikes on the rebel Houthi group in Yemen represent a dramatic new turn in the Middle East conflict – one that could have implications throughout the region. The attacks of Jan. 11, 2024, hit around 60 targets at 16 sites, according to the […]