women

By Golnaz Esfandiari via RFE/RL "No hair, no ears, no neck." That's how one journalist described a front-page portrait of Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani that an Iranian newspaper digitally doctored to obscure her hair and skin to placate censors in the Islamic republic. The altered picture of Mirzakhani, who this week became the first woman […]

Iraq

Sexual violence as a war strategy in Iraq

contributors

By Nazand Begikhani via Your Middle East “These are strategic theories of rape in wartime which have been deliberately practiced by IS jihadists in Syria and now in Iraq,” writes Dr Nazand Begikhani. In the last few days, while the world has been overwhelmed by the flow of information about atrocities committed by Islamic State […]

Arab World

Arab Youth and the Changing Middle East (HuffPo Cole Interview)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Huffington Post Live Highlight: Juan Cole, “The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East” Related book: The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East

film

Lauren Bacall’s Best Lines

contributors

via “Layla Raymanova” “here’re Lauren Bacall’s (1924-2014) best lines from the movie TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.” Little-known fact: Lauren Bacall and former Israeli president Shimon Peres are first cousins, both with the birth name Perski.

Apartheid

A Discourse of sexualized violence rises among the Israel Firsters, including on Bill Maher

contributors

By Alex Shams BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — As the bombs have been falling on Gaza over the past four weeks, another war has been ongoing for the hearts and minds of the global public. Although less deadly, this war of words offers a telling look into ongoing intellectual shifts in the Israeli and Zionist mainstream, revealing […]

Barack Obama

CIA Chief Shocking Admission: We spied on Senate staffers

contributors

By Jon Queally, Commondreams Yes, Admits CIA Chief, We Spied on Senate Panel Investigating Torture The findings of an internal investigation at the Central Intelligence Agency made available to the public on Thursday show that CIA agents did, in fact, spy on the Senate Intelligence Committee panel set up to investigate post-9/11 government torture under […]

Democracy

A Subtle Alchemy: US Finds it easier to Occupy Abroad than to Withdraw

contributors

By Alan McPherson In 2003, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously foresaw victory in Afghanistan and Iraq as demanding a “long, hard slog” and listed a multitude of unanswered questions. Over a decade later, as President Obama (slowly) fulfills his promise to pull all US troops from Afghanistan, a different set of questions emerges. […]

Dissent

Iraqi Idol: Tikrit Woman who Confronted ISIS Becomes Internet Sensation

contributors

By Osama Hassan | Tikrit Sad story: Tikrit woman Umiyia Jibara was killed by an ISIS sniper. In a country currently full of sad tales, the tragic death of a Tikrit women’s affairs adviser has drawn particular attention. The Sunni Muslim woman was supporting her family as they stood against Sunni Muslim extremists when she […]