workers

By Nehal Amer Over the past year Egypt has undergone harsh reforms in a narrowing sociopolitical environment. New legislation is rapidly being produced in the absence of an elected parliament—from the repressive protest law to the draft NGO law, and now to the draft labor law. This past August, the Ministry of Manpower and Migration […]

Christianity

The Real Jesus was Bill O’Reilly’s Worst Nightmare – Reza Aslan

contributors

Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks) “The Jesus of history was the exact opposite of everything Fox News host Bill O’Reilly thinks, according to religious scholar Reza Aslan. The professor made the remarks while speaking at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in February. Video of the event was uploaded on Tuesday. During the discussion about […]

Iraq

Women Targeted by Militarism in Strong States and Extremism in weak ones

contributors

By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6 2014 (IPS) – Ongoing military conflicts in the strife-torn Middle East – specifically in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Palestine – have resulted in widespread civilian casualties, impacting heavily on the most vulnerable in besieged communities: women and children. The biggest death toll has stemmed from the civil war […]

Bahrain

Artificial Billionaires: Regimes’ Crony Capitalism Stifling Middle East

contributors

World Bank Across the Middle East and North Africa, countries are being forced to face up to a harsh reality—that, left as they are now, their economies won’t create anything like enough jobs for the hundreds of thousands of people entering their job markets each year. Popular discontent will continue alongside widespread economic inactivity. What […]

Barack Obama

Why Obama underestimated ISIL in Syria and Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole President Obama admitted on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that the US had underestimated the military potential of ISIL. Obama understands that a generational struggle is going on in the Middle East, but some of his comments in the interview seemed to me to show insufficient appreciation for the true nature of […]

Economy

Super-Rich Oil and Gas Companies Routinely Underpay own Workers

contributors

By Naveena Sadasivam via ProPublica A ProPublica review of U.S. Department of Labor investigations shows that oil and gas workers 2013 men and women often performing high-risk jobs 2013 are routinely being underpaid, and the companies hiring them often are using accounting techniques to deny workers benefits such as medical leave or unemployment insurance. The […]

Crime

Employers’ theft from Worker Wages 3 times more than all other Theft in US

contributors

The Young Turks “As the economy slowly recovers, it’s become increasingly clear that it’s not just unemployed Americans who need help from the government. It’s those that are employed as well. “That’s the main finding of a new report from the Economic Policy Institute on wage theft. What is wage theft? It’s when employers refuse […]

Arab World

Cole’s “The New Arabs” at Firedoglake Book Salon

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Firedoglake Book Salon on Juan Cole, The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is changing the Middle East See also this recent NYT review by Irshad Manji FDL Book Salon Welcomes Juan Cole, The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East Author: CTuttle Sunday, September 7, 2014 12:15 […]

Banking

Top 5 Reasons “Labor Day” isn’t for Laborers Anymore

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Calling the bottom of a river a “bed” is a metaphor. Imagine the river restlessly sleeping on its muddy mattress. But when we’ve so internalized a metaphor that we forget it is a figure of speech, as with the phrase “river bed,” it is called a “dead metaphor.” Labor Day is, alas, […]