Top 6 Pulitzer Prize “Traitors” in American Journalism
(By Juan Cole) The Pulitzer Prize committee’s opinion that Edward Snowden is a public servant rather…
(By Juan Cole) The Pulitzer Prize committee’s opinion that Edward Snowden is a public servant rather…
(By Juan Cole) My Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others, judging by the Facebook…
The decision of the Obama administration and the resolution passed by Congress barring entry to Iran’s…
SXSW: Snowden Touts Encryption, Swipes at NSA (via slashdot) In a Google Hangout with an auditorium full of South by Southwest attendees, government whistleblower (and former NSA employee) Edward Snowden suggested that…
91 Illinois Communities Powered 100% By Green Electricity (via Clean Technica) Article by the WWF. WASHINGTON, DC, March 7, 2014 – Illinois has embraced renewable electricity on a massive scale not seen anywhere else…
(By Paul Jamiol) Courtesy Jamiol’s World
Some date the advent of the tea party to 2007, when then-presidential candidate Ron Paul held a “tax day tea party” fundraiser to fill his campaign coffers. But the broader movement began five years ago last week — shortly after Barack Obama was…
Local communities that are pushing for a ban on fracking will get a helping hand from the British green energy company Ecotricity, which is launching a new short film this Thursday to boost public awareness about negative impacts of the unconventional…
Originally published on Mosaic. By John Steller. From sci-fi to drama and adventure, movies capture our attention and spur imagination like no other medium. In recent years, as the solar industry has grabbed our attention with increasing efficiency…
NAIROBI, Kenya — This Wednesday, Ben Affleck testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as an expert on Africa. Yes, Ben Affleck: actor-director Ben Affleck, Argo Ben Affleck and, lest we forget, J-Lo Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck, whose tuxedo…
(By Jacob Chamberlain) Climate change is accelerating full steam ahead and immediate action is neccessary, leading scientists from two countries clarified in an educational guide released Thursday. According to the The U.S.…
House Republicans voted in line with environmental interests on key environmental legislation an average of just 5 percent of the time in 2013, according to a new scorecard. The scorecard, released each year from the League of Conservation Voters, tallied…
(By Jacob Chamberlain) One of nature's key defenses against global warming—the reflection of the sun's rays away from Earth by Arctic sea ice—has fallen victim to… global warming. And according to a…
(By Ola Claësson) The government’s response to the Gezi protests in June 2013 and its obstruction of a graft probe targeting ministers in December the same year has tarnished the perception of…
Video by Dr. Kim Solez on Existential Risks [of Nanotechnology] prepared for the Lifeboat Foundation The Bill Joy video excerpt from the year 2000 in “The Future Doesn’t Need Us” segment at…
(By Juan Cole) The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Nine 3. Piltanu deflected Vivana’s…
(By James Ayre) Wind Farms Blow Away Old Criticism — Research Shows That Wind Turbines Remain Productive For Up To 25 Years (via Clean Technica) While wind energy has become an increasingly…
(By Juan Cole) Musician Ted Nugent called President Barack Obama a ‘subhuman mongrel.’ He has not been denounced for this language by Greg Abbott, the Republican who wants to be the next…
(By Andrea Germanos) The amount of methane leaking from natural gas emissions is far higher than previously estimated, a new study shows, more evidence, as one expert says, that urgent action must…
(By Juan Cole) Satire David Gregory’s Meet the Press today hosted a debate between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on whether gravity is just a theory.…
Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Custody Face Physical Violence (via YubaNet.com) By: Defense for Children International Palestine RAMALLAH, January 30, 2014 – Three in four Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military…
(By Kim Barker and Theodoric Meyer via ProPublica) For a brief, giddy moment, Sean Noble—a little-known former aide to an Arizona congressman—became one of the most important people in American politics. Plucked…
(By Juan Cole) Most death sentences are handed out for killing white people, even though African-Americans make up 50% of murder victims (they are only 12% of the population). So if an…
Foreign Policy
Mapping Palestine in the Struggle for Palestine
(By Andrew Beale) Map of Palestine from late 19th century. (Flickr/T.H. McAllister) Lior Amihai didn’t grow up knowing the location of the internationally recognized border between his native Israel and the West…
As Putin recognizes Crimea, his other Client, Syria, Goes on the Offensive
(By Juan Cole) Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a geopolitical roll these days, despite US and EU sanctions against some of his closest associates. On Monday he recognized Crimea in the…
Celebs to UN: Protect Palestinian Refugees in Syria (Alfonso Cuaron, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Sting & 25 Others)
Celebrities press UN on Palestinian refugees in Syria (via AFP) Some 30 celebrities have petitioned the UN demanding they take action to protect civilians, notably Palestinian refugees, caught up in the Syria…
Iraq’s Freedom Agenda shouldn’t Include Child Marriage and Summary Divorce
(Human Rights Watch) (Baghdad) – Iraq’s Council of Ministers should withdraw a new draft Personal Status Law and ensure that Iraq’s legal framework protects women and girls in line with its international…
Crimea Vote provokes fear of Domino Effect in Eurasia: Turkish FM
(By Juan Cole) Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday warned that Crimea’s referendum on seceding from Ukraine pose the threat of a “domino effect” in Eurasia. Will Russia’s rush to referendum…
RIP: Tony Benn – “We’ll never have Democracy as long as Big Business can buy Both Parties
British socialist stalwart Tony Benn dies at 88 (via AFP) Political foes and allies paid tribute to Tony Benn, the totem of the British left who spearheaded the movement against the Iraq…
Turkey’s PM Erdogan can weather Corruption and Islamic Politics: But Can he Weather Twitter?
(By Ahmet T. Kuru) Erdoğan has consolidated the executive, legislative, and the judicial powers under his authority; yet he has been unable to control another source of power— Twitter. When the Arab…
Israelis slam Kerry over “Jewish State” Remarks as Abbas Rejects Demand
(By Juan Cole) Right wing Israeli officials over the weekend expressed rage at US Secretary of State John Kerry for saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should “drop” his demand that the…
Has the US lost Iraq to Iran over Arms Deal?
(By Mustafa Sadoun in Baghdad) Documents indicating that Iraq was going to buy almost US$200 million worth of armaments from neighbouring Iran have had foreign policy analysts fizzing. Is it a reward…
Four Reasons Syria Refugees are a Bigger Story than Malaysian Air MH 370
It is a tragedy that the 239 passengers on Malaysian Air MH 370 never made it to Beijing, and appear to have been the victims of a hijacking that went horribly wrong.…
Dear Arab Liberals: The Enemies of your Enemies aren’t Necessarily your Friends
(By Karim Emile Bitar) One of the principal reasons the revolutionary impulse unleashed in 2010 proved so inspiring was that it finally gave full voice to liberals, democrats and progressives of the…
Crimean Tatars fear Russian Rule
Crimean Tatars fear a future under Russia (via GlobalPost) BAKHCHYSARAI, Ukraine — Crimean Tatars know a few things about oppression. In the past two or so centuries, this tight-knit Muslim group has…
Syria: Kurdish Women Soldiers take on Extremist Jihadis
DW writes, “According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have died in the civil war in Syria so far. The real number of dead is probably much higher. Many “Free…
A Russo-Iranian Bloc against the United States?
(By Juan Cole) Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, according to PressTV. The Russian press added that “A Kremlin statement said Putin had underlined to Rouhani…
The Theater of Conspiracy in the Run-up to Turkey’s Elections
(By Erdağ Göknar) The novel Snow by Nobel-prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk exposes the logic of Middle Eastern nationalism. Not surprisingly, political conspiracy has a prominent role to play in it. Turkish…
Tens of Thousands in Turkey Protest Tyranny of the Majority
(By Juan Cole) Tens of thousands of Turks demonstrated in Istanbul and other cities on Wednesday coming off the funeral of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan. Elvan had been in a coma since last…
Cole @ C-Span: Egypt and the Birth of al-Qaeda (video lecture)
(By Juan Cole) My class lecture, “Egypt and the Birth of al-Qaeda,” was filmed by C-Span in February and has been shown on television; it is now available on the web (click…
Renewable Energy Boom coming to the Middle East
Middle East North Africa Area To See Renewable Energy Boom (via Clean Technica) The trade association behind the DESERTEC Concept of the same name has said that the Middle East and North…
When it is Feinstein being Spied on, Suddenly she Squawks
(By Juan Cole) Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) took to the senate floor on Tuesday to denounce the Central Intelligence Agency for spying on her staff as it undertook an investigation into the…
Libya’s Parliament dumps PM Zeidan, Elects al-Thinni, over Oil Tanker Crisis
(By Juan Cole) In a series of dramatic political moves, the Libyan General National Congress on Tuesday carried out a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. Zeidan, identified as…