The revelation by CNN that Norwegian right wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik kept a diary in which he obsessed about the dangers of cultural Marxism, multiculturalism, and the “Islamification” of Europe will remind many Americans of the tactics of our own right wing (only these themes have been taken up by people much more mainstream […]
Archives for July 2011
White Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism in Norway
That the horrible terrorist attacks in Oslo on Friday that left some 90 persons or more dead– a bombing of the prime minister’s office and shootings at a Labor Party youth camp– were allegedly committed by a blonde, far right wing Norwegian fundamentalist Christian rather than by a radical Muslim group is being treated as […]
Syrian Gov’t Besieges Homs Ahead of Friday Demonstrations
AP reports that most people were trapped in their homes as gunfire crackled in the background in Homs, Syria, the country’s third-largest city on Thursday. Government troops have the dissident city under siege. Aljazeera English reports on the crackdown on Homs. Elsewhere in the country on Thursday, people in towns and cities held a general […]
Is the Arab Spring Coming to Palestine?
Marwan Barghouti, a jailed Palestinian leader who was important to the “Second Intifada” or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, has called for “million-person marches” in support of the Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations this September. Barghouti supported the Oslo peace process in the 1990s, but turned to violence against Israeli security forces […]
Top Self-Defeating Moves in the Middle East
One of the great mysteries in Hollywood is how bad films get made. After all, no one sets out to make a bad film. And most major films are made by professionals with a proven track record, backed by savvy investors. But occasionally these film professionals make an “Ishtar” or a “Town & Country.” Not […]
Can Bookstores be Saved?
I like bookstores. I savor being in a place with book-lined walls. I love the covers, the titles, the blurbs. Some bookstores have jazz playing in the background. Some have coffeeshops. I like reading some pages of a magazine I don’t usually read, and deciding whether to buy it or even to subscribe. I like […]
Qaddafi was Linchpin of Corrupt Dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt
Abd al-Rahman Shalqam, former foreign minister of Libya, has revealed in an interview with al-Hayat in Arabic that Muammar Qaddafi was central to propping up the corrupt and dictatorial regimes of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. Many analysts of authoritarianism in the Arab world have pointed to French, British […]
Free Libya Offensive in Brega Begins
Update: Midday Monday Libyan time, Free Libya forces announced that the bulk of the Qaddafi brigades at Brega had retreated to Ra’s Lanuf and that Transitional National Council troops had taken much of the city. They still have not gone into the middle of the city and need to clear land mines and booby traps […]
Syrian Opposition Congress in Istanbul Demands al-Asad Step Down
Over 350 Syrian expatriate opposition leaders, from a wide range of political currents, including liberal and Muslim fundamentalist, met in Istanbul Saturday. They had originally intended to meet at the same time as dissidents still in Damascus convened their own meeting, but the site of that planned congress was attacked Friday by the Syrian military. […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved