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Archives for December 2012

Uncategorized
Jeff Halper:  Permanent Matrix of Control being Laid over Palestinian Territory (ICAHD Video)

Jeff Halper: Permanent Matrix of Control being Laid over Palestinian Territory (ICAHD Video)

Juan Cole

Part 1 of Jeff Halper’s recent talk in London for the Israeli Committee against House Demolition, which says that 28,000 Palestinian homes have by now been razed by the Israeli state: Here is Part 2: ICAHD does incredible work (click here). Please support them.

Syria
Obama Recognizes Syrian Opposition as Government, as Fighters advance in Aleppo, Damascus

Obama Recognizes Syrian Opposition as Government, as Fighters advance in Aleppo, Damascus

Juan Cole

President Obama announced on Tuesday that the US now formally recognizes the Syrian opposition as the legitimate government of Syria: US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Tuesday that there were no further indications of the Syrian regime priming itself to deploy chemical weapons. (My own suspicion is that Israeli intelligence planted that story in […]

Uncategorized
Michigan Workers now have Right to “Work for Less” (Granholm Video)

Michigan Workers now have Right to “Work for Less” (Granholm Video)

Juan Cole

Jennifer Granholm explains that Michigan’s new “right to work” law actually is a “right to work for less,” resulting in thousands of dollars a year less income for the average worker and even a lower education budget. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who is in the back pocket of the notorious oil billionaires, the Koch brothers, […]

Uncategorized
In Memoriam: Ravi Shankar teaches George Harrison to Play Sitar

In Memoriam: Ravi Shankar teaches George Harrison to Play Sitar

Juan Cole

Ravi Shankar, the great sitar player who deeply influenced the American popular music of the 1960s and after, was among the figures who got me interested in India and led to my becoming a historian of South Asia. He died in San Diego on December 11 at age 92. Here is a video of Ravi […]

Uncategorized
America’s Achipelago of Garrisons abroad costs $1 Trillion a Decade (Vine)

America’s Achipelago of Garrisons abroad costs $1 Trillion a Decade (Vine)

Juan Cole

David Vine writes at Tomdispatch.com : “Are you monitoring the construction?” asked the middle-aged man on a bike accompanied by his dog. “Ah, sì,” I replied in my barely passable Italian. “Bene,” he answered. Good. In front of us, a backhoe’s guttural engine whined into action and empty dump trucks rattled along a dirt track. […]

Uncategorized
Polling tries to make Republicans look like conspiracy nuts (Colbert Report Video)

Polling tries to make Republicans look like conspiracy nuts (Colbert Report Video)

Juan Cole

The Colbert Report criticizes opinion pollsters for results that seem to make members of the US Republican Party look like conspiracy theorist nut cases. Or… does it? The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Syria
South Damascus a Battlefield, as Bodies Pile up, and Bread Crisis in Capital Worsens

South Damascus a Battlefield, as Bodies Pile up, and Bread Crisis in Capital Worsens

Juan Cole

The forces seeking to overthrow the Baath government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have made further advances both in the north in Aleppo and its surroundings, and in the suburbs of the capital of Damascus. But the civilian population in the war-torn country’s urban areas are facing food and electricity shortages: On Damascus, the USG […]

Environment
Bangladeshis have Sinking Feeling about Do-Nothing Doha Climate Conference (Video)

Bangladeshis have Sinking Feeling about Do-Nothing Doha Climate Conference (Video)

Juan Cole

Bangladesh, among the countries most threatened by climate change, is deeply disappointed by the do-nothing COP18 climate conference that just wrapped up in Doha, Qatar. The country is very low-lying, and rising seas could displace some 30 million of its population of 150 million over the next 50 years. The country also suffers from the […]

Egypt
The Green-Khaki Alliance: Morsi Deploys the Military for Referendum

The Green-Khaki Alliance: Morsi Deploys the Military for Referendum

Juan Cole

Faced with the prospect of substantial public resistance to his scheduling of a referendum on a Muslim Brotherhood-tinged constitution on December 15, Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi has turned to the military. (The green in the title is a reference to political Islam, not the environment). Morsi has ordered that the Egyptian army guard government buildings […]

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