My esssay, “Iran Breakthrough a Triumph For Pragmatists and a Defeat For the Warmongers” is out in Truthdig today. Excerpt: “By 2011, the U.S. Congress and the Department of the Treasury had imposed what amounted to a financial blockade on Iran. The U.S. strong-armed other countries not to buy Iranian petroleum, cutting exports by a […]
Archives for January 2014
Syria Conference Roiled by Shouting Matches, Insults
(By Juan Cole) The Geneva II negotiations at Montreux, Switerland, opened on a sour note on Wednesday. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem droned on interminably and charged the rebel forces with being “traitors” supported by bloodthirsty foreign powers. Secretary of State John Kerry demanded that President Bashar al-Assad step down in favor of a transitional […]
Can Syria lecture Turkey on terrorism?
In the opening session of the Geneva II talks the Syrian foreign minister stormed the conference, bitterly accusing ‘foreign powers’ of their responsibility over the ongoing civil war
EU envoy: Israel will pay price for settlements
A senior European official on Wednesday painted an alarming picture for Israel if Mideast peace efforts fail, saying the country could face deepening economic isolation if it presses forward with construction of Jewish settlements.
Pro-choice, pro-mixed marriage film rooted in Jewish values
‘Obvious Child’ is a good-natured, foulmouthed romantic comedy — complete with Birthright jokes — centered around an abortion
Human Rights Abuses grow in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
(By Sarah Leah Whitson) (Jerusalem) – Human rights abuses by Israel and by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank grew during 2013, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2014. Israeli forces killed more Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and demolished more Palestinian homes than in 2012. Israel continued to build […]
Hard Times for Journalists, but A Golden Age for Canny Readers
(By Tom Englehardt) It was 1949. My mother — known in the gossip columns of that era as “New York’s girl caricaturist” — was freelancing theatrical sketches to a number of New York’s newspapers and magazines, including the Brooklyn Eagle. That paper, then more than a century old, had just a few years of life […]
As Geneva II Conference Opens, 1.3 mn. Syrian Refugees Shiver in Lebanon
(By Molly Crabapple) COFFEE WITH REFUGEES (via techexile.com) “In Lebanon’s Mountains, Syrians Face a Grim Future The teacher never imagined he would live in a tent. He once taught high school philosophy in Homs. He holds a Masters Degree. But now he lives with several dozen other refugee families in a huddle… —– Related […]
Climate Change is real, and Endangers East African Food Security
By Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network LONDON – The report, East African Agriculture and Climate Change, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), looks at threats to food supplies in 11 countries in East and Central…
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