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Archives for October 2014

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Why is Kobani Important?   ISIS advances against Syrian Kurds despite US Airstrikes

Why is Kobani Important? ISIS advances against Syrian Kurds despite US Airstrikes

contributors

AJ+ “The Islamic State Group (aka ISIS or ISIL) is knocking on the doors of Kobani, a Syrian town on the border of Turkey. Desperate Kurdish fighters have been battling them for weeks. But it’s not looking so good.” AJ+ “ISIS Prepares To Take Kobani Despite U.S. Airstrikes”

Displaced and Refugees
You'll Never Believe what ISIL has done to Iraq's al-Anbar Population

You’ll Never Believe what ISIL has done to Iraq’s al-Anbar Population

contributors

BAGHDAD/DUBAI, 6 October 2014 (IRIN) – Nine months of shelling, airstrikes and street battles have taken a heavy toll on Iraq’s “forgotten” province of Anbar, the first to be overrun by militants from the group now calling itself the Islamic State (IS). The cities of Ramadi and Fallujah have been reduced to bombed-out wrecks: hospitals, […]

Bill of Rights
 Apple and Google Take on U.S. Government Over Encryption

Apple and Google Take on U.S. Government Over Encryption

contributors

“ Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — While the newest Apple and Google smartphones will automatically encrypt data stored on them, that won’t keep U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies from obtaining evidence linked to the devices. Bloomberg’s Jordan Robertson reports on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg)” Bloomberg News: ” Apple and Google Take on U.S. Government Over […]

Featured
Ben Affleck on Bill Maher's Muslim Problem

Ben Affleck on Bill Maher’s Muslim Problem

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Bravo to Ben Affleck and Nicholas Kristoff for telling Bill Maher off about his chronic case of Muslim-hating bigotry. (He would say he doesn’t hate Muslims, only their religion, but then those who hate gays say much the same sort of thing). Maher and Sam Harris like to demonize Islam and by […]

art and photography
NASA Photo of Sahara:  Richat Structure, Mauritania

NASA Photo of Sahara: Richat Structure, Mauritania

contributors

NASA Richat Structure, Mauritania, Western Sahara Desert “Richat Structure, Mauritania This prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert of Mauritania has attracted attention since the earliest space missions because it forms a conspicuous bull’s-eye in the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Described by some as looking like an outsized fossil in the desert, […]

BDS Occupied Territories
Incivility: On not Bringing up Occupied Palestinians in Polite Company

Incivility: On not Bringing up Occupied Palestinians in Polite Company

contributors

By Heike Schotten (Ma’an News Agency) In the US, and especially within the US Palestine solidarity movement, the biggest Israel-Palestine news since Gaza Genocide 3.0 (which, with Palestinians dying daily, whether from the effects of the siege or horrific wounds leftover from the attack, makes this genocide ongoing), is the unceremonious un-hiring of Professor Steven […]

Health
Rep. Louie Gohmert’s Ebola Theory Is Dumber Than He Is

Rep. Louie Gohmert’s Ebola Theory Is Dumber Than He Is

contributors

The Young Turks “Louie Gohmert (R-TX) this week blasted President Barack Obama for sending troops to Africa to help fight an Ebola outbreak, and predicted that they would bring the disease back to infect American citizens. In an interview with Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, Gohmert explained that a series of mistakes made by the […]

Central Asia
Does Bear + Dragon Trump Eagle?  How Russia & China may block the US in Asia

Does Bear + Dragon Trump Eagle? How Russia & China may block the US in Asia

contributors

By Pepe Escobar via Tomdispatch.com A specter haunts the fast-aging “New American Century”: the possibility of a future Beijing-Moscow-Berlin strategic trade and commercial alliance. Let’s call it the BMB. Its likelihood is being seriously discussed at the highest levels in Beijing and Moscow, and viewed with interest in Berlin, New Delhi, and Tehran. But don’t […]

Asia
The Yasukuni Shuffle:  China and Japan duke it out via T.V. Serials on the Wrongs of WW II

The Yasukuni Shuffle: China and Japan duke it out via T.V. Serials on the Wrongs of WW II

contributors

By Philip J Cunningham Everyday hundreds, if not thousands of Chinese and Japanese kill one another on Chinese television. Hundreds of Anti-Japan war dramas were churned out last year and the genre dominates China’s airwaves round the clock like never before, even though eight decades have gone by since Japan’s war of invasion. What’s more, […]

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