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Archives for October 2014

political Islam
Reza Aslan, religion Ph.D. vs. Sam Harris

Reza Aslan, religion Ph.D. vs. Sam Harris

Juan Cole

The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks and Professor Reza Aslan discuss Sam Harris. Cenk asks Reza how he feels about Harris’ comments about him and islam. Reza explains why he thinks Sam Harris gives Atheism a bad name. The Young Turks Professor Reza Aslan On Sam Harris

Bill of Rights
Is the Center for Jewish Life stifling free speech at Princeton University?

Is the Center for Jewish Life stifling free speech at Princeton University?

contributors

By Max Weiss via The Princetonian I have never met Slav Leibin. Nonetheless, it recently came to my attention that he vetoed, with the approval of the Center for Jewish Life, my right to participate in a proposed panel on the recent hostilities in Gaza. Apparently this preemptive act of exclusion was carried out on […]

Colonialism
America's Colonial Armies: Absentee Soldiers, Corrupt Officers and Collapse

America’s Colonial Armies: Absentee Soldiers, Corrupt Officers and Collapse

contributors

By William J. Astore via Tomdispatch.com In June, tens of thousands of Iraqi Security Forces in Nineveh province north of Baghdad collapsed in the face of attacks from the militants of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), abandoning four major cities to that extremist movement. The collapse drew much notice in our media, but not much in the way of […]

Featured
Is Baghdad next?  ISIL takes Hit Base in Iraq, loots it for Weapons

Is Baghdad next? ISIL takes Hit Base in Iraq, loots it for Weapons

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole According to Aljazeera sources, ISIL has completed the taking of Hit district in the al-Anbar Province of Iraq. At a time when, supposedly, a range of coalition partners is taking on ISIL and attempting to push it back from the territory it has taken in Syria and Iraq, in fact the organization […]

Human Rights
Iraqi Kurds to Turkey:  Let Volunteers Through To Defend Failing Kobani

Iraqi Kurds to Turkey: Let Volunteers Through To Defend Failing Kobani

contributors

By Charles Recknagel via RFE/RL A top official of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region is calling on Turkey to let volunteer fighters through to the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, where Syrian Kurds are waging a desperate battle against Islamic State (IS) militants. Speaking on a visit to RFE/RL in Prague on October 13, Falah Mustafa, […]

Colonialism
French Planes bomb Damascus to put Down Syrian Revolt, 1925 (Video: This Day in History)

French Planes bomb Damascus to put Down Syrian Revolt, 1925 (Video: This Day in History)

contributors

“Title reads: “Defence of Damascus. French troops – barricades – and armed posts – now circle the town of view of threatened attack by Rebels”. Having invaded and occupied Syria, French troops who brutally suppress an uprising against them in 1925 were described in British newsreels as “defending” Damascus against “rebels.” british Pathe: Damascus Revolt […]

Arab Spring
The Tunisian Exception

The Tunisian Exception

contributors

By L. Carl Brown What has made Tunisia’s transition from authoritarian government, for all its ups and downs, more successful than those of its Arab neighbors? It will soon be four years since December 17, 2010 when Muhammad Bu Azizi from Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia immolated himself in protest against local government officials who barred […]

European Union
In Symbolic Vote, UK Parliament urges Recognition of Palestine

In Symbolic Vote, UK Parliament urges Recognition of Palestine

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole There are 650 members of the British parliament, so the vote on Monday by 271 of them to recognize Palestine is hardly an overwhelming victory for supporters of this position. On the other hand, only 12 voted against. Most MPs seem to have made themselves scarce. The vote was a project of […]

Colonialism
Columbus Day: How is it Still a Thing?  (John Oliver)

Columbus Day: How is it Still a Thing? (John Oliver)

contributors

John Oliver, “Last Week Tonight” “Christopher Columbus did a lot of stuff that was way more terrible than “sailing the ocean blue,” but we don’t learn about that. Columbus Day: How is it still a thing?” Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Columbus Day – How Is That Still A Thing (HBO)

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