Month

Archives: January 2017

Trump’s Alt-Reality: White Terrorism against Mosque justifies Muslim Ban

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump staffer Stephen Miller, an arch-conservative, defended Trump's Muslim ban on television Monday by pointing to Europe, where he alleged there were Muslim…

Starbucks Plans to Hire 10,000 Refugees After Trump Travel Ban

TeleSur | - - In a letter from the CEO, Starbucks told employees it would do everything possible to support affected workers. Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said on Sunday…

The Trump Effect: What will happen to 3 mn Syrian Refugees in Turkey?

By Katharine Jones and Esra Kaytaz | (The Conversation) | - - On Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 and amid the world’s greatest refugee crisis since World War II, Donald Trump imposed a…

72% of Refugees, Muslim & Otherwise, are Women and Children

By Salil Shetty | (Inter Press Service) | - - LONDON (IPS) - The gloves are off. With today’s Executive Order on “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” President…

German Ambassador 1933: “Hostility to Jews Aimed Mainly at ‘Immigrants'”

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Here are two newspaper articles from spring, 1933. They concern the issue of early Nazi policy toward Germany's Jews. In the first, the…

Demonizing Muslims: White Quebec Terrorists kill 6 in attack on Mosque

TeleSur | - - Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years amid a political debate over banning the niqab. At least two people have been arrested in the aftermath…

From ‘Draining the Swamp’ to Bankocracy: All Trump’s Betrayals

By Nomi Prins | ( Tomdispatch.com | - - Irony isn’t a concept with which President Donald J. Trump is familiar. In his Inaugural Address, having nominated the wealthiest cabinet in American…

This time Dr. Strangelove is President: On the Political Psychology of Donald Trump

By Daniel Brumberg | (Informed Comment) | - - Is Donald Trump rational? Is he sane? Often posed before his election, this question is now a matter of urgent debate among commentators,…

The Sadism of Racist Exclusion: Courts Temporarily Block Trump

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Picking on immigrants and refugees is the act of a sadistic bully, since they are the one fairly large group of residents of…

Trump renders Green Cards for 250,000 Iraqis and Iranians Worthless

By Marcelo Rochabrun | ProPublica | - - Update: A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security told Reuters on Saturday morning that the President’s executive order will, in fact, stop green…

Mexico ‘Astonished’ at Israel’s Netanyahu’s Tweet backing Wall

TeleSur | - - Earlier on Saturday, Netanyahu tweeted: "President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel's southern border... Great success. Great idea." Mexico's government on Saturday rebuked Israel for…

Persecution and the threat to the refugee system

By Brad K. Blitz | (OpenDemocracy.net) | - - We need to accept that for millions of refugees persecution is the principal reason for flight today as it was before, during and…

Trump Visa Denials target same countries Bush vowed to Overthrow

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump's shameful halt to the admission of refugees for 6 months and his 3-month pause in allowing entry to the US from seven…

New report reveals top Israeli official living in illegal colonial settlement

IMEMC News | - - An Israeli Finance Minister, who is in charge of implementing a law to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank, is himself living in an unlicensed building…

Trump sees Press as Public Enemy No. 1 – Reporters w/out Borders

By IPS News Desk | - - ROME (IPS) - “Alarmed” by the new administration’s “repeated attacks on the media and blatant disregard for facts in the first three days of Donald…

Trump Is Carpet-Bombing . . . U.S. Foreign Policy

By Phyllis Bennis | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) | - - Already Trump is super-charging U.S. militarism, gutting diplomacy, and punishing the victims of wars Washington started. Very soon, Donald…

Torture works . . . to produce Fake News (and that’s how we Got into Iraq)

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - I told this story back in 2005 but it is a good story, has held up, and bears repeating now that President Trump…

From Ugly American to American Bully

By William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - I came of age during America's Cold War with the Soviet Union, witnessing its denouement while serving in the U.S. military.…

How Trump’s ‘Alternative Facts’ Will bite his own Supporters on the Ass

By Peter Certo | ( Otherwords.org ) | - - If Trump can sell a plain-as-day lie about his inauguration crowd, he can lie about anything — including things that hurt his…

US Government Scientists Go ‘Rogue’ in Defiance of Trump

TeleSur | - - Twitter accounts are being used as a tool of resistance to fight censorship and bring reliable scientific information to the public. Employees from more than a dozen U.S.…

Iraqi Leaders Denounce Trump over Oil, Jerusalem; US Troops in Political Crossfire

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Since his inauguration, Donald J. Trump has not been making a good impression in Iraq, where the US has 6,000 troops, according to…

In a Dark Time, the Eye Begins to See: Going Local, remaining Indivisible

By H Patricia Hynes | (Informed Comment) | - - “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” Writing decades ago, the poet Theodore Roethke could not have foreseen these dimmest…

Why the Great Wall of Trump will be a Costly Failure

David Cook Martín | (The Conversation) | - - Donald Trump tweeted on Jan. 6 that “any money spent on building the Great Wall (for the sake of speed), will be paid…

Council of Europe condemns illegal Israeli siege of Gaza as ‘collective punishment’

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a report on Tuesday outlining the dire humanitarian situation in the besieged Gaza Strip…

Trump’s Visa Ban is about anti-Muslim Bigotry, not Security

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Reuters is reporting that on Wednesday, Trump will announce a halt to the issuing of visas to citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya,…

The Dutch to Trump: We have the Second best Words

VPRO zondag met lubach | (Video Satire> | - - "The whole world was watching for the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States: Donald J. Trump. Because we realize…

Trump’s ‘nationalism’ is just the Globalism of the 1%

By John Feffer | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Donald Trump is a worldly fellow. He travels the globe on his private jet. He’s married to a Slovene and divorced from a…

Trump Signs Executive Orders Pushing Dakota, Keystone Pipelines

TeleSur | - - The decision comes as a blow to environmentalists and Indigenous groups opposing the controversial projects. U.S. President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to revive the controversial Dakota…

Israeli former Minister Cancels Belgium Visit fearing Arrest for Gaza War Crimes

IMEMC News | - - Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has reportedly cancelled her trip to Belgium, according to the PNN, over threats of arrest for war crimes in Gaza. On…

Trump to al-Sisi: Syria’s al-Assad is a Brave, steadfast Man (Beirut Report)

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - al-Diyar (The Lands) [Beirut] reports on what Egyptian officials allegedly leaked about the telephone conversation between Donald J. Trump and Egyptian president `Abdel…

Netanyahu vows Israeli squatter settlement expansion in Palestinian E. Jerusalem

Ma'an News | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his far-right government on Sunday that he would lift all restrictions on settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem,…

Your Presidency Sucks: The Republican Party and its Orange Bunny

By David Faris | (Informed Comment) | - - When the late Roger Ebert saw director Vincent Gallo’s film The Brown Bunny at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, he gave it…

Oil-Rich Arab States Quietly Join Israel in Cheering for Trump

TeleSur | - - Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf Arab allies are happy to see Obama leave office as President Donald Trump would be “very, very tough” on Iran. While the…

Will Saudi Reforms be enough to Forestall big Trouble ahead?

By Bernard Haykel | (Project Syndicate) | - - In 2017, Saudi Arabia will continue to pursue two key goals: to reduce its economy's dependence on oil revenues and government spending; and…

Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad

TeleSur | - - Kurdish independence “is a reality that will come true,” said Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Kurdish parties will meet with the Iraqi government…

Trump to CIA: We now have 2nd Chance to take Iraq’s Oil

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship with the US intelligence community, in part over their conviction that the Russian Federation attempted to…

Dispatch from DC: On the National Mall, the state of a nation

By Lisa Benton-Short | (The Conversation) | - - On Jan. 20, Americans focused their attention on Washington, D.C., as the presidential inauguration ceremony took place on the National Mall, a place…

Protesters Face Increasing Criminalization in Trump Era

TeleSur | - - Changes aim to hit protestors with criminal records and beefed up fines and impunity for police who accidentally kill them. Donald Trump was officially sworn in Friday as…

All the terrible things Trump plans to do to Women (besides that one)

By Juan Cole | - - About 1 million women and their supporters demonstrated in Washington, D. C. on Saturday, but many millions more rallied in cities like New York, Chicago, Los…

Thousands of Palestinian-Israelis rally after Israel Razed Bedouin Village

Ma'an News Agency | - - ARARA (Ma'an) -- Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Saturday in the town of Arara in northern Israel, in the wake of a demolition campaign…

The left’s response to Trump and US Neofascism must be international

By Sayantan Ghosal | (The Conversation) | - - With Donald Trump’s inauguration as American president, one more event considered by many to be beyond the realm of possibility has come to…

Translating Trump’s inaugural Speech from the original German

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump's inaugural speech, like the candidate himself, was a chain of falsehoods, saber-rattling and scary Neofascist uber-nationalism. But it could be difficult…

The Future of Iraq? As Police Lose Control Of Streets, Militias Take Over

Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | - - The volunteer militias formed to fight the Islamic State group are now policing Baghdad’s neighbourhoods. But as they do, they compete with the…

Top 3 Ways to rig an Election

By William deBuys | ( Tomdispatch.com ) - - Donald Trump was right. The election was rigged. What Trump got wrong (and, boy, does he get things wrong) is that the rigging…

Even after Russia included US in Syria Peace Talks, can they Succeed?

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | - - The Middle East keeps going its way as usual, continuously creating global news headlines. Two such current and hot news events are the…

The Inauguration of White Supremacy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump's cabinet has no Latinos, the first time that minority, which comprises 18 percent of Americans, is absent for twenty-five years. Trump famously…

Is Trump the Shock America needs to Transition to Social Democracy?

David Graham Sweet | (Informed Comment) | - - Here on the “Left Coast” there’s much anguish & foreboding over the results of our recent election, and talk of “resistance.” I’m anguished…

How Much is a Palestinian Life Worth? Disappointment at Azaria Sentence

By Ilaria Grasso Macola | (GlobalVoices.org) | - - On January 4, 2017, Elor Azaria, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, was convicted of manslaughter by the Israeli military court. Azaria, now…

Will Donald Trump bring back torture? Can Foreign leaders stop him?

By Vincent Charles Keating | (The Conversation) | - - There can be no doubt that the swearing in of Donald Trump on January 20 will usher in a new era for…

All Dutch Electric Trains are Wind-Powered & other Advances Trump’s US will Miss out On

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Although Donald Trump has complained about America's failing airports, bridges and roads and expressed admiration for those of Dubai, his opposition to green…

Along with pardoning Manning, Obama should have repealed 1917 Espionage Act

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In a daring and bold move that showed his profound humanitarian side, President Obama has commuted the 35-year sentence of Chelsea Manning, a…

Will Americans go along with Authoritarian Trumpism?

By Thomas Pepinsky | (TeleSur) | - - Everyday life in the modern authoritarian regime is boring and tolerable. Malaysia is a country that I know well, and whose political system I…

Palestinian Parliamentarians say Israeli Legislation aims to annex West Bank

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a controversial bill on Tuesday that would allow verdicts from military court proceedings in the occupied West…

Screwed?: 4 Top International Crises we have to depend on Trump to Resolve

By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Within months of taking office, President Donald Trump is likely to face one or more major international crises, possibly entailing a risk…

Trump feuds with Merkel, EU, BMW, NATO, China, CIA but not with Putin

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald Trump picked a fight with almost everyone but his buddy Vladimir Putin this weekend. His continued tweaking of China over its claims…

Credible: Author of Trump’s dirty dossier ‘had UK agencies’ for clients

By Georgi Gotev, James Crisp | Euractiv.com | - - EXCLUSIVE/ Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy and author of the dirty dossier on President-elect Donald Trump, claimed to have carried out…

World’s Richest 8–All Men–as Wealthy as Half of Humanity: Oxfam

TeleSur | - - The world will have its first trillionaire in only 25 years, the organization found. Just eight individuals, all men, own as much wealth as half of the world's…

Israeli Soldiers Uproot Hundreds Of Olive Trees For Illegal Colonialist Road

IMEMC | - - Israeli soldiers started, on Monday morning, the illegal uprooting of hundreds of olive trees, as part of a plan to uproot hundreds of Palestinian trees to pave a…

Trump and the Pee-Pee Party: Alec Baldwin at SNL

NBC's Saturday Night Live | (Video Skit) | - - "President-elect Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) holds his first press conference since getting elected." Donald Trump Press Conference Cold Open - SNL

In the Age of Trumpian Reaction, is MLK’s Legacy to the 99% being Reversed?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Reaction has two main meanings in English. One is to respond to some new situation (not specifying the nature of the reaction). The…

Instead of Stereotyping Trump Voters, Progressives need to Get them Back

By George Lakey | ( Waging Nonviolence ) | - - In ordinary times, progressives might get away with casual images of their political opponents, but these are not ordinary times. If…

Islam Ban sought by Far Right Austrian Party founded by ex-Nazis

TeleSur | - - Before he announced his proposal, Strache warned the crowd of the “existential threat” posed by Islam to Europe. As the vortex of right-wing populism courses through Europe, Austria…

5 Images that refute Trump’s attack on Hero John Lewis

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - It began when Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) announced that he would not attend the inaugural of Donald J. Trump because he did not…

6 Lessons From Nonviolent Organizing for Resisting Trumpism

The Beautiful Trouble Team | ( Waging Nonviolence ) | - - Trouble vs. Trump Drawing from the Beautiful Trouble and Beautiful Rising toolboxes, here are six key concepts that may prove…

Dangers of Trump’s Militarization of Government

By Rut Diamint | (The Conversation) | - - Should Latin Americans be concerned that Donald Trump has picked General John Kelly to lead the United States Department of Homeland Security? Kelly…

The Pope Says Yes to Palestine: Embassy Opens in Vatican

TeleSur | - - On Saturday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Pope Francis to inaugurate Palestine’s first embassy to the Holy See ahead of Paris peace talks. On Saturday Palestine will…

From Syria to Sanctions, Flynn-Russia Quid Pro Quo?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The headlines about Trump and his team on the one hand and the Russian Federation on the other are coming fast and furious.…

2017: The Rise of the Demagogues: Trump & the Euro-Populists

Human Rights Watch | - - (Washington, DC) – The rise of populist leaders in the United States and Europe poses a dangerous threat to basic rights protections while encouraging abuse by…

Assange Agrees to Extradition if US Releases Chelsea Manning

TeleSur | - - Manning is currently serving a 35-year sentence in solitary confinement for handing over 700,000 sensitive documents from the U.S. State Department. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will agree to…

Is the next big US-Iran Conflict control of Iraq-Syria Border?

Mustafa Habib| (Niqash.org) | - - The border of Syria and Iraq looks likely to be the next testing ground for the newly conciliatory – yet unsteady – relationship between Iran and…

All the President’s Deniers

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - This week, we've seen a parade of Donald J. Trump's far-right cabinet appointees attempting to tone themselves down (with help from pliant GOP…

Israeli Parliament self-boycotts by seeking to Ban BDS Supporters from Israel

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A Knesset committee approved on Wednesday a first reading of a bill that would ban supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)…

The US media pack needs to rediscover its teeth, for the Sake of Democracy

By Carmel O'Toole | (The Conversation) | - - In the style of some thuggish boxing promoter at a weigh in, the US president-elect, Donald Trump, gave us a clear and unsavoury…

The Russian Honeypot: Putin has had big plans for Donald Trump

By John Feffer | Foreign Policy in Focus | - - [I wrote this article about Russian efforts to cultivate Donald Trump as an asset last week for a Korean newspaper where…

The Iranian Connection in the Age of Trump

By Rajan Menon | ( Tomdispatch.com | - - Stack up the op-eds and essays on the disasters that await the world once Donald Trump moves into the White House and you’ll…

Trump does Poor imitation of Tin-Pot Dictator at “Press Conference”

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In his first news conference in months, president-elect Donald J. Trump engaged in a series of petulant tirades. For anyone like myself, who…

US Iraq-Afghanistan ‘Burn Pits’ – Poisoning America’s Soldiers

Reviewed by H. Patricia Hynes | (Truthdig) | - - “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers” A book by Joseph Hickman They are called “this generation’s Agent Orange”—the open fire…

If Trump moves US Embassy to Jerusalem, all Hell will Break Loose

By Phyllis Bennis | (Institute for Policy Studies) | - - If the U.S. goes ahead with the GOP plan, says Phyllis Bennis, "all bets are off." In of the very first…

Last Year the US Dropped 26,171 Bombs on 7 Muslim-Majority Countries

TeleSur | - - The countries include Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. In the waning days of the Obama administration, new research by the Council on Foreign Relations, CFR,…

Climate Activists fear Tillerson, Call him Out for Lying About Warming During Hearing

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | - - 'Listening to his hearing, it would be easier to conclude Tillerson is under criminal investigation than under consideration for secretary…

Informed Comment Fundraiser Success- with Profound thanks

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Many, many thanks to everyone who contributed during the annual IC Fundraiser! I'm bowled over by your generosity, and pledge to keep Informed…

For Russian hold on Trump, follow the Money, not the Sex tapes

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Buzzfeed has published the unverified allegations by a former MI6 analyst with good Russian contacts, contained in a two-page hitherto secret annex to…

A Living Wage & a Right to Live: Resisting a government of Generals and Billionaires

By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they’re not wrong. Before we take up our…

As Trump guns for Iran Deal, can its Reformists survive death of Hashemi-Rafsanjani?

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Informed Comment) | - - Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s death on Sunday January 8 in Tehran at the age of 82 marks the end of an era in Iran’s…

Understanding Islam means understanding its and our Multiculturalism

Kishwar Rizvi | (The Conversation) | - - There has been much misinformation about Islam. Reports in Western media tend to perpetuate stereotypes that Islam is a violent religion and Muslim women…

Obama’s Farewell Address: Racial Discrimination a Challenge Ahead

NBC | (Video Report) | - - "As President Barack Obama's time in office comes to a close, he delivers his Farewell Address from Chicago." President Barack Obama's Farewell Address (Full Speech)…

Welcome to Psychopathocracy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - We are now on the brink of a new form of government, undreamed of by Aristotle, who spoke of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.…

Turkish President Erdogan Sees Better Ties with US Under Trump

TeleSur | - - "I believe we will accelerate dialogue when Mr. Trump takes office," Erdogan said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he believed relations with Washington would improve under…

Exxon’s Rex Tillerson and the rise of Big Oil in American politics

Brian C. Black | (The Conversation) | - - “How Big Oil Bought the White House and Tried to Steal the Country” is the subtitle of a book that tells the story…

‘Onward Christian Zionists’: Trump, Israel and the Inauguration

Shalom Goldman | (Informed Comment) | - - While US support for Israel has never been stronger (witness the 38 billion dollar aid package signed by the president in December) the perception…

Meryl Streep calls out Trump: Having Bully-in-Chief Coarsens whole Culture

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Occasionally entertainment and politics intersect, often hitting a false note. You never want your screenplay to be, as they say in Hollywood, "on…

How the Arrogance of Cold War Triumph brought us this Low

By Andrew J. Bacevich | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - The fall of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 abruptly ended one historical era and inaugurated another. So, too, did the…

Comey should be fired if it’s the last thing Obama Does

By William W. Keller | (Informed Comment) | - - James Comey is keeping a low profile these days. Not even a peep. Not even after the FBI, CIA, and NSA finally…

Israel’s Netanyahu bribed Major Newspaper to get Positive Coverage

TeleSur | - - The Israeli right-wing leader tried to negotiate with the owner of a critical and highly circulated newspaper to get positive coverage. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under police…

US Media outraged by Russia, won’t Notice Israeli plot on UK Parliament

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment)- - Washington is obsessed by the story put out by US intelligence agencies that Russia tried to interfere in the US presidential election. But for reasons…

Liberal Berlin Fights Fake Nazi anti-Muslim News by Bannon’s Breitbart

TeleSur | - - The "news" story portrayed a deliberate attack on a Dortmund church by a "mob" of Muslims. Far-right white nationalist website Breitbart has been criticized by German authorities and…

Reflections by a Middle Easterner on the Electoral College as a Remnant of Elite Tribalism

By Hsain Ilahiane | (Informed Comment) | - - The Founding Fathers wrote the electoral college in the United States Constitution. In late summer 2004, I became a naturalized United States citizen…

Those Times the NSA Hacked America’s Allies

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The hysteria about Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee servers and the phishing scam run on Hillary…

Under Saudi Bombing, Specter of Famine Haunts Yemen’s Children

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 2017 (IPS) - Millions of Yemenis could soon face widespread famine if no action is taken to improve…

Pain and torture: state violence in Egypt

By Maged Mandour | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The root of state violence and torture is not poor police training, nor a political decision that can be reversed, it is the…

Bruited Trump pick for Nat’l Intel shreds 4th Amendment, wants Total Surveillance

TeleSur | - - On Thursday multiple mainstream media outlets reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Republican Senator Dan Coats, an outspoken advocate of illegal domestic surveillance programs, to…

Circus of Liars: How Trump & GOP are Twisted into Pretzels over Putin Hack

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald J. Trump has picked another fight with the elders of his own Republican Party, over whether Russia engaged in hacking aimed at…

Violence brought us Trump, but Nonviolent Protest will Stop Him

Kazu Haga | ( Waging Nonviolence ) What’s next? That is the big question facing this country after the election. And many people have been sharing their thoughts on that over social…

Yes, Whites are victims of Hate Crimes, too, but most Victims are Minorities

By Joe Sexton | ProPublica | - - The meaning and enforcement of the Illinois hate-crimes statute seems destined for intense scrutiny with the arrest this week of four young black adults…

Netanyahu supports pardon for Israeli soldier who killed defenseless Palestinian Prisoner

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came out on Wednesday in support of pardoning Elor Azarya, as right-wing Israeli officials further coalesced in support…

Why American TV needs a Muslim Modern Family – Reza Aslan

Reza Aslan / Vox | (Video Report) | - - "Writer Reza Aslan thinks a Muslim Will and Grace could truly change American perceptions of Islam." Vox: "Why American TV needs a…

Top 4 Ways Bush even more Outrageously Dissed the Intelligence Community

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Philip Mudd, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency counter-terrorist center and FBI National Security Branch, has been on CNN maintaining that…

Muslim Shockwaves as New Congress’ Bill seeks all Jerusalem for Israeli Colonization

TeleSur | - - Three U.S. senators introduced a bill calling for U.S. embassy to be relocated to Jerusalem and recognizing city as Israeli capital. As it convened for the first Tuesday…

Could Erdoğan be losing his grip on a dangerous, divided Turkey?

By Alpaslan Ozerdem and Bahar Baser | (The Conversation) | - - Turkey’s New Year was marred by a terrorist attack, claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS), that killed 39 people…

Iran reaps the benefits, as US and Saudi Flounder in ME

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | - - The Islamic republic of Iran starts 2017 in a strong regional position, much to the annoyance of its detractors. Iran has managed to…

Rebuking Fundamentalists, Funeral for Palestinian-Israeli Istanbul Victim draws Thousands

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - One of the thirty-nine victims of the Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) shooting at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Layan Nasser, 19, was buried on…

Can Anti-Fracking Movement mount resistance to Trump?

By Emilio Godoy | (Inter Press Service) | - - LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, USA , Jan 4 2017 (IPS) - Earl Hatley, a descendant of the Cherokee/Delaware tribe, has witnessed the consequences…

Some Animals are Better: An American Version of the One-Party State

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - Know thyself. It was what came to mind in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory and my own puzzling reaction to it.…

Some Israeli Officials Backing ‘Shoot-to-Kill’ disarmed Palestinian Suspects

Human Rights Watch | - - Calls for Extrajudicial Killings of Palestinian Suspects Proliferate (New York) – Some senior Israeli officials have been encouraging Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians they…

Iran confident Trump’s bond with Putin will Benefit it, too

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Iran's pundits are confident that the country is sitting in the catbird seat. They are elated over the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad…

Turkey’s Syrian blowback

Neil Thompson | (Informed Comment) | - - With the New Year terrorist attack in Istanbul now being claimed by the Islamic State (IS) movement, it is clear that Turkey has suffered…

Can Popular Mobilization & Sanctuary stop Trump’s Deportation Plans?

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Cost, impossible logistics, political opposition, and community resistance could spell the end of the president-elect's anti-immigrant scheme. President-elect Donald Trump built his…

GOP Russia Hawks attack Trump: McCain Says he Must ‘Stand Up’ to Putin

TeleSur | - - On Friday, Trump congratulated Putin for not retaliating to Obama's expulsions. On the same day a top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said the White House may have…

Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - It is 2017, and shortly the White House will be inhabited by an unscrupulous, corrupt narcissist who has shamelessly mobilized the Neo-Nazi fringe…

No, it’s not a new Cold War: The USSR is Gone Forever

By Ghia Nodia | (Project Syndicate) | - - MOSCOW – This New Year’s Eve marks the 25th anniversary of the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union. But, rather than celebrating, many…

2016: A deadly year in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory and Israel

Ma'an News Agency | - - BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The past year has been one of the deadliest and most violent in recent years for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank…

Wall Street Journal Wouldn’t Call a Lie a Lie If Trump Says It

TeleSur | - - The paper is worried about objectivity, said WSJ editor-in-chief Gerard Baker. The Wall Street Journal would not call a lie a lie if it was told by President-elect…

America’s Major Challenges in Middle East Policy, 2017

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The incoming Trump administration is riven by a profound division between those determined to avoid deep entanglements in the Middle East, such as…

Rethinking The Cost of War

By Mike Hixenbaugh for The Virginian-Pilot, and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica | - - There are many ways to measure the cost of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War: In bombs (7 million…

2016 mean till the end: New Year’s Eve Massacre in Istanbul

Aljazeera English | (Video News Report) | - - Aljazeera English: "Dozens killed in Istanbul nightclub shooting"

Palestine 2017: Time to embrace the Globe, give up on US

By Ramzy Baroud | (Ma'an News Agency) | - - There is no doubt that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel on Friday, December 23, was an important and noteworthy event.…