By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Since Trump has decided that declining to clap for him is a form of treason, and only dictators in banana republics use that sort of diction, perhaps it is time to start speaking of the Trump regime rather than administration. And that regime rode to power […]
Archives for February 2018
What Journalists get wrong about Islam
Prashant Waikar | (Informed Comment) | – – An article published in Forbes on January 2nd elucidates the fundamental problems with media coverage of issues concerning Islam and Muslims. That article sought to assess the now defunct headscarf ban in high-end Malaysian hotels. I had previously co-written a commentary on the same subject. The overall […]
With Nunes Memo McCarthyism, time to remember Margaret Chase Smith
By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | – – The release of the Nunes Memo, yet another attempt to discredit and even derail the Mueller investigation into the Trump-Russia connection, may or may not be historically significant. James Comey’s recent tweet message about it included this line: “Not a lot of streets or schools are […]
Turkey & Vatican tag team Trump over Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor | – – Both Erdogan and Pope Francis are opposed to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which many US allies say could doom Middle East peace efforts. Tayyip Erdogan made the first visit by a Turkish president to the Vatican in 59 years on […]
What Rapid Climate Change Looks Like: the Younger Dryas Comet
Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It has long puzzled scientists that the gradual ending of the last glacial maximum or ice age beginning about 20,000 before present, extending into the 13,000s, was interrupted in the 12,000s by another short period, of 1,200 years, of ice age. When that one receded, the earth […]
Can American Democracy survive six Standing Wars?
William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Whether the rationale is the need to wage a war on terror involving 76 countries or renewed preparations for a struggle against peer competitors Russia and China (as Defense Secretary James Mattis suggested recently while introducing America’s new National Defense Strategy), the U.S. military is […]
Right’s ban on phrase “Polish Death Camps” Backfires on Warsaw
Sławomir Sierakowski | (Project Syndicate) | – – A new Polish law criminalizes blaming Poles for any wrongdoing against other nations. But the move only serves to highlight the fact that some Poles were complicit in crimes against Jews, while jeopardizing the country’s relationship with its three most important allies: the US, Germany, and Ukraine. […]
The ‘Girls of Revolution Street’ Protest Iran’s Compulsory Hijab Laws
By Mahsa Alimardani | ( GlobalVoices.org ) | – – A spate of defiant Iranian women have taken to the streets of Tehran to protest against compulsory veiling. Photos of their demonstrations have been widely circulated online under the hashtag #دختران_خیابان_انقلاب (translated to #Girls_of_Enghelab_Street). As of the afternoon of January 29, at least two women […]
Turkey/Syria: Border Guards Shoot, Block Fleeing Syrians
Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Guards at Turkey’s closed border with Syria are indiscriminately shooting at and summarily returning Syrian asylum seekers attempting to cross into Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today. Syrians are fleeing heightened violence in Idlib to seek refuge near the Turkish border, which remains closed to all but […]
© 2026 All Rights Reserved