Gaza City (AFP) – A Palestinian journalist was acquitted on appeal over an investigative report about corruption in the Gaza Strip Monday, according to Amnesty International and a campaign group. In a 2016 report for Al-Araby TV, Hajar Harb alleged that doctors were writing false medical reports to let people leave Gaza for treatment, one […]
Archives for March 2019
We did Trump to Ourselves and Should Own up to It; Mueller and Putin can’t Save US
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Mueller report, at least as Trump’s AG describes it, was not able to prove that Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign. It did not prove he did not. Mueller obviously did find evidence of Russia supporting Trump, but that is different. The attraction of the theory embraced […]
Golan: Trump Shift Denies Syrians’ Rights under International Law (HRW)
Human Rights Watch (Jerusalem) – A decision by the Trump administration to deny the reality of Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights would demonstrate disregard for the protections due to the Syrian population under international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said. Particularly amid continuing, serious rights abuses by Israel in the Golan Heights, Syrian residents […]
12 Ways to Make Sense of the Border Mess
By William deBuys | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Borders are cruel. I know this because I’ve been studying the U.S.-Mexico border for more than 40 years. It features prominently in two of my books, written in different decades. It keeps pulling me back. Every time I cross that border, I say to myself that this is […]
After School, Yemen’s Children seek Work at the Cemetery
By Abeer Ali | – Sanaa (AFP) – Barefoot in a blue striped shirt, Ahmed al-Hamadi walks from school to a cemetery in the Yemeni capital where he works to help his family survive. The 13-year-old makes his way through the cemetery, where graves are cramped together and overgrown with weeds. Hauling gallons of water […]
Building Bridges: Juan Cole Interview on Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires
Andrew C Condon interviewed me in this podcast on my new book abut peace themes in the Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Andrew is with the Bridge Initiative, aimed at combating Islamophobia, of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University Building Bridges Interview with Juan Cole […]
No, Trump did not Defeat ISIL: He Executed Obama’s Plan
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Koubani, announced Saturday the end of the phony “caliphate” of the so-called Islamic State group, as the terrorist organization’s last sliver of territory in the Baghouz district east of Deir al-Zor, fell. I have all along objected to calling the defunct organization […]
Conspiracy, collusion: What Mueller’s probe has told us so far
Washington, DC (AFP) – Special Counsel Robert Mueller has remained silent for nearly two years about his Russia meddling and collusion investigation, which wrapped up on Friday. But a vast story of conspiracy, possible collusion and obstruction has been told in documents that have emerged from the probe, particularly court filings in Mueller’s indictment of […]
Leaked Audio Exposes Oil & Gas Execs Laughing With Joy Over Cozy Access to Trump Officials
By Jon Queally, staff writer |- (Commondreams.org) – “It’s really a new world for us and very, very helpful,” said powerful fossil fuel lobby group’s CEO during closed-door meeting A newly-leaked audio recording reveals that oil and gas executives in a private meeting were “giddy” with laughter in the summer of 2017 as they rejoiced […]








