Translated by Juan Cole From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Tonight, who brought you, tipsy, here to me? From there beneath the veil, whose hand brought you? –to one on fire because of your absence– one like a sirocco; who brought you here? (Whinfield 2) ( revised) N.B.: In April of 2020, Bloomsbury/ I. B. […]
Archives for March 2020
California releasing inmates for fear of Coronavirus, but Israelis Keep Vulnerable Gaza as Largest Open Air Prison
Update: On Sunday morning March 22, Gaza health authorities reported two Covid-19 cases in the Strip. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – California prisons are releasing prisoners for fear that the crowded conditions in penitentiaries could prove deadly breeding grounds for the novel coronavirus. There are 2 million prisoners, most of them not adults, however, who […]
Reclaiming Judaism from the Lion’s Den: Zionism, Israel, and the Palestinians
Book Reviw Susie Linfield’s, The Lions’ Den: Zionism and the Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky,”(Yale University Press) and Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism: Stories of Personal Transformation, (Olive Branch Press), edited by Carolyn L. Karcher, published around the same time in 2019, are very different books. Linfield’s deeply researched volume surveys with nuance and […]
Dems plead with Trump to Ensure Israel doesn’t Use US Weapons on Palestinian Civilians (Good Luck with That)
( Middle East Monitor) – Democrats in the US House of Representatives have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking the government to ensure that Israel is not using military equipment supplied or financed by America to perpetuate the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians. “As supporters of the US-Israel special relationship and […]
We need a People’s Response to Coronavirus – and the Sanders Campaign is Uniquely Poised to Lead
By Fhatima Paulino, Carlos Saavedra, and Rodrigo Saavedra | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – The movement behind the Bernie Sanders campaign has the vision, infrastructure and leadership to address the government’s failed pandemic response. The eve of Super Tuesday was just 12 days ago, a moment when many of us in the progressive left were […]
Trump Spared Iran from Bombing, but his Sanctions Fed Pandemic in which 1 dies every 10 Minutes
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee and Kristen Welker at NBC News report that Trump refused to bomb Iran last weekend for fear it would be a public relations disaster given international sympathy for that country’s coronavirus plight. It appears that some officials had considered bombing Iran in response to Shiite […]
Why Americans should stop Talking about “China Flu” and Learn some things from China
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – There is an old saying that politics stops at the water’s edge. Never really true, it is even less appropriate today. Domestic politics and international relations interact with each other, often in subtle or unseen ways to the detriment of us all. President Trump’s insistence on calling […]
Did the US Commit War Crimes in Afghanistan? International Prosecutors want to Find Out
By Hurst Hannum | – International prosecutors tasked with looking into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan have no shortage of potential targets. Afghan soldiers and warlords have been accused of rape, murder and kidnap almost since fighting began in late 2001. The deliberate targeting of civilians by the Taliban and other groups continues to this […]
Knowledge of the Holocaust wanes for Millennials, Gen Z, Even as Anti-Semitism Rises
By Jonmaesha Beltran | – (Cronkite News) – PHOENIX – Seventy-five years after the atrocities of Auschwitz, memories of the Holocaust are fading for younger generations who learn little about genocides in school, according to education advocates who believe they have the answer: Make it Arizona law to teach about the horrors of the Nazi’s […]
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