In need of capital to rebuild, Syrian men are staying in neighbouring countries to work while their wives head home By Melissa Pawson and Mahmoud Abo Rass | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – Zahra Ziad met her in-laws for the first time when she moved in with them. Ten days after the former president of Syria, […]
Archives for May 2025
When Politics Leaves Reality Behind
Sacramento (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The traditional left–right political spectrum no longer captures the forces driving division in America today. That model works when we’re dealing with competing ideologies and when ideological disagreement is the primary driver of division in society. But today, we face something more destabilizing: a profound rupture in shared […]
The Obscenity of Collective Punishment in Gaza
Netanyahu is about to escalate, yet again, his war crimes in Gaza. By John Feffer ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Maybe you remember an incident like this from your schooldays. Someone in your class has done something wrong, like pass around a caricature of the principal, and the teacher decides to punish the […]
Palestinian Literature: A Rich Literary Heritage from a Nation in Exile
By Heather Laird, University College Cork (The Conversation) – Palestinian literature is unique. It stands apart for its ability to capture a nation’s identity in exile – shaped not by borders, but by memory, resistance and longing. The settings of modern Palestinian literature include Israel, the occupied territories, countries more broadly in the Middle East, […]
Antisemitism Awareness Act – Protecting Jews from What?
Last year, Congress proposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA) (S.558 and H.R. 1007) to combat anti-Semitism, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. Tommy Tuberville and other Republican officials object to the bill because it infringes on the right of far-right Christians to express that Jews are to blame for the death of Jesus? Excuse me, […]
Israeli plan to occupy all of Gaza could open the Door for Annexation of the West Bank
By Leonie Fleischmann, City St George’s, University of London Israel’s security cabinet has announced a plan to “capture” the whole of the Gaza Strip. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on May 5 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would remain in the territory indefinitely and take over the administration of humanitarian aid. What his government […]
The Real Evil Empire May Surprise You
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Forty years ago this month, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. I would be part of America’s all-volunteer force (AVF) for 20 years, hitting my marks and retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2005. In my two decades of service, I met a lot of fine […]
American Psycho: Trump’s Delusional Crusade Transforms America into a Pariah State
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – In Franz Kafka’s story “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa awakens to “find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin” — a terrifying metamorphosis that leaves him alienated and rejected by his family. Similarly, Trumpism rejects vast segments of the population as unworthy of belonging. Almost overnight, immigrants, government workers, scientists, lawyers, […]
Expulsion and Occupation: Israel’s Proposed Gaza Plan
by Binoy Kampmark Killing civilians wholesale, starving them to convince those unaffected to change course, and shepherding whole populations like livestock into conditions of further misery would all qualify as heinous crimes in international law. When it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, this approach is seen as necessary politics, unalloyed by the restraints […]