By Clark D. Cunningham | (The Conversation) | – – Fear of hackers reading private emails in cloud-based systems like Microsoft Outlook, Gmail or Yahoo has recently sent regular people and public officials scrambling to delete entire accounts full of messages dating back years. What we don’t expect is our own government to hack our […]
Questioning US Arms Sales, impunity for Saudi Arabia
By Carlyn Meyer | (Informed Comment) | – – The bi-partisan failure to review the nature and benefit of the US-Saudi relationship has been a striking feature of US foreign policy for decades. Despite serious questions about the link between the intolerant Wahhabi form of Islam promoted by the kingdom and the rise of a […]
Israel releases Jerusalem journalist after she served 6-months for Facebook post
By Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities released Palestinian journalist Samah Dweik on Monday, after she served nearly six months in prison over charges of “incitement.” Family members and friends gathered awaited Dweik, 25, outside the gates of HaSharon prison where she was held, before taking her to her home […]
UN Calls Out Saudi Arabia for Killing Yemeni Women and Children
By TeleSur | – – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon demanded all parties fighting in Yemen “fully respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.” In a rare move, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called out Saudi Arabia on Thursday for airstrikes in Yemen that killed dozens of civilians, including women and children. On Wednesday the U.S.- and […]
Iraq’s Growth Industry: Free-Lance Civilian Bomb Disposal
By Kamal al-Ayash | Ramadi | ( Niqash.org) | – – Locals are struggling to get rid of the explosive booby-traps the Islamic State left as they withdrew from Ramadi. For one group of daring locals, defusing the bombs has become a lucrative new job opportunity. In the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, it is […]
America’s New Reality: Mad Bombers, Merchants of Death, & Lawmaking Harlots
By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Recently, sorting through a pile of old children’s books, I came across a volume, That Makes Me Mad!, which brought back memories. Written by Steve Kroll, a long-dead friend, it focused on the eternally frustrating everyday adventures of Nina, a little girl whose life regularly […]
Montazeri recording surfaces condemning mass killings that Haunt Iran’s Revolution
By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | – – Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, once in line to become Iran’s supreme leader, has come back from the grave to haunt the Islamic establishment that punished him for openly criticizing the regime’s mass killing of political opponents in the late 1980s. The release of an audio […]
Stopping the War on Children
Kevin Watkins | ( Project Syndicate ) | – – On the twentieth anniversary of the Machel report, the international community must draw a line and stop the war against children. That war takes many forms. In some cases, children are front-line targets. Rape, forced marriage, enslavement, and abduction have become standard tactics for groups […]
US College Course on Palestine Reinstated after Cancellation under pressure from Israel Lobbies
By IMEMC | – – University of California, Berkeley, has reinstated a course on Palestine that was cancelled under pressure from pro-Israel groups, according to a press release. Palestine Legal said, according to WAFA, that the university reinstated the student-led course titled “Palestine: A Settler-Colonial Analysis”, following an outcry from students and faculty describing the […]