By Nomi Prins with Craig Wilson | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – “Establishment: A group in a society exercising power and influence over matters of policy, opinion, or taste, and seen as resisting change.” — Oxford Dictionary Early on in his presidential bid, Donald Trump began touting his anti-establishment credentials. When it worked, he […]
Why you can’t explain the Iraq War without mentioning oil
By Bulent Gökay | (The Conversation) | – – Well before the US and UK led the invasion of Iraq, the two countries were under suspicion about their intentions for Iraq’s oil. When asked on February 6 2003 in a BBC Newsnight programme whether the war in Iraq was about oil, Tony Blair responded: Let […]
White House Admits Prison spending has grown 3x as fast as Education for Decades
TeleSur | – – U.S. state and local spending on prisons and jails grew at three times the rate of spending on schools over the last 33 years as the number of people behind bars ballooned under a spate of harsh sentencing laws, a government report released Thursday said. U.S. Secretary of Education John King […]
Palestinian mayor: West Bank water crisis worsened by decaying infrastructure
Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An ongoing water crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory has been exacerbated by neglected infrastructure, the mayor of a town in the southern occupied West Bank said on Sunday. Beit Fajjar Mayor Akram Taqatqa said that his town’s water network had not had any maintenance work […]
Obama to Send 4000 US Troops to Bolster NATO Force Against Russia ‘Aggression’
TeleSur | – – The western military bloc has been increasing its presence and activity around Russian borders. Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomed on Friday the decision of NATO to station a U.S. battalion in Poland to bolster the eastern flank of the military alliance, increasing troop numbers by up to 4,000. “We are pleased […]
The other Casualty of Iraq War: The Country’s Whole Health System
Ahmed Aber | (The Conversation) | – – Thirteen years ago, American and British troops launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Iraqis were promised freedom from tyranny, but the subsequent destruction of the Iraqi state apparatus as well as the cycle of violence that continues to this day destroyed the health system that cared for the […]
Goodbye to Abbas Kiarostami, a Filmmaking Legend Whose Vision ‘Transversed His Persian Roots’
By Mahsa Alimardani | ( Global Voices) | – – News trickled out of a Paris hospital on the evening of 4 July that Iranian cinematic auteur Abbas Kiarostami lost his battle against cancer at the age of 76. Kiarostami had been admitted to Tehran's Arad Hospital in mid-June, where he had undergone an operation […]
Israeli commander testifies: soldier unjustified in point-blank Hebron execution
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli army commander testified on Wednesday in the ongoing trial of Elor Azarya, an Israeli soldier accused of shooting and killing a prone Palestinian in Hebron in March, saying that there was no justification for the shooting, which has been labeled by the UN as an “extrajudicial execution.” Col. Yariv Ben […]
Surprise! It was a War Crime
By Rebecca Gordon | (Informed Comment) | – – So now it’s official. The British Chilcot Report confirms what the world has known for 13 years: the invasion of Iraq was a legal, strategic, and moral disaster. The report runs to 12 volumes – 2.5 million words – but its primary author, Sir John Chilcott, […]