Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – The spreading influence of ISIS is forcing Washington into a strategic decision: escalate. Suddenly, and without almost anyone noticing, the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is developing and growing rapidly. Some elements are already clear enough: they include the expansion of ISIS-controlled territory in Libya, […]
Can Historic climate agreement protect the world’s most vulnerable people?
The Tree | – – 195 countries reached across traditional divides today to unite behind the greatest moral challenge of our time and seal the deal on a historic climate accord. The Paris Agreement is an inclusive, ambitious, science-based deal that recognises the urgency and scale of action required to address climate change, and hastens […]
What Islamophobia and ISIL/ Daesh have in Common: The Political Use of Fear
By Ian Buruma | (Project Syndicate) | – – NEW YORK – There are many roads to political disaster: greed, hubris, the charisma of the demagogue, and, perhaps most dangerous of all, fear. When people panic, they can become hysterical, and hysteria often leads to mass violence. When politicians convince people that they are in […]
Daesh in the Digital Realm
By Michael Degerald | (History x ISIS) | – – In popular discussion of the Islamic State, several topics have received the vast majority of the attention. The group’s executions, treatment of women, their oil profits, and rumors about state sponsorship have all gotten large amounts of attention. Not far behind that is discussion of […]
Deepening Inequality Driving US Middle Class into Oblivion
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – “The hollowing of the middle has proceeded steadily for four decades, and it may have reached a tipping point,” Pew Research Center says A closer look at the shift out of the middle reveals that “a deeper polarization is underway in the American economy,” says […]
Paris COP21 will only slow Climate Change: Here’s What’s going to happen to you and your children
By Katja Frieler | (The Conversation) | – – At the Paris climate summit, delegates are deciding on a global goal for temperature rise. At the time of publication, the latest draft text calls for the world to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and to […]
How U.S. Interventions Dismembered the Middle East
By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Despite everything, hawks are still pushing President Obama to send ground troops to Syria. He would be wise to reject their advice. For the last few decades in the Middle East, the policy of western powers — led by the United States — […]
Obama: “Who will rid me of this Troublesome ‘caliph’? Someone? Anyone?
By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – In the many strategies proposed to defeat the Islamic State (IS) by presidential candidates, policymakers, and media pundits alike across the American political spectrum, one common element stands out: someone else should really do it. The United States will send in planes, advisers, and special ops […]
Trump Cancels trip to Israel after Parliamentarians slam him as Neo-Nazi
By IMEMC | – – After criticism from both the left and the right, Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that he will delay his visit to Israel and Jerusalem. The wealthy business tycoon and apparent presidential candidate had previously stated that he planned to visit the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and then force his way […]