Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 41 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in two suicide bombs targeting a Hezbollah stronghold in the south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to local news reports. Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers blew […]
Is the Iraqi army a lost cause?
By Jon Moran | (The Conversation) | – – Building an army in a short space of time is a very difficult task. To be sure, there are some impressive examples. Cromwell’s republican New Model Army was put together while the English Civil War was already underway; Washington’s army of US Independence quickly wore down […]
Climate Change to throw 100 mn. People into Poverty
By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The UN’s heavily-hyped Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were approved by more than 160 world leaders at a summit meeting in September, are an integral part of the world body’s post-2015 development agenda, including the eradication of hunger and poverty by […]
EU approves labeling of Israeli Squatter products
Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The European Union on Wednesday adopted measures to label products from Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, in a move welcomed by the Palestinian leadership. The EU Commission, the executive branch of the EU, said the body had adopted an interpretative notice on the “indication […]
Syria: The Other Front, not ISIL or Assad: al-Qaeda al-Nusra
Medyan Dairieh | VICE News | (Video Report) – – “VICE News filmmaker Medyan Dairieh gains exclusive access to the Syrian branch of al Qaeda, al Nusra, a jihadist group fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Islamic State (IS). Spending more than a month with al Nusra and exploring their expanding territory, Dairieh […]
Jeb Bush Wants A Time Machine To murder a Baby — Hitler
Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) | – – “Jeb Bush has been trying to prove he’s a tough guy. He said he eats nails before breakfast. He recently proclaimed he would kill baby Hitler if he had a time machine. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. “Have you ever […]
After the AKP Victory in Turkey: Elective Dictatorship?
T. Deniz Erkmen | (Informed Comment) | – – The results of November 1st snap elections in Turkey were a surprise; not just for the left or liberal opposition who were hoping for a decrease in AKP (governing center-right Justice and Development Party) vote share, not just for the pollsters almost all of whom failed […]
Forgotten: How US put Oil, Cold War above Peace & Palestinian Rights
By Irene Gendzier | Author, Dying to Forget | (Informed Comment) | – – For journalists and politicians alike, the recurring violence in the Middle East is commonly viewed as the lamentable legacy of a conflict-prone region driven by militant sectarianism and incompetent leaders. In an election year, this self-serving view of the Middle has […]
Splintering World: Looking Back on the Great Collapse from 2050
By John Feffer | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Let me start with a confession. I’m old-fashioned and I have an old-fashioned profession. I’m a geo-paleontologist. That means I dig around in archives to exhume the extinct: all the empires and federations and territorial unions that have passed into history. I practically created the profession of […]