By Mohammad M. Hedayati-Kakhki | (The Conversation) | – – The merest hint of a successful deal over Iran’s nuclear programme is enough to get people excited. And as the country emerges from economic isolation, nowhere is the enthusiasm more keenly felt than in the huge oil firms with a chance to make a splash […]
3rd Circuit to NYC: Being Muslim is not Reasonable Suspicion for Surveillance
By Nadia Kayyali | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – Being Muslim can’t be the basis for law enforcement surveillance. That was the message from the Third Circuit last Tuesday when it told the plaintiffs in Hassan v. The City of New York that their lawsuit could go forward. The plaintiffs are suing over the […]
Brutal Bombing of Yemen risks Destroying its Cultural Heritage along with Civilian Lives
Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Parties to Yemen’s armed conflict should take all necessary measures to protect Sanaa’s Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. International humanitarian law provides special protections to buildings and other structures that are part of humanity’s cultural heritage. Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, has been controlled for the past […]
Israel’s crackdown on protesters is illegal, costly and reckless
By Julie M. Norman | (The Conversation) | – – The escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine since the start of October has led to seven Israelis killed by Palestinians in a spate of stabbing attacks and at least 30 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, including three 13-year old Palestinians killed in separate demonstrations by live […]
Yes, George W. Bush bears some Responsibility for US Vulnerability on 9/11
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Donald Trump-Jeb Bush tiff over whether George W. Bush “kept us safe” is another example of how Donald Trump is better than Karl Rove at politics. Rove had some success with his doctrine of attacking people on their strengths. Like a spiteful child, Trump attacks […]
Former Detainees Sue CIA Torture Psychologists
By Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks) | – – “Ten months after the Senate released its report on the CIA’s illegal torture program, the ACLU is getting involved. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian (The Point), hosts of the The Young Turks, break it down. “Three former CIA detainees are suing over […]
Is the Syrian Crisis Nearing the point where Diplomacy Can make a Difference?
Jo Comerford and Mattea Kramer | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Introduction by Tom Engelhardt : Whatever happened to the “imperial presidency”? In mid-September, in the midst of the serial collapse of a $500-million Pentagon program to train “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), President Obama suddenly claimed, through White House Press […]
200 Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village with firebombs
Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said. During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones […]
‘Putin of Arabia’ hugely popular among Iraqi Shiites
By Jean-Marc Mojon with Raji Nasser in Najaf | ( Your Middle East ) | – – The new Iraq Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighbouring Iraq, where some await “Hajji Putin” like a saviour. Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad […]