By Erdağ Göknar (Istanbul) | (ISLAMiCommentary) — Erdağ Göknar If we read the recent government-ordered police raids against opposition media in reverse, we can get a better sense of how last year’s bribery and corruption investigation (December 17-25, 2013) — targeting figures connected to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — hit close to […]
Israeli forces suppress Christmas march in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Tuesday suppressed a peaceful march calling for “Christmas without occupation” in Bethlehem. Demonstrators marched to the Israeli military checkpoint in northern Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas and hand out gifts to children in the area. Marchers held up signs reading: “Jesus came with a message of: Peace, Freedom and Justice” […]
Reality TV Iraq Style: Confronting your Terrorist
AJ+ | — “It’s reality TV like you’ve never seen it before: Iraqi terrorists being escorted around their crime scenes, meeting their victims and confessing on camera. Co-funded by the Iraqi justice department and government antiterrorist forces, “In the Grip of The Law” has its audience, well … gripped.” AJ+: “Iraq TV Show Has ISIS […]
Year 6 of the Climate Activism Revolution
By Rebecca Solnit | (Tomdispatch.com) It was the most thrilling bureaucratic document I’ve ever seen for just one reason: it was dated the 21st day of the month of Thermidor in the Year Six. Written in sepia ink on heavy paper, it recorded an ordinary land auction in France in what we would call the […]
3000 Yezidi Girls still Missing at Hands of Daesh/ISIL: “It costs more for a girl with blue eyes”
BBC News | — “Kurdish authorities say Pershmerga forces are making headway in the Northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and have taken control of a ‘large area’ from Islamic State militants. Iraqi Kurds made the claim during a visit to nearby Mount Sinjar, where thousands of Yazidis fled after the IS advance. However, the Yazidi […]
Not the Onion: Pakistanis Demand arrest of Cleric for not Condemning “Jihadis”
AJ+ |– “Pakistanis are calling for the arrest of a Muslim cleric, Abdul Aziz, who refused to condemn the recent Pakistan Attack that led to 148 deaths. Some feel the Taliban school attack in Peshawar is a turning point in Pakistan’s complex relationship with extremist groups. There’s been an ongoing controversy both inside and outside […]
The Yezidis: People of an Ancient Faith Battle Ethnic Cleansing
By Richard Foltz | (Special to Informed Comment) — Among the many victims of the barbarous Daesh (what Arabs call ISIS or ISIL), none has suffered more severely than the Kurdish Yezidis. After overrunning a number of Yezidi villages in Northern Syria and Iraq during the summer of 2014, Daesh extremists – who consider Yezidis […]
Israel Turns Beersheba Mosque into Museum, while 10,000 have no place to Pray
BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — Authorities in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba have recently converted an historic mosque into an Islamic museum despite the fact that 10,000 local Muslims still have nowhere to pray, locals said. Locals told Ma’an that an exhibit showcasing a collection of Muslim prayer rugs was recently opened in the building that […]
How the Iraq Wars began with the Invasion of Panama
By Greg Grandin | (Tomdispatch.com) — As we end another year of endless war in Washington, it might be the perfect time to reflect on the War That Started All Wars — or at least the war that started all of Washington’s post-Cold War wars: the invasion of Panama. Twenty-five years ago this month, early […]