(By Ruthie Blum) On December 25, Ali Jarbawi published his blockbuster Op-Ed “The Coming Intifada” with The New York Times. ”We Palestinians are living through the worst situation in years,” he wrote. Meanwhile, Kerry & Co. attempt to strike an historic peace agreement. So what will it be? Has the Arab Spring, now in its […]
Apple: We didn’t help NSA put the Dropoutjeep Backdoor in our iPhones
(By Jon Queally) Apple, the company giant behind the iconic iPhone, declared on Monday that is has never assisted the NSA in its efforts to create "back doors" to its signature mobile phone or any of its other products. The declaration by the computer giant comes in response to revelations made public by the German […]
Turkey’s Secretive Gulen Movement Challenges its Prime Minister as Religious Right Splits
(By Alexander Christie-Miller) The Gulen movement: a self-exiled imam challenges Turkey’s Erdogan (via The Christian Science Monitor) The man some see as the architect of a political storm threatening to topple Turkey’s government lives 5,000 miles away in rural Pennsylvania. Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim preacher born in 1941 near the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, […]
Tagore’s “The New Year” (Poem of the Day)
(By Rabindranath Tagore) The New Year LIKE FRUIT, shaken free by an impatient wind from the veils of its mother flower, thou comest, New Year, whirling in a frantic dance amid the stampede of the wind-lashed clouds and infuriate showers, while trampled by thy turbulence are scattered away the faded and the frail in an […]
Iraq Gov’t Collapsing as 44 Sunni MPs Withdraw from Parliament
(By AFP) Clashes kill 10 as Iraq forces clear Sunni protest camp (via AFP) Iraqi forces killed 10 gunmen Monday in clashes that erupted as they cleared a year-old Sunni Arab protest camp, a move likely to fan resentment among the minority community. As the fighting raged, mosques exhorted followers to “go to jihad,” or […]
A Delegation of Congressional Christian Zionists to Israel
(By Shalom Goldman) Shalom Goldman Just before Christmas, GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Steve King (Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) wrapped up a largely secretive week-long congressional delegation or CODEL trip that included stops in Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, and Israel. While there didn’t appear to be any public announcements about December’s trip out of Egypt, […]
Israeli Public favors Teaching Peace, Palestinian Narrative in Schools
(By Commondreams.org Staff reporters) A new survey out Wednesday found that, contrary to the actions of their political leaders, the majority of the Israeli public favors teaching peace in schools and believes the Palestinian narrative should be presented to students. According to the findings, which were presented at an education conference at Tel Aviv University, […]
“Terrorism” tag is tool of Political Repression in Egypt
(By Human Rights Watch) (New York) – The Egyptian government’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization appears to be aimed at expanding the crackdown on peaceful Brotherhood activities and imposing harsh sanctions on its supporters. The government should promptly reverse the decision and stop interfering with the Brotherhood’s health, education, and other […]
EPA finally catches a Fracking polluter in the Act, levies Largest ever Civil Penalties
(By Tina Casey) US EPA Nails Fracker With Record Fine (via Clean Technica) The woes just keep piling up for Chesapeake Energy. The company is front and center in the nation’s natural gas fracking boom and it just got hit with one of the largest ever civil penalties for violating Section 404 of the Clean […]








