Euronews reports, “Turkey’s economy continues to boom” Euronews notes that the Turkish economy had a growth spurt in the third quarter, and it is certainly doing better than other non-oil states in the region or than most in Europe. One drag on the economy, though, is an increase in Turkish petroleum imports. This problem is […]
Dear Pres. Obama: Dissent isn’t Possible in a Surveillance State
By Juan Cole In his stirring eulogy of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first president to be legitimately elected, by the entire South Africa people, President Barack Obama said, “There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing […]
Presidents shaking Hands with Dictators
By Juan Cole President Barack Obama’s casual hand shake with Cuban president Raul Castro at the memorial for Nelson Mandela has, predictably, set off a wave of outrage among right wing politicians and pundits who are anyway perpetually outraged by anything Obama does or indeed, just by his being president. Sen. John McCain, who frankly […]
Google, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Giants Demand Rollback of out-of-control NSA Spying
By Andrea Germanos In an open letter to President Obama and members of Congress, AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo, write: We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has […]
After Mandela: Can Massacred South African Mine Workers get Justice?
The summer, 2012, massacre of striking mine workers by South African police, which killed 44 persons and wounded at least 78, continues to wend its way through the South African system. The largest casualty toll was on August 16, 2012. The mine is owned by Lonmin and is located in Marikana. South Africa is seeing […]
Can Mandela’s Truth and Reconciliation Heal the Middle East?
By Juan Cole Every transition from an authoritarian government to democracy is different. Some go relatively smoothly (Poland, South Korea). Others are rocky (Taiwan, Bosnia, Tunisia). In some instances, authoritarianism reasserts itself to a lesser (Russia) or greater (Ukraine, Egypt) extent. In some cases, the country falls into chaos (Iraq, Yugoslavia). What to do with […]
Young Israelis Emigrating Abroad Roils Politics in Tel Aviv
Uri Avnery discusses the issue of young Jewish Israelis leaving Israel for other countries, including Germany. Israel’s out-emigration rate was similar to other industrial countries a decade ago, but it is possible that it has increased because of the rise in rents and property values and the increased divide between poor and rich. Many young […]
Top 10 errors in Netanyahu’s Speech Demanding Iran give up ‘Genocidal’ Policies
By Juan Cole Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu demanded on Sunday that the world community constrain Iran to change its “genocidal policy” toward Israel, in the course of a speech in which he attacked President Obama’s current round of negotiations with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program. The rhetoric Netanyahu uses is not just […]
Uygur: Bush Targetting of Juan Cole proves that NSA can’t be trusted with our Personal Data
Cenk Uygur at Young Turks makes the point that the National Security Agency and other US intelligence (services who are ending up with massive amounts of electronic surveillance information on Americans –whether that is what they were mainly going for or not) keep saying we should trust them with the information. They maintain that they […]
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