Sharif Abdel Kouddous: In a strong show of solidarity, nearly 40 correspondents and editors representing 29 international media organizations are calling for the immediate release of journalists detained in Egypt. On December 29, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed from Al Jazeera English were arrested by Egyptian authorities and have been held arbitrarily […]
Did Ariel Sharon get a pass on War Crimes because he was White?
(By Juan Cole) It is shameful that Vice President Joe Biden should be attending the funeral of Ariel Sharon today, given that the former Israeli prime minister was clearly guilty of a host of war crimes. Much Mideast instability must be laid at his feet. Since a pattern of war crimes comes to equate to […]
Omar Khayyam (497): “You’re beast and demon, angel, human being”
You who distill within you the whole world, attend to this voice from the realm beyond: You’re beast, and demon, angel, human being; whatever you show forth, you are that thing. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 497
The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem c. 1900 (Photo of the Day)
The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, c. 1900 (From Gertrude Bell, Syria: The Desert and the Sown, 1908)
Ban Coal: Coal Industry Chemical Threatens 300,000 in West Virginia
(By Juan Cole) Some 300,000 West Virginians are at risk from their tap water after a company making MCHM spilled it into the river, turning it a little purple and making it smell like liquorice. MCHM can be fatal if imbibed, and otherwise it can make you vomit your guts out. It is used to […]
“It’s all Right to Make Fun of the Government”: Bassem Youssef (Egypt’s Jon Stewart)
Bassem Youssef: “It’s OK to make fun of ourselves” “BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman talks to Bassem Youssef, also known as the “Egyptian Jon Stewart”, about making people laugh in Egypt today.”
Top 5 US Government Decisions that put Troops more at Risk than Snowden Did
(By Juan Cole) The propaganda wars in Washington continue over Edward Snowden’s revelation that the National Security Agency and other Federal government departments have in the past decade quietly abolished the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, without even telling us that is what they were doing. All Americans, once proud, free citizens of a republic […]
Gatesgate: Why Obama was right to Distrust his Generals on Afghanistan
(By Juan Cole) Among the charges in former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s memoirs against Barack Obama is that the latter did not trust his generals, did not adopt the Afghanistan War as his own, and was skeptical of the Pentagon plan for a troop escalation and a big counter-insurgency push. It is now forgotten […]
Daily Show on Global Warming Confusion (Video of the Day)
Jon Stewart of the Daily Show reviews the silly things climate change denialists are saying about the cold snap, inasmuch as they confuse weather events with long-term climate trends. For more see “Note to GOP: Yes, the Polar Vortex can be Global Warming
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