(Courtesy Reuters) This young woman being teargassed at the Taksim protests in Istanbul has become an internet icon. Unveiled and bare-armed, she is clearly secular and modern. Many but not all of the supporters of Justice and Development Party Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wear headscarves and dress modestly. But she is also just young, female, […]
Have we no Shame? Will Hunger Strikes and medical Torture finally close Guantanamo? (Hickman)
John Hickman, author of Selling Guantanamo, writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Curious isn’t it how the decision-making of the United States Government is also imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay? In a seemingly escape-proof blame game President Obama insists that the U.S. Congress prevents him from closing the prison while Congressional Republicans insist either […]
Police Brutality and Turkish Protests (Compilation Video)
Compilation video of police brutality in Turkish Gezi Park protests: As usual with grassroots Youtube videos, the authenticity of it cannot be independently verified from abraod.
Defiant Erdogan Risks Turkish Economy, as Unions enter the Fray
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is now risking Turkey’s economic miracle by his imperious reaction to the protests in dozens of cities that have roiled Turkey and are entering their fifth day. Two are dead and hundreds injured. The Turkish stock market, which had been up 300% since 2009, has taken a hit. The country’s […]
Syria as a Prisoner of Western History (Harms)
Gregory Harms writes in a guest op-ed for Informed Comment The influential Egyptian Islamist cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi recently issued a fatwa, or religious proclamation, with regard to Syria. The sheik called for Sunni Muslims throughout the Middle East to join the rebels in their fight against the regime in Damascus. Formerly an advocate of improved […]
Binary Signaling & Turkish Protests (Izmir Video)
People in Izmir apartments turning off and on their lights in support of the protests in Turkey.
Turkish Opinion Poll Finds Majorities Slam Erdogan policies on Alcohol, Syria
On Sunday night into Monday morning in Turkey, clashes again broke out between demonstrators and police in a number of cities, and an attempt was made to set the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters on fire with molotov cocktails in the Mediterranean port of Izmir. Night time barricades had been thrown up in […]
How the US Can Facilitate Peace in Syria: Talking to All Sides including Iran (Lawson)
Fred H. Lawson writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Secretary of State John F. Kerry took a major step toward engaging the United States in the quest to find a solution to the devastating civil war in Syria during his visit to Moscow on May 6-7. Kerry persuaded Russian President Vladimir V. Putin […]
Abusing the Sea: from Garbage Dump to Rising Waters & CO2 (Lapham)
[This essay by Lewis Lapham will appear in “The Sea,” the Summer 2013 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly. This slightly adapted version is posted at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of that magazine.] In heavy fog on the night of October 7, 1936, the SS Ohioan ran aground three miles south and west of San Francisco’s Golden […]
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