Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi on Sunday put three Suez Canal cities under emergency law on Sunday for a month. Port Said, Suez, and Ismailiya had seen violence by angry crowds against government offices and in some cases the HQ of the Muslim Brotherhood. Being on the Suez Canal, the cities are sensitive for security reasons. […]
How Pundits got the Israeli Elections Wrong & Ignored the Influence of Women (Goldman)
Shalom Goldman writes at IslamiCommentary: Before the January 22 Israeli elections media pundits in the US and Israel were predicting a sharp rightward shift by the Israeli electorate. According to these analyses Netanyahu wasn’t hawkish enough for the Israeli public, and the voters would choose someone more assertive on settlements who would push to deny […]
Afghanistan 2014: How the US will Lose Yet another fruitless War (Jones)
Ann Jones writes at Tomdispatch.com: Kabul, Afghanistan — Compromise, conflict, or collapse: ask an Afghan what to expect in 2014 and you’re likely to get a scenario that falls under one of those three headings. 2014, of course, is the year of the double whammy in Afghanistan: the next presidential election coupled with the departure of most American and other […]
Egypt: 31 Dead in Port Said Riots over Soccer/ Football Verdict
An Egyptian court ruled against the fans of the Port Said al-Masri soccer/ football team, sentencing 21 of them to death for their role in provoking a stampede on the field last year. It is widely believed in Egypt that the al-Masri fans, called ultras or football hoodlums, deliberately caused the stampede, which killed dozens […]
Dead Children and Arrested Babies: Palestinian Life under Israeli Colonialism
The Palestinian West Bank has been illegally de facto annexed by Israel. This territory was not awarded to Israel even in the UN General Assembly partition plan of 1947, and indeed Israel’s possession of it is not recognized even by the US, much less the rest of the world. It was conquered by main force […]
Egypt: The People Still want the Fall of the Regime
On the two-year anniversary of the demonstration that kicked off the Egyptian Revolution and the Second Republic, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came out to demonstrate. They were not so much commemorating the fall of the Mubarak regime as protesting its successor, the government of Muhammad Morsi, the first freely elected Egyptian president in history. […]
Iraq in Crisis as Troops Shoot Down unarmed 6 Sunni Protesters
Sunni Arab tribes in Falluja (presumably branches of Dulaim) on Saturday demanded that the government turn over to them within 7 days the troops who fired on protesters on the outskirts of the western city of Falluja, killing 6 and wounding 19 on Friday. Otherwise, they say, they will declare jihad on government troops. The […]
Jon Stewart on the Israeli Elections: 50% of Israel is “anti-Semitic” since they rebuked Netanyahu
Jon Stewart of the Daily Show comments on this week’s Israel election. The takeaway? If being critical of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is “anti-Semitic,” then half of Israel turns out to be anti-Semitic. Netanyahu’s Likud/ Yisrael Beitenu party combo did very poorly. The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & […]
UN to look into US Drone Program, but the Biggest Victim is Democracy
The US use of armed drones in northern Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen is now being investigated by the United Nations as a human rights abuse or even a war crime. If drones produce significant civilian casualties, their use may be a war crime. If their use constitutes a disproportionate response, it could be a war […]