Kairouan, Tunisia, May 2012, from a rooftop. Photo by Juan Cole For more on this UNESCO Heritage City, see this link.
Omar Khayyam (313) “wine loosens even cast-iron shackles”
Wine-bibbing makes people less full of themselves, and wine loosens even cast-iron shackles. If satan had only tippled every night, he would not have been cast down from heaven for his pride. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 313/ Arberry […]
Lemurs are the Species most threatened with Extinction
A new study finds that the Madagascar lemur primate is the vertebrate species most threatened by extinction. One reason for the threat is not only human encroachment on habitat but hunting for ‘bushmeat.’ That is, we are eating them to extinction. Here is a video of these magical animals , who are our distant cousins: […]
Ghoul’s Glossary: From Atrocity (Syria) to CEO (Romney)
Atrocity: What a mass murder is called when the world is too blind or timid or divided to prosecute it as a war crime. Synonym (mainly Syr.): Treimseh. CEO sabbatical: The practice of chief executive officers of a company to absent themselves for several years from actually making decisions, even while they are the only […]
John Adams on the War on Terror (Poster)
Omar Khayyam (152) “so many hearts have been left bleeding”
A shame that bankruptcy has left us without capital in hand, and that so many hearts have been left bleeding by the blade of fate. No one has come back from that world with word of vanished travelers. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 152/ Arberry 1949
Dream Ticket (Poster)
Syria: You know you’re in Trouble When…
Some observations for the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad: You know you’re in trouble when you can only rule over people if you massacre them: Opposition sources said that a major massacre was committed on Thursday by Syrian government forces, which bombarded the Sunni town of Taramseh near Hama with artillery and helicopter gunships. The […]
Obamas Scramble for Africa (Turse)
Nick Turse writes at Tomdispatch.com Obama’s Scramble for Africa Secret Wars, Secret Bases, and the Pentagon’s “New Spice Route” in Africa By Nick Turse They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia, even if today’s “spice road” has nothing to do with cinnamon, […]
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