The Taliban claimed credit for a bombing of a bus in Kabul, which killed 13 US security personnel (apparently 5 US troops and 8 security contractors). Three innocent bystanders, Afghans and a policemen, were also killed. Military officers focused on the big picture hate stories like this one, because, they say, ‘if it bleeds, it […]
Why a No-Fly Zone won’t Work in Syria
Syrian troops fired into peaceful demonstrations in Hama and Homs on Friday. Repression of protests yesterday is estimated to have cost 40 lives. The BBC reports that some demonstrators are calling for a “no-fly zone” imposed by the international community on Syria. (The BBC video shows a sign demanding a hazr jawwi or aerial curfew.) […]
Justin Bieber on Sen. Klobuchar’s Criminalization of the Internet: She should be put away in Cuffs
Justin Bieber went off on Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Friday, slamming her proposed legislation imposing criminal penalties for copyright violations on the internet and saying that she should go to prison. He said, “Whoever she is, she needs to know that I’m saying she needs to be locked up, put away in cuffs.” He […]
Political Pluralism breaks out in Tunisia
Tunisia’s election outcome gives 41% to the Muslim fundamentalist party Al-Nahda. One of the other two winners is the Rally for the Republic– of long-time political exile Moncef al-Marzouqi. Then the third major party is al-Takattul or the Democratic Forum for Labor and Freedoms, headed by Mustapha Ben Jaafar. The latter two mentioned are secular, […]
Sefat: Top 10 ways OWS can Excel: Counsel from Iran’s Green Movement
Kusha Sefat writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Following the disputed Presidential election in Iran, our Western compatriots gave many suggestions on combating state oppression. Various tactics and strategies were devised for Iranian protesters, some on this very blog. It seems that most of those recommendations were ineffective within Iran’s particular social and […]
If American Land were Distributed the way American Wealth Is
The Congressional Budget Office confirms that the top 1% has tripled its income since 1979, while the upper middle class has increased its wealth much more modestly, and the rest of the country has seen only a small gain. Just to be clear, the 1% are about 3 million, the 9% are about 27 million, […]
Is Syria in Civil War?
Robert Fisk uses the “C” word about Syria– Civil War. He takes seriously both the human rights organizations’ allegation that the regime has killed some 3000 people in the course of putting down demonstrations since last spring, and the Baath Party’s assertion that rebels have killed 1,150 Syrian troops (though he admits that there is […]
Grossman: Call your Congressman and Save International Studies in the US!
The current House of Representatives don’t hold with Amurkins knowin’ ’bout furriners, and seems determined to defund federal support for international studies in the US. The Neoconservative lobbyists have been gunning for these programs for years and want the money given to rightwing think tanks in Washington instead. And whereas in the old days, senatorial […]
Islamic Law not a problem in Bush’s Afghanistan & Iraq, but a Problem in Libya?
George W. Bush said of Iraq and Afghanistan,, “I’d like to be a president [known] as somebody who liberated 50 million people…” The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan [pdf], drafted and passed under the rule of George W. Bush in that country, makes Islam the religion of state and forbids any law that contravenes the sharia […]
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