M. Shahid Alam shares with us an excerpt from his recent book, Israeli Exceptionalism excerpted from the author’s Israeli Exceptionalism (Palgrave, 2009) “We do not fit the general pattern of humanity…” David Ben-Gurion “…only God could have created a people so special as the Jewish people.” Gideon Levy The fecundity of the Zionist project in […]
Iran Backs al-Maliki, in Iran, for Iraqi PM
Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Iran on Monday, seeing Tehran’s support for his candidacy for a second term. He met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as with first vice president Muhammad Rida Rahimi and minister of foreign affairs Manuchehr Muttaqi, along with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. […]
Zogby: Arab Voices — Listening and Moving Beyond Myth
James Zogby writes in a guest column for Informed Comment After decades spent trying to better explain the Arab World to other Americans, all too often I have found myself running up against the same mythologies and half-truths that, year after year, stubbornly maintain an alarming ability to shape thinking about the region. One of […]
The Rumors of Multiculturalism’s death Are Exaggerated (Against Merkel)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the weekend declared “multiculturalism” dead in her country and demanded that labor immigrants be assimilated, through German language and German culture. Russia Today has video: This sort of discourse has a long and ugly history in Germany and it derives from a set of mistaken premises. An important strand of […]
Cole on “Iran and Islam” at USIP Iran Primer
Iran commentary in the United States generates more heat than light for the most part, and much of it is frankly driven by ignorance. Veteran journalist and Iran expert Robin Wright has attempted to redress this problem with an Iran Primer, 50 short entries by experts on key themes. I contributed a brief section on […]
Recommended Reading at Tomdispatch.com
Tomdispatch.com has been on a tear in the past two weeks. From Bacevich on the US military as quagmire specialists to Pepe Escobar on central Asian pipelines as the new silk road, and from Nick Turse on how oddly boosterist the books on the Afghanistan War have been to Tom Engelhardt’s poignant essay to young […]
Clinton Cabinet Member Sought Iraq Provocation
But W. Himself Proposed Ruse
Retired Gen. Hugh Shelton reveals in his new book that in the late 1990s a Clinton cabinet member asked him if was possible to fly a U2 spy plane low enough over Iraq to get it shot down, thus creating a pretext for the US to take out Saddam Hussein. The general says he was […]
Thousands Demonstrate in Tel Aviv against Racist Loyalty Oath
Could the Netanyahu Government Fall over New Settlements?
Several thousand Jews and Arabs marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the loyalty oath recently approved by the Israeli cabinet, which would force new candidates for Israeli citizenship to affirm their commitment to a “Jewish and Democratic” state. The measure was pushed by Avigdor Lieberman, the far, far rightwing leader of Yisrael Beitenu, […]
Ahmadinejad Promises to Protect Qana in South Lebanon
The USG Open Source Center translates from Persian the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Qana in South Lebanon on Friday (See below). Qana is significant as the site of several Israeli attacks and atrocities, most recently in summer 2006, in which Israeli bombing killed innocent non-combatants. Lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta was incensed […]
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