By Munir Moon The area inside the Beltway consists of Washington, D.C., and surrounding counties, and what I call the Beast includes defense contractors, lobbyists, Wall Street, think tanks, advocacy groups, journalists, foreign agents, and everyone else who wants something from our government. All of these congregate in the Beltway and are actively engaged in […]
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Education
Why it makes Economic Sense for Universities to Divest from Fossil Fuels
By John Quiggin, The University of Queensland The controversy ignited by the Australian National University in October, when it decided to sell its shares in seven resources companies, has raised two important questions about divestment from assets such as fossil fuels. The first is whether divestment is an economically prudent choice, and the second is […]
Why is this Man Smiling? Iranian Officials say Confidant of US Deal on Nuclear
By Juan Cole Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency, expressed confidence that the few remaining issues between the UN Security Council and Iran will be settled. Earlier this week, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, also surprised the world by expressing the conviction that a deal would be reached between the US and […]
In Iraqi Classrooms, Sunni Muslim Extremists Ban Evolution, Patriotism And Literature
By Ahmad Mohammed | Kirkuk | via Niqash.org In areas under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists, teachers have been issued a special set of instructions. Among other things they say that males and females are to be separated, all mentions of evolution are to be removed from textbooks and anything that encourages patriotism –like […]
Student Debt Factories: The Scandal of For-Profit Colleges
By Astra Taylor and Hannah Appel via Tomdispatch.com Imagine corporations that intentionally target low-income single mothers as ideal customers. Imagine that these same companies claim to sell tickets to the American dream — gainful employment, the chance for a middle class life. Imagine that the fine print on these tickets, once purchased, reveals them to […]
How The Koch Brothers Corrupted Florida State University (+163 Other Colleges) (Young Turks)
Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks “In 2007, when the Charles Koch Foundation considered giving millions of dollars to Florida State University’s economics department, the offer came with strings attached. First, the curriculum it funded must align with the libertarian, deregulatory economic philosophy of Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist and Republican political bankroller. Second, the […]
Palestinian Education: another victim of Israel’s Gaza War
By Aimee Shalan and Samer Abdelnour Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law. This policy brief is authored by Aimee Shalan and Samer Abdelnour. Aimee Shalan is the director of the Friends of Birzeit University, […]
Student Debt: Blame Law-Makers, Tax-Shirking Rich, War on Drugs, not Universities
By Juan Cole In honor of President Obama’s support for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s bill to address the student debt crisis by offering students with older debt loads lower interest rates [see video below], I’m reprinting this golden oldie. The statistics in it have only gotten worse from a social point of view in the past […]
Shale Oil Hype Fail: California Bonanza Evaporates
California's Shale Fail: The Case of 13 Billion Barrels of Missing Oil By Richard Heinberg In 2011, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy commissioned INTEK Inc., a Virginia-based consulting firm, to estimate how much oil might be recoverable from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation. Production of tight oil was soaring […]