Middle East

By Chung-Wha Hong | – (Yes! Magazine) – The institutions responsible for harming people operate across borders far more than most people realize, yet many groups are joining forces to gain strength. Embed from Getty ImagesGraffiti art on Seperation wall in West Bank: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK – NOVEMBER 1 : Graffiti art is seen on […]

Congress

Bipartisan House Vote Amends Pentagon Funding to forbid Trump to attack Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ed Kilgore at New York Magazine reports that the House of Representatives has passed the National Defense Authorization Act with a number of riders. One, which passed 251-170, was an amendment forbidding Trump to launch a war on Iran without explicit Congressional approval, except in a case of clear self-defense. […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why his ‘Deal of the Century’ Failed: Kushner tried to Bribe the World to Liquidate the Palestinian Nation

Middle East Monitor

The Palestinian president brags that he thwarted the Bahrain workshop, and accordingly, or before the workshop, the deal of the century, while his supporters boast this claim day and night. While we have repeatedly said that the PA’s position of rejecting the deal of the century and the Bahrain workshop is a good position, the […]

Afghanistan

Majority of US Veterans doubt Value of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria Wars: Pew

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A Pew Research Center opinion poll conducted among 1,284 veterans who had served since 2001 (which also polled 1,087 American civilians as a control), found that a majority of veterans holds that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and the intervention against ISIl in Syria were not worth it. The results […]

Iran

Iran in Crosshairs Again: It is Always – Always – about the Oil

Michael T. Klare

By Michael T. Klare | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – It’s always the oil. While President Trump was hobnobbing with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Japan, brushing off a recent U.N. report about the prince’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli PM Netanyahu vows Never to dismantle Illegal Squatter Settlements in Palestine

Middle East Monitor

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to dismantle Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Speaking yesterday at an event in the settlement of Revava – which forms part of the Ariel settlement bloc located off Route 60, south of Nablus – Netanyahu vowed that there would be no uprooting of Israel’s […]

Iran

Iran’s leader is losing his grasp on power. Does this mean diplomacy is doomed?

Shahram Akbarzadeh

( The Conversation) – Iran’s announcement last Sunday that it would break the limit on uranium enrichment agreed to in the nuclear deal with world powers was not a surprise. It came hot on the heels of another breach only a few days earlier on the 300-kilogram limit agreed to in the deal on stockpiles […]

Dance

Dunked On’em: Nicki Minaj Pulls out of Saudi Concert over Women’s, LGBTQ, Free Speech Rights

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trinidadian-American rap superstar Onika Tanya Maraj, known as “Nicki Minaj” has pulled out of Jidda World Fest scheduled in Saudi Arabia for July 15. She issued a statement: “While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, […]

Syria

Syria: US Coalition needs to Reimburse Civilians for Thousands of Innocents Killed and Massive Property Destruction in fight against ISIL

Human Rights Watch

First Public ‘Condolence’ Payment Provides Way Forward