Amy Goodman: Your feelings today in the midst of this popular rebellion against the Mubarak regime, calling on Mubarak to leave? Do you agree? Nawal El Saadawi: We are in the streets every day, people, children, old people, including myself. I am now 80 years of age, suffering of this regime for half a […]
Geography Archives: Iraq
Tunisia: Interview with Dyab Abou Jahjah
Listen to the interview with Dyab Abou Jahjah: 4th World War: To what extent do you think this popular revolution can achieve not just democratic rights but also something else: social change? Dyab Abou Jahjah: After the dictator left the country, many people of what was the legalized opposition, the parties that were legal […]
After “Iran Engagement”: Bipartisan Voices Urge Obama to Embrace MEK
Predictably, the Istanbul talks have ended without positive results. And, it seems clear that the discussion came to a dead end over two issues: the Islamic Republic wanted explicit recognition of its right to enrich uranium which the United States (at least) was not prepared to do; and the United States proposed a plan for […]
Tunisia: “RCD Out”
Calls are mounting for disbanding the Rassemblement constitutionnel démocratique (RCD) or at least banning it from participation in the transition government of Tunisia. Amid streets chants of “RCD out,” the RCD leadership (such as it still exists) first kept a low profile and then felt compelled to do “something.” That something translated into a […]
The Political Economy of ‘Democracy Promotion’
14 January 2011 Where are the ‘democracy promoters’ on the Tunisian uprising?, asks Marc Lynch. It’s a fair question: Thus far, a month into the massive demonstrations rocking Tunisia, the Washington Post editorial page has published exactly zero editorials about Tunisia. For that matter, the Weekly Standard, another magazine which frequently claims the mantle of […]
Violent Media Rhetoric Beyond Tucson: When Some Calls for Violence Are Acceptable
The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not it is ever determined that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner was somehow influenced or motivated by such rhetoric. Before the shooting, there had been a remarkable surge of politically motivated violence (FAIR Blog, 1/12/11). Despite media efforts to […]
Arafat’s Ghost
Asʻad Ghanem. Palestinian Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. x + 208 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-35427-3; $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22160-5. November 2010 marked the sixth anniversary of the death of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) president Yasser Arafat. For the last two years of his life, the once […]
Racist Rage: Islamophobia, the Tea Party, and Endless War
We are witnessing an unprecedented surge in racism against Muslims in the US. There is a real fear among US Muslims that if there’s a successful terrorist attack on Americans, particularly on US soil, we will surely face pogroms and detention centers. The growth of the Far Right and, more specifically, the Tea Party over […]
The War Party Pushes Obama for Even More Iran Sanctions
The first issue of The Weekly Standard for 2011 includes an article by Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, entitled “The Logic of Our Iran Sanctions: Accelerate Them Now.” Gerecht and Dubowitz are both affiliated with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and are prominent voices in neoconservative circles focused on Iran. We highlight their […]
Iran’s Subsidy Reductions: Upon Whom Will the Costs Fall?
The long awaited liberalization of energy commodities in Iran has finally begun. President Ahmadinejad stated: “At this stage, we don’t want to free prices, rather we are going to regulate and reform them.” How regulated will this new system be? Iranians with private cars get a monthly ration of about one full Iranian tank of […]
Expanding US Raids in Pakistan: Interviews with Mike Ferner, Kathy Kelly, Michael Marceau, and Ann Wright
On 20 December 2010, the New York Times reported (Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan”): “Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas. . . . Now, American military officers appear confident […]
“Dear Afghanistan”: A New Year’s Call for Peace
While the US may be the world’s single superpower in military terms, it faces another superpower: the voices of war-weary millions who detest violence and killing. In Afghanistan, in the United States, and among the populations of countries whose governments have joined the NATO coalition, millions of people are calling for an end to war […]
The President and the Climate: Reflections on Progressive Obama Delusion and a Curious Line in Bill McKibben’s Eaarth
Just what did Barack Obama and his spinners do to the critical faculties of so many leading American progressives? Some of my regular readers might be surprised to know that I often bring a significant measure of disinclination to my recurrent radical criticism of President Barack Obama and his “progressive” defenders. The reluctance stems […]
Palestine and Iraq in the Eyes of Kalvellido and Azagra
“Palestine and Iraq in the Eyes of Kalvellido and Azagra.” That’s the title of a series of panel cartoons by Spanish artists Juan Kalvellido and Carlos Azagra, who have criticized, in their own way, that is to say by cartoons, the wars in Iraq and Palestine in recent years. This exhibition, organized by the […]
Notes on Contemporary Imperialism
Phases of Imperialism Lenin dated the imperialist phase of capitalism, which he associated with monopoly capitalism, from the beginning of the twentieth century, when the process of centralization of capital had led to the emergence of monopoly in industry and among banks. The coming together (coalescence) of the capitals in these two spheres led to […]
After One Dimensional Feminism(s)
Nina Power’s One Dimensional Woman is a slim but muscular volume, whose pithy prose goes straight to the heart of the challenges currently facing contemporary feminism. Constructed as a series of short, cut-to-the-chase essays on a diverse range of ‘raw-nerve’ topics, from Sarah Palin and the War on Iraq to the veil and pornography, […]
Ashura in Istanbul
Yesterday was the 10th day of the Muslim holy month of Muharram — commemorated by Shi’a Muslims for centuries as the holy day of Ashura. (We send our best wishes to all of our readers who are observing this special time.) One of our readers highlighted something truly striking that happened yesterday, in connection with […]
WikiLeaks Cables Show Why Washington Won’t Allow Democracy in Haiti
The polarization of the debate around WikiLeaks is pretty simple, really. Of all the governments in the world, the United States government is the greatest threat to world peace and security today. This is obvious to anyone who looks at the facts with a modicum of objectivity. The Iraq war has claimed hundreds of thousands, […]
Order Reigns on the Internet
Scarcely a day after the WikiLeaks disclosures of U.S. State Department cables the U.S. political establishment went ballistic. Some called for the assassination of WikiLeaks’ spokesperson, Julian Assange, whereas others wanted to amend the 1917 Espionage Act to target the website. Targeted “denial of service” attacks shut down the web site, and then the political […]
Israel’s War on Children of Jerusalem
Israeli police have been criticized over their treatment of hundreds of Palestinian children, some as young as seven, arrested and interrogated on suspicion of stone throwing in East Jerusalem. In the past year, criminal investigations have been opened against more than 1,200 Palestinian minors in Jerusalem on stone-throwing charges, according to police statistics gathered by […]
