Geography Archives: Jordan

In a recent interview with the Qatari daily al-Raya, the Jordanian Marxist writer and activist Hisham Bustani analyses current issues: the situation in the Arab region; threats against Iran; the “Broader Middle East Initiative”; the U.S., Arab regimes, and Islamists; and prospects of the Arab liberation project.  This interview, conducted by the journalist As’ad al-Azzouni, […]

The Fairmont Conference In late September 1995, five hundred of the world’s economic and political leaders met in San Francisco’s prestigious Fairmont Hotel upon the invitation of an institution headed by Mikhail Gorbachev.  The conference was financed by some American super-rich, possibly in gratitude to Gorbachev’s “services rendered” in the ex-Soviet Union.  The task required […]

Two years after the devastation of New Orleans highlighted racism and inequality in the US, the disaster continues.  New Orleans’ health care and education systems are still in crisis.  Thousands of units of public housing sit empty.  Nearly half the city’s population remains displaced.  A report released this week by the Institute for Southern Studies […]

[O]ccupation proceeds from the same ideological infrastructure on which the 1948 ethnic cleansing was erected  [. . .] and in whose name there take place every day detentions and killings without trial.  The most murderous manifestation of this ideology is now in the Territories.  It should and must be stopped soonest.  For that, no expedient […]

  The post-911 immigration regime originates in 2003 when immigration control shifted from the Department of Justice to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  The Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished March 2003, and its functions were transferred into the newly created DHS, in a merger of some 180,000 employees from 22 different agencies.  […]

CHAIN OF DISASTERS & THE WEAKEST LINK The only thing that Bush’s “war on terror” has spread faster than disaster and misery has been opposition to its means and ends.  Six years into this self-righteously promoted crusade, Washington is more isolated internationally than ever.  Within the U.S., the Commander Guy’s approval rating has fallen below […]

Before we deal with the topic of the Iranian role in the Arab region, it is useful to recall the complexity of Iran and its different entanglements: For one, Iran is not a “Banana Republic,” and its regime is not a puppet or a client regime of Imperialism.  Iran has a regional project and works […]

Dr. Hisham Bustani is a writer and activist, based in Amman, a founding member of the Resistant Arab People’s Alliance and a member in its Coordination Committee.  He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Thought Forum in Jordan. INTRODUCTION: Hisham Bustani on the Turmoil in Gaza The Jordanian Marxist writer […]

EXCLUSIF LE FIGARO : Le premier ministre palestinien du Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, a reçu notre correspondant dans sa maison du camp de réfugiés de Chati, ciblée par des bombardements jeudi. Le Figaro : Certains accusent le Hamas d’avoir mené un coup d’État dans la bande de Gaza.  Que leur répondez-vous? Ismaïl Haniyeh : Je leur […]

“Avoir défini l’Etat d’Israël comme un Etat juif est la clef de sa perte.  Un Etat juif, c’est explosif, c’est de la dynamite.”  Ces propos sont ceux de l’ex-président de la Knesset de 1999 à 2003 et ex-président de l’agence juive, Avraham Burg. M. Burg n’a jamais mâché ses mots, mais, dans un entretien publié […]

(Because most conference participants face repressive conditions in their homelands, individual’s names are omitted from this report. — JR) Part OneA New Pole of Anti-Imperialist Leadership CAIRO, EGYPT — More than 1,500 activists from the Middle East and around the world met in Cairo, March 29-April 1, under the banner “Towards an International Alliance against […]

For the first time since its rise as a superpower the United States is facing a serious threat to its hegemony across the globe. In February this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a security conference in Munich that had 250 of the world’s top leaders and officials in attendance, including such luminaries as the […]

For those among us who hoped that 2007 would be a more orderly year in world politics, the current trends have been frustrating.  Over the past few weeks, the Bush administration has pursued the escalation of two major international crises. The first major crisis is taking place in Somalia, where the Ethiopian Army and its […]

THE ANTI-SURGE GETS ROLLING It’s not about Bush’s surge anymore.  It’s the Antiwar Surge that’s capturing the headlines and threatening to upset all the warmakers’ calculations. On January 27, “a raucous and colorful multitude” (Washington Post) brought their “Out Now!” message to the streets of Washington.  With participants ranging from active duty GIs to members […]

“Un esercito segreto contro di noi ma gli sciiti sapranno resistere” BAGDAD – Si sente braccato e si nasconde.  Non dorme mai più di una notte nello stesso letto.  Qualcuno dei suoi fedelissimi gli ha già voltato le spalle.  Ha perfino trasferito la famiglia in un luogo segreto.  Moqtada al Sadr sente che la fine […]

Do the last verbal exchanges between Saddam Hussein and anonymous men a few seconds before his execution prefigure a new conflagration of violence between Sunnis and Shi’is in Iraq?

Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers.  Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge.  We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]

  Annual Fundraising AppealFriends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers.  Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge.  We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]

Critical students of ethnically coded nationalism would agree: propagating the glory of “our” race or culture almost always entails the suppression of equal status for the race or culture that is represented as its other.  West Asia is no exception.  Iranian and Arab identity politics thwarted, perverted, and dismembered communitarian thinking for long periods in […]

  “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’  But . . . the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’” — Martin Luther King, Jr.1 “The truth […]