Geography Archives: Middle East

  Whether in the media or in U.S. policy circles, the words “Middle East” and “South America” are rarely mentioned together in a positive light.  Reports of Middle Eastern terrorist cells allegedly operating in South America’s Tri-Border region or on Venezuela’s Margarita Island have appeared intermittently in the U.S. press since at least 2003.  These […]

  The Israeli Knesset’s House Committee met Monday (7 June) to recommend revoking the privileges of MK Hanin Zoabi.  The revocation would serve as punishment for Zoabi’s participation in last week’s Freedom Flotilla aid mission to Gaza, an act some in the Knesset are calling treason. Zoabi made history in February 2009, becoming the first […]

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print

Ali Khamenei, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution: The Zionists made a miscalculation.  They made a mistake.  They made a big mistake.  This mistake has been repeated in recent years, again and again.  They made a mistake of attacking Lebanon.  They made a mistake of attacking Gaza.  And they made a mistake of attacking the aid […]

Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis took to the main streets of Tel Aviv to repudiate the military aggression against the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza.  “Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies” was the main theme of the demonstration.  Signs and placards demonstrated the solidarity of the Israeli people with the Palestinian community. This video was released […]

  Tens of thousands again come together to protest.  The captured and the dead (from the recent raid by Israeli commandos on an aid flotilla) have been returned (to Turkey), but the Turkish people are intent on continuing to make their voices heard.  And fuelling the fury is the news of the preliminary autopsy reports, […]

  Anita McNaught: The last passengers from the Mavi Marmara arrive at a hospital in Turkey — two men, up to now too badly injured to fly out of Israel, their lives still hanging in the balance. . . .  Of the 24 injured brought to Ankara’s Ataturk Hospital, five remain in a critical condition. […]

  “Israel does not need enemies: it has itself.  Or more precisely: it has its government,” writes The New Republic‘s Leon Wieseltier in a bitingly titled column, “Operation Make the World Hate Us: The Assault on the ‘Mavi Marmara’ Was Wrong, and a Gift to Israel’s Enemies.” It’s not just an Israeli government initiative.  Operation […]

Designed by Ciudad Futura, inspired by Antonio Pérez, “Piratas sionistas contra pistolas de pintura” (Rebelión, 1 June 2010) and Robert Booth, Kate Connolly, Tom Philips, and Helena Smith, “Gaza Flotilla Raid: ‘We Heard Gunfire — Then Our Ship Turned into Lake of Blood’” (Guardian, 2 June 2010). | Print

An act of piracy, war crime, blatant violation of international law, murder of unarmed civilians — each and every definition used by the international media is true, and altogether beside the point.  The murderous Israeli operation is, in fact, the expression of the new Israeli modus operandi.  And as such it is frightening. All over […]

As the interlinked dramas of Israel’s attack on Turkish civilian ships on the high seas and the Obama Administration’s push for a new Iran sanctions resolution in the Security Council play out, some in the American foreign policy establishment are beginning to realize that the Middle East — and America’s place in it — are […]

Terry Eagleton.  Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.  pp. xii, 185.  $25.00. Terry Eagleton in the 1970s stood at the cutting edge of Marxist literary criticism, but his recent book, Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate — an expansion of his 2008 Yale […]

In the wake of Israel’s raid three days ago on a civilian vessel attempting to deliver material goods to the residents of Gaza, Egypt announced on Tuesday the temporary opening of its border with Rafah to allow humanitarian and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, with restrictions on what kinds of supplies can enter.  On […]

“We don’t have anything to be ashamed of.  We are the majority and it doesn’t matter what lies they say about us.” — At a rally defending the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla, Ben-Gurion University, 1 June 2010 Turkish Embassy, Tel Aviv, 3 June 2010 Tel Aviv University, 2 June 2010 Ben-Gurion University, 1 […]

Ian Lee: Demonstrators demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt. Today’s protest also landed on the same day as the Shoura Council election. Protesters and the political opposition were eager to tie the two events together.

Former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday said it was imperative that the Obama administration supported Ireland’s call on the Israeli authorities to ensure safe passage for the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Irish Times reports.  Speaking by satellite phone from on board the Rachel Corrie, Halliday called on Irish-Americans […]

  I am grateful to MRZine for inviting me to comment on “Israel in the current conjuncture, in the wake of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla and international reaction to it”.  But in truth I have very little to add to the excellent comments and analyses that have been presented in various left-wing publications, […]

The videos below show images of the passengers on the Turkish Gaza aid ship Mavi Marmara immediately after the Israeli attack, published for the first time by TV Net today. The scenes on the Mavi Marmara were shot by Adem Özköse. | Print

Two days ago, I briefly commented that imperialism was unable to resolve the extremely serious problem of drug abuse, which is assaulting the world’s population.  Today, I would like to tackle another subject that, in my opinion, is of great significance. The current danger of North Korea being attacked by the United States, following the […]

  “It is probably impossible today for anyone to make an even halfway commercial movie that shouts, in some positive sense, ‘Revolution!’ as loudly as its lungs can bear, so one must celebrate the films that seem (whether deliberately or not) to imply its necessity.” — Robin Wood1 At a time when comedy shows tell […]