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AIPAC: We’ll Take Over the UC Berkeley Student Government
Why bother with moral persuasion when you can just threaten to take over government . . . everywhere? On March 18, UC Berkeley’s student senate voted 16 to 4 in favor of divesting from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. A week later, in a move oddly predicted by AIPAC’s Jonathan Kessler at AIPAC’s […]
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Kyrgyzstan: End of the “Tulip Revolution”
The “Cedar Revolution” of Lebanon and the “Orange Revolution” of Ukraine were democratically brought to an end. A “Green Revolution” in Iran that Washington hoped for has turned out to be just a figment of its geopolitical fantasy. And now there goes another color revolution. It is clear that the political revolution in Kyrgyzstan caught […]
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Getting the Iran-Palestine Connection Wrong
In his column, the Washington Post‘s David Ignatius presents an important piece of reporting about the Obama Administration’s approach to Iran and the Palestinian issue. David opens his column by citing “two top administration officials” as telling him that President Obama is seriously considering putting forward an American plan for a two-state solution to the […]
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Our Summer in Tehran
(Phone Message) “Hey, Justine, I just wanted to say, ‘Come back safely.’” May 16, 2007. Tomorrow morning, my son and I leave for Iran. (Phone Message) “Hi, Justine, I want you to be careful and maybe not mention to people that you’re Jewish.” (In-flight Announcement) “. . . We do ask you to respect […]
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On Nuclear Weapons: A Feminist Perspective
EXCERPT: Introduction This document was created by the community of Isha L’Isha—Haifa Feminist Center. It began as a process of examination and re-conceptualization of the term “security” as we, feminist women in Israel, experience it. Over the past five years, Isha L’Isha has been discussing and dealing with issues related to women, peace and […]
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Is Iran Now a Nuclear Target for the United States?
Today — Tuesday, April 6, 2010 — the Obama Administration will proclaim, as a matter of declaratory policy, that the United States claims the prerogative to use nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic of Iran, even as Iran remains a non-nuclear-weapons state. The Administration will make this declaration as part of its much anticipated Nuclear […]
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Iraq: Collateral Murder
5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time […]
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“Israeli Nation” vs. “Jewish State”
A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognized as “Israelis,” a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may threaten the country’s self-declared status as a Jewish state. Israel refused to recognize an Israeli nationality at the country’s establishment in 1948, making an unusual distinction […]
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Greater Equity through Redistribution: What Can the Targeting of Subsidies Do in Iran?
The Fifth Five-Year Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1389-93, 2010-14), still under review by the parliament, has a clear goal for reducing inequality in five years — a Gini index of 0.35 for income. This is a substantial reduction from the high level of inequality that has plagued Iran in recent years. The […]
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Forbes: What the Turkish President Didn’t Say about Iran
Author’s note: This is a response to Claudia Rosett’s “Turkey Tilts toward Iran,” published on 26 March 2010 by Forbes.com. Forbes columnist Claudia Rosett — who just so happens to be “a journalist-in-residence” with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative think tank — feigns her regret for having to report a “disturbing talk” […]
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Israeli Peace Plan
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | | Print
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How Many Vets Have Been “Wounded” in Iraq and Afghanistan?
During the House debate over the Kucinich resolution calling for a timetable for military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rep. Bob Filner, chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, pointed out that hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have gone to the VA for service-related injuries. The video of Filner’s statement […]
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This Palestinian Life
“I don’t own a gun. I don’t own any weapons and I’m not prepared to own any. . . . My only weapon of defense is that I won’t leave this place.” — Abu Sagr, Al-Hadideya, Jordan Valley Trailer Philip Rizk is an Egyptian-German freelance journalist living in Cairo, Egypt, where he is currently completing […]
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Free Gaza Flotilla to Break the Blockade!
April 3, 2010 Istanbul, Turkey — Following months of preparation, a coalition bringing together a number of organizations and movements working to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza was announced yesterday in Istanbul. The coalition, composed of the Turkey-based IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) organization, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), the […]
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Turkey: Police Pepper-gas Tekel Workers
See, also, “Police Violence Marks Tekel Workers’ Protest in Turkey” (Hürriyet Daily News, 1 April 2010); “26 Mayıs’ta AKP’ye genel grevi gösterelim” (Sendika.org, 1 April 2010); “Planned Tekel Protest Barred by Police” (Today’s Zaman, 2 April 2010); “More Pepper Gas for Turkey’s Tekel Workers on Second day” (Hürriyet Daily News, 2 April 2010); Tolga Korkut, […]
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Activist Leaders Targeted in East Jerusalem
Lia Tarachansky: Every Friday, for a year, protesters have been demonstrating in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. They are demanding the end of settler takeovers of Palestinian homes. In recent years, settlers won court cases that led to the evictions of Palestinian families from this neighborhood. Settlers see the land as theirs based […]
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The Afghanistan Paradox: Evaluating Prospects for a New Antiwar Movement
The antiwar movement is all but dead and buried. Turnout at the March 20th, 7th year anniversary of the Iraq invasion in Washington D.C. was pitiful, estimated at approximately ten thousand. To make matters worse, approval of the war in Afghanistan has not fallen, but slightly increased in the last few months as U.S. marines […]
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The United States, Iran, and the Middle East’s New “Cold War”
The absence of US-Iranian rapprochement will perpetuate the new Middle Eastern Cold War, imposing costs on the United States, Iran and other regional and international players. However, in strategic terms, the heaviest costs of continued US-Iranian estrangement are likely to be borne by the United States. In particular, lack of productive relations with Tehran will […]
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“We Must Take Public Criticism into Account. Criticism Is Good and Should Help the Process”
What is the characteristic of the Latin American Left today? 20 years ago, when the Berlin Wall fell, there was no revolution foreseeable on the horizon. However, it didn’t take long before a process began to emerge in Latin America with Hugo Chávez. We have gone on to form governments with anti-neoliberal programs, though […]
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Israel: The Global Pacification Industry
Jeff Halper: We’re one of the leading — I would say, modestly — peace and human rights organizations in Israel. We started about thirteen years ago. I’ve been involved for forty years in the Israeli peace movement. During the Oslo peace process, during the 90s, the Israeli peace movement also, like other Israelis, invested […]