Geography Archives: Middle East

Today’s two most conspicuous global flashpoints — the Middle East and Latin America — have widely exposed the fact of US imperialism and highlighted some of its limitations.  Adding the apparent cracks in US economic hegemony seems to indicate an empire in decline.  Yet a more cautious assessment would recall that the earlier defeat in […]

12th September 2007 CALL FOR SOLIDARITY Dear sisters, You may have heard about the strike in Novamed in Turkey/Antalya.  Novamed is one of the factories of Fresenius Medical Care located in Germany.  All the workers who have gone on strike are female workers.  Their working conditions are very bad and male-dominated (patriarchal).  For example: female […]

Congratulations, peace-lover!  You have just purchased your first three-inch-high Top U.S. Military Commander! These little Commanders make delightful pets — provided they are no more than three inches tall.  Otherwise, these unruly pests can attack sovereign countries, overrun entire populations, and get hold of fissionable material, possibly blowing up the world. We don’t think it’s […]

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) deplores the unanimous decision by the Israeli cabinet to impose sanctions on supplies of electricity, fuel, and other basic goods and services to the civilian population of Gaza and calls upon the international community to prevent this crime against humanity from being carried out.  Indeed, the very legal […]

Legitimacy is a central yet understudied concept in world politics.  Let me give you an example of how it works in our everyday lives.  If I were to wield a stick menacingly and run around the SOAS campus in London proclaiming that I am an academic, very few people would be persuaded.  What I need […]

  “The unanimity of the sanctimonious, reality-concealing rhetoric spouted by American officials and media commentators in recent days seems, well, unworthy of a mature democracy. . . .  Politics, the politics of a democracy which entails disagreement, which promotes candor — has been replaced by psychotherapy. . . .” — Susan Sontag, 9/24/01 Another anniversary […]

In recent days, the US public has been satiated with a variety of press reports about numerous “new” plans aimed at addressing the US occupation and war in Iraq.  Some of these plans are rumored to include recommendations for an eventual withdrawal of all US forces from that country while some urge the Pentagon and […]

When George Bush began trying to justify the occupation of Iraq by invoking the “lessons” of Vietnam, I had the urge to send him a copy of the new documentary War Made Easy featuring Norman Solomon.  That’s hardly surprising — no doubt we’ve all had the occasional desire to try to educate our president. Then […]

Foreign countries are awash in dollars because they sell so much more to the US than they buy.  Increasingly, their governments use some of those dollars to establish and operate investment funds.  The funds buy shares in companies around the world.  Sometimes they buy companies directly.  Called “sovereign investment funds,” the IMF estimates that they […]

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 […]

In a recent assessment, Stephen Zunes affirms the misconceptions of a segment of the progressive community about Iran’s internal politics, the range of U.S. options in that country, and the frequency with which Western powers invent and/or corrupt civil society movements.  After a review of past American interference, he enumerates and rejects Washington’s hostile choices […]

Sept. 5, 2007.  Hundreds of Professor Norman Finkelstein‘s supporters try to escort the fired teacher onto campus of DePaul University in Chicago.  Finkelstein, denied tenure by pro-Zionist administration because of his questioning of Israeli foreign policy, gives a statement (excerpts) after his final meeting with University officials.   Produced by Labor Beat.  Labor Beat is […]

St. Louis — His government broke his heart but it could not break Air Force veteran Charles Powell’s spirit.  Fighting back tears, the 64 year-old vet stood tall and resolute in front of 400 of his comrades, describing in verse the final steps of a painful disillusionment. Each summer during the national convention of Veterans […]

Following a large demonstration in support of academic freedom this morning, Professor Norman G. Finkelstein met with DePaul University officials and reached a settlement in his tenure dispute. Professor Finkelstein agreed to resign, effective immediately.  He reminded the assembled supporters that the denial of tenure to Professor Mehrene Larudee remains “an open wound” at DePaul. […]

Iran and the US both deploy sanctions against each other’s citizens; Iran is criticized but the US seems to get away with it. On a sunny day in Washington, DC, my imaginary American scholar, Hannah Esfandiari, was sitting in her Kalorama-located house, opening a letter she had just received from Tehran, Iran. It was a […]

Since the 1990s, the U.S. government made overtures to the Indian Government for a military alliance.  When the Bush administration came to power it wanted India to be a part of its missile defence shield.  Since 9/11, the Indian and U.S. navies and Special Forces have conducted a number of joint exercises in the Indian […]

A Ramallah l’enfant éventré par une bombe à fragmentation me regarde les yeux mi-clos comme pour me dire « Pourquoi ? » In Ramallah the child blown apart by a fragmentation bomb looks at me with his half-closed eyes as if to say “Why?” This poem was posted to assawra by Djamal Benmerad, an Algerian […]

An argument at a summer fair in the small town of Muegeln, between Leipzig and Dresden, ended with a mob of fifty drunken young men wielding knives and other weapons and shouting “Foreigners Get Out!” chasing eight men from India — longtime residents in Muegeln — across the town square.  The Indians, some badly wounded, […]

27 August 2007 In July 2007, a group of labour leaders from the U.S. issued a statement opposing the growing international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The statement was signed by a number of presidents from unions including the American Federation of Teachers, the American Postal Workers Union, the Communication Workers […]

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 […]