Geography Archives: Middle East

Un an après la dernière guerre au Liban, le parti Hezbollah reste un mystère.  Pour la première fois, son leader, Hassan Nasrallah, a accepté la présence de caméras occidentales au sein de l’organisation et répond, sous haute surveillance, aux questions les plus délicates.  En retraçant l’histoire de ce mouvement, ce documentaire exceptionnel donne les clés […]

  November 10, 2007 Late Friday afternoon, approximately 50 members of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance (OlyPMR) sat down near the main gate of the Port of Olympia in Washington State.  Two tractor trailers, one carrying two Stryker combat vehicles, another filled with military cargo, were blocked from exiting the port.  Police arrived on the scene […]

A new dimension of immense importance is being added to the contradictions of US policy in Iraq and the Middle East at large.  Turkey, a staunch US ally for over half a century and a NATO member, is threatening to militarily intervene in Northern Iraq, i.e. Iraqi Kurdistan.  A resolution was passed by the Turkish […]

  Cast of Characters Andy: 19, prisoner Shades: 30s, prisoner Place A dormitory in Rikers Island Correctional Facility, New York City Time An evening, early 1960s SETTING:  A bed stretches right from SC.  Other beds are dimly seen behind it.  The right wall has barred windows.  At the head of the bed, SR, is a […]

On October 9, the Oregon AFL-CIO passed a resolution opposing the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement and three other pending trade deals with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea.  A state federation condemning a free trade deal would normally be an unremarkable event, except for the remarkable absence in the Peru case of a typically heavy-weight free […]

Author’s Note:  The appearance of General Petraeus’s Counterinsurgency Field Manual, published recently for the US book trade by the University of Chicago Press, has created a stir because of charges of pilfered scholarship, damage to the reputation of UC, and the role of anthropologist Montgomery McFate in writing the book.  The mission of social science […]

Directed by KP Sasi and based on Kamaan Singh Dhami’s anti-war song “American War Paar Da! (Check Out the American War!),” the 4-minute music video is a satirical but severe indictment of America’s role in escalating world conflict.  Originally written following the post-9/11 bombing of Afghanistan by the USA, and developed to address the occupation […]

  Preamble Dear Friends, it is a great privilege to be with you again since 2002.  As you know, my address then has recently been in the news because on the basis of a distortion of what I said, President Dease of St Thomas University decided I shouldn’t visit his campus.  It is good that […]

Over the weekend of October 27-28th, 2007, 54 delegates from Palestinian community organizations across Canada participated in a two-day convention in Hamilton, entitled the Palestine National Voice Preparatory Conference.  The convention was the third in a series of preparatory meetings toward the founding of a national organization representing the Palestinian community in Canada.  Previous meetings […]

  International Campaign against Zionist and American Occupation Cairo International Conference and Liberation Forum, 27-30 March 2008 Declaration of Principles For National and Individual Liberation In Support of Resistance to the Zionist/American Project Against Zionism and Imperialism Against Despotism and Oppression Against Exploitation and Corruption The political forces, popular committees, civil society organizations, and independent […]

On one of those beautiful, fall Sunday mornings that can make you feel all is right with the world, filmmakers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors discussed their new documentary about Iraqis fighting the U.S. occupation, Meeting Resistance, 84 minutes of unflinching wallop destined to unhinge the way millions of Americans see their country’s role in […]

  Should the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between security and liberty in the “war on terror,” emulate Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated.  That people in U.S. custody could be held […]

Dans son chef-d’oeuvre Les Lettres persanes, publié en 1721, le grand philosophe français Charles-Louis de Montesquieu s’interroge sur les comportements surprenants des Français : lorsque Rica, son voyageur iranien arrivé à Paris, décide de s’habiller à la française, il constate avec étonnement que ses amis français ne le traitent plus avec l’admiration qu’ils lui portaient […]

When the Russian Revolution of October 1917 took place, it raised the hopes of the working class worldwide that a socialist state was possible.  The civil war that followed plus the intervention of foreign powers devastated the economy, necessitating a postponement in the transition to socialist relations of production.  The New Economic Policy was a […]

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, […]

La déclaration de Bernard Kouchner appelant à se préparer à la possibilité d’une guerre avec l’Iran est inquiétante.  Cette déclaration venant après le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy sur une alternative entre « la bombe iranienne ou le bombardement de l’Iran », simplifiant à l’outrance le problème du dossier nucléaire iranien, vise en réalité à préparer […]

Many Iranians, ranging from university presidents in Iran to immigrants here in the United States, feel insulted by the treatment president Ahmadinejad received in New York in September.  This is understandable, coming in the midst of a larger media campaign to demonize Iran, including the newspaper cartoon last month that depicted Iranians as cockroaches crawling […]

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Tehran, 16 October: A joint statement has been signed following today’s talks in Tehran between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad.  Here is its full text. On 16 October 2007, which corresponds to 24 Mehr 1386 in the Iranian calendar, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the head of […]

Le Parti communiste libanais participe à la résistance contre l’occupation israélienne, résistance politique, sociale, mais aussi armée, malgré le peu de moyens dont il dispose.  Nous avons passé une journée entière à Jamaliya, dans la vallée de la Bekaa, où 7 militants communistes sont tombés les armes à la main lors d’une opération israélienne en […]

Interview with IRNA Information Agency and Iranian State Television and Radio ABBAS ALI HADJI PARVANE: In the name of Allah!  Mr President, we are very grateful to you for finding the time to give us this interview in spite of your busy schedule and to answer our questions on Russia’s international position and bilateral relations […]