For colored boys I will crucify myself like Christ let my blood purify and sanctify these words create a doctrine and go knocking door to door letting the people know that messiahs are here that we are messengers even though we embody the word queer that we are a reminder of how colonization has […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Medvedev and Chávez Sign Agreement to Build First Nuclear Power Plant in Venezuela
After a high-level meeting of the Russian and Venezuelan delegations, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed this Friday a series of strategic agreements, including an agreement to build the first nuclear power plant in Venezuela. The agreement, which had been negotiated during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Caracas last April, […]
Brazil Should Lead on Access to Essential Medicines
By the greater use of compulsory licenses, Brazil could lower drug costs not only in Brazil, but in developing countries overall. At a time when the New York Times is reporting that “the global battle against AIDS is falling apart for lack of money,” it is absolutely essential that the price of lifesaving medicines in […]
Lebanon Welcomes Ahmadinejad
Mariam Saleh: Tens of thousands of cheering Lebanese welcomed President Ahmadinejad on Wednesday, throwing rose petals and sweets at his motorcade, at the start of an official visit that underscores the deep-seated relations with the Lebanese nation. The political leaders of Lebanon along with representatives from various factions were also there, to greet Ahmadinejad […]
Iran’s “Soft Power” Increasingly Checks U.S. Power
October 13, 2010 Twenty years ago, Harvard’s Joseph Nye famously coined the term “soft power” to describe what he saw as an increasingly important factor in international politics — the capacity of “getting others to want what you want,” which he contrasted with the ability to coerce others through the exercise of “hard” military and/or […]
Brazil’s Elections Will Matter for the Rest of the World
In Brazil, as in the United States, most people do not vote for a president on the basis of foreign policy issues. Yet sometimes the result matters for the rest of the world — as when President George W. Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 election, and subsequently started two destructive, costly, and […]
Iran-Cuba Ties
Nargess Moballeghi: Two revolutions in two parts of the world for two different reasons. . . . The Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrowing Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini overthrowing the Shah twenty years later. Though ideologically they couldn’t have been further apart, they have a […]
Israel: Liebermania in Action
This week Israel’s security forces practiced the putting down of mass demonstrations and protests among Israel’s Arab citizens and their imprisonment in a large detention camp to be established at Golani Junction in Galilee. The exercise was based on a scenario of the riots being provoked by implementation of Avigdor Lieberman’s plan for “an exchange […]
The Death Penalty, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the European Parliament
What does the USA have in common with China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea? You would hardly guess, but the European Parliament stated loud and all too clear on October 2nd: those are the countries which put lots of people to death. In a long, detailed resolution, approved almost unanimously by 574 members […]
The Greening of Hezbollah: Nasrallah Fights Climate Change
With a shovel in hand, Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared on television screens, planting and watering a small tree outside his home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. His message to the whole world was save the environment: go green.
Beijing’s Europe
The European tour of Wen Jiabao is taking place while the conflict between the US and China over the yuan/dollar exchange rate is getting worse. At the same time, a similar if less noisy clash exists between China and the Eurozone countries. Last but not least, tensions have also arisen in the Sino-Japanese relations following […]
The Palestine Question and the U.S. Public Sphere
The 2010 Edward Said Memorial Lecture, the Palestine Center, Washington, DC, 7 October 2010 Thank you all for coming today, and, to those of you who are watching, thank you for viewing this talk. Those of you who live in Washington, who are subjected to the American media, will probably be relieved to hear […]
Stuart Levey’s “Philosophy” of Iran Sanctions
On October 6, Charlie Rose broadcast an interview with Stuart Levey, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Financial and Terrorism Intelligence (can be viewed here: www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11231). Levey is widely considered the principal architect of U.S. sanctions policy, particularly with respect to Iran, under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. It is worth recalling […]
Historical Materialism Middle East Special Issue
Historical Materialism has extended the deadline for proposal submissions to its special issue on the Middle East, conceived broadly to include: the Arab world from the Atlantic to the Gulf, Israel/Palestine, Iran and Turkey. The new deadline for abstracts is the 10th of November 2010. HM is a Marxist journal, appearing four times a […]
A Note on the Current Political Situation: Some Issues and a Conclusion
The opening section of this note dealing with the most important issue in the current political situation—’the Maoist’ or the Naxal issue—sets the context for the argument that follows, which deals with issues involved in understanding and acting in this situation. I reproduce some key passages, marginally modified and compressed in one case, from my […]
The Sound of Science
“With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel.” Hello, Darwin, my old friend, I’ve come to read from you again You comfort me when I grow weary Of people saying “it’s just a theory” . . . Video by benjjuk. Cf. Gerald Weissmann, “Teach Evolution, Learn Science: We’re Ahead of Turkey, But behind Iran” (The FASEB Journal […]
Iran and Honduras in the Propaganda System: Part 1, Neda Agha-Soltan versus Isis Obed Murillo
It would be hard to find a better test of the integrity of the establishment U.S. media than in their comparative treatment of Iran and Honduras over the past couple of years (2009-2010). Iran has been on the United States’ regime-change hit list for many years. Since the first-half of 2003 (and overlapping its soon-to-be-discredited […]
The Global Water Crisis Should Be a Top Priority Issue
In recent years, climate change seems to have elbowed out other environmental issues to become the No. 1 global problem. But the alarming problems of water — increasing scarcity, lack of access to drinking water and sanitation, pollution, flooding — are equally important and an even more immediate threat. On 28 July, the UN General […]
Somalia Aid
Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 2 October 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. See, also, Merle David Kellerhals, Jr., “United States to Strengthen Engagement with Puntland, Somaliland” (America.gov, 27 September 2010); Sophia Tesfamariam, “Ethiopia: It Is in the Minority Regime’s Interest to Perpetuate […]
Interview with Hooman Majd: US-Iran Relations in the Age of the Ayatollah
Equally at home in Tehran or New York, Hooman Majd benefits from a background as intricately woven as any Persian carpet. The son of a diplomat under the shah of Iran, Majd attended schools in California, India, Iran, North Africa, and England. After the tumultuous 1979 Islamic Revolution, return to Iran for Majd and others […]
