Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said earlier this week that the Islamic Republic is prepared to stop enriching uranium to the nearly-20 percent level required to fabricate fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), if others agree to provide new, finished fuel for the TRR, in line with the Joint Declaration that Iran negotiated with […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Afghanistan
Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist based in Spain. This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 30 July 2010. | Print
Dead Man Walking
Amir Sulaiman is a poet based in Rochester, New York. This poem was performed at the University of London during the Dangerous Ideas Tour (2008). For more information about Sulaiman, visit . See, also, Jordan Flaherty, “Manifest Liberation” (Al-Awda Newspaper, August/September 2005). | Print
Egypt: Growing Protests over Water Shortages
Tens of thousands of people in Egypt — Africa’s second most populous country — have taken to the streets in recent months to protest against water shortages, a fact which goes some way to explaining the government’s reluctance to relinquish its current share of River Nile water. On 26 July, 600 people from the southern […]
When the Wrong Politics Is in Command . . .
Politics, a blind piper, is followed by Economy, followed by the Media, followed by those who follow the Media. . . . Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 13 July 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. The text above is an interpretation of the […]
Sending a Message, Setting a Precedent: Nuclear Powers vs. Iran, Brazil, Turkey, and Other Emerging Powers
In international politics, if an action seems reckless or callous and the ones taking it are not certified loonies, usually it’s because it was made to look that way, on purpose. To send a message. Take Israel’s attack in international waters on a civilian flotilla that resulted in the death of nine Turkish passengers. […]
Egypt the Protected
Group photo of all the people of Misr El Mahrousa, Egypt the Protected Abdallah Ahmed is an artist based in Cairo, Egypt. He blogs at . This cartoon was published in his blog on 24 January 2009 under a Creative Commons license. The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi. | […]
House Republicans Introduce Resolution Supporting Israel’s Use of Military Force against Iran
FYI, on 22 July 2010, the worst lunatics in the mad House introduced H.RES. 1553: Expressing support for the State of Israel’s right to defend Israeli sovereignty, to protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, and to use all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic of […]
The Myth of Conflict-Free Diamonds
The issue of “blood diamonds” has once again made the news: Farai Maguwu, Director of Zimbabwe’s Mutare-based Centre for Research and Development (CRD), languishes under the long arm of Zimbabwe’s laws on alleged charges related to his research on Zimbabwe’s Marange mines. According to a confidential 44-page report produced by investigators mandated by the Kimberley […]
‘God Helps Those Who Help Themselves’: Interview with Norman G. Finkelstein, Part 2
What is the British government’s role in the conflict? It is officially committed to the international consensus two-state settlement, but what has our record been in practice? It’s been awful. Britain doesn’t have an independent role — it just does what the US tells it to do. On the other hand, the struggle is easier […]
Between Iran and Turkey
The decrepit Arab establishment gets jealous as Iran and Turkey woo the Arab people. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 23 July 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi. | Print
Co-opting the Anti-Nuclear Movement
No medium of propaganda is as powerful and effective as film. Think of the classics, the most notorious efforts to sway the public with the electrifying and collective passion of cinema: racial apartheid was justified in the US with Birth of a Nation. The Soviets glorified their revolution with The Battleship Potemkin. Then there was […]
Iranian Sociology and Its Discontents
I recently returned from the quadrennial International Sociology Association’s World Congress held in Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s kind of like the World Cup of sociology. There I sat in on a session organized by the Iranian Sociology Association, where a few presenters, including its president Hossein Serajzadeh, discussed the state of social science in Iran. I […]
The Sentencing of Lynne Stewart
“At all times throughout history the ideology of the ruling class is the ruling ideology.” — Karl Marx Lynne Stewart is a friend. She used to practice law in New York City. I still do. I was in the courtroom with my wife Debby the afternoon of July 19th for her re-sentencing. Judge John […]
Rebuilding a Demolished Palestinian Home
Day One of the ICAHD Work Camp, July 19, 2010 Rubble covers the tile floor at the site of the demolished home we are beginning to rebuild in the East Jerusalem section of Anata, a Palestinian town divided between occupied “East” Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Activists from the United States, Britain, Germany, […]
Military Action against Iran: Impact and Effects
Executive Summary: This report concludes that military action against Iran should be ruled out as a means of responding to its possible nuclear weapons ambitions. The consequences of such an attack would lead to a sustained conflict and regional instability that would be unlikely to prevent the eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran […]
Srebrenica 15 Years After: The Politicization of “Genocide”
It has become an annual ritual each July to commemorate the “Srebrenica massacre,” which dates back to July 11-16, 1995. The now institutionalized characterization is that “8,000 [Bosnian Muslim] men and boys” were executed by the Serbs at that time, in “the worst mass killing in Europe since the Second World War.” This memorial is […]
Netanyahu: America Won’t Get in Our Way
There is one video Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, must be praying never gets posted on YouTube with English subtitles. To date, the 10-minute segment has been broadcast only in Hebrew on Israel’s Channel 10. Its contents, however, threaten to gravely embarrass not only Mr. Netanyahu but also the US administration of Barack Obama. […]
A Defining Moment of the 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon
Paul Jay: One of the moments of the war that we hear, as we’ve been in Beirut, people talking about is one point during the war where Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, is making a speech and tells people to look out to the sea. Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General, Hezbollah: Now . . . […]
Iraq: Allawi or Maliki?
Iraq turns to Paul the Octopus of the 2010 World Cup fame: “Just pick the prime minister, form a government, and save us.” Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 16 July 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. The text above is an interpretation of […]
