In Oakland, California, an Israeli ship was blocked by protesters for the first time in history. 700-1,000 protesters blocked three different gates at 5:30 A.M. keeping dockworkers from unloading the Israeli cargo. ILWU members refused to cross picketline — citing “health & safety” provisions of their contract. Management demanded “instant arbitration.” The arbitrator took […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
New U.N. Sanctions on Iran: Who’s Isolated Now?
Despite a display of global arm-twisting, the Obama administration has fallen short in its latest effort to isolate Iran. It’s true the U.S. was able on June 8 to round up 12 of 15 votes in the United Nations Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Only Brazil and […]
Brazil’s Presidential Election: Opposition Tries “Republican Strategy” on Foreign Policy
Four years ago, when the government of Evo Morales re-nationalized its hydrocarbon industry, the Brazilian media was spoiling for a fight. After all, Petrobras, the Brazilian oil and gas company, had major interests there. But President Lula Da Silva was calm. “I haven’t had a fight with George W. Bush,” he told the press. “Why […]
Dr. Gates on Russia’s “Schizophrenic” Iran Policy
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on June 17 about what he described as Russia’s “schizophrenic” Iran policy. According to Gates — who started his career in government service during the 1960s as a Soviet analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency — then-Russian President (now Prime Minister) […]
How Uncle Sam Milks the Gulf States
Scare the Gulf States into giving up their moola by manufacturing a specter of Iran under atomic mollas. Positive growth outlook. Risk-free investment. Guaranteed returns. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was first published in Maktoob on 10 June 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. The text above is an […]
Interview with Giovanni Arrighi (Berlin, 2005)
The interview with Giovanni Arrighi below was conducted on 12 November 2005, at the “Kapitalismus Reloaded” international conference held in Berlin. It is published in English here today to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Arrighi’s death. A. Fathollah-Nejad (AFN): Does the West have to fear China? G. Arrighi (GA): I don’t think so. I mean […]
Peter Erlinder Jailed by One of the Major Genocidaires of Our Era — Update1
The May 28 arrest of U.S. attorney and Chicago native Peter Erlinder by the Paul Kagame dictatorship in Rwanda reveals much about this regime that is routinely sanitized in establishment U.S. and Western media coverage and intellectual life. But if we use Erlinder’s arrest to call attention to some less-well-known facts, a much grimmer […]
The 4th UN Sanction Resolution against Iran: The End of “Tough Diplomacy”
Prior to the 2008 US presidential election, in an essay entitled “What the Future Has in Store for Iran,” I predicted that regardless of who is elected president, the US foreign policy toward Iran will be determined largely by Israel and its various lobby groups in the US, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee […]
Arab Queers Say NO to Pinkwashing at the USSF
We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US Social Forum’s decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as a platform to pinkwash Israel’s crimes in the region. Stand with Us is cynically manipulating the struggle of queer people in the Middle East through its workshop entitled “LGBTQI Liberation in […]
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship! All Out to the House of the Lord Church, 415 Atlantic Ave. Thursday June 17, 7 pm MAVI MARMARA SURVIVORS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD! Two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian […]
Regarding the Investigation Commission of Israeli Raid against the Freedom Flotilla
Israel’s declaration that it will establish a commission, composed of Israeli citizens and two foreign observers, in order to investigate the Israeli raid against the Freedom Flotilla does not in any way meet Turkey’s clear demand or international community’s expectations, which were expressed in the Presidential Statement of the United Nations Security Council. Israel does […]
The Other Fateful Triangle: Israel, Iran, and Turkey
The thunderous events set in motion by Israel’s storming of the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the peace flotilla challenging the blockade of Gaza, have thrown important light on the overall situation in the Middle East. Turkey has emerged as the major protagonist among the forces that support the Palestinian cause. This is extremely […]
Is Inflation Anti-Poor in Iran?
Iran’s Central Bank announced that the annual inflation rate has dropped below 10%, so it may seem like an odd time to talk about how rising inflation might affect Iran’s poor. But if the government implements the subsidy reform law, as it has promised to do in the second half of this year (Iranian year […]
Erdoğan, Cut the Ties with Israel NOW!
Erdoğan! İsrail’le ilişkileri kesin HEMEN! Erdoğan! Cut the Ties with Israel NOW! Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print
Iran: Good Old Times for Israeli Bombers in Clear Saudi Skies?
Ah, these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Fish are jumping (except if they happen to be in the Gulf of Mexico) and the cotton is high. And Israel prepares to bomb-bomb-bomb Iran, under clear and sunny Saudi skies — at least according to the London Times. Hugh Tomlinson’s June 12 piece in the […]
Iran’s Authorities Say Greens Feared Low Turnout and Cancelled Demonstrations
. . . Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, de facto leaders of the Green Movement, had issued a statement on June 10 asking their supporters to stay home. According to Fars, a semi-official news agency with intimate ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Moussavi and Karroubi were afraid of low turnouts and […]
A Threatened Blow
On Tuesday, June 8, I wrote the Reflection “On the Threshold of Tragedy” around midday; later I watched Randy Alonso’s “Roundtable” television program, broadcast at 6:30 p.m. as usual. That day, the eminent and distinguished Cuban intellectuals taking part in the Roundtable replied to the program director’s acute questions with eloquent words which greatly respected […]
Turkey: Media’s Latest Target for Terrorist-Baiting
The Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla that resulted in the deaths of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American has led Israel and its supporters to argue (see The Weekly Standard, 5/31/10) that the Turkish government and a prominent Turkish humanitarian organization are “terrorist” sympathizers with ill intentions toward Israel and the United States. […]
Persistent (and Game-Changing) Myths: Iran’s 2009 Presidential Elections, One Year Later
Since manufactured claims about Iraqi WMD led the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, no analytic line about developments in the Middle East has had a bigger impact on American foreign policy than the assertion that the outcome of Iran’s June 12, 2009 presidential election — held one year ago tomorrow — was a […]
Obama’s Charade on Iran Sanctions
Today, the United Nations Security Council will adopt a new resolution imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear activities. Predictably, the Obama Administration is working to spin its “victory” in New York as both a great diplomatic achievement and a serious intensification of international pressure on Iran over the nuclear issue. […]
