A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognized as “Israelis,” a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may threaten the country’s self-declared status as a Jewish state. Israel refused to recognize an Israeli nationality at the country’s establishment in 1948, making an unusual distinction […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Iraq: Collateral Murder
5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time […]
Israeli Peace Plan
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | | Print
Greater Equity through Redistribution: What Can the Targeting of Subsidies Do in Iran?
The Fifth Five-Year Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1389-93, 2010-14), still under review by the parliament, has a clear goal for reducing inequality in five years — a Gini index of 0.35 for income. This is a substantial reduction from the high level of inequality that has plagued Iran in recent years. The […]
Lies, Damn Lies, and Forbes: What the Turkish President Didn’t Say about Iran
Author’s note: This is a response to Claudia Rosett’s “Turkey Tilts toward Iran,” published on 26 March 2010 by Forbes.com. Forbes columnist Claudia Rosett — who just so happens to be “a journalist-in-residence” with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative think tank — feigns her regret for having to report a “disturbing talk” […]
This Palestinian Life
“I don’t own a gun. I don’t own any weapons and I’m not prepared to own any. . . . My only weapon of defense is that I won’t leave this place.” — Abu Sagr, Al-Hadideya, Jordan Valley Trailer Philip Rizk is an Egyptian-German freelance journalist living in Cairo, Egypt, where he is currently completing […]
How Many Vets Have Been “Wounded” in Iraq and Afghanistan?
During the House debate over the Kucinich resolution calling for a timetable for military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rep. Bob Filner, chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, pointed out that hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have gone to the VA for service-related injuries. The video of Filner’s statement […]
Free Gaza Flotilla to Break the Blockade!
April 3, 2010 Istanbul, Turkey — Following months of preparation, a coalition bringing together a number of organizations and movements working to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza was announced yesterday in Istanbul. The coalition, composed of the Turkey-based IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) organization, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), the […]
Activist Leaders Targeted in East Jerusalem
Lia Tarachansky: Every Friday, for a year, protesters have been demonstrating in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. They are demanding the end of settler takeovers of Palestinian homes. In recent years, settlers won court cases that led to the evictions of Palestinian families from this neighborhood. Settlers see the land as theirs based […]
Turkey: Police Pepper-gas Tekel Workers
See, also, “Police Violence Marks Tekel Workers’ Protest in Turkey” (Hürriyet Daily News, 1 April 2010); “26 Mayıs’ta AKP’ye genel grevi gösterelim” (Sendika.org, 1 April 2010); “Planned Tekel Protest Barred by Police” (Today’s Zaman, 2 April 2010); “More Pepper Gas for Turkey’s Tekel Workers on Second day” (Hürriyet Daily News, 2 April 2010); Tolga Korkut, […]
The Afghanistan Paradox: Evaluating Prospects for a New Antiwar Movement
The antiwar movement is all but dead and buried. Turnout at the March 20th, 7th year anniversary of the Iraq invasion in Washington D.C. was pitiful, estimated at approximately ten thousand. To make matters worse, approval of the war in Afghanistan has not fallen, but slightly increased in the last few months as U.S. marines […]
The United States, Iran, and the Middle East’s New “Cold War”
The absence of US-Iranian rapprochement will perpetuate the new Middle Eastern Cold War, imposing costs on the United States, Iran and other regional and international players. However, in strategic terms, the heaviest costs of continued US-Iranian estrangement are likely to be borne by the United States. In particular, lack of productive relations with Tehran will […]
Israel: The Global Pacification Industry
Jeff Halper: We’re one of the leading — I would say, modestly — peace and human rights organizations in Israel. We started about thirteen years ago. I’ve been involved for forty years in the Israeli peace movement. During the Oslo peace process, during the 90s, the Israeli peace movement also, like other Israelis, invested […]
“We Must Take Public Criticism into Account. Criticism Is Good and Should Help the Process”
What is the characteristic of the Latin American Left today? 20 years ago, when the Berlin Wall fell, there was no revolution foreseeable on the horizon. However, it didn’t take long before a process began to emerge in Latin America with Hugo Chávez. We have gone on to form governments with anti-neoliberal programs, though […]
Estimating the Value of Iran’s Subsidies
Estimates of Iran’s subsidies vary widely. The figure that I see most often quoted is $100 billion per year, which is a huge sum considering the fact that Iran’s GDP is less than $400 billion. I have used a figure of $50 billion in a previous post, which maybe an underestimate. My back-of-the-envelope calculations below […]
Obama Nation
Lowkey (born Kareem Dennis, 23 May 1986) is a British musician, poet, playwright, and political activist of English and Iraqi descent. Check out Lowkey’s MySpace page: . For bookings, email . | | Print
Crisis Management in the Israeli-American Family
Michael Warschawski: Before speaking about the crisis, one has to understand the special relationship between the United States and Israel. Between these two states there is a strategic alliance, which is something extremely solid, very central to the US Middle East policy and very essential to Israel. This strategic alliance is not in crisis. In […]
Iran-US Standoff
“What is it that they have against Iran? If you look at it, it’s only that Iran is rising as a competitor of Israel. There is no other basis for this animosity.” — Aijaz Ahmad Aijaz Ahmad: The US is running out of all options. You mentioned this possible agreement. Iran has actually agreed […]
On the Greek Crisis
Jayati Ghosh: What’s happening to Greece is in an interesting way what many developing countries have gone through. It’s really an inability to have independent monetary and fiscal policies, combined with a fact that during the boom it was chosen as a favorite destination, which creates a situation where you then become uncompetitive. Suddenly […]
Neda Agha Soltan’s Fiancé Visits Israel and Meets Shimon Peres
Caspian Makan with Shimon Peres, 22 March 2010 Caspian Makan on Channel 2 Neda Agha Soltan’s fiancé Caspian Makan, who has been lionized in the West as an Iranian “dissident” on account of his claim that she was shot by basij, visited Israel as guest of Israel’s Channel 2. He was given a hero’s welcome, […]
