Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
By James M. Dorsey The rise of Islamic State (IS) beyond the borders of Syria and Iraq over the past one year has drawn comparison with the spread of communism more than a century ago. It has also pitted proponents of kinetic realpolitik seeking military defeat of the extremist against supporters of the notion that…
Read More “Fighting Islamic State: Getting Down To Root Causes” »
On Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu TWEETED, On my way to #UNGA I have the great privilege and responsibility to tell the truth to the world for Israel’s sake. On Monday Trevor Noah kicked off his stint as Jon Stewart’s chosen one by vowing “the war on Bullsh*t will continue at The Daily Show….
By James M. Dorsey Palestine is a headache Saudi King Salman doesn’t need as he confronts rare demands from members of his ruling family that he and his son be removed from power, growing unease about a seven-month old devastating military campaign in Yemen that has caused devastation and mounting civilian casualties, widespread criticism of…
“The Secret”: An Improbable Friendship: The Remarkable Lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and Their 40-Year Peace Mission By Anthony David When Ruth Dayan phoned me up and promised to share a secret with me, I was teaching at Al Quds University in the occupied West Bank. Why would the wife of Moshe Dayan, the…
Israeli Forces continue to target Palestinian youth in the occupied West Bank. This week, three young martyrs joined the thousands of others whose deaths tell the story of Palestinian resistance to the occupation and theft of Palestine. By Dezeray Lyn Hebron, Occupied Palestine — There are bullet holes in the metal doors siding the exit-passage of checkpoint 56 in the…
Read More “Suffer the Children: Israel’s Ripping at the Roots of Palestine” »
On Friday Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower Mordechai Vanunu wrote at Facebook Sep. 10- Nine police men come to my home with a search warrant and arrest warrant, they took all my digitale stuff, computers, iPhone, memory stick, hard drive, camera, CDs, every thing, with all the passwords to all my internet activity. They are still…
Read More “Mordechai Vanunu Reports and the Thomas Merton Connection” »
Jordan nominates “Theeb” for 88th Academy Awards Award–winning Jordanian feature narrative “Theeb”, by director Naji Abu Nowar, is Jordan’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 88th Academy Awards, the Royal Film Commission (RFC) announced recently. The selection was made by a committee of Jordanian artists and craftspeople involved in the…
Read More “Jordan nominates “Theeb” for 88th Academy Awards” »
Inevitably, the mass exodus of refugees from conflict areas was going to provoke the spilling into Europe of multiple disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Spanish soccer is the first to feel the weight of the baggage that has turned vast numbers into destitute refugees. By James M. Dorsey Inevitably, the mass exodus…
Read More “Middle Eastern conflicts spill onto Spanish soccer pitch” »
On Thursday Mordechai Vanunu’s house arrest in virtual solitary was lifted after 7 days without Internet or phone. Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme will “continue to monitor his situation.” By Eileen Fleming On Thursday The International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference voted down a resolution proposed by the Arab nations, which called…
Read More “Mordechai Vanunu House Arrest Ends and Israel Wins at UN” »
Israel has recruited its soldiers, armed settlers and biased news media to defend its oppression of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. The Israelis enter areas, take lands and resources like water wells and destroy Palestinian buildings, and give the assets to the armed settler fanatics. And they wonder why Palestinians throw stones…
Read More “The violence by Israel’s soldiers and settler terrorists” »
By James M. Dorsey The war by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies against Houthi rebels in Yemen has become a debilitating sectarian conflict that has reduced large parts of the impoverished country to rubble and potentially destabilising the region. The kingdom has framed its approach in stark sectarian terms that has sparked intolerance towards…
Read More “Saudi Arabia’s Reach in Yemen: Fighting for Regional Dominance” »
By James M. Dorsey A panel in Doha of religious scholars, officials of Qatar’s government-sponsored human rights committee, and international labour activists has called on Qatar to radically alter its controversial labour policies. The call serves to support Qatari government promises of labour reform in response to World Cup-related international criticism and increases moral pressures…
Read More “Religious support for Qatari labour reforms puts Gulf states on the spot” »
By Abdennour Toumi Paris, France — As the social season in Algeria heats up, so does the political one. However, President Bouteflika is intelligently focussing on a strategy to move his pawns into his rivals’ zone, in this case the Generals in Ali Khodja Castle He has been using tactics to overcome Algeria’s political turmoil of the 90’s…
By James M. Dorsey Militant soccer fans are on a roll in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Fans in Turkey and Egypt have defeated legal efforts to criminalize them as terrorists while Malaysian ultras are tackling corruption in and mismanagement of their country’s soccer association. In Germany, the pitch anticipated the government’s shift…
Read More “Militant soccer fans are on a roll across Eurasia” »
International Solidarity Movement human rights monitors spend the afternoon at the Women in Hebron Embroidery Cooperative where Palestinian women are empowering themselves and persisting with grace in a colorful and beautiful way in a community space amidst the horrors of the ongoing military occupation of their home By Dezeray Lyn Silverware clinks on plates, numerous excited voices float above…
Open Letter to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel Mission to UN, Israeli Media and what my fellow Americans need to know about Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower Mordechai Vanunu and USA collusion in Israel’s Nuclear Deceptions by Eileen Fleming Israel’s latest torturing of Mordechai Vanunu has been a non-story in USA Press, but…
Not surprisingly, Israel has surfaced as one of the only countries int he world not to help the millions of refugees that are fleeing from the terrorism of the Islamic State and Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad. And, Israel is building a wall to block them from entering their occupied nation, but not along the Syrian…
Read More “Israel, one of the only countries refusing to help Syrian refugees” »
Israel’s Army radio reported on Thursday that Mordechai Vanunu had been arrested in the early hours of September 5, after giving an interview in Hebrew on Channel 2, “in defiance of the terms under which he was released in 2004.” The interview had been cleared for broadcast by the military censor, but Israel’s nuclear whistle…
Read More “Vanunu gets 7 day’s House Arrest and Journalism’s Role” »