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Tag: Middle East

Asma Assad Shops Until They Drop

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Apr 3, 2012 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



Dan Bennett (CC-BY)

McCain: U.S. Should Lead War in Syria

If we did it in Libya, we should do it in Syria. So says Sen. John McCain, anyway, who put out the call Monday for the U.S. to lead a war effort to stop the slaughter of civilians in Syria by taking to the skies above the imploding Middle Eastern nation.

Posted on Mar 5, 2012 READ MORE  |  30 COMMENTS



AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Iran Talk With Netanyahu and Obama

After reaffirming his support of Israel at an AIPAC conference on Sunday, President Obama met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where one particular issue loomed large: Iran.

Posted on Mar 5, 2012 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


Dilemma

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Mar 1, 2012 READ MORE


The Glitch

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Posted on Feb 26, 2012 READ MORE        


Syrians ‘Radicalized by Terror’

Syrian forces are shelling Homs while across the country, reports ITN’s Jonathan Rugman, “state brutality has failed to crush” the popular uprising.

Posted on Feb 21, 2012 READ MORE  |  33 COMMENTS



Foreign and Commonwealth Office (CC-BY)

Iran Could Cause Mideast Cold War, U.K. Official Warns

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that a nuclear-capable Iran could push countries in the Middle East into a cold war in which the world would see the greatest nuclear proliferation since the invention of the atom bomb. Iran has ignored economic sanctions that Western nations hoped would deter it from pursuing nuclear development.

Posted on Feb 18, 2012 READ MORE  |  29 COMMENTS



White House / Pete Souza

Iran and Israel: Only Half the Story

In the brief interview he gave NBC before the Super Bowl, President Obama declared, “I’ve been very clear that we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and creating an arms race, a nuclear arms race, in a volatile region.” Sounds like a very laudable goal, right? Except for the fact that the nuclear arms race in the Middle East is already under way.

Posted on Feb 7, 2012 READ MORE  |  19 COMMENTS



AP / Amr Nabil

Dispatches From Cairo: Revolution One Year Later

The celebration brought hundreds of thousands from all walks of life to Tahrir Square. We left with a feeling of disappointment.

Posted on Jan 31, 2012 READ MORE  |  12 COMMENTS



Clay Junell (CC-BY-SA)

Fewer and Fewer Reasons for the West to Fixate on the Mideast

There are only three valid reasons why the Middle East, the focus of international attention as 2012 begins, is important to the United States and the European nations.

Posted on Dec 29, 2011 READ MORE  |  38 COMMENTS



U.S. Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jeffrey Schultze

America’s Christmas Present to Her Favorite Despots

Hold that thought about democracy in the Middle East while we sell $60 billion of military hardware to the princes of Saudi Arabia. The U.S. closed the first $30 billion half of a major arms deal Thursday to send 84 F-15 fighter jets to a country that only this month beheaded a woman convicted of witchcraft. (more)

Posted on Dec 29, 2011 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


Iraq Wound

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Dec 27, 2011 READ MORE


Egypt Chaos

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Posted on Dec 27, 2011 READ MORE



michael baird (CC-BY)

Making Repression Our Business: The Pentagon’s Secret Training Missions in the Middle East

As the Arab Spring blossomed and President Obama hesitated about whether to speak out in favor of protesters seeking democratic change in the Greater Middle East, the Pentagon forged ever deeper ties with some of the region’s most repressive regimes.

Posted on Dec 14, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS


Islamic Spring

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Dec 4, 2011 READ MORE


The Fog in Our Future

The most dramatic contemporary event from which one can attempt to extrapolate future world change is the political and social uprising of the Arab peoples of the Mediterranean basin.

Posted on Nov 30, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)

Mitt Romney’s Big Bad Ideas for the Middle East

As someone who has been running for president for many years, Romney should by now know something about foreign policy and he should know where he stands.

Posted on Oct 31, 2011 READ MORE  |  26 COMMENTS



U.S. State Department

The Arab Spring Gets Messy, and Even Messier for the U.S.

The United States simply does not know how to disentangle itself from this menacing situation.

Posted on Oct 25, 2011 READ MORE  |  29 COMMENTS



Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey

The Spiritual Side of Occupy Wall Street

Last week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The Rev. Madison Shockley made a pilgrimage to Liberty Square, Dr. Marcia Dawkins traveled to the Holy Land, Reese Erlich reported from recently bombed Turkey and we compared Obama’s jobs bill to the WPA.

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 READ MORE


The Spiritual Side of Occupy Wall Street

Last week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The Rev. Madison Shockley made a pilgrimage to Liberty Square, Dr. Marcia Dawkins traveled to the Holy Land, Reese Erlich reported from recently bombed Turkey and we compared Obama’s jobs bill to the WPA.

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


President Obama: ‘America’s War in Iraq Will Be Over’ by Year-End

“Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Obama declared Friday, helpfully noting that this withdrawal plan makes good on one of his campaign promises. No doubt what he said strikes fear in the hearts of Republican presidential hopefuls and their supporting casts.

Posted on Oct 21, 2011 READ MORE  |  17 COMMENTS



Wikimedia Commons / Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom / ABr (CC-BY)

Indian Summer for Arab Spring?

Thursday’s death of Col. Moammar Gadhafi represents different things to different people—long-awaited liberation, further evidence of American meddling on the world stage, or a powerful sign that the upheaval collectively known as the Arab Spring isn’t over yet. (more)

Posted on Oct 21, 2011 READ MORE  |  23 COMMENTS



Flickr / gademocrats (CC-BY)

Jimmy Carter Still Has Hope

One day before this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner is to be announced, President and Nobel laureate Jimmy Carter said that he still hopes President Obama will make good on the promises he made that ultimately won him the prize two years ago.

Posted on Oct 6, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



AP / Seth Wenig

Palestine Vote Showcases the Decline of American Power

It is often the little things that trip up empires and send them spiraling into geopolitical feebleness.

Posted on Sep 27, 2011 READ MORE  |  38 COMMENTS



The Muslim World Brings Forth a Counter-Jihad

Robin Wright’s new book, “Rock the Casbah,” surveys the people of Islam a decade after 9/11 and finds they have turned not toward extremism but moderation.

Posted on Sep 16, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS


Middle East Dominoes

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Posted on Sep 10, 2011 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



Gigi Ibrahim (CC-BY)

Dispatches From Cairo: Tensions Mount in Revolution Central

Wow, what a jittery, hair-trigger, emotional week in Egypt, the heart of the revolutionary world.

Posted on Sep 7, 2011 READ MORE  |  13 COMMENTS


Arab Spring Monster

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



AP / Hussein Malla

Prosecuting War Crimes? Be Sure to Read the Fine Print

It all depends, I think, on whether criminals are our friends (Stalin at the time) or our enemies (Hitler and his fellow Nazis), whether they have their future uses (the Japanese emperor) or whether we’ll get their wealth more easily if they are out of the way (Saddam and Gadhafi).

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  18 COMMENTS


Robert Baer on Libya and Blowback

Veteran CIA officer Robert Baer speaks to radio host Ian Masters about the shifting political sands in the Middle East as the “Arab Spring” claims another dictator.

Posted on Aug 23, 2011 READ MORE  |  14 COMMENTS



AP / Khalil Hamra

Dispatches From Cairo: Flagman and ‘Our Martyrs in Sinai’

Yes, Flagman—surely you’ve heard of the Egyptian superhero who scaled the 21 floors of the Israeli Embassy in the predawn hours Sunday.

Posted on Aug 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  27 COMMENTS



Israel’s Insatiable Zionism

Israel’s Zionism turned capitalism is getting out of hand; Postmodernism is dead, leaving many to question what it was in the first place; meanwhile, the Americas are projected to replace the Middle East as the energy capital of the world. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Aug 20, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


London Riots: The View From Brixton

A student activist living in the middle of London’s riots shares her view from the ground on this week’s Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK. Also on the show: William Cohan and Robert Scheer on Wall Street’s plunge; Robin Wright on Syria, and David Inocencio on juvie journalism.

Posted on Aug 10, 2011 READ MORE  |  26 COMMENTS


U.S. Dollars for Taliban

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Jul 27, 2011 READ MORE


Israel Is Likely to Attack Iran, CIA Veteran Robert Baer Warns

Robert Baer, the veteran CIA operations officer whose book was the basis for the film “Syriana,” says an Israeli attack on Iran is likely and warns that the U.S. could be drawn into yet another conflict.

Posted on Jul 12, 2011 READ MORE  |  67 COMMENTS


Afghan Withdrawal Pains

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Jun 26, 2011 READ MORE


Bashar al-Assad

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Posted on Jun 23, 2011 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


Cellphone Use

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Jun 18, 2011 READ MORE


Turkey in Position to Lead Region Out of Tumultuous Century

Looking backward, there is a great deal to be said for leaving well enough alone, which is more difficult than one might think.

Posted on Jun 14, 2011 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



World Economic Forum / Andy Mettler (CC-BY-SA)

Kurds Want to Give Turkey a Taste of Spring

Turkey is no Libya or Syria in terms of repression, but the country has a few million disgruntled Kurds who would like more autonomy. One Kurdish political leader is threatening civil disobedience ... (more)

Posted on Jun 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



AP / Muhammed Muheisen

Reflections on Israel: From Idealism to Ethnic Cleansing

When I was a youngster learning Jewish history in Jerusalem’s schools, the story was clear and even simple. “A land without people for a people without land.” Well, there are several striking problems with this aphorism.

Posted on Jun 8, 2011 READ MORE  |  109 COMMENTS



State Department

Abandon Ship and/or Yemen

The United States is evacuating “certain non-emergency personnel” from Yemen and encouraging other Americans to leave the country while they still can. The State Department cites “terrorist activities and civil unrest” in its most recent travel warning. Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses ... (more)

Posted on May 26, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


Netanyahu Brings Congress to Its Feet ... 29 Times

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quite a hit with his speech before Congress on Tuesday, rousing members of the House and Senate to their feet an impressive 29 times during his address about the current state of Israel and its relations with Mideast neighbors.

Posted on May 24, 2011 READ MORE  |  84 COMMENTS


Two-State Solution

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Posted on May 23, 2011 READ MORE



White House / Pete Souza

The Speech Obama Should Have Given to AIPAC

Former “60 Minutes” producer Barry Lando imagines what the president might have said to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Posted on May 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  91 COMMENTS



Flickr / Jonathan Rashad

Going After the Mini-Mubaraks

Journalist, blogger and activist Hossam el-Hamalawy passionately urges his fellow Egyptians to make their social and political revolution into an economic one.

Posted on May 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


Tanksgiving

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Posted on May 19, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS        



AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Obama Responds to a Changing Mideast in Arab Spring Speech

Addressing the upheavals that have occurred and transformations still in progress in the Middle East (except for one notable omission), President Barack Obama put the big shifts that the Arab Spring brought in a broader context during a major speech on Thursday ... (more)  Updated

Posted on May 19, 2011 READ MORE  |  46 COMMENTS



White House / Pete Souza

Obama’s Big Middle East Speech Will Avoid a Big Issue

While the White House is promising that President Barack Obama’s big Middle East speech on Thursday will make news, Obama will avoid the biggest story this week: the inflamed Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which claimed a few more lives Sunday.

Posted on May 17, 2011 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



Flickr / Muhammad Ghafari

Obama Readies Another Appeal to Muslim World

In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, President Obama will address the Muslim world to herald the democratic movements that have swept the Middle East and North Africa in recent months and warn against religious extremism. (more)

Posted on May 11, 2011 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS


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A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
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