Issues

Electromagnetic pulse: the conservative fetish that just won’t die

by News Sources 05.24.2013

Jeffrey Lewis writes: Jim Woolsey, a former director of central intelligence and noted Oklahoma City conspiracy theorist, and Peter Pry had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday warning that North Korea might attack United States with a nuclear weapon. But instead of vaporizing Washington, Woolsey and Pry warn that North Korea would [...]

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Woolwich attack prompts fears of backlash against British Muslims

by News Sources 05.23.2013

The Guardian reports: The murder of a soldier in south London on Wednesday has prompted fears of a backlash against British Muslims after the English Defence League staged an impromptu rally in the capital and two mosques were attacked. The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, has also reacted to the killing with provocative tweets calling for [...]

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Woolwich attacker named ‘Mujahid’ was known to banned Islamist organisation Al Muhajiroun

by News Sources 05.23.2013

The Independent reports: One of the two men involved in the Woolwich terror attack was known to a banned Islamist organisation and went by the name of Mujahid, The Independent has learned. Anjem Choudary, the former leader of the group, Al Muhajiroun, confirmed that he had known the man who was seen on video in [...]

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UK provided more support for CIA rendition flights than thought, says study

by News Sources 05.23.2013

The Guardian reports: The UK’s support for the CIA’s global rendition programme after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US was far more substantial than has previously been recognised, according to a new research project that draws on a vast number of publicly available data and documentation. Evidence gathered by The Rendition Project – [...]

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Video: How the ideas of America and Islam converge

by News Sources 05.22.2013
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Video: Culture of impunity (part one)

by News Sources 05.22.2013

Serious crimes have been committed. The evidence is public knowledge. They include launching a war of aggression, conspiracy to defraud Congress, and conspiracy to commit torture. And yet, today, none of the high government officials responsible for committing these crimes have been prosecuted. AlternateFocus investigates why.

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The failure to face climate change

by News Sources 05.20.2013

Thomas Jones writes: The greenhouse effect was first hypothesised in 1824 by Joseph Fourier – though his analogy was the bell jar rather than the greenhouse – and proved experimentally by John Tyndall in 1859. In the 19th century it could be seen as unambiguously a good thing: if carbon dioxide and other trace gases [...]

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Video: The U.S. disconnect over climate change

by News Sources 05.20.2013
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Can a deal be made with Iran?

by News Sources 05.20.2013

Roger Cohen writes: Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett are unusual among former staffers of the CIA, the State Department, and the National Security Council in their deep affection for the Islamic Republic of Iran. This attraction, which knows few bounds, finds its apotheosis in Going to Tehran. Their stated goal is “the most objective analysis [...]

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The last of the Semites

by News Sources 05.19.2013

Al Jazeera has removed this article from its website. Al Abunimah reports: “Massad told The Electronic Intifada that he had ‘received confirmation’ from his editor at Al Jazeera English that ‘management pulled the article.’ OK. I guess that means I’ll have to repost the whole article. By Joseph Massad Jewish opponents of Zionism understood the [...]

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Israel is world’s largest exporter of drones, study finds

by News Sources 05.19.2013

Haaretz reports: Israel is the world’s largest exporter of unmanned aircraft, in terms of the number of systems sold, a study has found. Over the last eight years Israel has exported $4.6 billion worth of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a study by the business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. UAVs, or drones, constitute nearly [...]

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New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks

by News Sources 05.19.2013

Salon: This week has been a disquieting one for journalists concerned about protecting their sources. The revelation that the Justice Department had been spying on AP reporters’ phone records, although it came as no surprise to those attuned to this government’s attitude to First Amendment protections, reinforced the importance of enabling the unsurveilled free-flow of [...]

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Palestine splits Arab street and state

by News Sources 05.19.2013

Rami G Khouri writes: An important but unclear aspect of the ongoing Arab uprisings has been how more democratic and legitimate Arab governments would impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several incidents in Egypt indicate how government and popular street sentiment are likely to behave differently on Israel-Palestine than did the previous Mubarak regime. Now Jordan [...]

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Nuclear Iran unlikely to tilt regional power balance, says report

by News Sources 05.19.2013

IPS reports: A nuclear-armed Iran would not pose a fundamental threat to the United States and its regional allies like Israel and the Gulf Arab monarchies, according to a new report released here Friday by the Rand Corporation. Entitled “Iran After the Bomb: How Would a Nuclear-Armed Tehran Behave?“, the report asserts that the acquisition [...]

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On the American Association of University Professors’ opposition to academic boycotts

by News Sources 05.18.2013

David Lloyd writes: On 10 May 2013, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a “Statement on Academic Boycotts” which states, not for the first time, its “opposition to academic boycotts as a matter of principle.” The statement was issued in response to two recent victories for the movement for an academic and cultural [...]

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Video: 80% of Gitmo prisoners hunger strike for 100 days

by News Sources 05.18.2013
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Obama administration wants war on terrorism to continue for decades

by News Sources 05.17.2013

The New York Times reports: A top Pentagon official said Thursday that the evolving war against Al Qaeda was likely to continue “at least 10 to 20 years” and urged Congress not to modify the statute that provides its legal basis. “As of right now, it suits us very well,” Michael A. Sheehan, the assistant [...]

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Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson on how to promote scientific literacy in children

by Attention to the Unseen 05.17.2013
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Video: How do Israelis now view the Palestinian Nakba?

by News Sources 05.16.2013
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Why sanctions on Iran are not working

by News Sources 05.16.2013

Trita Parsi and Reza Marashi write: As EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s lead envoy Saeed Jalili meet in Istanbul on May 15, the six global powers negotiating with Tehran face an increasingly inconvenient truth: while sanctions are having a devastating effect on Iran’s economy, they have not changed Tehran’s nuclear calculus. Although [...]

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An ongoing displacement — the forced exile of the Palestinians

by News Sources 05.15.2013

Click on image below to enlarge:

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Video: Ken Robinson — How to escape education’s death valley

by Attention to the Unseen 05.15.2013
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Building the infrastructure for a totalitarian state

by News Sources 05.14.2013

Hendrik Hertzberg writes: In Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece “Minority Report,” set in the year 2054 and released nine months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, homicide-squad detectives no longer spend their time tracking down people who have committed murder. Instead, they go after people who are about to commit murder, swooping down to stop [...]

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Stephen Hawking’s boycott hits Israel where it hurts: science

by News Sources 05.14.2013

Hilary Rose and Steven Rose write: Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott the Israeli president’s conference has gone viral. Over 100,000 Facebook shares of the Guardian report at last count. Whatever the subsequent fuss, Hawking’s letter is unequivocal. His refusal was made because of requests from Palestinian academics. Witness the speed with which the pro-Israel lobby [...]

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