By Juan Cole AJ+ SodaStream Leaving West Bank After Boycotts AJ+ : “Facing an intensive boycott campaign, the controversial Israeli company that makes home soda machines is leaving the West Bank. Bye, Sodastream!” Background: Informed Comment wrote on this issue last January: “The determination of the Likud Party to annex the Palestinian West Bank is […]
Archives for October 2014
Centenary of the Ottoman Empire’s Entry into World War I
100 years ago, the Ottoman Empire bombarded two Russian ports, entering the war on the side of Germany and Austria. Below is rare footage of Ottoman forces operating during the war. The Ottomans lost, and victorious France and Britain carved up the Middle East into countries like Syria and Iraq, which have now fallen apart. […]
Concentrated Solar Plant in Tunisian Sahara aims to sell Clean Electricity to Europe
Reuters: “The TuNur project aims to generate clean energy from a giant solar plant in the Tunisian Sahara from where it will be connected to the European electricity grid via a dedicated undersea cable. TuNur say their initiative will produce roughly twice as much energy as any current nuclear power plant and can even produce […]
Iran Pressures Media over coverage of Acid Attacks on Women
By Golnaz Esfandiari via RFE/RL Iranian officials are moving to muzzle media coverage of a string of recent acid attacks targeting young women in the central city of Isfahan. The attacks have sparked outrage and fear among many Iranians who last week took to the streets of Isfahan and Tehran to protest and call for […]
No, Baghdad isn’t about to Fall: Iraqi Bloggers & Youth Mount Campaign
By Ibrahim Saleh | Baghdad | via Niqash A group of young Iraqi bloggers and activists have started a campaign on social media using the hash tag #BaghdadIsFine. The campaign was started to counter rumours that the Sunni Muslim extremist group, the Islamic State, was an immediate threat to Baghdad. “Baghdad is fine”. This […]
Turkey allows Kurdish Peshmerga to Cross to Kobane
By Juan Cole The Turkish press is reporting that Turkish intelligence is facilitating the crossing of a couple hundred paramilitary troops (Peshmerga) from Iraqi Kurdistan to the Turkish town of Suruç, 16 km from the Syrian border. They intend to help relieve the besieged Kurdish-Syrian town of Kobane, which is being attacked by ISIL. The […]
Only 1/2 of 1% of “Patriot” Act Secret Warrants Used against Terrorism
By Mark Jaycox via Electronic Frontier Foundation The Patriot Act continues to wreak its havoc on civil liberties. Section 213 was included in the Patriot Act over the protests of privacy advocates and granted law enforcement the power to conduct a search while delaying notice to the suspect of the search. Known as a “sneak […]
Nobel Peace Laureates to Obama: Bring use of torture into the light of day, Never to return
By Jon Queally via Commondreams.org Twelve Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written to President Barack Obama asking the US to close the dark chapter on torture once and for all. Twelve fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written an open letter to President Barack Obama, urging the 2009 recipient of the award to finally close […]
Artificial Billionaires: Regimes’ Crony Capitalism Stifling Middle East
World Bank Across the Middle East and North Africa, countries are being forced to face up to a harsh reality—that, left as they are now, their economies won’t create anything like enough jobs for the hundreds of thousands of people entering their job markets each year. Popular discontent will continue alongside widespread economic inactivity. What […]
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