Many Egyptians and Western critics of the Muslim Brotherhood welcomed the military coup that recently toppled the country's elected Brotherhood-led government, praising the military for safeguarding secularism and "democracy." This betrays a gross misreading of the...
Israel Continues to Stonewall Arab States About Its Nukes
Double standards can only be endured, as well as enforced, for so long. Eighteen Arab member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote a letter to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano to request that “Israeli nuclear capabilities” be included on the agenda...
If Iran Had a Nuke Research Program, It May Have Been Rogue
Even informed Americans are loath to accept the unlikelihood of a nuclear-weapons program on the part of Iran. Why? They may just wish to maintain their credibility in the face of prevailing opinion. Also, they fear being played for fools since Iran isn’t as...
John Kerry’s Doomed Peace Process
Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest foray into Middle East negotiations should be called the Einstein peace process. Doing the same thing over and over again and still expecting different results is the great scientist’s definition of insanity. This time around,...
Peter Buffett: Corporate Rich Use Philanthropy to Paper Over Wounds They Inflict
“Conscience laundering” is what Peter Buffett (son of Warren) calls “feeling better about accumulating more than any one person could possibly need to live on by sprinkling a little around as an act of charity.” He provides perspective from inside the world of...
Egypt: The Deck Reshuffled (Pt. 2)
Read Part 1. While media in the United States has focused on the Egyptian uprising that triggered a military-led coup in which the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) led government was dissolved, hardly any media reports here have considered the regional implications of the...
Will Progress Follow Process in Israel-Palestine?
Secretary of State John Kerry has thrown himself back into the Middle East “peace process,” shuttling between various Middle Eastern capitals and trying to coax the Israeli government into reaching some kind of understanding with the Palestinian Authority. So far it’s...
Lindsey Graham Ready to Play the “Last Card” on Iran
Lindsey Graham is no longer just rattling his saber at Iran -- it now looks like he’s en garde and ready to face off against the Islamic Republic. At ThinkProgress, Ben Armbruster reports that, on Tuesday (July 23), the Republican senator from South Carolina said “If...
Egypt: Requiem for a Revolution that Never Was
Cross-posted from Counterpunch. “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called...
Isn’t It Time Israel and Palestine Understood Each Other’s Dispute-Resolution Customs?
“Abbas Calls For Terrorists’ Release Before Peace Talks,” reads a recent headline in an Israeli political blog. “Abbas … sees great opportunity in using the precondition of releasing terrorists as leverage for just beginning peace talks,” says the text. The idea that...