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United States
Palestine in Scare Quotes: From the NYT Grammar Book
![[Qalandiya Checkpoint. Photo by Anees of Jerusalem. Image from Mondoweiss]](/content_images/3/sm_nyt2.jpg "[Qalandiya Checkpoint. Photo by Anees of Jerusalem. Image from Mondoweiss]")
When I feel the need for my blood pressure to go up, I read the New York Times’ coverage of Israel-Palestine. The extent to which the Times’ reporting (or misreporting) is deeply slanted, selective, and misleading has been thoroughly documented in Richard Falk’s and Howard Friel’s Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Electronic Intifada and Mondoweiss provide excellent ongoing critiques of the Times’ day to day coverage (see, for example, this recent piece by Ali Abunimah), and both were quick to report the seemingly obvious conflict of interest in the fact that Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner’s son ...
Keep Reading »Top Ten List: What To Expect In Lebanon Now That The STL Indictment is Out
![[Lebanese Flag; Image From The CIA]](/content_images/3/sm_Lebflag.jpg "[Lebanese Flag; Image From The CIA]")
1-Sa`ad al-Hariri will release a videotaped statement from Paris saying that everyone in Lebanon must be brave and steadfast in pursuing justice for assassinated Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri. He will then go out for a five course meal, in Paris. 2-Hassan Nasrallah will release a videotaped statement from an unknown location where he announces that there will be peace and stability in Lebanon. He will sweat profusely, smile, and point his finger at the camera.He will then dispatch armed forces around the country to “enforce” this peace and stability. 3-Walid Jumblatt will provide the answers as he blows, and blows with the changing winds. A remake of the Bob Dylan ...
Keep Reading »Rational Choice Theory Takes on the Arab Revolutions
![[Image from Google Images]](/content_images/3/sm_egypt-revolution15.jpg "[Image from Google Images]")
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, "How Tyrants Endure," political science professors Bruce Bueno De Mesquita and Alastair Smith offer a rational choice perspective on the Arab revolutions. It's a fairly short article, but given its large claims and the fact that Bueno De Mesquita does significant consulting for the Pentagon and CIA, it deserves some critical attention. Briefly, rational choice theory, of which Bueno De Mesquita is a major proponent, posits that individuals, including political actors, make decisions based on "rational" self-interest. These interests are often material in nature. As in microeconomics, individuals attempt to ...
Keep Reading »Still Seeking Justice for Those Who Died at Guantanamo: Two Letters on Father's Day
![[Talal Al-Zahrani and his son Yasser Al-Zahrani. Yasser was 22 when he died at Guantanamo in 2006. Image from Center for Constitutional Rights.]](/content_images/3/sm_talal-al-zahrani-and-son-yasser.jpg "[Talal Al-Zahrani and his son Yasser Al-Zahrani. Yasser was 22 when he died at Guantanamo in 2006. Image from Center for Constitutional Rights.]")
This month marks five years since three men who were never charged with any crime died in US custody at Guantánamo under circumstances that remain unexplained and that were never independently investigated. The men’s names were Yasser Al-Zahrani, Salah Al-Salami, and Mani Al-Utaybi, and they reportedly died on June 9 or 10, 2006. The military has persistently maintained that their deaths were suicides by hanging. Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of Guantánamo at the time, shamefully called them “acts of asymmetrical warfare waged against us,” while a State Department official characterized them as a “good PR move.” However, as investigative journalist ...
Keep Reading »The Voice Is Obama's; The Hands are Bush's
![[Image from unknown archive]](/content_images/3/sm_obama-bush.jpg "[Image from unknown archive]")
President Obama’s June 2009 speech in Cairo was widely received as a sincere expression of his desire for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” He acknowledged the historic injuries of colonialism, quoted the Qur’anic injunction to “speak always the truth,” recognized the plight of the Palestinian refugees, allowed for the possibility of Hamas participating in realizing the aspirations of the Palestinian people, and clearly called for a halt to Israeli settlement, even as he reaffirmed the US cultural and historical ties and commitment to the security of Israel. Far less bombastically than his predecessor, Obama also proclaimed US ...
Keep Reading »Three Powerfully Wrong--and Wrongly Powerful--American Narratives about the Arab Spring
![[Egyptian carrying sign in Tahrir. Image from Politirature.]](/content_images/3/sm_EgyptSupportsWisconsin.jpg "[Egyptian carrying sign in Tahrir. Image from Politirature.]")
The “Arab Spring” that actually began in the dead of winter has spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria…and the year only half over. As the media, policymakers, and global audiences struggle to make sense of changes that have inspired hundreds of millions to “just say no” to decades of dictatorship, a number of narratives have taken hold in the US—evident in remarks on cable news talk shows, at academic and policy symposia, and on Twitter—about precisely what is happening and what these massive crowds want. While elements of these narratives have some foundation in truth, they also present such a simplified view as to obscure ...
Keep Reading »Prose of a Growing Movement
Yassin Alsalman, The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe. Write or Wrong / Paranoid Arab Boy Publishing, 2011. www.iraqisthebomb.com It’s a good time for a lyric exposé from an Iraqi-Canadian aged 25. Not that there could be such a thing as a bad time for one. With the “Arab Spring” turning the volume up, so to speak, of voices from the Arab world, “Westerners” building new ideas about the “East” are looking for different speakers and new narratives. Increasingly, it’s becoming obvious that Arabs in the diaspora are opening doors for eager spectators looking East while beaming messages West. Those who’ve spent the past two decades living biculturally, daily bridging ...
Keep Reading »Running on Empty: International Education Funding Gets Deep Cuts
![[President Barack Obama in Cairo, 2009]](/content_images/3/sm_6a00d8341c630a53ef011570bf1a88970b-800wi.jpg "[President Barack Obama in Cairo, 2009]")
Although education reform is a hallmark of the Obama presidency, we have just witnessed the largest cuts ever to the US Department of Education’s international education programs. In 2009, Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, announced Race to the Top. A $4.3 billion program, it is one of the largest and most expensive education programs in US history. A central goal of Race to the Top is to “prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.” Apparently, study abroad and foreign language training isn’t deemed essential for such preparation. In recent days, stunned students and faculty across American universities ...
Keep Reading »Russia TV Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor on Palestine, Obama, and AIPAC
![[Image from screenshot from Russia TV.]](/content_images/3/sm_obamanourarussiantv.jpg "[Image from screenshot from Russia TV.]")
This is a Russia TV interview with Jadaliyya Co-Edtor Noura Erakat that aired on Tuesday May 24, 2011. In it, Noura discusses developments surrounding the Question of Palestine, with particular emphasis on the role of U.S. foriegn policy and Barack Obama's recent speech at the AIPAC Summitt.
Keep Reading »Text of Obama Letter Ordering Further Sanctions on Syria
![[President Barack Obama. Image from unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_executiveorderblahblah.jpg "[President Barack Obama. Image from unknown archive.]")
[On Wednesday May 18th, 2011, President Obama issued a letter addressed to both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate in regards to a new set of US sanctions on Syria. The letter was originally made public by The White House Press Secretary and can be found here.] For Immediate Release May 18, 2011 TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that ...
Keep Reading »The Legal Campaign Against American Torture
Torture, like genocide and crimes against humanity, is a gross crime under international law. The right not to be tortured is constituted through the prohibition of practices that purposefully cause harm (physical and/or psychological) to persons who are in custody but have not been found guilty of a crime. (The international legal definition excludes lawful punishments regardless of their brutality.) The right not to be tortured is exceptionally strong, at least in principle, because it is absolute ...
Keep Reading »The Anguish in the American Dream
As we cope with downturns in American power in the world and the American economy at home, there is much talk about reviving, renewing, rescuing, or redefining the American Dream. We would be better off facing the anguish inherent in the American Dream. Once we recognize that the dream has always been dependent on domination, we can see more clearly our options for a just and sustainable future. Whether celebrated or condemned, the American Dream endures, though always ambiguously. We are forever ...
Keep Reading »USAlafis?
A radical Christian group appeared at the Arab American Festival in Dearborn, MI (June 18-20), carrying offensive signs and uttering derogatory language. One of its members instigated a fight and the police ordered the group to remove itself to cheers from the crowd. Enjoy!
Keep Reading »Multilateral Cooperation Between The United States and Israel
[The below remarks were made at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on June 15, 2011, by Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State.] Multilateral Cooperation Between The United States and Israel: Fighting Delegitimization, Moving Forward Together Good afternoon. I want to thank Rob Satloff and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy for this invitation. It is truly a privilege to have this opportunity at this ...
Keep Reading »Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical "Sharia Threat" to Our Judicial System
[Below is the latest from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).] Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical "Sharia Threat" to Our Judicial System A Report of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief Introduction Across the country, state legislators are considering proposed laws that would limit the ability of courts to adjudicate lawsuits brought by Muslims. Proponents of these measures argue that they are necessary because so-called “Sharia law” is somehow taking over our ...
Keep Reading »UCLA Uncut Interview with James Gelvin on Obama's May 19 Speech
This is an 11-minute edited video of an interview conducted with James L. Gelvin after President Barack Obama's "Middle East Speech" that was delivered on May 19, 2011. In it, Gelvin discusses the lukewarm reaction throughout the Middle East to Obama's speech, outlining the ways in which the stated objectives and policies of the United States fell short of both the needs and expectations of the people of the Arab world.
Keep Reading »A Good Week for Bibi, a Bad Week for Barack, an Opportunity for the Palestinians
The past week in Washington was an extraordinary one. It witnessed an American president give two speeches in which he offered further concessions to Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of a country that is a client of the United States. Netanyahu challenged the President from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, effectively seeking and receiving Congress's stamp of approval on his strikingly extreme positions. This end-run around the US Executive Branch followed an invitation from the head of the Republican ...
Keep Reading »On a NY Stage: Four Strong Characters Seek Out the Meaning of Gaza and the Arab Spring
[This report was written by Phillip Weiss and originally published on Monoweiss.] Last night we had an event about Gaza in Manhattan with the Culture Project. It was so great and affirming that I was up most of the night savoring the experience. It was in a grand hall in midtown Manhattan, it was sold out, people actually paid money to go in, and they were rewarded with wisdom about Gaza, Goldstone and the Arab spring. Of the five people on the stage that night, four were women. Many people commented on ...
Keep Reading »Democracy Now! Roundtable with Noura Erakat on Obama Speech and Palestine
This is a roundtable interview conducted with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat, author Norman Finkelstein, and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami on Friday, May 20 in reference to President Barack Obama's May 18th "Middle East Speech" and U.S. policy towards Palestine and Israel. In a major speech on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and on the Arab Spring, President Obama said a Palestinian state must be based on the 1967 borders, the first time a U.S. president has explicitly taken ...
Keep Reading »Dressing Like a Terrorist
Like many others, I was dismayed to learn of the two imams wearing traditional Muslim garb who were forcibly removed from an airplane that was to carry them to a conference on Islamophobia. The passengers who were removed from a Delta/ASA flight in Memphis, Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul, apparently frightened other passengers and upset one of the pilots, who refused to fly with them on board. Not everybody was dismayed, however. The Delta/ASA pilot and the frightened passengers have ...
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