Ramzy Baroud

Trust: A Diminishing Resource in International Relations

Trust: A Diminishing Resource in International Relations

RAMZY BAROUD: Hard to win and lost in an instant, it’s trust. The U.S seems to be unconcerned about its diminishing reputation in the world

 Juan Cole

‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ in Obama’s Terror Speech

‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ in Obama’s Terror Speech

JUAN COLE: Some praise is due but Obama remains wedded to the idea that extra-judicial assassination is an effective counter-terror tool.

 Juan Cole

2012: Top 10 Developments in the Middle East

2012: Top 10 Developments in the Middle East

JUAN COLE: It’s been another extraordinary year across the Middle East. Here is my take on the most significant changes this year

 Common Ground News Service

Free Speech v Religious Respect: Squaring the Circle

Free Speech v Religious Respect: Squaring the Circle

REBECCA CATALDI, CGNEWS: It doesn’t have to an ‘either or’ situation. People can speak freely and also ensure that they don’t insult religion.

 Rob L. Wagner

The Malala Backlash: Conspiracy Theorists Go To Town

The Malala Backlash: Conspiracy Theorists Go To Town

ROB L. WAGNER: It didn’t take long for the moral relativists and conspiracy theorists to get to work on Malala Yousufzai. Inevitable but depressing.

 Juan Cole

A Brief Middle East History Lesson for Mitt Romney

A Brief Middle East History Lesson for Mitt Romney

JUAN COLE: The Presidential candidate appears to be entirely clueless about the recent history of US involvement in the region. Heres’ some help.

 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

A Corporate Conservative: Apple’s No to Drone Strike App

A Corporate Conservative: Apple’s No to Drone Strike App

TBIJ: In correspondence seen by the Bureau, the US tech giant told Begley that apps that ‘present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.’

 Rob L. Wagner

Is It A ‘Right to Free Speech’ Or A ‘Right to Incite’?

Is It A ‘Right to Free Speech’ Or A ‘Right to Incite’?

ROB L. WAGNER: The makers of the film have been clear about their intentions in making it – to incite violence. What rights should they have?

 Mondoweiss

It’s Simple: Americans Don’t Want War With Iran

It’s Simple: Americans Don’t Want War With Iran

PHLIP WEISS: The Israeli lobby is taking a pummelling at the moment as leading commentators stand up to confront it. Is this a real turning point?

 Rob L. Wagner

Sharia Law is ‘… A Great Threat to U.S Freedom’. Really?

Sharia Law is ‘… A Great Threat to U.S Freedom’. Really?

ROB L. WAGNER: The level of detachment between the imagined world of Republican delegates and the real America seems to widen by the day.

 Crossroads Arabia

Progress or Not? The ‘Digital Eid’ Has Arrived

Progress or Not? The ‘Digital Eid’ Has Arrived

CROSSROADS ARABIA: It seems that no element of life is safe from the encroachment of social media – not even sacred Eid customs

 Rob L. Wagner

Muslims: The Victims of ‘The New McCarthyism’

Muslims: The Victims of ‘The New McCarthyism’

ROB L. WAGNER: The odious campaign by Michelle Bachmann against Huma Abedin marks the real beginning of a potentially disastrous period in U.S history

 Juan Cole

Arab Voting Power Makes Bachmann a Romney Liability

Arab Voting Power Makes Bachmann a Romney Liability

JUAN COLE: Remember how Florida in 2000 hung on just a few hundred votes. Well, there are over 250,000 Arab-Americans in Florida. They can all tell when someone is prejudiced.

 Rob L. Wagner

Romney’s Middle East Team: Same Old, Same Old

Romney’s Middle East Team: Same Old, Same Old

ROB L. WAGNER: If Mitt Romney wins the U.S. presidential election it looks like we’ll be taking a trip back in time to the reign of George W. Bush.

 American Bedu

Pregnant and Abandoned: What Should You Do?

Pregnant and Abandoned: What Should You Do?

AMERICAN BEDU: Many foreign women who have had relationships with Saudi male students find themselves in great difficulty.

 James M. Dorsey

The $750,000 Guantanamo ‘Pitch’ to Cooperate

The $750,000 Guantanamo ‘Pitch’ to Cooperate

JAMES M. DORSEY: The $744,000 pitch outside a $39 million penitentiary-style building is intended to reward the most cooperative of the 120,171 inmates.

 Juan Cole

Ten Ways the Iranians Are Beating Sanctions

Ten Ways the Iranians Are Beating Sanctions

JUAN COLE: The last crackpot Neocon plan cost America $1 trillion and nearly 5,000 soldier’s lives. The latest one is meeting resistance.

 Ramzy Baroud

Israel Bangs Drum for War: Why Follow?

Israel Bangs Drum for War: Why Follow?

RAMZY BAROUD: History repeats itself, when we fail to learn its lessons. Israel might want to take such chances, but why should the rest of the world?

 Steve Royston

The State is the Beast: An Angell on Economics

The State is the Beast: An Angell on Economics

STEVE ROYSTON: An Angell visited the other day. Not one with wings, but a Welshman with a biting tongue and the rhetorical skills of David Lloyd George.

 Juan Cole

Ten Reasons Why ‘Iran Plotter’ is ‘No James Bond’

Ten Reasons Why ‘Iran Plotter’ is ‘No James Bond’

JUAN COLE: He has been presented as the lynchpin of an international conspiracy of stunning complexity. Yet he is almost comically inept – so is Manssor Arabsiar James Bond or Inspector Clouseau?