Blog

  • Uprisings: Online Resouces

    With protests continuing, here is a partial list of online resources: For Libya: #Feb17; CNN’s Ben Wedeman; @EnoughGaddafi; For Bahrain: #Feb14, @OnlineBahrain; For Yemen: #Feb3; @JNovak_Yemen; Palestinian: #Mar15 Gulf: @dr_davidson, @tobycraigjones For Saudi Arabia: on Twitter: #Mar11; Webpages and blogs: rasid.com, ysoof.com/blog/?p=242, saudiwoman.wordpress.com, alasmari.wordpress.com, saudijeans.org To translate: translate.google.com Based in the U.S., but with extensive contacts…

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  • “A New Bipartisan Consensus Against Low Income People”

    The president’s budget is a prosaic austerity plan that inflicts disproportionate pain on low income Americans. Fundamental questions about the costs of war and the fairness of tax cuts for the rich have been avoided by the decision to narrowly target non-security “discretionary” spending to bear the weight of deficit reduction. It used to be…

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  • Challenges for Change in Algeria

    Tunisia and Egypt are relatively centralized states, Algeria not so, neither politically, nor culturally, nor geographically. Historically, the interior has been difficult to control, and there is no guarantee that the rest of the country would rally to the protests taking place in the capital as in the case of Egypt. The Algerian regime is…

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  • “Mubarak has fallen. The regime didn’t”

    CAIRO — Mubarak has fallen. The regime didn’t. We still have the same cabinet appointed by [Mubarak]. The emergency state is still enforced. Old detainees are still in detentions and new ones since the 25th of January remain missing. There is no public apology for the killing. We hear several executives are being prosecuted, including…

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  • Time to forge new, democratic system

    CAIRO — Last night, February 11, Cairo was the scene of what may well have been the largest street party in world history.  It was incredibly powerful and moving.  Of course, the night’s festivities marked both an end and a beginning. Now is the time for Egypt’s judges, other legal professionals, diplomats, other negotiators, intellectuals,…

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  • Our Man in Cairo

    With Mubarak’s departure, the focus now falls on his chosen successor, Omar Suleiman. According to a classified American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Suleiman was Israel’s pick to succeed Mubarak. But there’s little doubt that he was also the choice of the United States, or at least of one particular American agency with which he…

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  • Online Resources on Egypt and Beyond

    With protests against the Egyptian regime continuing, here is a partial list of resources: A critical Facebook page is “We are all Khaled Said” — also see the associated webpage elshaheeed.co.uk. (For background on Khaled Said, see IPA news release.) See: egyprotest-defense.blogspot.com; live updates at guardian.co.uk; Al-Jazeera English live blog and video, or via YouTube:…

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  • Hungry Gazans Feed Egyptian Troops

    RAFAH, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) – Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, meat cans and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side. [See at Inter Press Service]

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  • Egypt’s military-industrial complex

    With US-made tear gas canisters fired on protesters in Cairo, Washington’s role in arming Egypt is under the spotlight In early January 2010, Bob Livingston, a former chairman of the appropriations committee in the US House of Representatives, flew to Cairo accompanied by William Miner, one of his staff. The two men were granted meetings…

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  • Uprising Pays Off -– Sort of

    Today I went to a town only 23 kilometers south of Tahrir Square. The plan was to see if the 11-day uprising in Egypt has produced any benefits so far – just by way of finding something different from the insecurity and chaos in Cairo. Kirdasa, a small town known for its flower nurseries and…

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  • The Economic Impacts of Science Funding Cuts

    According to the Science and Community Impacts Mapping Project (SCIMaP), the White House FY 2026 budget proposal cuts NIH research funding by $18 billion compared to FY 2024. The budget cuts are projected to lead to widespread economic and job losses in counties across the country. Upwards of 200,000 high-quality jobs in medical research are…

  • Europe’s “Snapback” Gamble Risks Killing Diplomacy with Iran

    The move would restore “pre-2015 sanctions on Iran unless concessions are made within 30 days. Designed under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] as a last-resort remedy, snapback flips Security Council rules: sanctions return automatically unless affirmatively blocked — meaning any veto secures reimposition. With the October 18, 2025 sunset clause approaching, the move…

  • How the UN Could Act Today to Stop the Genocide in Palestine

    “Genocide continues to rage in Gaza and is spreading as well in the West Bank. Famine has been declared in Gaza. Israel is expanding its military presence in Gaza and is rampaging across the West Bank. And September 18 will mark the end of a one-year deadline set by the UN General Assembly for Israel to comply…

  • Blank Check for D.C. Occupation

    Republican governors from six states––Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina, and West Virginia––are all voluntarily sending National Guardsmen to the nation’s capital. President Trump mobilized the National Guard “under the guise of restoring security” in D.C., “getting rid of the slums,” and forcibly removing unhoused people from the city. As of August 21, more than…

  • Israel’s “Double-Tap” Kills Journalists and First Responders at Hospital

    “According to Khoudary’s report, ‘Israeli forces launched an explosive suicidal drone, where it hit the rooftop of Nasser Hospital.’ At least one journalist and another civilian were killed. ‘Civil defense teams went up to try to retrieve the body, tried to rescue whoever was wounded. And also journalists went to document what’s happened and then the…

  • Palestinian Groups on Famine, Call for International Protection

    “The systematic destruction of food systems, restrictions on the entry of aid, chaos perpetuated through continuous displacement orders, widespread bombardment, cooperation with and arming of gangs that loot aid and prevent its reach to affected populations, and the militarization of humanitarian aid (by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) are all explicit manifestations of genocidal intent.”

  • DNC Will Vote on Resolutions About Gaza and Israel This Week

    Three national activist organizations — Progressive Democrats of America, RootsAction and Our Revolution — have announced their support for a resolution for “an immediate ceasefire, an arms embargo and suspension of military aid to Israel” that is set for consideration by the Democratic National Committee this week.

  • Famine Declared in Gaza, Stepping up Calls for Peacekeepers

    He states: “They have the majority of votes, and most importantly, millions of people are demanding this. Ordinary people are trying to break through an illegal blockade to deliver humanitarian aid, to implement international law their governments are failing to do. Why else do we have peacekeepers if not to end genocide and prevent starvation?”

  • Unpacking the Narrative of AI Job Loss

    Writing for FAIR, Conor Smyth argues that corporate media––including The Atlantic, ABC, PBS, CBS, the New York Times and Axios––has spun an exaggerated narrative that artificial intelligence is tanking the job market for new college graduates. AI, he writes, is stealing far fewer jobs than the public might believe, and this narrative serves as a…

  • HHS Reinstates Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines

    Under pressure from anti-vaccine activists, the Department of Health and Human Services has reinstated the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, claiming that the committee will “improve the safety, quality, and oversight of vaccines administered to American children.” The Task Force was disbanded in 1998. 

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