Our political dysfunction has turned us inward and that’s a recipe for disasters ahead
February 16th, 20180 The only times that Congress will attend to international matters is when there is, at stake, a domestic political advantage in appeasing supporters or striking out at rivals. Domestic American politics have become so cripplingly partisan that Congress can't pass a long-term spending bill or deal with critical issues like immigration...
The boomerang effect: How Netanyahu made Israel an American issue and lost
February 16th, 20180 Despite massive sums of money spent to channel public opinion in the United States in favor of Israel, unmistakable trends in opinion polls are attesting to the changing dynamics of Israel's support among ordinary Americans. Not only is Israel losing its support and overall appeal among large sections of American society, but among...
America mourns, prays and does nothing to address gun violence
February 16th, 20180 The thunderous hail of bullets is always followed by the silence of a nation that cannot bring itself to do anything besides offer ineffective hopes and prayers. Once again, a place for education and advancement has become a scene of horror and fear in America. It is unacceptable that any American should have to endure the terror and...
What to look for in a politician
February 9th, 20180 By Lee H. Hamilton Have you already made up your mind about how you're going to vote — at least by party — in this year's important elections? I hope not. Because to serve our nation well at this troubled time in its political history, you should be looking for certain qualities in the politicians you favor. Ideology, party...
Foreign policy for sale: Greece’s dangerous alliance with Israel
February 9th, 20180 The main motivation behind the closeness in relations is the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, located in the territorial waters of several countries, including Lebanon. By Ramzy Baroud For a brief historical moment, Alexis Tsipras and his political party, Syriza, ignited hope that Greece could resurrect a long-dormant Leftist tide in...
Recognizing Black contributions and atoning for our past
February 9th, 20180 We need Black History Month, not only to teach us about often unacknowledged African American scientists, inventors, political leaders and scholars who have made significant contributions to our collective history, but to remind us of America's forgotten crimes of slavery and racism. By Dr. James J. Zogby This is Black history...
‘Whitewashing’ genocide in Myanmar
February 2nd, 20180 By Ramzy Baroud Although the genocide of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has gathered greater media attention in recent months, there is no indication that the international community is prepared to act in any meaningful way, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded in border camps between Myanmar and...
Pence’s Middle East
February 2nd, 20180 The real danger of seeing the world through a narrow ideological lens is that while the lens may be your own, the world being viewed through it is not yours to control. By Dr. James J. Zogby Vice President Pence's recent foray into Middle East politics has been nothing short of a disaster. Because he sees the world through the lens...
The danger facing Lebanon is bigger than Bassil’s loose tongue
February 2nd, 20180 In the last decisive moments, Lebanon avoided the edge of a cliff and perhaps saved fragile peaceful coexistence among its people, which for the past few days has been hovering over that fine edge. A telephone call from President Michel Aoun to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was enough to defuse a potential civil war that would have...
Without UNRWA I wouldn’t be alive today
January 26th, 20180 By Mohamed Mohamed It is regrettable that the most basic human needs of millions of Palestinian refugees are now being used as a weapon in the Trump administration's political assault on Palestinians. On January 16, the administration decided to withhold $65 million of a planned $125 million in U.S. funding for the United Nations...
The trials of Africa and the real Dr. King they want us to forget
January 26th, 20180 By Ramzy Baroud On January 15, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther Kings Day. Dr. King's famous speech, "I Have a Dream", was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society. But that is only one version of Dr. King...
L’Oreal does not celebrate diversity
January 26th, 20180 By Ruqaya Izzidien British beauty blogger Amena Khan announced that she has pulled out of L'Oreal's latest haircare campaign, after a series of tweets in which she criticized Israel in 2014 re-surfaced. In a statement, Khan explained that she withdrew from the campaign - a move that L'Oreal said it agrees with - because the...
The presidency
January 19th, 20180 By Lee H. Hamilton Because we live in such tumultuous political times, it's easy to believe that today's intense public focus on the Trump presidency is something new — an obsession like none we've ever seen before. Yet to one degree or another, the president has always been at the center of the public's attention. This is...
In words and deeds: The genesis of Israeli violence
January 19th, 20181 By Ramzy Baroud Not a day passes without a prominent Israeli politician or intellectual making an outrageous statement against Palestinians. Many of these statements tend to garner little attention or evoke rightly deserved outrage. Just recently, Israel's minister of agriculture, Uri Ariel, called for more death and injuries on...
Trump’s ‘shithole’ remarks and America’s history of immigration
January 19th, 20180 By Amer Zahr It's quite popular these days to declare that Donald Trump's racist views on immigration are "un-American." He only wants White people coming here. "Why can't we have more people from Norway?" He wants to get rid of Latinos and Black people. "Do we really need more Haitians?" He devalues, denigrates and......
Shadow armies: The unseen, but real U.S. war in Africa
January 12th, 20180 By Ramzy Baroud There is a real — but largely concealed — war which is taking place throughout the African continent. It involves the United States, an invigorated Russia and a rising China. The outcome of the war is likely to define the future of the continent and its global outlook. It is easy to pin the blame on President...
Ahed Tamimi offers Israelis a lesson worthy of Gandhi
January 12th, 20181 By Jonathan Cook Sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi may not be what Israelis had in mind when, over many years, they criticized Palestinians for not producing a Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. Eventually, colonized peoples bring to the fore a figure best suited to challenge the rotten values at the core of the society oppressing them.......
Damn it! This is cultural genocide, Tabouli is ours!
January 12th, 20180 By James Zogby Between Christmas and New Year's Day, I became embroiled in what The Jerusalem Post termed a "Twitter war", which it claimed "raised eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic." What started the heated exchange was my response to a tweet by celebrity chef Rachael Ray in which she called "Israeli"—"meze, stuffed grape...
Will 2018 usher in a new Palestinian strategy?
January 5th, 20180 By Ramzy Baroud 2017 will be remembered as the year that the so-called "peace process", at least in its American formulation, ended. And with its demise, a political framework that has served as the foundation for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has also collapsed. The Palestinian leadership and its Arab and international...
Taking stock as we begin a new year
January 5th, 20180 By Lee H. Hamilton This may seem odd, but as I look ahead to a year we all know will be momentous, you want to know what I feel most strongly? Gratitude. I'll tell you in a moment how much work we have ahead of us to strengthen our country. But I'm mindful of just how strong we already are. A resilient economy has been performing...
Everything wrong with the reaction to Ahed Tamimi’s prosecution
January 5th, 20181 Where were the international calls for compassion, the reminders that this was a potentially traumatized child? By Hiba Khan Everyone now knows that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi slapped an Israeli soldier. How many of us know about the events that led up to this? Telling half of a story can be more of an injustice than fabricating the......
What happens if Trump does stop aid to Palestinians?
January 5th, 20180 By Ali Abunimah A million Palestinians in Gaza depend on UNRWA emergency food rations. That number soared from just 80,000 in 2000, after years of Israeli siege and military assaults on the territory. What would happen if Donald Trump carries out his threats to stop U.S. aid to Palestinians? If he means a cutoff of U.S. funding...
What to Look For in 2018
December 22nd, 20170 By Lee H. Hamilton This was an interesting year that's just passed, wasn't it? And here's the thing: I suspect 2018 will be just as intriguing. Let's start with some good news. The economy had a good year in 2017, seeing overall growth, subdued inflation, progress on wages and even some signs that economic growth is reaching the......
Whitewashing: The media’s two narratives on terrorism
December 22nd, 20170 By Ramzy Baroud Within hours after Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant, allegedly detonated a pipe bomb in New York City on December 11, severely injuring himself and wounding four others, a most comprehensive official and media narrative emerged. The formulation of the narrative concerning Ullah's motives, radicalization and...
Both parties pushed Trump toward reckless action on Jerusalem
December 22nd, 20170 By Stephen Zunes President Trump announced on Wednesday, Dec. 6 that the United States will formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy would be moved to that multi-ethnic and multi-faith city. No other government in the world formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital or has its embassy......
