100 years since the death of Vladimir Lenin

Joseph Kishore

January 22, 2024

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin. Lenin ranks among the most remarkable figures in world history. He was the theoretical and political genius who founded the Bolshevik Party and led a revolution that not only transformed Russia and created the Soviet Union, but gave an immense impulse to all the revolutionary political struggles of the 20th century.

Paradigm Shift: A Time of Universal Lunacy and Deceit

Paul Edwards

January 21, 2024

An astonishing thing has happened in America that has never occurred in the lifetime of anyone now living.  No, it’s not the crushing win of Trump in Iowa, nor the absurd determination of Democrats to run the senile ninny who has made a joke of our Presidency for another term.  These, in their way astonishing, are mere trivialities in this time of universal lunacy and deceit.

 

‘Refuse to fight’: Jewish, Arab activists call for peace in Israel’s Haifa

Aljazeera

January 20, 2024

Israeli Jews and Palestinian Israelis come together to demand an end to the war on Gaza.

 

People hold placards and shout slogans as they take part in a protest calling for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa on Saturday [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

Why Joe Biden Is a Foreign Policy Failure

JeffreyD. Sachs

January 17, 2024

Only an exceptional president could resist the endless war-profiteering of this mammoth war machine; alas, Biden doesn’t even try.

 

An anniversary West would rather forget

M.K. BHADRAKUMAR
January 16, 2024

On the 75th anniversary of the battle that lifted the Siege of Leningrad in World War 2, people walk in snowfall to the Motherland monument to place flowers at the Piskaryovskoye Cemetery where the victims were buried, St. Petersburg, Russia, January 26, 2019

Half a Million Gazans Are Suffering From Acute Hunger. Let That Sink In

Nir Gontarz

January 19, 2024

The scope of the crisis in Gaza is becoming clearer; according to the UN, Israel is creating conditions that are making life in Gaza impossible; but Israeli leaders are unbothered

 

Gaza’s Oldest Mosque, Destroyed in Israeli Airstrike, was once a Pagan Temple, a Church and had Jewish Engravings

Stephennie Mulder

January 18, 2024

The Omari Mosque in Gaza was largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Dec. 8, 2023. It was one of the most ancient mosques in the region and a beloved Gazan landmark.

 

Einstein’s 7 rules for a better life

Ethan Siegel

The most celebrated genius in human history didn't just revolutionize physics, but taught many valuable lessons about living a better life.

 

Israel’s right to tyranny

AmjadIraqi

January 17, 2024

In justifying the violent unraveling of Gaza as ‘self-defense,’ Western capitals have once again signed off on Israelis’ license to act like despots.

 

The Zionist Plan for the Middle East

Translatedand and edited by Israel Shahak

The Association of Arab-American University Graduates finds it compelling to inaugurate its new publication series, Special Documents, with Oded Yinon's article which appeared in Kivunim (Directions), the journal of the Department of Information of the World Zionist Organization. Oded Yinon is an Israeli journalist and was formerly attached to the Foreign Ministry of Israel. To our knowledge, this document is the most explicit, detailed and unambiguous statement to date of the Zionist strategy in the Middle East. Furthermore, it stands as an accurate representation of the "vision" for the entire Middle East of the presently ruling Zionist regime of Begin, Sharon and Eitan. Its importance, hence, lies not in its historical value but in the nightmare which it presents.

The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel's satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.

 

رژیم حاکم بر ایران

دیشب به یک میهمانی منزل یکی‌ از دوستان ایرانی‌ رفته بودم، که البته اکثریت به اتفاق میهمانان دیگر نیز ایرانی‌ بودند. پس از خوش و بش‌های جاری، و طبق معمول صحبت از مردم در ایران شد. بر اساس  اخباری که از داخل ایران می‌رسد، سطح درآمد مردم بسیار پایین آمده، بیکاری بیداد می‌کند، و در زیر نعلین این ملاها مردم مجبور هستند که با مشقت و زجر، و تحت بدترین شرایط زندگی‌ کنند. علاوه بر فشار مالی و پایین آمدن سطح زندگی‌ افراد، به دلیل فشار دولت در مورد حجاب و سایر دستورات ضد انسانیِ دین پلید اسلام، به زجر و آزار مردم افزوده شده است. این البته وضعیت مشقت بار داخلی‌ است. از طرف دیگر، تحقیر و اعلام خطرِ هر روزهٔ اسرائیل و آمریکا در مورد حمله به ایران، به دلیل حمایت رژیم از ملل تحت ستم جهان، از جمله ملت‌های آفریقائی و مردم فلسطین و سایر اقشار تحت فشار و مظلوم، مردم ایران را با ناباوری و عدم اطمینان به آینده‌ای روشن قرار میدهد.ا

Bombing Gaza Isn’t Fighting Sexual Violence

Heidi Matthews –Tanya Serisier

January 16, 2024

As the human catastrophe in Gaza deepens, Israel and its allies are mobilizing evidence of sexual violence committed by members of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on October 7 to justify continued military action. When the Security Council failed to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire on December 8, Israel government spokesperson Eylon Levy tweeted: “Thank you to the United States of America for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution designed to keep Hamas’ rapist regime in power.” In the wake of its case at the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of genocide Levy accused South Africa of complicity with a “rapist regime.”

What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Have To Say on Gaza?

MichaelMcBride

January 15, 2024

He insisted in 1967 that it was morally imperative for the US to stop its role in the Vietnam war. He would be calling for Biden to demand a ceasefire now.

Israel’s war on Gaza live: Israeli assault continues on 100th day of war

JosephStepansky

January 14, 2024

·        Israel’s relentless attack on Gaza continues with 125 Palestinians killed and 265 wounded over the past 24 hours.

·        Pro-Palestinian protests around the world over the weekend – from Johannesburg to Washington, DC – call for an end to the war on Gaza.

·        Dozens of arrests as Israeli bulldozers enter Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

·        At least 23,968 people have been killed and more than 60,582 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

 

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

JeffreyD. Sachs

December 26, 2023

The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.

  

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield abstains during a vote to approve a resolution that "demands" all sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict allow the "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale" at UN headquarters in New York on December 22, 2023.

(Photo by Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza Cease-Fire Now! No Wider War

Joseph Gerson

January 13, 2024

we must join the majority of the world’s nations in building pressure on Biden and Netanyahu to declare a ceasefire, to deluge Gaza with the food, water, medicines, and fuel essential for life. We must do this with everything we've got and we must do it now.

  

Little Amal, a 3.5 metre-tall giant puppet representing a ten-year-old Syrian refugee child, joins tens of thousands of protesters marching through central London in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand an immediate ceasefire to end the war on Gaza in London, United Kingdom on January 13, 2024.

(Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Labor organizers explain why they’re marching on DC for Palestine

Maximillian Alvarez

January 12, 2024

For these rank-and-file union members, solidarity with Palestine is a necessity for the labor movement.

 

Men lock arms and shout slogans during a demonstration of solidarity with Palestinians. Demonstrators gathered in Freedom Plaza for a rally supporting Palestinians in Washington, DC, on November 4, 2023. Photo by ALI KHALIGH/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s “Women, Life, Freedom Movement” is still Resilient

Roodabeh Dehghani

January 12, 2024

Ottawa (Special to Informed Comment) – The term “social movements” typically evoke the idea of political activities in a sphere separate from culture, but social movements are closely related to values, ways of living, ethics, and more broadly culture. Among new social movement scholars, there is a growing recognition that social movements have more cultural impact than is reflected in the field.  Moreover, since the symbolic dimension of culture is part of policies and practices in all spheres, social movements are increasingly acknowledged to exert cultural influence not only in political and economic realms but also in non-political domains such as the spheres of art, music, education, fashion, and more. This paper seeks to discuss the Women, Life, Freedom movement in a broader context of culture and everyday practices, to explore what sense we can make of it one year after its emergence, and to see what it tells us about the prospect of Women’s freedom movements in Iran. The discussion begins with an overview of the contextual background.

 

How to Create an Unlivable Hellscape in Gaza

JoshuaFrank

January 11, 2024

Israel is now keeping its promise that it would act like it was "fighting human animals."

 

A man carries a propane gas cylinder on his back while walking through debris and destruction littering a street in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)

SA’s Impassioned Plea to Stop Israel’s Genocide

JoeLauria

January 11, 2024

Lawyers for South Africa argued before the World Court in The Hague on Thursday why Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and why the court must stop them now, reports Joe Lauria.

 

 Adila Hassim, attorney for South Africa, addressing the World Court, with the Israel delegation looking on. (UN TV screenshot)