Book Review: The New Tsar

By: Steven Lee Myers

This is a biography of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s most powerful government official. The title of the book is supposed to imply Putin as a dictator, as all the Tsars were. This trend continues throughout the book, although the character of this person, and his desire to promote Russia to its former status, Soviet Union, is clearly explained throughout the book.

The Real Gaza Death Toll

Ralph Nader

March 7, 2024

 

The Remarkable Decline in the Global North’s Leadership

VijayPrashad

March 6, 2024

 

Survivors of Gaza aid convoy massacre describe ‘indiscriminate’ Israeli fire

Mahmoud Mushtaha

March 5, 2024

In the early hours of Feb. 29, more than 110 Palestinians were killed and several hundred wounded in northern Gaza when a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid reached Gaza City, where a starving crowd had amassed near the coast. Israel immediately denied responsibility for the casualties, releasing edited drone footage purporting to show that its forces “didn’t open fire on those seeking aid” and shot only at “several individuals” who “posed a threat”; instead, Israel accused the Palestinians of “trampling other Gazans to death.” However, testimonies gathered by +972 Magazine from Palestinians who survived what they are calling the “starvation massacre” describe Israeli forces opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd.

Is Tehran Winning the Middle East? How the Gaza Conflict Made Democracy’s Name Mud for Millions

Juan Cole

March 4, 2024

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In the midst of Israel’s ongoing devastation of Gaza, one major piece of Middle Eastern news has yet to hit the headlines. In a face-off that, in a sense, has lasted since the pro-American Shah of Iran was overthrown by theocratic clerics in 1979, Iran finally seems to be besting the United States in a significant fashion across the region. It’s a story that needs to be told.

Israel intensifies strikes on Khan Yunis as troops push deeper into city

TheCradle

March 3, 2024

The US joined other countries in dropping aid to Gaza by air on 2 March, an effort that aid groups describe as "theater" that contributes to chaos on the ground and does little to prevent the famine Israel is imposing upon 2.3 million Palestinians.

Hundreds of lawmakers worldwide demand cutting arms sales to Israel

Cradle.co
March 1, 2024
Over 200 MPs from 12 states signed a letter urging their governments to impose a ban on weapons sales to Israel.

As a Palestinian With Family in Gaza, I Don’t Want Sympathy. I Want Solidarity.

AshjanAjour

March 2, 2024

Amid the genocide in Gaza, some of my Western friends have expressed their sympathy for my family members in Gaza whose house was destroyed and who have endured repeated displacement. They have also expressed their empathy with Israelis and called for peace.

 

Israeli settlers cross into Gaza, build ‘symbolic’ outpost

Oren Ziv

March 1, 2024

Over 100 Israelis stormed Erez Crossing at the northern tip of Gaza yesterday afternoon in the most significant attempt to re-establish Jewish settlements in the Strip since the war began. A small number managed to cross several hundred meters into Gaza before being intercepted by Israeli soldiers, while around 20 others entered the area between the two walls comprising the barrier that encages the Strip. There, they established an “outpost” in the style seen commonly in the West Bank, building for several hours without the army or police interfering. 

Israel’s war on Gaza live: ‘Life draining out of Gaza’ – UN on aid shooting

Federica Marsi,Usaid Siddiqui, Ali Harb and Brian Osgood

February 29, 2024

Why leap years exist, explained in one simple animation

BrianResnick

Yes, 2024 is a leap year, which is usually momentous, and not just for the people born on February 29 who only get to celebrate their actual birthdate every four years. Leap years also typically coincide with the US presidential election and the Summer Olympic Games. This year, people in the US will also get to see a rare total solar eclipse darken the skies. To top it off, the sun is also nearing the peak of its 11-year magnetic cycle, upping the potential for solar storms. It makes sense that such a jam-packed year should get an extra day.

 

دومین سالگرد جنگ اوکراین؛ چرا آمریکا دنبال ادامه‌ درگیری روسیه و اوکراین است؟

Persiancricn

February 29, 2024

بسیاری از کارشناسان بین‌المللی به درستی واشنگتن را بازیگر اصلی ائتلاف بزرگی می‌دانند که خواستار تشدید تنش‌ها در اوکراین است. ائتلافی که از طریق تزریق سلاح به میدان جنگ در صدد ادامه‌دار کردن این جنگ تا آینده نامعلوم است.ا

‘Groundbreaking’: Michigan’s uncommitted vote for Gaza should ‘worry’ Biden

Ali Harb and Joseph Stepansky

February 28, 2024

In the Michigan city known as the capital of Arab America, United States President Joe Biden came second in the Democratic primaries, in a vote hailed as “groundbreaking”.

 

 Activist Natalia Latif tapes a 'Vote Uncommitted' sign on the speaker's podium during a primary election night gathering in Dearborn, Michigan, on February 27 [Rebecca Cook/Reuters]

Biden has been bad for Palestinians. Trump would be worse.

ZackBeauchamp

February 27, 2024

During the war in Gaza, President Joe Biden has taken a consistently pro-Israel line. He traveled to Israel after the October 7 attack, provided the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with huge quantities of munitions, refused to publicly call for an indefinite ceasefire, and vetoed UN resolutions it opposed. This all reflects the president’s strongly held personal beliefs on the need to support the Jewish state and the idea that public support for Israel gives America greater behind-the-scenes leverage.

A sign outside an Israeli settlement in the Golan Heights named “Trump Heights,” photographed in 2019.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Gaza and Ghosts of the Bronze Age

Ellen Taylor

February 27, 2024

Alexander the Great razed Gaza to the ground in the 3rd century BC. He was in a towering rage  because Gaza, unlike most of the other cities  he passed through on his way to Egypt, had been defiant, and  had closed its gates. The  King was further incensed  by the skill of  Gazan raiding parties: they  sped out of  the  city gates on their  light Arabian horses, across the sand, which  encumbered the feet of the heavy  Macedonian  steeds.  They were superb archers, and a  Gazan arrow  made a serious wound in Alexander’s shoulder.

 

The War on Gaza: Public Relations vs. Reality

RobertKoehler

February 26, 2024

For its victims, war is . . . yes, hell. For the rest of us – the onlooking and supportive patriots – war is an abstraction embedded in ignorance, a.k.a., public relations, served up for public consumption.

Red Sea attacks in Sympathy with Gaza Escalate as Yemeni Houthis’ Resilience Surprises Biden

Juan Cole

February 26, 2024

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Helpers of God (Ansar Allah) or Houthis in Yemen are proving a bigger challenge for the Biden Administration’s attempt to run interference for the Israeli atrocities in Gaza than Washington had expected. Just Monday morning the Yemeni forces fired a ballistic missile at the US-owned and -operated M/V Torm Thor, an oil tanker, but it fell short. The leadership say they are hitting Red Sea traffic as a protest against Israel’s war against Gaza. Enormous crowds in the hundreds of thousands have demonstrated in Sanaa and other cities against the Israeli campaign against Gaza, which the International Criminal Court has ruled may be a genocide.

‘People say I’m naive, antisemitic, a traitor’: Israeli teen jailed for draft refusal

Oren Ziv

February 26, 2024

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US Airman Self-Immolates in Front of Israeli Embassy, Yelling “Free Palestine”

Sharon Zhang

February 26, 2024

An active duty member of the U.S. Air Force self-immolated while yelling “free Palestine” in a tragic protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday afternoon. Aaron Bushnell, of San Antonio, Texas, was 25 years old and died later that day.

Ayo Walker / Truthout; Adapted: Humanizing Through Story, via Facebook

US Anti-Terror Law Has Stigmatized Palestinians as “Terrorists” Since 1969

Mike Ludwig

February 25, 2024

The word “terrorism” first appeared in a U.S. federal law in 1969. Introduced by a Zionist congressman from New York who claimed “terrorists” were training children in refugee camps for the Palestinians forced from their homes by Israel, the provision banned U.S. humanitarian aid from benefiting any refugee who received military training from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) or “has engaged in any act of terror.”