What do countries call themselves? The stories behind their original names

February 21, 2025
Alma Milisic and Mohamed A. Hussein
Around half of the world’s countries have native or local names that differ from their English versions, often reflecting their history, geography or cultural identity.

UK Society of Authors’ Lukewarm Response to Israeli Raid on Palestinian Bookshop Provokes Resignation

February 20, 2025
( Middle East Monitor ) – British travel writer Matthew Teller has resigned from the Society of Authors (SoA) in protest at the organisation’s response to Israel’s arrest of Palestinian booksellers in occupied East Jerusalem.

As Suppression of Dissent Increases, Know Your Rights If the FBI Comes Knocking

February 19, 2025
Schuyler Mitchell
Mara Sapon-Shevin always wondered if she had an FBI file. For more than 40 years, the Syracuse University professor has been a political activist for Palestinian liberation, first organizing with New Jewish Agenda and later with Jewish Voice for Peace.

Making America Sick Again: How Trump’s Drastic Layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control cripple our Response to Norovirus, Measles Outbreaks

February 20, 2025
Jordan Miller
(The Conversation) – In just a few short weeks, the Trump administration has brought drastic changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health. Beginning with the removal of websites and key public health datasets in January 2025, the Trump administration has taken actions to dismantle established public health infrastructure as part of its second-term agenda.

Restoring Maximum Pressure: Can Iran withstand the economic squeeze?

February 20, 2025
Vali Kaleji
The Trump administration has reimposed its maximum pressure campaign on Iran, triggering a currency crash, soaring inflation, and worsening energy shortages, while Tehran scrambles to offset the impact by reducing dependence on oil exports (resistance economy) and strengthening economic ties with China and Russia. 

One Month into Life

I have been here, in this hellish world, for a month now. I don't know how much longer I have to be here, but I hope not for too long.

Outrage after UK academics address Israeli university closely tied to military

February 19, 2025
Imran Mulla
Dibyesh Anand and Nitasha Kaul, academics at the University of Westminster, defended their decision to speak at a conference organised by Tel Aviv University

 

 Israeli soldiers detain a youth in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on 19 February (AFP)

Why Washington’s global dominance is hanging by a thread

February 19, 2025
Hossam el-Hamalawy
The launch of the Gaza war in October 2023 and the ensuing genocide puzzled many around the globe for different reasons. Some in the Arab world and elsewhere were perplexed that the West—particularly the US, Israel’s biggest sponsor—seemed “helpless” and “unable” to stop Israel and enforce a ceasefire for more than a year.

 An effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump dressed as a jester is seen at a protest in Washington, DC, on 5 February 2025 (Drew Angerer/AFP)

One month into Israel’s West Bank offensive, violence and uncertainty are the new normal

February 18, 2025
Qassam Muaddi
Israel has killed 55 Palestinians after one month of its ongoing “Iron Wall” offensive in the West Bank. Killings, mass displacement, and uncertainty are the new normal.

 

Mourners carry the bodies of six Palestinians killed during an Israeli air strike the previous day on Jenin’s refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, on January 15, 2025. The Palestinian health ministry said on January 14 that an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp killed six people, including a teenager, with the Israeli military confirming it carried out an attack in the area. (Wahaj Bani Moufleh / Activestills)

New Administration Tells AARP Social Security Payments Are Protected

February 18, 2025
Andy Markowitz
67 million Americans receive benefits that they have earned

Federal workers organize against billionaire power grab

February 18, 2025
Joe Demanuelle-Hall
“I’ve never seen a billionaire put out a forest fire. … So I don’t trust a billionaire to decide what happens to our public services—and that’s why we’re fighting to get this billionaire’s hands out of them.” 

 

 Protesters rally outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on February 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Forced displacement of Palestinians from occupied West Bank 'largest since 1967'

February 17, 2025
Tens of thousands have been expelled from several West Bank cities and camps as Israeli forces ramp up their destruction and killing in the territory 

Behind Trump Tariffs Is Capital’s Warfare Against the Working Class

 February 17, 2025
William I. Robinson
Trump’s tariffs will escalate exploitation and desperation of US workers. That’s the point.

Demonstrators gather outside of the Office of Personnel Management to protest federal layoffs and demand the termination of Elon Musk from the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) in Washington, D.C., on February 7, 2025. Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP

A President’s Day Card

February 17, 2025

Elliot Sperber

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber

LIVE BLOG: Three Police Officers Killed in Rafah | Marc Rubio Arrives in Israel – Day 499

February 16, 2025

Killed               62,403
Wounded        111,638

The Gaza Genocide and the Unravelling of US Hegemony

February 15, 2025
Nasim Ahmed

Trump/Musk Dictatorship Is Galvanizing the American People’s Resistance

February 14, 2025
Ralph Nader
Madmen Trump and Musk are moving with warp speed to illegally and dictatorially wreck America and enrich themselves in the process. Forget the use of the terms “autocracy” and “constitutional crisis.” This is a savage dictatorship, getting worse by the day. Trump is attacking the courts, ignoring Congress run by a cowardly GOP, pushing to cut off critical assistance for tens of millions of Americans, devastating health, safety, food (Meals on Wheels), education (Head Start), and Medicaid insurance protections.

Gaza is not for sale

February 14, 2025
Lorenzo Maria Pacini
In the midst of one of humanity’s most disastrous crises, Donald Trump has found the courage to make very aggressive statements toward Palestine. We had no doubt, the American goal remains the same.

Tomorrow Belongs To Me: On Boogers and Bullshit

February 14, 2025
Abby Zimet
In a freakish snapshot of the GOP's descent into brutal, gonzo nihilism, this week saw the brash Nazi-Oligarch-in-Chief helming an Oval Office presser to hype his political, economic, cultural demolition of democracy "in compliance with the President’s executive orders" - no more health care or feeding hungry kids, lots of Kid Rock - as his four-year-old son wiped boogers on the Resolute desk where an impassive, discomfited Trump sat in the "most powerless image of a President ever." Nothing to see here.

Tehran imposes tit-for-tat ban on Lebanese planes, calls on Beirut to restore permission for Iranian flights

February 14, 2025

The Lebanese government has suspended Iranian flights to Beirut after the Israeli army claimed Tehran was smuggling clash to Hezbollah