middle east

Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan and the creator of Informed Comment Blog explains the different factions fighting ISIL in Mosul. How ISIL is using Civilians as human shields. How many ISIL fighters are there in Mosul? The future of ISIL after it loses territory. What is Turkey’s role in Iraq?  What Iraq’s government […]
Intercept co-founder, journalist and author of the new book The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program, Jeremy Schaill explains the leaks delivered to the Intercept that reveal the Obama Administration’s global assassination program. How the Obama Administration’s metric for measuring deaths in drone strikes excludes measuring civilian deaths. The documents that reveal how […]
Guardian columnist and author of the new book Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe (buy it on Jet.comor Amazon) Antony Lowenstein explains what “disaster capitalism” means. Privatization and the European and American strategy to make life harder for refugees. How Western policy feeds the refugee crisis in the Middle East. The corporations who benefit from disaster capitalism. Colonial […]
Padraig O’Malley the author of  The Two-State Delusion: Israel and Palestine – A Tale of Two Narratives will explains why the conflicting narratives of Israelis and Palestinians undermines political solutions. How fear and humiliation define the conflict. Why the Two States solution is almost impossible and why the Occupation needs to end now. On The Fun Half: […]
We lost Cliff Schecter due to a bad phone connection. But, no problem, Sam explains the historic importance and power of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality. Justice Kennedy’s decision and the Living Constitution. Justice Scalia throws a tantrum and the House passes Trade Adjustment Assistance. Filmmaker, Giovanni Zelko, explains the thinking […]
Journalist Trudy Lieberman, explains why opponents and supporters of the Affordable Care Act are both spreading myths about the ACA. Is Obamacare unaffordable for many middle class consumers? Debating the costs of healthcare. How many families are choosing to take the penalty because the costs are to high? Why the Medicaid expansion is the best […]
Journalist Nida Khan explains the importance of Bill Maher’s Gaza and women beating tweet, how opinion on the Middle East is shifting through social media, the death toll in Gaza, creating space for progressive Israeli voices in American media and the possibility of a ceasefire. Also the latest on the shooting down of flight MH17 […]
Foreign Policy journalist Ali Gharib explains why President Obama might be planning a drone war in Iraq, Obama’s secret wars, the failures of Bush and Obama’s foreign policies, why no one is addressing the roots of terrorism and what happens next in Iraq. Also a Church seeks new members with an assault rifle raffle On […]
On today’s best of, Author of Lawrence In Arabia, Scott Anderson, explained: the slow death of the Ottoman Empire, the four distinct forces driving western intervention in the region, what compelled Lawrence of Arabia to turn against the British, and the line of delusional thinking that helped shape American foreign policy. Also for Members Only! A conversation with […]
Journalist Max Blumenthal explains why he wrote his new book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, understanding the key institutions of Israeli society, Israeli education, what drives Benjamin Netanyahu, the human rights crisis in Israel Palestine now, why so many Israeli’s live abroad, the rise of the far right in Israel and why it dominates […]