by JOSHUA LANDIS for MONDOWEISS (FACEBOOK RESPONSE) on MAY 8, 2013: Joshua Landis is a leading opponent of U.S. intervention in Syria. Last week we did a post faulting NPR’s Melissa Block for bringing up Landis’s marriage to an Alawite woman during an interview with him and Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. [...]
via PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE on APRIL 30, 2013: (Executive Summary excerpt) A new Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe finds that most adherents of the world’s second-largest religion are deeply committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their personal lives but also their societies [...]
via THE BRITISH INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF IRAQ, on APRIL 10, 2013: Without memory, how can we know who we are? This is the question that drives Dr Saad Eskander, LSE-trained historian and, since 2003, Director of the Iraqi National Library and Archives. Saad talks passionately of the imperative to locate, preserve and digitise as [...]
by OLIVER MAKSAN for ANKAWA.COM on FEBRUARY 20, 2013: Q) Your Excellency, ten years after the American-led invasion of Iraq many Christians are saying: Saddam was definitely a dictator, but the situation under him was better than the chaos we have experienced since. Do you agree? Archbishop Nona: “The present situation in Iraq is the result [...]
by OMAR KARMI for THE NATIONAL on MARCH 29, 2013: Not long ago, it would have prompted an avalanche of commentary – angry, worried or exculpatory. But the conviction last month of three Muslims from Birmingham for plotting a terrorist attack the prosecution said would have been more devastating than the 2005 London bombings that [...]
Juan Cole: Can the Boston Bombings Increase Our Sympathy for Iraq and Syria, for All Such Victims?
by JUAN COLE for INFORMED COMMENT on APRIL 16, 2013: The horrific bombings of the Boston Marathon produced inspiring images of a spirited, brave Boston refusing to be cowed. Some spectators surged forward toward the danger to apply tourniquets, offer first aid, share blankets, and later to give blood, for the victims. President Obama followed [...]
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