Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

" It is critical to recognize and fight against the unique elements of Trump’s extremism, but also to acknowledge that a substantial portion of it has roots in political and cultural developments that long precede him. Immigration horror stories — including families being torn apart — are nothing new. As ABC News  noted last August , “The Obama administration has deported more people than any other president’s administration in history. In fact, they have deported more than the sum of all the presidents of the 20th century.” And the reason Trump is able so easily to tap into a groundswell of anti-Muslim fears and bigotry is because they have been cultivated for 16 years as the central fuel driving the war on terror. There are  factions on both the center-left and right  that are primarily devoted to demonizing Muslims and Islam. A government can get away with bombing, invading, and droning the same group of people for more than 15 years only by constantly demonizing and dehuman

Departing Obama tearfully shoos a loyal drone

" No one would accuse this incumbent of want of humane feeling: tears for the death of schoolchildren in New England have moved the nation, and appeals for gun control converted not a few. If a great many more children, most without even schools, have died at his own hands in Ghazni or Waziristan, that is no reason for loss of presidential sleep. Predators are more accurate than automatic rifles, and the Pentagon can always express an occasional regret. The logic of empire, not the unction of the ruler, sets the moral standard." — Perry Anderson, "Predator drone: American foreign policy under Obama"

Predator drone: American foreign policy under Obama "Under Obama, drones became the weapon of choice for the White House, the Predators of “Task Force Liberty” raining Hellfire missiles on suspect villages in the Northwest Frontier, wiping out women and children along with warriors in the ongoing battle against terrorism: seven times more covert strikes than launched by the Republican administration. Determined to show he could be as tough as Bush, Obama readied for war with Pakistan should it resist the US raid dispatched to kill Bin Laden in Abbottabad, for domestic purposes the leading trophy in his conduct of international affairs.   Assassinations by drone, initiated under his predecessor, became the Nobel laureate’s trademark. In his first term, Obama ordered one such execution every four days — over ten times the rate under Bush. The War on Terror, now rebaptized at presidential instruction “Overseas Contingency Operations” — a coinage to rank with the “Enhanced Interr

Against Diversity This was written in 2008. It is good to remember what has produced Trumpism.

An interview with Leila al-Shami

Syria: the ground zero for a new world order

O Black Messiah, O Noble Peace Laureate, O Prince of Peace (O Full of Shit)  O International Criminal

Libya: Creative Destruction 1 Libya: Creative Destruction 2

Music and sounds from the Middle East and North Africa. Iran's Nuclear Threat is a Lie , says John Pilger. Unilever PG Tips Monkey on London Casual-T Tour

Israel-Palestine, settlements expansion, peace talks, Obama' policies in the Middle East, social unrest in Egypt, Lebanon. The State and religion in Egypt. Views by: Amr Hamzawy senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and co-editor with Marina Ottaway of a recent book: "Getting to Pluralism Political Actors" and Jean Shaoul, professor at Manchester University and contributor to the World Socialist Website. Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide)

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) " The Good War? Afghanistan in the media ". Listen to columnist Seumas Milne from the Guardian newspaper (UK) speaking in a public meeting organised by Media Workers Against the War and Stop the War Coalition. (Friends Meeting House, London 13 July 2009). Ishmahil Blagrove, a filmmaker and public speaker, speaks about his recent attempt to enter Gaza, his arrest in an Isareli prison, and the aim of the trip which was organised by 21 activists from 11 countries including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Maguire, in order to deliver a cargo of medical aid, toys and building supplies. Labour news from Egypt

Imran Aslam, veteran Pakistani journalist and President of Geo TV, Pakistan’s premier television news channel, and Kamran Ali, Associate Professor Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at University of Austin in Texas talked to Shahram Aghamir of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on KPFA Radion in Berkeley in the United States. Imran Aslam and Kamran Ali discuss the U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the role of regional players such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and India in the war in Afghanistan.

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) The Iranian Revolution: Thirty Years on. In this first part two Iranians talk about the student movement and their experience. Dissection of Hillary Clinton's first visit to the Middle East as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.