Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

A staunch supporter of Israel. Back in 2015, Richard Seymour wrote: “From the Guardian to the Express, from the New Statesman’s craven toeing of the Blairite line to the lies in supposedly neutral dailies like the Metro, from the Sun’s made-up “exclusives” to the queue of Labour MPs and liberal pundits lining up to spew bile for the Daily Mail, from Tory attack ads to the Telegraph screaming for Corbyn’s head, the media and the political class have near-total unanimity in their ferocious anti-socialism. I know we call them “the bourgeois media,” but not even the most crass, petty-minded Stalinist apparatchik could have produced a caricature as venomous and despicable as our lot. You can’t understand the reasons for this in simple commercial terms. It isn’t about securing advertising accounts or selling copy. Nor is it simply about the short-term interests of their proprietors. It is primarily about their integration into the party-political machinery. It is about their dependence on, a...

Joseph Daher, author of "Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanon’s Party of God", said that Iran’s decision to once again launch a direct attack on Israeli soil – one that he said had had little impact on the country’s military capabilities – likely served more than one purpose. “We have to understand this 'retaliation' from Iran in two aspects,” he said. “Firstly, as a way to reaffirm a form of deterrence against Israel and in response to the numerous attacks of Israel against Iran directly or against Iranian-related targets. And secondly, to maintain this connection in the so-called Axis of Resistance by acting in favour of Tehran's network of influence in the region – especially Hezbollah. Because there were rising criticisms among Hezbollah’s popular base, basically asking, ‘What is Iran doing against the rising attacks, against this escalation of violence against Lebanon?’. That said, this ‘retaliation’ will not stop Israeli war on Lebanon.” Daher said t...

‘The first genocide in history to be televised and openly supported by the West’

‘ The decaying American empire ’ argument is disputable. The comparison with the collapse of the Soviet Union misses the different economic structures of the two countries. The US economic power has not been experiencing a long term stagnation, for example.  Actually, the argument should be the way around: in 1980s there was no ‘whip of external necessity’ compelling the US to outcompete the Soviet Union. The latter was not an economic threat to the US. Today China is the ‘external whip’ but to an already more powerful American economy – a dynamic one in terms of capital-intensive industries, productivity and an array of industrially-advanced allies and subordinates.

“The issue with Iranian capitalism is not economic; it is political, ideological, and governmental .”  You cannot separate the economy from the other three or make secondsry: They are all in the same bundle and in interaction. 

“It’s no secret that Biden’s push for a Saudi deal is largely about escalating its proxy war against Iran and “great power competition” with China .”

A very good article Capital’s Emirates

Rules of the game

These same Arab nations  [sic] are now pivotal in stopping Israel from further escalating the war after Iran’s missile and drone attack. *The states decided not the nations. And those states are by no means representative of their respective population even when measuring representation by bourgeois democracy.

A regional war led by the US and a hot of Arab regimes, UK, in defence of Israel Related “Though the U.S. created the conditions that may have encouraged Netanyahu’s gambit , it was reportedly Israel, acting on its own behalf, without coordination with its allies, that precipitated the latest grave escalation.”

A sample: the Metro, which is owned by the same people who own the Daily Mail. Some people injured are called “a rain of terror”. 

“Consider the outcry from UK feminists over the tragic case of Iran’s Mahsa Amini, who was punished for her ‘improper’ hijab, leading to her death.  Like many, I was incensed by the injustice she faced. The global reaction to Amini’s ordeal sparked a significant feminist movement, with solidarity in the UK, as   activists staged  dramatic hair-cutting protests in the heart of London.  Yet, the dire situation facing Palestinian women and children in Gaza has not benefitted from similarly loud and passionate advocacy. It’s as though feminist ire and power selectively rears its head for issues that fit a decidedly western narrative of liberation – leaving others, such as those in Palestine, in the shadows. Draped in the lofty notion of ‘liberation’, it often imposes western values on women around the globe, leaving chaos in its wake.”

Asymmetries

A must-read analysis

Note that the Associated Press is aligned with the dominant narrative of Western corporate media and politicians calling the Israeli war on Palestinians ‘an Israeli-Hamas war’.

Abraham Accords “were less peace deals than just straightforward trades. In some cases, they were ransoms: unelected Arab leaders would recognize Israel, a state they no longer had any ideological stake in opposing, in return for a significant diplomatic concession. Morocco would enter the accords in return for the United States recognizing their  occupation  of Western Sahara. Sudan would sign their name to the deal in  return  for the United States removing them from the state sponsors of terrorism list. Saudi Arabia, the geopolitical kingmaker of the Gulf Arab states, is gunning for the biggest payout of them all .”

Campaign to free teacher unionists

“At its peak, the uprising attracted global media coverage, which tended to reduce it to a liberal feminist struggle for legal rights already enjoyed by middle-class white women in the Western world.” “ Over 90 percent of national industries have been sold to the private sector…” “80 percent of workers’ employment contracts have become temporary.” According to the  the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA)  report of 2022 , 95 percent of workers in Iran are on fixed-term contracts. “At this point, state intervention is limited to repression aimed at protecting the interests of the capitalists closely tied to the regime.” “Iran ranks 102 in the world in workers’ safety.” The reason Workers at Crouse manufacturer of car parts are on “extremely low wages lies in the fact that women make up 70 percent of the company’s labor force.  They must work on their feet for 10 hours per day, and the use of cell phones is prohibited..” Protest and labour struggle Related Protesting Clerical ...

An interview with the editor of the book Samer S. Shehata

One of the striking aspects of Boroujerdi's vision is his focus on the history of Iran before Islam, which is counter to the administration and those clerics close to it, who attempt to ignore ancient Persian civilisation. Boroujerdi highlights the significance of the Cyrus cylinder, a sixth century BCE document recognised by the United Nations, which notes that the texts "indicate that everyone is entitled to freedom and choice and that all individuals should respect one another". "I praise the Cyrus cylinder, while some people believe that [there is nothing valuable before Islam]. This is not right," Boroujerdi has said. Cyrus II of Persia  (c. 600-530 BCE), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, founded the Achaemenid Empire, the First Persian Empire. Excavated at Babylon in 1879, the cylinder was inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform on Cyrus's orders. It promotes human rights, tolerance, courage and the respect of minorities. Boroujerdi also defends the Mahsa ...