Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

' Cultural Marxism': a uniting theory for rightwingers who love to play the victim

I laughed when I read this: " The good news is that the Pentagon is wiping out Somali insurgents on the ground and from the air. The bad news is that al-Shabab keeps coming back stronger."  — Foreignpolicy.com, March 11

The Middle East: a summary " Military primacy, and the routine use of deadly military force, remains the cornerstone of US foreign policy in the Middle East. The 2015 nuclear non-proliferation accord with Iran represents a rare yet fleeting bright moment for diplomacy in a region where wars—in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen—and the mass displacement of peoples continue unchecked. The United States has done much to precipitate the violence through its unjustifiable and destructive 2003 invasion of Iraq. Today the Obama administration abets the devastation from the air and by arming, directly or indirectly, its weak and embattled client governments. These include Iraq, the Saudi-backed forces seeking to regain control of a barely functioning Yemeni state, a shifting cast of Islamic militants fighting the Assad regime in Syria, and the Kurdish forces fighting the most infamous of the insurgencies, the Islamic State. A host of other outsiders including Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel,

Egypt Running on Empty "The 2011 uprising did not create the mess—the decisions of powerful actors did. Pining for the status quo ante, the elites failed to meet the most basic popular demands; now they are trying to contain the lingering tensions while building a new regime amidst intense competition among old regime figures and newer entrants. These struggles, in addition to the structural fiscal weakness of the state and the poor economy, generate fears of a polity coming undone and explain the viciousness of the backlash. Is it a house of cards? Many Egyptian observers say that no amount of aid from the Gulf, US diplomatic cover and police brutality can keep the state running. More than one person openly told me that Sisi might be overthrown, despite the huge investments and grand spectacles that went into putting him on the wobbling throne, and despite his attempts to place his sons high up in intelligence agencies. It is a bold prognostication. Yet one need only read t

Violence and the City in the Modern Middle East

Fusillez Sartre  ou "Parce qu’elle est le partenaire indispensable des indigènes, la gauche est leur adversaire premier."

Syria: the people return to the streets against Assad Danish children’s rights activist stands trial for people trafficking

According to the World Health Organization definition, the UK no longer has a NHS See also Plunder:  Sale of the Century: The Privatisation Scam Social justice: Chief Executives Earn 183 Times More Than Workers London : The City That Ate Itself Private Island (a book): what happened to Britain in the last 20 years

Glenn Greenwald  shows  why Clinton is in no position to be lecturing Sanders: Vehement opposition to Reagan’s covert wars in Central America, as well as to the sadistic and senseless embargo of Cuba, were once  standard liberal positions . As my colleague Jeremy Scahill, observing the reaction of Clinton supporters during the debate, put it in  a series of tweets : “The US sponsored death squads that massacred countless central and Latin Americans, murdered nuns and priests, assassinated an Archbishop. I bet commie Sanders was even against Reagan’s humanitarian mining of Nicaraguan waters & supported subsequent war crimes judgement vs. US. Have any of these Hillarybots heard of the Contra death squads? Or is it just that whatever Hillary says must be defended at all costs? The Hillarybots attacking Sanders over Nicaragua should be ashamed of themselves.” CIA Covert Operations and US Interventions Since WWII (A documentary in 15 parts)

في استخدام "الإسلام" كإيديولوجيا تسلطية