Pro-Palestinian activism faces suppression on Catholic campuses admin, March 9, 2017August 14, 2024 National Catholic Reporter March 7, 2017 Continue Reading
Fordham ban of Palestine group contradicts free speech, Jesuit values admin, February 9, 2017January 21, 2025 National Catholic Reporter February 9, 2017 Continue Reading
Hope fades for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict admin, January 10, 2017June 10, 2024 National Catholic Reporter January 10, 2017 The election of Donald Trump may mark the end of any realistic hope of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And don’t expect the Democratic Party to try to save it, it appears. Continue Reading
New Lebanese president’s career highlights US inconsistencies admin, November 28, 2016June 10, 2024 National Catholic Reporter November 28, 2016 There are more than a few ironies regarding the Oct. 31 election by the Lebanese parliament of former Gen. Michel Aoun, a Maronite Catholic who received his military training in the United States, as the country’s new president. One of the most striking is… Continue Reading
Anti-war movement must listen to voices within Syria’s civil war admin, October 10, 2016January 21, 2025 National Catholic Reporter October 10, 2016. Continue Reading
Republicans, Democrats alike still level threats at Iran admin, August 15, 2016August 14, 2024 The 2015 Iran nuclear deal should have curbed the longstanding bellicose rhetoric coming from Republican and Democratic political leaders toward the Muslim country. Signed by Iran and six other nations (including the United States) and ratified by the United Nations Security Council, the comprehensive agreement contains strict provisions limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities to well below the threshold necessary to develop atomic weapons and subjects Iran to the most rigorous inspection regime in history. The result has been dramatically reduced regional tensions and the elimination of any potential threat to U.S. national security. Continue Reading
Morocco continues occupation of Western Sahara, in defiance of UN admin, June 6, 2016August 14, 2024 As Morocco continues to defy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and much of the international community in its continued occupation of Western Sahara, the United States continues supporting that autocratic government. Continue Reading
Hillary Clinton’s double standards on human rights admin, April 11, 2016August 14, 2024 During the 1980s, the United States was seriously divided over U.S. policy toward Central America. The Reagan administration was propping up a brutal military-backed regime in El Salvador that was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including priests, nuns and catechists, along with labor, student and human rights leaders, as well as peasants who happened to live in areas supporting the opposition. Continue Reading
The US role in the Honduras coup and subsequent violence admin, March 14, 2016August 14, 2024 On March 3, Berta Cáceres, a brave and outspoken indigenous Honduran environmental activist and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize [1], was gunned down in her hometown of La Esperanza. Erika Guevara-Rosas [2], Americas director for Amnesty International, noted how “For years, she had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment and threats to stop her from defending the rights of indigenous communities.” Continue Reading
Bipartisan Congressional efforts to support Israeli settlements and expansionism admin, February 26, 2016August 14, 2024 Following earlier Congressional initiatives to effectively recognize Morocco’s illegal annexation of the occupied nation of Western Sahara, a bipartisan effort has been launched in Congress in support of Israel’s colonization of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and greater East Jerusalem, effectively recognizing Israeli annexation of territories seized in the 1967 war. Continue Reading
Nobel Peace Prize spotlights National Dialogue Quartet admin, November 20, 2015August 14, 2024 Bloody civil wars, the rise of the so-called “Islamic State,” the continued rule by absolute monarchs and other despots, and the ongoing Israeli and Moroccan occupations have left many skeptical of the prospects of peace, democracy and stability in the Arab world…. Continue Reading
The Democrats and the Wasserman Schultz problem admin, July 6, 2015August 15, 2024 As chair of the Democratic National Committee since 2011, Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the public face of the Democratic Party. Elected by over 300 Democratic leaders from across the country, she represents the party on talk shows and serves as a major fundraiser and influential strategist. Her leadership has engendered controversy, however, as a result of questions about her integrity and her advocacy of positions placing her well to the right of most of her fellow Democrats. Continue Reading
Hillary Clinton, phosphates, and the Western Sahara admin, June 20, 2015August 15, 2024 For more than a half-century, a series of United Nations resolutions and rulings by the International Court of Justice have underscored the rights of inhabitants of countries under colonial rule or foreign military occupation. Among these is the right to “freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources,” which “must be based on the principles of equality and of the right of peoples and nations to self-determination.” Continue Reading
The contrasting fates of Tunisia and Libya admin, June 8, 2015January 21, 2025 The people of Libya and Tunisia both overthrew long-standing dictatorships in popular uprisings in 2011. Four years later, however, the current political situation in these two neighboring North African states could not be more different. The reason has much to do with how their authoritarian regimes were overthrown… Continue Reading
Obama administration undermines UN disarmament efforts admin, April 13, 2015June 19, 2024 Though the United States may have taken the lead in the international diplomatic initiative against Iran’s nuclear program, the Obama administration has also taken the lead in undermining the United Nations’ efforts to promote nuclear arms control and disarmament elsewhere. Continue Reading
Egypt’s military government increases repression amid growing paranoia admin, February 28, 2014August 15, 2024 Since the military coup in Egypt against the unpopular but democratically elected government of Mohammed Morsi last July, more than 1,000 regime opponents have been killed, thousands more have been hauled before military courts on political charges, and a repressive anti-protest law has been enacted, severely limiting the right of peaceful assembly. Continue Reading
The US role in Iraq’s upsurge in violence admin, January 25, 2014August 15, 2024 The tragic upsurge of violence in Iraq in recent months, including the temporary takeover of sections of two major Iraqi cities by al-Qaida affiliates, is a direct consequence of the repression of peaceful dissent by the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad and, ultimately, of the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation. Continue Reading
US policy weakens Iran’s pro-democracy movement admin, May 28, 2013August 15, 2024 [Santa Cruz Sentinel & Transnational.org, May 31, 2013, updated Sept. 11, 2018] While there are contending factions vying for the country’s relatively weak presidency, the narrow ideological spectrum within which candidates are allowed to run offers little hope for change. Continue Reading
10 years after the Iraq invasion, Washington still hasn’t learned admin, March 27, 2013July 13, 2024 This month marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of up to half a million Iraqis, mostly civilians, and the displacement of millions of others. Continue Reading
Israel’s settlements outside official border flout international law admin, January 19, 2013August 15, 2024 National Catholic Reporter January 19, 2013 In mid-December, Israeli officials approved plans for the construction of more than 2,600 new homes to be built on Givat Hamatos, a hill on the outskirts of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. This settlement would be the first major new Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem outside of… Continue Reading