Southeast Asia
Cartoon wars hit ‘moderate’ (sic) Malaysia
In "moderate" Malaysia, an opposition leader is sent to prison for "sodomy," and when a cartoonist lampooned the sentence, he was arrested for "sedition."
Author: Bill Weinberg
Iraq
ISIS and atrocity pornography: politics of horror
The ISIS immolation video reveals a totalitarian cult, but Jordan and other regimes in the anti-ISIS coalition are also despotic—while Syria's pro-democratic forces are betrayed.
Iraq
Chem-armed ISIS being funded through US?
The conspirosphere is jumping on claims that a Pakistani suspect revealed that ISIS is being funded "through the US." But it's all based on anonymous sources—of course.
Planet Watch
Obama’s new offshore plan: don’t believe the hype
Obama's five-year plan for offshore drilling opens up the Southeast coast and grandfathers Arctic leases—but the industry is still griping because it would keep ANWR off limits.
Greater Middle East
ISIS burns cannabis, snorts coke?
As ISIS burns the cannabis fields of northern Syria, Kurdish fighters at Kobani claim that ISIS forces besieging the town are snorting cocaine to keep their spirits up.
The Andes
Venezuela to nuke New York… Not!
Once again, a nuclear scientist is caught on tape agreeing to sell secrets to a foreign government. Except Venezuela wasn't involved at all—the whole things is an FBI scam.
Europe
Mineral struggle in new Kosova violence
Street-fighting in Kosova's capital Pristina was portrayed as more Serb-Albanian "ethnic hatred," but it came as workers occuiped the Trepca mining complex to resist privatization.
Europe
Greece: populist bloc with xenophobes
Syriza needs anti-austerity partners for its economic program, but its alliance with the anti-immigrant Independent Greeks further mainstreams very dangerous politics.
Europe
UN meeting on anti-Semitism… Oy vey
The UN hearings on anti-Semitism will certainly enflame anti-Semitism—affording Israel the opportunity for propaganda exploitation, and for Jew-haters to exploit the backlash.
Greater Middle East
Yemen’s Houthi rebels: Iran’s proxies?
Claims that the Houthi uprising in Yemen is an Iranian plot ignore that the Houthis' brand of Shia is heretical to Iran's ayatollahs—and that Yemen's Shi'ites have real grievances.
Europe
#JeSuisCharlie hypocrisy goes off the charts
Under the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, an attack on free speech is being used to justify further attacks on free speech… in the paradoxical name of protecting free speech.
Iraq
US media betray Kobani defenders
US media accounts of gains against ISIS at Kobani play up the role of US air-strikes and depreciate that of Kurdish fighters—or even deny the success at Kobani entirely.