Professor Tony Judt at NYU, whose writings have often appeared on this site, recently gave a lecture at NYU. As always, it is well worth reading. In fact I would argue it is mandatory reading for anyone who considers themself “leftist” or “progressive.” Judt provides the historical background for the political debates of today. He [...]
Solutions
Despite the grim news, I for one don’t see everything as doom and gloom. David Remnick writes eloquently on why we should still be hopeful for progress. Tweet
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I have often mentioned this document on this blog, notably here and here. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn’t yet done so, to read it now. Tweet
Continue reading about Creating a Universal Standard for Human Rights
Interesting article by Bruce Schneir. Tweet
Watching the news about the Bhutto assassination, I am reminded what a poor job our media does of covering the news (see this post). But I am not one to blame the messenger. It is our individual responsibility to learn more about any given topic and use that knowledge to form our own judgements. Not [...]
Continue reading about Feature: The Clash of Fundamentalisms
Tony Judt, an eminent professor of history at NYU, has appeared in this blog many times. Below is another interesting analysis of his, that recently appeared in Ha’aretz. I have often viewed the conflict between Israel and Palestine as analogous to two little children fighting over a silly toy, each side crying “It’s mine” “It’s [...]
In todays’ Ha’aretz the Shin Bet makes some astonishing admissions: 1. “The main reason for the reduction in terrorist acts over the past year is the truce in the territories, as partial as it may be.” 2. “The security fence is no longer mentioned as the major factor in preventing suicide bombings, mainly because the [...]
Continue reading about Shin Bet: Palestinian truce main cause for reduced terror
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a piece titled Hypocrisy and Empire Part I. I raised some questions from my good friend Sister B. and promised to answer them in part II. For many reasons I never got around to writing that second article. However, since hypocrisy has been my theme for the last few [...]
A thoughtful piece by Neve Gordon on alternative ways to deal with “terrorism”: “Even though three years have passed since 9/11, most political leaders have failed to seriously probe the implications of the horrific attacks.” “One of the key questions that could have been asked following 9/11 is how the absence of certain international institutions [...]
From the article leader: Late last year, the award-winning novelist Linda Grant moved to Tel Aviv for four months. How could people bear to live there, she wanted to know, amid daily reports of violence, corruption and despair? What she discovered was a society in a state of profound denial – and the horrifying possibility [...]