We are in a very dangerous period in world history as the old power structure collapses and the US dominance begins to wane.  But the empire strikes back.  By Mazin Qumsiyeh The US and Israel try to strength neoliberal governments that depend on capital accumulation for the rich and increasing poverty for most of the people. To avoid a major revolutionary force among the disenfranchised, these elites have b ...

Dear friends, The latest news from Turkey is that in many cities in Turkey now the people are standing still, without moving, also in Ankara and Istanbul, in squares, in streets, in malls, in courts and all kind of other places. Just standing still as a silent expression of their protest. No police an or government can blame them for standing still. In Istanbul when a police man ask what the person is doing ...

I am sitting drinking tea with friends in the Cafe Grand Boulevard in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul. It is evening and the place is busier than usual. We are sat so close together all our knees are touching. Regular contributor to Wales Arts Review, here is James Lloyd’s take on the anti-government protests in Istanbul. Jim has been on the ground with the Occupy Gezi protestors every day since the events ...

The news coming out from Istanbul via news services such as Al Jazeera show a lot of violent action from the side of the police and their allied security forces. Update - from Ankara. Listening to the speeches of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan there are contradictions in his calls that deny any legitimacy to the protesters and mix that minority that were causing some mayhem at the beginning, with t ...

Reformist Hassan Rohani has won Iran’s 11th presidential election by a landslide win, the results in on 14 June, 2013. The announcement brought the Tehran population into the streets in jubilation. Clearly this is what the majority wants, change, and that’s what this renown cleric and politician proposes. In his first declaration to the public he asked for co-operation from all quarters saying the way forwa ...

“Tehran has developed technical expertise in a number of areas – including uranium enrichment, nuclear reactors, and ballistic missiles – from which it could draw if it decided to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons,” reads Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper’s April 2013 report to the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Then comes the statement usually ignored by mass media: “We do not ...

In 2011, when Arab revolts began to sweep the Middle East and North Africa, the view from Washington and its closest allies was one of concern. How would the removal of mostly pro-Western dictatorships affect the balance of power in the region? More importantly – how to prevent these events fromboosting Iran’s influence? For original see: http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/sandbox/why-arabs-need-iran-part-i ...

The correspondents heard that people were gathering at the central square of Kizilay, so they went out at 3pm walking down to the main road to Kizilay Square where many people were walking in that direction with slogans, banners and making noise with whistles. We accompanied them and when arriving at the square we saw that many other people were already there making music , singing and shouting slogans. The ...

Dear humanist brothers and sisters from all over the world from Hüseyin Öntas, Turkey. Thank you for sharing testimonies of the people of Turkey with your loved ones. After all the violence in Turkey a different kind of siblinghood and solidarity was aroused among those here and the ones who are abroad. Today at least one is killed by the police with a real bullet and many are injured because of different t ...

It sounds like a jet approaching, and everybody, it's a matter of instants, stares at each other, your words stifled in your mouth; but it's only a gate that slides and shuts. A hatchet chopping fi-rewood is a burst from a kalashnikov, the step of a woman's heel a sniper shot. We look normal, in Aleppo. Instead, fear is a cancer that wears us out from within. Eight months after the beginning of the battle, ...