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Should Syria’s Future Be Decided by Men With Guns?

Medea Benjamin Common Dreams
“When we talk about women at the table, the men see them as the tablecloth,” said Hibaaq Osman, an NGO leader who has been working with Syrian women and pushing for their inclusion. “The future of Syria should not exclusively be decided by those who carry guns.”

U.S. Turns Blind Eye as Saudis Fund Jihadists in Syrian Conflict

Patrick Cockburn Democracy Now!
So, you know, it is extraordinary that al-Qaeda has been the great sort of winner of the conflicts over the last—whenever it is, since 9/11, and they’ve—and managed to make such tremendous gains without much opposition from Washington or London or Paris.

Tidbits - December 12, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments - Nelson Mandela; Republic Windows - CEOs Going to Jail; Minimum Wage; Healthcare - Single-Payer; Syria; India homophobia; Austerity; Living Wage - Low wage workers; Books to read (or to give; or both); Announcements - Suggestion for Year-end Giving - Davis-Putter Scholarship; Shostakovich For The Children Of Syria - Carnegie Hall, New York - January 13

Tidbits - October 10, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments- Teachers Protests in Brazil and Mexico; Shutdown and Social Security; , GOP Playbook; Two Countries in 2014; Koch Bros. Monster Out of Control; Ghost of McCarthy; Lessons from Germany; Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap; Mission Accomplished? More Responses; Annnouncements- Trans-Pacific Partnership Forum - New York-Oct 25; Concert Celebration for Jon Fromer - New York-Oct 26 Social Cost of America's Race to Incarcerate - Chicago-Nov 7; Shorts, Job Announcement

Tidbits - October 3, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments: Eliseo Medina and UFW; American Exceptionalism; Income Gap;Atomic Bomb Near Mishap; Walmart; Govt Shutdown; Syria & Peace movement; South Africa; Iran; Prisons for Profit graphic; Announcements - National Teach-In on Syria -Oct 8; Che Guevara Assassination - Bay Area-Oct 19; Support CUNY Students; Organizing Boot Camps-United Students Against Sweatshops; Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century - New York-Oct 18; Job Opening at In These Times

Israel on the Sidelines

Carl Bloice Foreign Policy in Focus
Potential diplomatic breakthroughs in Syria and Iran are apparently unnerving Israel's right-wing leadership.

Democrats Have Reached a Watershed?

Harold Meyerson; Sarah Jaffe
Democrats have reached a watershed. After two decades in which the party has moved leftward on social issues but has largely accepted the financial sector's economic preferences - the abject failures of the market economy are pushing the party leftward. The revolt against Summers was less about his positions on today's economic issues but his opposition to regulating derivatives. In Congress, in New York City and Chicago, Democrats are feeling the heat of the people.

Syria Chemical Attack Underlines Need for Israel Shift on Non-Conventional Weapons (Jewish Daily Forward)

Aaron Magid Jewish Daily Forward
Although Israel has refused to publicly acknowledge its chemical weapons program, the U.S. Office of Technology has identified Israel as a nation with likely offensive chemical weapons capabilities. In addition to Israel's controversial chemical weapons program, Israel is one of few nations not to ratify the nuclear non-proliferation agreement.

The Hubris of the Syria Interventionists

Juan Cole Reader Supported News
There is nothing wrong with doing good where you realistically can. Trying to do good by military means where you cannot can be deadly to both you and the victims. Syria resembles Iraq in many respects. The pretext for the US war on Iraq was its alleged chemical and other weapons programs and stores, which did not exist and which UN inspectors such as Scott Ritter, a former Marine, explicitly said did not exist.
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