Bombings across Iraq target Shia

"In total, more than 21 bombs exploded on Wednesday in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi cities of Kerbala, Balad, Haswa, which are predominantly Shi'ite areas that have been targeted before by Sunni Islamist insurgents."

Obama is pro business

Republicans like to say that Obama is anti-business. The truth is that Barack Obama is very pro-business. He is so pro-business he bailed out GM, one of America's biggest companies. It turned out to be a smart move.

Teenage Sudanese woman sentenced to death by stoning

HRW: "Intisar Sharif Abdallah, whose age has not been determined but is believed to be under the age of 18, was sentenced by a judge on April 22, 2012, in the city of Omdurman, near Khartoum. Since her sentencing, she been held in Omdurman prison with her 5-month-old baby, with her legs shackled."

Abdul Karim Qasim was first to nationalize Iraqi oil

In the video bellow John Perkins talks about the US relationship with Saddam when Abdul Karim Qasim was President of Iraq. I want to post this to remind people and myself that Abdul Karim Qasim nationalized Iraqi oil. Some Arabs seem to believe that Saddam was the first Iraqi president to nationalize Iraqi oil. He was not.

Many Arabs praised Saddam as if he was the original populist who did good things for ordinary Iraqis. He was not. It reminds me of my post Iraqi Goodfellas - I will always remember that dinner with the Iraqi woman who said that Saddam made education free!

 

 Thanks 3amu for the forward!

Political satire is good

I love political satire, and there's plenty of it in America.

Iraqi lawmakers fuel resentments

"Iraq’s lawmakers have hightailed it out of town for a six-week vacation without following through on promises to cancel a pricey perk for free armored cars that they approved for themselves in the annual budget.

It is the sort of move that is fueling resentments among the struggling Iraqi public, many of whom accuse the country’s leaders of being corrupt and only in politics for their own profit."

Iran wants to replace Sistani with hardline cleric

This cleric is also very wealthy: “Shahroudi is one of the wealthiest men in Iran,” said Mr. Khalaji, the analyst and former student in Qum. “He imports goods, has businesses and owns many factories. His personal life is luxurious.” By being a government insider, he said, the cleric made a fortune in past years by importing auto parts and equipment for oil exploration from Eastern Europe.