Author: Idrees Ahmad

I am a Lecturer in Digital Journalism at the University of Stirling and a former research fellow at the University of Denver’s Center for Middle East Studies. I am the author of The Road to Iraq: The Making of a Neoconservative War (Edinburgh University Press, 2014). I write for The Observer, The Nation, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Al Jazeera, Dissent, The National, VICE News, Huffington Post, In These Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, Die Tageszeitung (TAZ), Adbusters, Guernica, London Review of Books (Blog), The New Arab, Bella Caledonia, Asia Times, IPS News, Medium, Political Insight, The Drouth, Canadian Dimension, Tanqeed, Variant, etc. I have appeared as an on-air analyst on Al Jazeera, the BBC, TRT World, RAI TV, Radio Open Source with Christopher Lydon, Alternative Radio with David Barsamian and several Pacifica Radio channels.

The Syria Dilemma: A Critical Dialogue

This discussion took place last month at Columbia University. It was based partly on our friend Danny and Nader’s fine book The Syria Dilemma:

SPEAKERS:
 

The Agony of Syria

This made me cry.

She is one of the 1.5 million people besieged by Assad’s genocidal armies. (A Facebook friend identified this location as the Yarmouk camp, but I can’t confirm).

Stop Starvation in Syria | End the Blockades

Call to Join the International Hunger Strike

Picture source

Syrians are slowly dying of malnutrition – but not for lack of food.  A military blockade surrounds dozens of Syrian towns.  This starvation siege prevents 1.5 million Syrians from receiving food or medicine.

Qusai Zakarya is one of them.  He is 28 years old.  Qusai declared a hunger strike on November 26, to demand food and medicine be allowed to reach civilians across military lines in Syria.  “We are all hungry here in my hometown anyway.  Let me be hungry for a purpose,” Qusai says.

We are starting the first phase of a “rolling” solidarity hunger strike onFriday, December 20, where someone will do a hunger strike every day in support of the hunger strikers in Syria through the rest of December.

Continue reading “Stop Starvation in Syria | End the Blockades”

No Place Like Home

Text WARM to 70111 to donate £3 to UNICEF UK’s Syria Winter Appeal. Donate by credit card at http://www.unicef.org.uk/syria (including viewers from outside the UK).

In this short film Ewan McGregor, Michael Sheen, Tom Hiddleston, Emma Bunton, Rita Ora and Tinie Tempah join UNICEF UK in support of our Syria Winter Appeal for the children of Syria.

Thank you – your help really makes a difference to children’s lives in Syria.

Max Blumenthal on Syria and the peace movement

Danny Postel, co-editor of The Syria Dilemma, interviews Max Blumenthal, author of Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, on his reporting from Syrian refugee camps, his resignation from the newspaper Al Akhbar over its Syria coverage, and the peace movement’s confused and problematic response to the Syrian conflict

For background, see Blumenthal’s resignation letter from al-Akhbar and his report from Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. Also see Postel’s piece on the antiwar movement and the spirit of internationalism.

The Geneva Breakthrough

This is a positive and historic development. Not only will it relieve pressure on ordinary Iranian people, it will also empower the country’s reformists. It will also put the interests of the powerful merchant against the interests of the hardliners. It will erode the power of hawks not just in Iran, but also the US and Israel.

This also creates an opening for a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Syria. Until now Iran’s hardliners have been running amuck in Syria, and the IRGC has been actively at war. Now Iran has something to lose. The US has gained leverage that until now it didn’t have. It is now in a position to pressure Iran to drop its support for Assad. Given the fragility of the entente, the last thing Iran would want is to jeopardise it by continuing a policy with an uncertain end.

How should the world protect Syria’s children?

On 27th November Intelligence Squared  is hosting a special debate with Save the Children: ‘How should the world protect Syria’s Children?“. The debate will take place at London’s Royal Institute of British Architects. We encourage Pulsers to attend.

The debate will be livestreamed around the world from 7pm-8.30pm UK Time, and the panel includes:

  • Mikhail Kasyanov, former Russian Prime Minister;
  • Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children;
  • Dr Rola Hallam, the British-Syrian doctor and war-zone medic who was recently involved in BBC’s Panorama documentary, ‘Saving Syria’s Children’;
  • Lord Mark Malloch Brown, former UK government minister (2007 – 2009) and United Nations Deputy Secretary-General (2006)
  • Paul Conroy, World-renowned photojournalist and war-photographer
  • Jon Sopel, award-winning BBC News presenter and correspondent who will chair.
For more information about the debate, including the panel, click here .

Gilbert Achcar: Syria in the Context of the Arab Uprisings

Gilbert Achcar’s presentation for the MENA Solidarity Network – US on November 17th, 2013.

A Broken Immigration System

UCL has released a new study which shows that immigrants contribute more to British finances than is expended on them and are less likely to claim benefits or housing. Since 2000, it shows immigrants have contributed £25 billion to the British economy. So much for all the Tory/New Labour/UKIP hysteria. But unfortunately reality rarely intrudes on this fear-driven campaign. David MacIsaacs, a respected head teacher at a Scottish school, who is married to a British citizen, is being deported after living 10 years in this country. I myself nearly suffered a similar fate after living 8 years in this country and paying tens of thousands in taxes.

This debate is even more poisonous across the Atlantic, and it is poignantly highlighted in a new documentary “The Dream is Now” by Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim.  The film tells the story of those directly affected by the immigration system, especially the undocumented children of immigrants.

Drone Survivors Speak

Martin Bashir interviews family of drone strike survivors

Here is the deceased’s grand daughter Nabila talking about the murder:

On October 24, 2012, a drone strike hit and killed Rafiq ur Rehman’s mother who was tending vegetables in the garden.

For the first time ever, on October 29, 2013, Rafiq ur Rehman, along with his two children, will testify before Congress and share their story with the American public in a briefing called by Representative Alan Grayson (FL-09).

RSVP NOW to witness this historic event: http://unmanned.warcosts.com/unmanned…