In The News

Chronicle of Higher Education: MIT-Saudi Partnerships

Steven Johnson December 12, 2018
Organizations of all types are reviewing partnerships with Saudi Arabia since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was among the first universities to review ties, including $25 million for MIT research from Saudi Aramco. Gifts from Saudi donors account for about 40 percent of overall spending in recent years,...

The Guardian: Syria Resumes Airstrikes

December 7, 2018
The Syrian government resumed airstrikes in the wake of alleged poison gas attacks by rebels in Aleppo. The bombings in north Syria are in violation of the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey that enabled “relative calm to the country’s north for the past two months,” reports the Guardian. Meanwhile, the rebels have denied carrying out the attacks and accuse that the Syrian government of...

Washington Post: US Senate Rebukes Trump on Yemen

Karoun Demirjian, Carol Morello and John Hudson November 29, 2018
Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. Its three-year civil war with intervention by Saudi Arabia and Iran has displaced millions, and a 63-37 US Senate vote signals that the United States may back off from its involvement. “The resolution… seeks to invoke the War Powers Act to end U.S. military support for the ¬Saudi-led coalition, which human rights groups accuse of fomenting in Yemen the...

PBS NewsHour: Tear Gas at the US Border

Joshua Barajas and Amber Partida November 28, 2018
US border patrol officers fired tear gas to deter asylum seekers crossing the border from Mexico. The asylum seekers, many starting in Honduras, formed a caravan hoping for strength in numbers and media attention on their flight from poverty and drug-cartel violence. US officials regard the caravan as a security threat although photographs and videos show a crowd consisting of many women and...

New York Times: Trump Pardons Saudi Arabia

Mark Mazzetti and Ben Hubbard November 22, 2018
For the US president, only his opinion matters as he regularly ignoring professionals with years of experience. The latest example is Donald Trump dismissing a finding by US intelligence agencies that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi diplomatic consulate. “Trump has long viewed foreign policy as a series of business deals, stripped of values and...

Haaretz: Airbnb and West Bank Settlements

Noa Landau, Yotam Berger and Jack Khoury November 21, 2018
Most of the world has condemned the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank for complicating peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Airbnb is removing rental listings of West Bank Jewish settlements, reports Haaretz, and Israel has countered by restricting the company’s operations nationwide, calling the removal “discriminatory.” The decision affects about 200 listings. Israel also...

NPR: Genocide Verdict for Khmer Rouge Leaders

Scott Neuman November 16, 2018
Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime terrorized Cambodians and killed about 2 million people and displaced millions more in an attempt to restore an agrarian society, as explained by the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor. Scott Neuman, writing for NPR, explains how the Khmer Rouge came to power after the Vietnam War and ended only after a 1979 invasion by Vietnam. An international tribunal – the...