Reading

Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.

The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.

Dear TomDispatch Reader, Two years ago, when I was putting together the end-of-year plea I always post to keep TomDispatch going in a tough world, I wrote: “This time around though, I have to wonder whether it may be the last such missive I’ll write.” Well, as it happens (thanks to the generosity of the readers of this website), it wasn’t. Seven hundred thirty days later — the beginning of our 24th year and halfway through my own 80th year on this ever more embattled planet — I’m back, asking for your support. Admittedly, there’s little I enjoy less at TomDispatch than bothering you for money (something I don’t enjoy when it happens to me). Still, you, the wonderful readers of... Read more

Source: Keeping TomDispatch Alive appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

How director Mani Ratnam managed to adapt Ponniyin Selvan, a 2,500-page serialized historical epic and one of the bestselling Tamil novels of all time.

Dear Believers, come gather ’round the flames of the hearth as I spin the adventurous tale of Kalki Krishnamurthy—shamelessly adopting his intimately omniscient tone in order to illuminate his prodigious life and work. Ramaswamy “Kalki” Krishnamurthy was an Indian freedom fighter who was imprisoned three times by the British, a journalist who founded a long-running weekly magazine, and a phenomenally popular author whose serialized historical epic Ponniyin Selvan (published between 1950 and 1954) is one of the bestselling Tamil novels of all time. For Kalki’s centenary, the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu nationalized his works, freeing them from copyright restrictions, so they could remain continually in print. And in 2022, after decades of doomed film adaptation attempts, director Mani Ratnam brought Ponniyin Selvan to the screen.

Taking advantage of Syria’s instability, Israel pushes its borders into the Golan Heights and beyond, fulfilling long-held ambitions to redraw the map of the region.

The post Inside Israel’s Brazen Syria Land Grab: A Decades-Old Plan Comes to Life appeared first on MintPress News.

Less than 5% of people with learning disabilities are employed, while 86% want to be. The Government must think about which Brits it values as being worthy of work

At Emers & Totch architectural firm, we specialize in arches. Not just any arches, but big arches. Monument arches. Think of the Gateway Arch: that kind of arch. No, we did not build the Gateway Arch, but that is the kind of arch we’re talking about. And we want to build an arch for your city, just like St. Louis has the Gateway Arch.

Who says only one city in the country can have an arch as part of its skyline? There’s no rule about that. Why can’t your city have a big arch too? What we’re saying is: it can.

What’s in your skyline now? Three tall buildings and a bridge? You need an arch. What’s your waterfront promenade missing? An arch. What’s towering over your convention center, nothing? It should be an arch. Your small to midsize all-American city deserves a striking skyline just as much as St. Louis does.

The decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity must be a watershed moment. Governments across the world not only have a duty to defend and enforce those specific warrants but, more broadly, to […]

Pretending that the distribution of income and wealth that results from a long set of policy decisions is somehow the natural workings of the market is not a serious position … Pretending that distributional outcomes are just the workings of the market is convenient for any beneficiaries of this inequality, even those who consider themselves […]

Claims of bullying and harassment have erupted into public view as Britain's biggest union faces strike action and internal unrest

A sea-soaked tribute to the generations of women who’ve harvested the waters off South Wales

- by Psyche Film

Watch at Psyche

Often metaphorical and allusive, the philosopher’s work will long be remembered for how it grappled with everyday thought

- by Tim Bayne

Read at Aeon

On The Intercept Briefing, Syrian journalist Rami Jarrah discusses the fall of the Assad family’s decadeslong brutal regime.

The post Syria: What Comes Next? appeared first on The Intercept.

The Health Secretary claims to be led by the evidence but has merely furthered the fact-free anti-trans agenda pursued by the Conservatives, argues Helen Belcher

Pro-European protesters are raging against the Putin-aligned Georgian Government's decision to scrap the country's bid to join the EU