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By Vijay Prashad / The Hindu.

By Nour Samaha

Photo: Kyodo/AP

By James M. Dorsey
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appears in the wake of recent anti-government protests to have put his weight behind President Hasan Rouhani’s repeated calls for reduced military and Revolutionary Guards involvement in the economy.
Mr. Khamenei signalled his support by ordering the military and the Guards to start divesting from commercial holdings and businesses not related to their core tasks except for construction projects considered essential by the government.

By Chuang, Zhang Yunfan and Sun Tingting / Socialist Project.
Voices from the November 15th Incident

By James M. Dorsey
Recent Algerian media reports detailing Saudi propagation of a quietist, apolitical yet supremacist and anti-pluralistic form of Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism raises questions about the scope of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s commitment to what he has termed ‘moderate’ Islam. So does Saudi missionary activity in Yemen.

By Lydia O'Neal and David Sirota / Newsweek.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels with Gov. Elect Mike Pence at the Statehouse before Pence's inauguration in Indianapolis, on January 14, 2013. AJ Mast/AP

By Simon Davis-Cohen / DeSmog.

By Canadian Union of Public Employees / Socialist Project.
The collapse of Carillion, a global privatization corporation, illustrates the risky nature of public-private partnerships (P3s) and contracting out. Carillion is involved in 10 P3s across Canada, primarily in hospitals in Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. Two hospitals are still in development.

By James M. Dorsey / Mid-East Soccer.
Qatar airbrushed from map in UAE / Credit: Simon Henderson
Prominent US constitutional lawyer and scholar Alan M. Dershowitz raised eyebrows when he described Qatar as “the Israel of the Gulf states.”

By Andrew Levine / Counterpunch.

Photo by Don Relyea | CC BY 2.0