The International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the student and youth movement of the Socialist Equality Party, is building a chapter at MIT. To find out how to get involved, contact us.
The administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
has made clear that it will not cut funding ties with Saudi Arabia,
despite growing outcries from students and faculty.
Calls for the severing of the extensive ties between the university and the Saudi regime came after the killing of the Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October of last year.
MIT President Raphael Reif’s decision to reject these calls is based on a report and recommendation made by Richard Lester, an associate provost for international partnerships, who was commissioned to review the university’s relationship with the Persian Gulf monarchy in late October 2018.
Last March, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the MIT campus for an “innovation forum” at which he was warmly received by Reif and Executive Vice President Israel Ruiz. In bin Salman’s entourage during the visit was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, later accused by the US Treasury Department of “coordinating and executing” the Khashoggi assassination.
A now infamous photo on the campus shows Reif shaking hands with a smiling bin Salman, with Mutreb in the background.
The administration was forced to commission a review of the university’s relationship with Saudi Arabia in the face of immense public pressure from the students and faculty.
Lester’s preliminary report summarized what he referred to as the “large-scale activities that MIT is carrying out with the Kingdom.” These activities include funding from the Saudi government and state-owned companies for sponsored research in fields like energy and water management, and private and corporate gifts from Saudi sources.
Some of the largest Saudi sponsors of research at MIT include Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company that is the world’s biggest oil and gas producer; King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST), the Saudi National Science Agency and National Laboratory; and SABIC, one of the world’s largest chemical producers.
The report does not give an overall dollar figure for Saudi-sourced gifts and sponsored research contracts, but a federal database shows that MIT has reported receiving more than $77 million in gifts and contracts from Saudi sources over the past six years.
Calls for the severing of the extensive ties between the university and the Saudi regime came after the killing of the Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October of last year.
MIT President Raphael Reif’s decision to reject these calls is based on a report and recommendation made by Richard Lester, an associate provost for international partnerships, who was commissioned to review the university’s relationship with the Persian Gulf monarchy in late October 2018.
Last March, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the MIT campus for an “innovation forum” at which he was warmly received by Reif and Executive Vice President Israel Ruiz. In bin Salman’s entourage during the visit was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, later accused by the US Treasury Department of “coordinating and executing” the Khashoggi assassination.
A now infamous photo on the campus shows Reif shaking hands with a smiling bin Salman, with Mutreb in the background.
The administration was forced to commission a review of the university’s relationship with Saudi Arabia in the face of immense public pressure from the students and faculty.
Lester’s preliminary report summarized what he referred to as the “large-scale activities that MIT is carrying out with the Kingdom.” These activities include funding from the Saudi government and state-owned companies for sponsored research in fields like energy and water management, and private and corporate gifts from Saudi sources.
Some of the largest Saudi sponsors of research at MIT include Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company that is the world’s biggest oil and gas producer; King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST), the Saudi National Science Agency and National Laboratory; and SABIC, one of the world’s largest chemical producers.
The report does not give an overall dollar figure for Saudi-sourced gifts and sponsored research contracts, but a federal database shows that MIT has reported receiving more than $77 million in gifts and contracts from Saudi sources over the past six years.
She wondered if I'd seen it and what I thought of it?
I hadn't seen it. I am not surprised by it. That's typical MIT nonsense. It's long had its hand in the government's pocket. It's long been a cut out for the CIA, you could argue -- and many do. Left or right, if someone's part of MIT, I'd warn you not to trust them and I'll be kind and leave it at that.
"TV: PBS' long con" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):
AMERICAN MASTERS is on season 33 and imagine our shock to tune into it on KQED and discover that they were profiling Holly Near.
Holly who?
Exactly.
See, she has no real accomplishments.
And she also can't get honest. That's why we really loved that moment of truth in the broadcast where, panning up the magazine cover featuring Holly's picture, the camera came across "Michelle Shocked on coming out."
Holly, like other 'lesbians' Michelle Shocked and Ani diFranco, used being a lesbian as a marketing strategy. Without it, she'd have no career at all. So it's really funny to watch someone (we'll abide by playground honor and not snitch) tells the camera, "I think her career suffered."
What career?
She was a fat and not pretty young woman. That's why she was hired, on TV, to play the fat girl. Or, in the case of ALL IN THE FAMILY, the really, really pregnant woman. She describes herself as a chubby character actress. She's wrong on both counts.
She's not chubby, she's fat. She's not a character actress or even an actress. Everything she does screams fake acting, every scene screams theatrical overreach. She played characters who were jokes because she made herself one.
There was no acting career. She had not set the world on fire.
Holly who?
Exactly.
See, she has no real accomplishments.
And she also can't get honest. That's why we really loved that moment of truth in the broadcast where, panning up the magazine cover featuring Holly's picture, the camera came across "Michelle Shocked on coming out."
Holly, like other 'lesbians' Michelle Shocked and Ani diFranco, used being a lesbian as a marketing strategy. Without it, she'd have no career at all. So it's really funny to watch someone (we'll abide by playground honor and not snitch) tells the camera, "I think her career suffered."
What career?
She was a fat and not pretty young woman. That's why she was hired, on TV, to play the fat girl. Or, in the case of ALL IN THE FAMILY, the really, really pregnant woman. She describes herself as a chubby character actress. She's wrong on both counts.
She's not chubby, she's fat. She's not a character actress or even an actress. Everything she does screams fake acting, every scene screams theatrical overreach. She played characters who were jokes because she made herself one.
There was no acting career. She had not set the world on fire.
I loved their article. They really do, by the way, love Stephen Holden. C.I. has always loved Stephen's writing. I love how they work Stephen into the review (after the excerpt above) twice.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Monday, March 4, 2019. More US bases are built in Iraq while Iraqis continue to suffer from lack of jobs in their own country.
Calls for US troops out of Iraq have been a feature of the ongoing war for over a decade now. Typically, the Kurds call for US troops to stay. NIQASH's Mustafa Habib says they're not the only ones calling for US troops to remain.
Calls for US troops out of Iraq have been a feature of the ongoing war for over a decade now. Typically, the Kurds call for US troops to stay. NIQASH's Mustafa Habib says they're not the only ones calling for US troops to remain.
Regardless of where the leaders fall on the issue, the Iraqi people's position remains the same -- all US troops -- all foreign troops period -- out of Iraq.
Despite that fact, as we noted in THIRD's "Editorial: When does the US leave Iraq?" last night, US bases are going up in Iraq.
Search results
US Sets Up 2 New Bases in Western #Iraq en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?…
MAJOR: US EXPANDS OCCUPATION OF IRAQ – BUILDS TWO NEW BASES @FortRussNews
"U.S. Has 31 Military Bases, 34,000 Soldiers in Iraq." en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?…
The war has been going on so long that now it is now possible to have children serving whose parents served. Two e-mails came into the public account noting an article Saturday about a Tweet. Didn't see that article and won't link to it. Two Sundays ago, at THIRD, we noted the same Tweet in "Editorial: The silence is deafening:"
Editorial: The silence is deafening
My first born son was 14 months old as I talked to him the night before I deployed to Kuwait/Iraq in June of 2003. My son just received mail from a recruiter for the first time. How the f**k is it possible he could go fight in the same war I did before he could walk? ENDTHEWAR
Why aren't others asking it?
And if anyone was asking sincerely for that other site to be noted, it never will be. I still have the January 2005 e-mail the head of that site wrote that was a racist attack on then-US House Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones (she passed away in 2008). That's why we don't highlight that site. It's not that we're not aware of it, it's that we're far too aware of it.
We never highlight them. We never highlighted Keith Olbermann even when he was our great hope supposedly. Keith's anti-woman, sexist nature (among other things) was well known so we never highlighted him. If there's someone we've always avoided in the 15 years of this site, there's generally a reason for that.
On the subject of Tweets, Fadel al-Nashmi (ASHARQ AL-AWSAT) reports:
Twitter has closed the official account of the “Security Media Cell” that is affiliated with the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
The cell was initially formed under the name of the “Military Information Cell” after the ISIS terrorist organization took over large swathes of Iraqi territory in June 2014.
During the war on ISIS, the Cell played a pivotal role in disseminating combat-related military information and information from the Joint Operations Command.
It did not comment on the shutdown, but a source close to it told Asharq al-Awsat that “Twitter has suspended, not closed, the account.”
Adel Abdul Mahdi remains ineffective and ripe for removal. Nouri al-Maliki, former prime minister and forever thug, is currently attempting to convince other politicians to support his move to remove Mahdi and step back in as prime minister. Mahdi's inability to accomplish anything allows this to be a very real possibility.
At no time since 2003 has the president of Iraq (a ceremonial position) been elevated higher than the prime minister by the western press. Now western outlets repeatedly report on Barham Salih and his pronouncements as though Barham is the leader of Iraq. It as though they're preparing you for the end of Mahdi's rule.
Mahdi was, of course, the longtime choice of the CIA and his inability to rule says a lot about their poor analytics. They pushed him hard every time starting in 2010. He was the answer, they insisted.
He has turned out to be no answer at all.
Terrorism and violence happen for reasons. These include economic reasons. There are no jobs in Iraq. That could have been addressed long ago -- and should have been. But it's become a growing problem and one that Mahdi can't address apparently.
The graduates of universities have demonstrated in Alwai area in the
middle of Baghdad to demand Baghdad government providing them with job
opportunities .
If you're not getting how bad the situation is, note this.
These stats on demographics and growth rates should keep you up at night
If the referred to article doesn't show in the Tweet, it's Chloe Cornish's piece for THE FINANCIAL TIMES which notes that overall joblessness in Iraq is at 13% but for the younger adult Iraqis it stands at 40%. The article delves into the implications for Iraq's future as a result of the current babyboom taking place among Iraqi youth, so it's of interest for that as well. But with protests in Baghdad over the lack of jobs, we're noting it due to the jobless rate.
Again:
The graduates of universities have demonstrated in Alwai area in the middle of Baghdad to demand Baghdad government providing them with job opportunities .
Sir i live in Iraq and I graduated from Computer engineering college two years ago and have no job yet, please help me sir
In Iraq, residents of Basra City protest in Bahariya Square near government council building. Demand jobs, better services, abolishment of Basra Council & accountability for the corrupt.
mobp.as/zGGEo
Again, this issue has festered for some time. But Mahdi came to power after the protests began in Basra (July was when they started) so he should have had that on his lists of things to address in his first 100 days. It's now around 124 days since he became prime minister and he's done nothing to address the lack of jobs. He also still can't appoint a Minister of Defense or Minister of Interior.
Again, he's proven to be rather inept.
New content at THIRD:
