News and Analysis (6/18/19)

“The public prosecutor said Mursi had collapsed in a defendants’ cage in the courtroom shortly after addressing the court, and was pronounced dead in hospital at 4:50 p.m.” …

• Egypt’s Ousted Islamist President Mursi Dies After Collapsing in Court (Reuters)

… “The Egyptian government has a duty to explain his unfortunate death and there must be proper accountability for his treatment in custody” — Crispin Blunt, chairman of the UK’s Independent Detention Review Panel:

• Mohamed Morsi’s Death: World Reaction (Al-Jazeera)

This precedent not only threatens the property and religious rights of Christians, but of Muslims as well:

• Israeli Court Upholds Shady Sale of Jerusalem Church Property to Settlers (If Americans Knew)

Some would say this Georgia neighborhood neighborly response to this immigrant woman whose son was charged with terrorism is an “anomaly.” We think it was American:

• Their Neighbor Was Arrested on Terror Charges. This Is How a ‘Typical American Community’ Reacted (Washington Post)

“Al-Kadi has presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find deprivation of a clearly established constitutional right” — Minnesota U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim:

• Muslim Woman’s Suit Accusing Ramsey County Jail of Violating Religious Beliefs Survives Challenge (Star-Tribune)

Pompeo’s absurd claim that the Taliban takes orders from Iran may be part of the plan to assert ” legal authority to take military action against Iran” in a two decades old law “intended to authorize the war in Afghanistan”:

• Trump Prepares to Bypass Congress to Take on Iran (Politico)
• Trump’s Evidence About Iran Is “Dodgy” at Best (Counterpunch)

“[T]here’s a deep division in Iran; but for the Revolutionary Guard to have done something like this that is embarrassing to the supreme leader would be very surprising”:

• Robin Wright on U.S.-Iran Tensions (NPR)

“Iranian officials announced their uranium stockpiles will soon exceed the limits the country agreed to as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement,” Thanks, Trump:

• Iran Will Exceed Nuclear Stockpile Limit in Response to U.S. Sanctions (Reason)

The 1988 shooting “down an Iranian airliner … killing all 290 people aboard that airplane … [including] 60 children … vividly displayed … how the U.S. government will brazenly lie to evade liability for its criminal misconduct”:

• Remember the Vincennes? The US’s Long History of Provoking Iran (Counterpunch)

“[S]ome analysts… imagined it turning into what Israelis call a ‘victory picture’ for the U.S. administration…. Right now, almost no part of that vision seems likely to become a reality”:

• No Palestinians, No Israelis, Maybe Even No Journalists: What’s Left of Kushner’s Bahrain Summit (Haaretz)