Common Grounds

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• Germany Had a Grand Settlement Project. It Collapsed Overnight

  
  May 05, 2026 10:54

  Source: Haaretz

  https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026-05-01/ty-article-opinion/.highlight/germany-had-a-grand-settlement-project-it-collapsed-overnight/0000019d-e4e7-dba5-a1ff-ede77bb10000

   

  By Ofri Ilany

  Published May 1, 2026

   

  Over a century ago, German settlers took over lands in the east, obtained state support, and made the locals' lives miserable. Like their Israeli counterparts today, they, too, thought they were there to stay

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• The West’s bubble of illusion about Israel – and about itself – is finally being burst

  
  May 05, 2026 11:13

  Source: Jonathan Cook Blog

  https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2026-05-01/west-bubble-illusion-israel/

   

  Published May1, 2026

   

  The genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Lebanon exhausted the West’s moral legitimacy. Now Iran is slowly exhausting the West’s military primacy

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• Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer

  
  May 12, 2026 15:30

  Source: Clarion India

  https://clarionindia.net/why-didnt-iran-put-gaza-on-the-table-a-difficult-answer/

   

  By Ramzy Baroud

  Published May 9, 2026

   

  From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war: why was Palestine not explicitly placed at the center of Iran’s ceasefire framework? In this critical reading, Ramzy Baroud challenges the assumption of abandonment, arguing instead that the answer lies in the fragmented nature of Palestinian representation and the uneven political architecture of the resistance camp itself.

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• Empires Rise and Fall: Could Trump’s Iran Fiasco Be America’s Suez Crisis?

  
  May 12, 2026 15:05

  Source: Palestine Chronicle

  https://www.palestinechronicle.com/empires-rise-and-fall-could-trumps-iran-fiasco-be-americas-suez-crisis/

   

  By Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J.S. Davies

  Published May 12, 2026

   

  The crisis with Iran is at least as catastrophic for US imperialism as the Suez Crisis was for the British Empire. The question is whether anyone in Washington today is capable of grasping the gravity of the crisis and making the required policy shift.

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• Blueprint of Failure: On Iran, Gaza, and How Europe Plotted Its Own Irrelevance

  
  May 12, 2026 15:24

  Source: Thinking Palestine

  https://thinkingpalestine.com/blueprint-of-failure-on-iran-gaza-and-how-europe-plotted-its-own-irrelevance/

   

  By Romana Rubeo

  Published May 8, 2026

   

  From Iran to Palestine, from Ukraine to quiet acquiescence under American dictates, Europe appears increasingly devoid of strategic direction. Worse still, in this critical reading of Europe’s relationship with the Middle East—and with its own future—Italian journalist and intellectual Romana Rubeo argues that the continent is not merely adrift, but actively complicit in charting a course toward its own decline.

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• THINK! | A Way to Getting to Know the OTHER and One ANOTHER

  
  April 04, 2024 22:56

  Making a Difference – The Means, Methods, and Mechanism for Many to Move Mountains

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen, Editor

   

  Those who commit to 'healing our broken humanity' build intercultural bridges to learn to know and understand one another and others. Readers who thumb through the Building the Bridge (BTB) pages are not mindless sheep following other mindless sheep. They THINK. They want to be at the forefront of making a difference. They're in search of the bigger picture to expand their horizons. They don't need BTB or anyone else to confirm their biases.

   

  Making a Difference – The Means, Methods, and Mechanism for Many to Move Mountains

   

  Accurate knowledge promotes understanding, dispels prejudice, and awakens the desire to learn more. Words have an extraordinary power to bring people together, divide them, forge bonds of friendship, or provoke hostility. Modern technology places unprecedented possibilities for good at our disposal, fostering harmony and reconciliation. Yet its misuse can do untold harm, leading to misunderstanding, prejudice, and conflict.

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