“Today, Apple unveils the new iPad. If it is like Apple’s past products, it will be a sleek, gorgeous gadget, hand-assembled by underpaid workers forced to put in illegal and dangerous amounts of overtime.”

-SumofUs, in their demand that Apple release information about their workers’ overtime. Sign the petition here.

March 7, 2012

US military occupation forces in Afganistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 26 casualties in the week ending March 6, as the official casualty total for the Iraq and AfPak wars* rose to 112, 605. The total includes 79,576 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March, 2003 (Operations “Iraqi Freedom” and “New Dawn”), and 33,029 since… Continue reading March 7, 2012

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Iran’s middle classes are already being deeply hurt by sanctions. The idea that they will mobilize to pressure the government to give up nuclear enrichment as a result is a non-starter.

-Juan Cole on how sanctions work. They inflict pain on the population for the perceived sins of its government.

Ahmadinejad could not even fire an intelligence minister (Haidar Moslehi) he disliked last spring. Khamenei reinstated him. Ahmadinejad sulked and wouldn’t attend cabinet meetings for a while, but eventually got over himself. Hitler indeed.

-Juan Cole notes the real power in Iran, which has always indicated its opposition to obtaining nuclear weapons