2018

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – Saudi Arabia’s apparent assassination of Jamal Khashoggi might have taken inspiration from Russia and North Korea — or Israel and the United States. Russia, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia are the latest members of a select international club. Assassins Without Borders has roots that go back, in the modern era […]

Featured

Germany halts arms Sales to Riyadh, as Investors sell $1 bn in Saudi Stocks

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that Germany would put arms sales to Saudi Arabia on hold in light of the murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. She said that they “could not take place in our current circumstances.” Meanwhile, foreign investors sold […]

Saudi Arabia

Turkey Vows to Reveal ‘Naked Truth’ over Khashoggi Death

AFP

by Fulya Ozerkan with Brian Knowlton in Washington and Joe Jackson in London | – Istanbul (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed to reveal within days the “naked truth” over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as Riyadh said it did not know the whereabouts of his body and that Crown […]

Israel/ Palestine

Under Public Pressure to Cancel Peace Treaty with Israel, Jordan ends Annexes

AFP

AMMAN (Ma’an) — Jordanian King Abdullah II informed Israel, on Sunday, that he will not renew two annexes of the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan concerning territory leased to Israel. The territories in question are al-Baqura and al-Ghamr, which are also known as Naharyaim and Zofar in the Hebrew language. King Abdullah II […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: America’s Longest Forgotten War Turns a grim 17

Tom Engelhardt

(Tomdispatch.com) | – We’re already two years past the crystal anniversary and eight years short of the silver one, or at least we would be, had it been a wedding — and, after a fashion, perhaps it was. On October 7, 2001, George W. Bush launched the invasion — “liberation” was the word often used […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel advances Bill Tying Cultural Funding to ‘Loyalty’

AFP

Jerusalem (AFP) – A ministerial committee in Israel’s parliament voted Sunday to advance a bill that would cut subsidies to cultural organisations accused of not showing “loyalty” to the state, the culture minister said. The proposed legislation, denounced by artists and freedom of speech activists, was proposed by Culture Minister Miri Regev. The text of […]

Addiction

Socialism is Healthy: US Barracuda Capitalism is Literally Killing us

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US has fallen off a cliff on global health statistics, plummeting an unprecedented 21 places in the world index. Moreover, the US is expected to fall even further behind over the next 20 years. Mellan Solly at The Smithsonian Magazine analyzed the numbers in a just-published Lancet article While […]

Russia

Is Putin using Syria Conflict to detach Turkey from NATO?

The Conversation

By Mustafa Demi | – Turkey, Russia and Iran have actively involved themselves in the Syrian conflict, each with their own divergent interests. Moscow and Tehran have put their support behind the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, hoping it retains its influence over the strategic Syrian region. Meanwhile, since the very beginning of […]

Saudi Arabia

World Outraged, Incredulous at Saudi Account of Khashoggi’s Murder

AFP

Turkish officials have accused Riyadh of carrying out a state-sponsored killing and dismembering the body

Archives for 2018

Was Saudi Arabia’s Assassination inspired by N. Korea, Israel, Russia or US?