2023

Cairo (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – With the announcement of the expansion of the BRICS bloc many were surprised to see traditional US allies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE inducted as new members. Pundits were quick to exclaim the monumental shift, heralding the move as Saudi Arabia charting an independent path and the […]

Climate Crisis

Young Montanans are fighting Climate Change in Court for all our Sakes

Tomdispatch

By Stan Cox | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The wording in Article IX, Section 1, of Montana’s constitution couldn’t be clearer: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” Accordingly, in April, a district court judge in Yellowstone County voided a […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Flood Death Toll in Libya’s Derna may reach 20,000

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – The death toll in Derna as a result of the catastrophic flooding in Libya may reach 20,000, the city’s mayor has said. Abdulmenam Al-Ghaithi based his estimate on the number of districts destroyed by the floodwater. The interior ministry of the government in eastern Libya said yesterday that the […]

Israel/ Palestine

30 Years after Arafat-Rabin Handshake, clear Flaws in Oslo Accords doomed peace Talks to Failure

The Conversation

By Maha Nassar, University of Arizona | – On Sept. 13, 1993, the world watched as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn. It was a stunning moment. The famous handshake between adversaries marked the beginning of what became known as the Oslo […]

China

Mideast AI: Saudi, UAE Chip imports from US imperiled by Their Close China Ties

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Efforts by Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to join the race for artificial intelligence could be hindered by US opposition to China’s growing footprint in the region. US President Joe Biden and his administration appear concerned that rising Chinese influence in […]

Anti-intellectualism

‘Era Of Repression’: Iran Purges Ranks Of University Professors Ahead Of Veil Protest Anniversary

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Hannah Kaviani Fereshteh Ghazi ( RFE/RL ) – Encouraging students to hold unauthorized demonstrations. Encouraging students to sing antiestablishment slogans. Encouraging female students to remove their head scarves. Undermining Islamic values and acting against the interests of the system. These are the list of reasons the Iranian authorities are using to increasingly purge the […]

Anti-intellectualism

Why Defining Criticism of Israeli Policies as “antisemitism” Harms Campus Freedom of Speech (BRISMES)

contributors

Statement of the British Society for Middle East Studies and the European Legal Support Center on the IHRA Definition of antisemitism as a challenge to free speech in Universities. IC is reprinting the opening paragraphs of

Featured

War is not Inevitable, and Social Scientists are Finding Peace Movements more Effective

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, MA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – I am heartened each time I come across a study affirming that waging war is not an innate part of human nature, that we humans are just as likely to be peaceful as we are to be violent. To quote the revered anthropologist Margaret Mead, “warfare is only […]