Review of Allen James Fromherz, The Center of the World: A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Historically known as the Persian Gulf, the body of water stretching from Iraq on the northwest to […]
How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan
Review of Amin Saikal, “How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– More than three years have passed since US troops left Afghanistan in August 2021, putting an end to an occupation that lasted two […]
The Yemen Model and Failed US Middle East Policy
Review of Alexandra Stark, “The Yemen Model: Why U.S. Policy Has Failed in the Middle East” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Yemen goes through a civil war that does not end, frequent cholera outbreaks, and acute malnutrition among children. These days, however, the southern […]
Eugene Rogan’s The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Review of Eugene Rogan, “The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Making of the Modern Middle East” (New York: Basic Books, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– How did Ottoman Damascus descend into violence and looting in July 1860? Why did the Damascene masses fall upon the Christians, leaving around 5,000 […]
Refashioning War through Aid in Palestine – Elastic Empire
Review of Lisa Bhungalia, “Elastic Empire: Refashioning War through Aid in Palestine” (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– The impact of US military aid on Palestine is there for everyone to see. For decades, Israel has been the largest recipient of US military aid. The list of military […]
Ten Conflicts to Understand the New Middle East
Review of : Christopher Phillips, Battleground: 10 Conflicts That Explain the New Middle East. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024. Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– The title of Christopher Phillips’ latest book, “Battleground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East”, might scare off some potential readers. Here comes another […]
Europe: The Onslaught of the Far Right
Munich (Special to Informed Comment) – After the results of the elections to the European Union parliament were announced on the night of June 9, a common reflection in many political analyses was that the center had held. The far-right advanced but not as much as some polls had predicted. The resistance of the center […]
Pegasus: The Zero-Click Threat to Democracy and Human Rights from Israel
Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Pegasus, the main cyber-surveillance weapon developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, had been at the center of formidable reporting before July 2021. Still, the revelations presented by the Pegasus Project partners in a cascade of articles that began on July 18, 2021, represented a watershed moment. […]
German Far Right Leader on Trial for Nazi Slogan: “X” Marks the Spot
Halle an der Saale, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– On the morning of April 18, in front of the district court in Halle, it became evident that not many people had taken up Björn Höcke’s invitation to support him before a trial. Höcke, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the central-eastern state […]
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