Human Rights

Pompeo’s touting of “Second Trump Administration” craters State Department’s Credibility on Democracy Promotion

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Nicole Gaouette, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood at CNN report that secretary of state Mike Pompeo insisted there would be a smooth transition to a second Trump term. The statement, which appears to have been sardonic rather than in earnest, disgusted a lot of people, especially ambassadors. If it was […]

Democratic Party

Can Saudi’s Rogue Crown Prince Survive the Biden Presidency?

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – World leaders rushed to congratulate US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris for their victory in a nail-bitingly tense election. Many Arab leaders including Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and figureheads in other countries such as Oman, Jordan, Lebanon […]

Displaced and Refugees

In Turkey, life for Syrian refugees and Kurds is becoming increasingly violent

The Conversation

By Yasin Duman | – A spate of attacks in Turkey on Syrian refugees and Kurdish internal migrants and displaced people in recent months have put both communities on edge. In July, a Syrian teenager working as a market seller in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, died after he was attacked by a group of men. Another […]

Donald Trump

Top Five Horror films on Halloween that remind us of Trump’s Presidency

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This Halloween is either the last of four presidential slasher movies, produced by notorious horror producer Donald John Trump, or it is the beginning of a new, 48-month national nightmare even more bone-chilling than the last. The Ring is a 2002 film directed by Gore Verbinski. It is about a […]

Displaced and Refugees

American War Crime: Trump’s Child Separation at the Border violates the Rome Statute, Majorly

Everett Wohlers

Boise, Idaho (Special to Informed Comment) – As a retired military lawyer, I have more than a passing familiarity with international humanitarian law. When I saw the reports beginning in 2017, first of the forced separation of children from parents on our southern border, with no prospect of near-term reunification, and more recently of the […]

Armenia

in Conflict with Armenia, Azerbaijan used Cluster Munitions in Nagorno-Karabakh

Human Rights Watch

Stop Use of Banned Weapons; Secure and Destroy Stocks

Democracy

Did Trump blackmail Sudan into Recognizing Israel by offering to remove Khartoum from Terror List?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok announced Monday that the US had agreed to remove his country from the list of international supporters of terrorism, paving the way for Sudan to rejoin the international community and attract desperately needed international investment. Sudan’s revolutionary government has moved to ensure human and civil […]

censorship

Khashoggi’s Ghost: World Resoundingly rejects Saudi membership on UN Human Rights Council

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sulayman Hajj Ibrahim writes in the London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] that Saudi Arabia’s bid to join the 47-member Human Rights Council of the United Nations was rejected resoundingly by the General Assembly. Human Rights Watch waged a campaign against allowing China and Saudi Arabia onto the council. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria’s security services flourish while people starve; what sort of ‘president’ is Assad?

Juan Cole

Ghazi Dahman | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – It is no surprise that the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre has released documents revealing that Syrian Embassies around the world spy on their own citizens on behalf of the Assad regime. Every Syrian who has travelled abroad for any reason knows that the regime’s […]