Human Rights

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – When Saudi Arabia – which has been spearheading a coalition of Arab states in a devastating war against Yemen since 2015 – was accused of bombing civilians, and particularly children caught up in the conflict, the government in Riyadh threatened to […]

Displaced and Refugees

N. American Scholars of Mideast react to SCOTUS Decision on Trump Muslim Ban

contributors

Middle East Studies Association of North America | – – On Monday, June 26, 2017, the United States Supreme Court issued a limited stay in the case that MESA has joined as a plaintiff, IRAP v. Trump, partially reinstating the revised Executive Order (EO) from March 6, 2017 (for MESA’s statement on EO 13780 see […]

Displaced and Refugees

If US Wars aren’t on TV, are all those 1000s really Dying?

contributors

Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – The headlines arrive in my inbox day after day: “U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria killed hundreds of civilians, U.N. panel says.” “Pentagon wants to declare more parts of world as temporary battlefields.” “The U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.” There are […]

Chemical Weapons

Can Iran, Turkey and Egypt Cooperate to deliver Mideast from Chaos?

contributors

Farhang Jahanpour | ( Tehran Times | – – TEHRAN – Professor Farhang Jahanpour, part-time tutor on the Middle East in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, tells the Tehran Times that Iran, Egypt and Turkey must set aside their differences in order save the the region from “chaos and destruction”. […]

censorship

Turkey’s Erdogan: Saudi demand he close Qatar base is ‘Disrespectful’

contributors

TeleSur | – – Erdogan told journalists after Eid al-Fitr prayers that “It (the list of demands from Qatar’s neighbors to lift the ban) is a breach of Qatar’s sovereignty rights.” On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared that he supported Qatar’s response to a list of demands issued by the Arab states that boycotted […]

Displaced and Refugees

Tense Eid for 1.2 mn Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

contributors

By Billie Jeanne Brownlee | (The Conversation) | – – For Syrian refugees in Lebanon marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, it has been a struggle to find enough food to break their fast each evening after sunset. This is not what Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the festival at its end, should be about. […]

Iraq

1/2 of World’s Civilian War Deaths were in Syria, Iraq & Yemen during past Half-Decade

contributors

By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) | – – ROME/GENEVA (IPS) – Between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, a major independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence informs. According to a new report […]

censorship

Do Egyptians have any Rights Left at All? – HRW

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Egyptian authorities in recent weeks have arrested at least 50 peaceful political activists, blocked at least 62 websites, and opened a criminal prosecution against a former presidential candidate, Human Rights Watch said today. The actions are further closing any remaining space for free expression. The charges against […]

Authoritarianism

Speaking Truth to Erdogan: His Authoritarian Turn and Europe

contributors

By Ludwig Schulz | German Orient Institute | (Via Euractiv.com ) | – – Ludwig Schulz looks at how scientific analysis can help counter President Erdoğan’s fake narrative of Turkey’s thriving democracy and why the European Union should reconsider its policy towards EU accession countries. In his official message for Europe Day on 9 May […]