By Oraib Al-Rantawi | @OraibAlRantawi It is not only Iran that is paying close attention to the uprisings of the Iraqi and Lebanese people; Israel is also monitoring the situation closely, especially in Lebanon. It has also been involved in the Iraqi crisis recently and dealing direct blows to the Popular Mobilisation Forces and the […]
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Arab World
Saudi Arabia’s High Cost of ‘Reform:’ Arrests, Torture, Murder
Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) – Important social reforms enacted under Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been accompanied by deepening repression and abusive practices meant to silence dissidents and critics, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘The High Cost of Change’: Repression Under Saudi Crown Prince Tarnishes […]
Syrian Kurds charge Turkey with Ethnic Cleansing as US Military frets it will be “blind” without Kurdish Help
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northeast Syria today accused Turkish forces of conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Kurdish region they have occupied between Tel Abyad and Ra’s al-Ayn. The communique said, “and after more than 300,000 civilians fled from its cities and villages and hamlets and houses and hospitals […]
Hezbollah: What Lebanon’s Protests against Sectarian Elite Mean for the Party-Militia
By Adham Saouli | – The national uprising that has engulfed Lebanon since mid-October is historic and revolutionary. Protests have continued across Lebanon, even after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on October 29 saying he wanted to give the country a “positive shock”. The response of Hezobllah, the armed political movement that has been part […]
Top 6 Problems with Trump Taking Syrian Oil
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump keeps talking about taking Syrian oil. In fact, many of those 1,000 special operations troops he pulled out, sending them to Iraq, are mostly back in Syria now, but in Deir al-Zor rather than up north. That is because the lion’s share of Syrian petroleum is in Deir al-Zor […]
Biggest Iraqi Crowds in History Demand changes in Bush Constitution
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dubai’s Al-Akhbar al-An reports that further large demonstrations broke out in Iraq on Saturday, leaving 91 wounded and one dead. Friday saw some of the largest demonstrations in modern Iraqi history. Protesters are demanding an end to corruption and sectarianism and want a government that can deliver basic services. They […]
Syria’s Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Syrian strongman (and mass murderer) Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to Syrian media in which he expressed his happiness that Trump is president of the United States, “because he is the most transparent, so he says, ‘We want the oil,’ and this is the reality of American policy.’” Al-Assad said, […]
How Lebanon’s Uprising Defies the Sectarian Narrative: Not Sunni, Shiite, Christian
By Mira Assaf Kafantaris | – Religion has shaped Lebanon since it gained independence from France in 1943. In this multicultural country of Muslims, Christians and Druze – a medieval faith derived from Islam – religion defines membership and belonging. It is woven into Lebanon’s economic, political and social fabric. The mass protests that began […]
Looming Trump Impeachment puts him in Company of Challenged Corrupt Mideast Leaders
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – If we think about mass politics in the Middle East during the past 8 years as anti-corruption drives, it is easier to see the ways in which Trump resembles a typical Middle Eastern dictator. Americans are prosecuting him in the House of Representatives rather than in the streets, but then […]