Arab World

Biden once wanted to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ – so why is he playing nice with the kingdom’s repressive rulers now?

By Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Even before setting foot in the Middle East for his first visit to the region as president, Joe Biden felt compelled to defend a portion of the trip. “I know that there are many who disagree with my decision […]

Bashar al-Assad

Lebanon’s Plan to Deport 15K Syrian Refugees per month back to Syria Is Unsafe and Unlawful

Human Rights Watch

By Lama Fakih, Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – Human Rights Watch – Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine announced a government plan this week to begin returning 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria a month, saying: “The war was over and the country has become safe.” The alarming news, which […]

Featured

On Cusp of Biden visit to Saudi Arabia, GAO questions US Accounting for Civilian Harm caused in Yemen by its Weapons

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden is on the cusp of going off to Saudi Arabia as one part of his upcoming Middle East trip. One of the failures of Mr. Biden has been completely disengaging the US from the Saudi-led war on Yemen, which he had pledged to do. Although there has been […]

Israel/ Palestine

72% of Palestinians view 2-State Option as non-Viable given Israeli land-grabs, and 23% want a Joint State

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor ) – A recent poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research showed that there is significant disillusion with Palestinian politics. Arguably most notable is the opposition to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s decision-making, a further deterioration in his popularity as leader and, more importantly, a decrease in support […]

Arms Sales

Unlike SCOTUS, Iraqi Kurds are Rethinking Lax Gun Laws after Shootings; Will even Iraq be Safer than the US?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Other countries can just adopt rational policies to deal with severe social problems. The United States is locked into various weird metaphysical dogmas that make reasoning about such issues difficult. The second amendment, for instance, has nothing to do with universal gun ownership, whatever ideologues on the Right assert. The […]

Apartheid

Saudi Arabia: Biden Visit Risks Fostering Repression: US Should Publicly Seek Rights Commitments, Reforms

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – US President Joe Biden’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman risks encouraging new abuses and further entrenching impunity, 13 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said today in a joint letter to President Biden. The Biden administration should secure clear and […]

Displaced and Refugees

Starving Civilians is an ancient military Tactic, but today it’s a War Crime in Ukraine, Yemen, Tigray and elsewhere

The Conversation

By Tom Dannenbaum, Tufts University; Alex De Waal, Tufts University; and Daniel Maxwell, Tufts University | – A hideous contradiction is playing out in war-torn Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians are starving in cities besieged by Russian forces. Meanwhile, the country’s grain stores are bursting with food, and the government is begging for international assistance to […]

Democracy

The fall of the House of Arslan: How a Lebanese political Newcomer ousted a Dynasty

Global Voices

By Omar Boutine | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – On May 15, 2022, Lebanese voters cast their ballots in the first parliamentary elections to be held in the country since the Beirut blast leveled the eastern half of the capital in August of 2020. Since then, a nation mired in an economic crisis the World […]

Bashar al-Assad

With Putin bogged down in Ukraine, will the Syrian Civil War Reignite?

Middle East Monitor

By Muhammad Hussein | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Pivotal moments in history rarely present themselves, but when they do, that is exactly what they turn out to be. The power dynamics of an entire region can be altered, the interests of governments can be shifted, and the geopolitical arena can be at least […]