Arab World

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was ostensibly about petroleum and attempting to lower gasoline prices in the US, it doesn’t seem to me that that rationale entirely explains Biden’s about-face on Saudi Arabia. For one thing, Biden must have been told that Saudi Arabia does not have […]

Arms Sales

Biden Should Not Renew Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

Human Rights Watch

By Michael Page | Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – President Biden is set to land in Saudi Arabia later this week to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid disturbing media reports that, if true, signal a policy reversal that could lead to […]

Arab World

Many Young People in Middle East, struggling to see Bright Future, want to Emigrate to West

The Conversation

By Georges Naufal, Texas A&M University | – The Middle East’s population is growing almost twice as fast as the world overall, and one-third of its people are under the age of 15. As Joe Biden takes his first trip to the region as president, he plans to focus on the prospects for peaceful international […]

Climate Crisis

The Troubling Message of Biden’s Trip to Saudi Arabia

Basav Sen

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – President Biden has set out on his travels to Saudi Arabia. The implications of the trip for the intertwined issues of human rights and energy policy are dire. The Saudi Arabia visit represents a 180-degree turn for Biden, who once called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning for president. […]

Donald Trump

Imperial Detritus: Henry Luce’s “American Century” Comes Undone

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – “The American Century Is Over.” So claims the July 2022 cover of Harper’s Magazine, adding an all-too-pertinent question: “What’s Next?” What, indeed? Eighty years after the United States embarked upon the Great Crusade of World War II, a generation after it laid claim to the status of sole superpower following the […]

censorship

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

The Conversation

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 […]