Arab World

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Alarm bells are ringing at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow over the perilous fate of the planet. The threat of a “doomsday” scenario was echoed in the speeches of world leaders taking part, warning of the “existential threat to human existence”. The message […]

Arab World

How Lebanon became the latest Battlefield in the Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Middle East Monitor

By Amira Abo el-Fetouh | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Lebanon is plagued by crises, with a new one added almost daily. The people are suffering from power cuts and fuel shortages, and queue for hours at petrol stations and bakeries. Daily life has become unbearable. There is also the conflict between the […]

Climate Crisis

COP26: Climate Disaster Stalks Morocco even as it Strives for Wind, Solar

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Since the UN Conference of Parties (COP) 26 is meeting in Glasgow this week, we will be looking at climate and energy issues in the Middle East. Today I want to make some remarks about Morocco, which has one of the most ambitious green energy programs in the region, but […]

censorship

Human Rights? Saudi Arabia put a Child Dissident on Death Row for 10 Years, but has Finally Released him

Human Rights Watch

By Bill Van Esveld | Associate Director, MENA, Children’s Rights Division | – Nearly ten years after Ali al-Nimr was arrested by Saudi authorities in February 2012, he was finally released from prison this week. His mother tweeted a video showing their emotional reunion. But amid the relief and celebration, al-Nimr’s ordeal highlights the cruelty […]

censorship

“A Psychopath with Infinite Resources:” Al-Jabri accuses Saudi Crown Prince MBS

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scott Pelley at CBS’s “60 Minutes” interviewed Dr. Saad al-Jabri, the number 2 man in Saudi intelligence until 2014, when he fled for his life to Canada. Al-Jabri made a number of serious accusations against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, including alleging […]

Houthi

Saudi-Iranian Rapprochement would bring Stability to Mideast, but would it make America Irrelevant?

Middle East Monitor

By Mohammad Makram Balawi | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Since 1979, when Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and held American diplomats captive, the US strategy towards Iran has been aggressive. The US led the whole world to isolate Iran, turning it into a pariah state even among its neighbours and […]

Afghanistan

Celebrating Rep. Barbara Lee, our Cassandra who warned against the Failed 20-Year Wars

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – For decades, I kept a poster on my wall that I’d saved from the year I turned 16. In its upper left-hand corner was a black-and-white photo of a white man in a grey suit. Before him spread a cobblestone plaza. All you could see were the man and the stones. […]

Hizbullah

Violence has broken out in Beirut Again, but it isn’t Senseless – it is caused by what Lebanon has not Done

Human Rights Watch

By Lama Fakih, Crisis and Conflict Division | – ( Human Rights Watch) – Scenes from Lebanon shocked residents and the world on Thursday when the streets of a residential and commercial district in Beirut descended into a level of violence last seen during the country’s the civil war: Families sheltering in hallways, bathrooms, and […]

Houthi

Yemen: Will talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran offer hopes for an end to bitter seven-year civil war?

The Conversation

By Simon Mabon | – Recent statements from Iran and Saudi Arabia have provided hope that a pathway might be emerging to an end to the bitter seven-year civil war in Yemen which has killed an estimated quarter of a million people and left millions more homeless. On September 21, officials from Saudi Arabia and […]