Arab World

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut, October 1, 2021) – United Arab Emirates authorities are using Expo 2020 Dubai to promote a public image of openness that is at odds with the government’s efforts to prevent scrutiny of its rampant systemic human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. Expo 2020 is a prominent global cultural […]

Free Syrian Army

Joe Biden’s pledge of support reassures Syria’s embattled Kurds

The Conversation

By Cengiz Gunes – | The hasty and badly organised US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August prompted fears among Washington’s other allies about the durability of US friendship. Kurdish troops in northeastern Syria, facing multi-pronged opposition from Islamic State fighters as well as the Assad regime and the prospect of Turkish incursion, have felt particularly […]

Authoritarianism

End of Democracy in Tunisia: Unprecedented Confiscation of Power by the Presidency

Human Rights Watch

( Joint Statement of Human Rights Watch et al.) – The promulgation on September 22, of Presidential Decree No. 117 implicitly abrogating the constitutional order in Tunisia is a first step towards authoritarianism. This turning point threatens the human rights and democratic aspirations of the Tunisian people. While recognizing the limits of the current political […]

Arab World

As Biden prepares to declare US 20-year War over at U.N., Remembering the Bush Lies that Started it all

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Aamer Madhani and Josh Boak at the Associated Press report that President Biden in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly this year will seek to bring the curtain down on 20 years of American war, and will argue that instead the US will wage a multilateral campaign against […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s first batch of women military graduates encourages more debate on gender roles

Global Voices

By Rahma Alattar | – ( Global Voices.org) – Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia celebrated the graduation of its first-ever cohort of women military recruits, opening the door to a debate on the kingdom’s latest move to narrow the once-gigantic gender gap. In loose and long military fatigues, with their heads and sometimes faces covered […]

Arab Spring

What does the future hold for Middle Eastern states?

The Conversation

By Mohamad Moustafa Alabsi | – From independence until the advent of the Arab Spring, Middle Eastern states have suffered due to their constituting principle, a notion that can be traced back to the motivations and arrangements of former colonial powers. Independence may have satisfied the demands of the region’s inhabitants for autonomy, Arabness and […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia: President’s Repressive Policies Abrogate Rights: Dozens Placed Under Arbitrary House Arrest (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Tunis) – Arbitrary and politically motivated acts of repression have proliferated in Tunisia since July 25, 2021, when President Kais Saied suspended parliament, Human Rights Watch said today. He also lifted parliamentary immunity, dismissed the head of government, and took control of the office of the public prosecutor. Three parliament members have […]

al-Qaeda

No, Saudi Arabia wasn’t behind the 9/11 Attacks; That is a conspiracy Theory

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The FBI released documents from its investigation of ties of personnel at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., to al-Qaeda. The Saudi government was not behind the September 11 attacks, and these documents don’t indicate that it was. The Saudis are heavily invested in the U.S. stock market, and it […]

Bush

The Accumulated Evil of the Whole: That time Bush and Co. made the September 11 Attacks a Pretext for War on Iraq

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kyle Swenson at the Washington Post reported in 2018 that Floridian Ishnar Lopez-Ramos was in love, but her intended only had eyes for another woman. So Ms. Lopez-Ramos enlisted two 22-year-old accomplices to target the other woman, who worked at the Ross Dress for Less at a shopping Center near […]