Arab World

By Belkis Wille | – Senior Researcher, Crisis and Conflict Division | – ( Human Rights Watch) – The Russian military marked the fifth anniversary of its intervention in the armed conflict in Syria on September 30. The consequences have been devastating for many Syrian civilians, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions more forced […]

Authoritarianism

Trump aping Mideast Tinpot Dictators and raving about declaring Martial Law, which even Iran Prohibits

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With Trump raving in White House meetings, prompted by the equally certifiable Michael Flynn, about declaring martial law, it sets an old Middle East hand like me thinking. In my part of the world, leaders declare martial law or a “state of emergency” at the drop of a helmet. And […]

Germany

Germany backs major international green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp will supply an electrolyser for a massive international green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia with the capacity to produce up to 650 tonnes of the climate-neutral gas per day with wind and solar power installations. The German economy ministry (BMWi) announced that it will support the “Element […]

Afghanistan

It’s almost 20 Years since 9/11; Can we finally End our Constant, Disastrous Wars?

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – It was the end of October 2001. Two friends, Max Elbaum and Bob Wing, had just dropped by. (Yes, children, believe it or not, people used to drop in on each other, maskless, once upon a time.) They had come to hang out with my partner Jan Adams and me. Among other […]

censorship

Saudi: Terrorism Court Rushes Activist’s Unfair Trial; Charges Relate Solely to Peaceful Women’s Rights Activism

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities are rushing through the closed trial of the prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, Human Rights Watch said today. Prosecutors originally charged al-Hathloul, 31, in March 2019 with offenses related solely to her human rights advocacy, but the authorities informally suspended her trial at the regular […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will Biden Wind down the Syria War or keep it Bubbling?

Global Voices

Incoming US administration won’t take leaps in Syria

Afghanistan

Anti-War Officer Corps: An American Crisis of Conscience in the Forever Wars

Tomdispatch

By William J. Astore and Danny Sjursen | If you have a moment, how about joining two retired officers, Bill Astore and me, Danny Sjursen, as we think about this country’s catastrophic forever wars that, regardless of their deadly costs and lack of progress, never seem quite to end? Recently, in a podcast chat about […]

Afghanistan

Trump’s Pernicious Military Legacy: From the Forever Wars to the Cataclysms

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – In the military realm, Donald Trump will most likely be remembered for his insistence on ending America’s involvement in its twenty-first-century “forever wars” — the fruitless, relentless, mind-crushing military campaigns undertaken by Presidents Bush and Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia. After all, as a candidate, Trump pledged to bring U.S. […]

Afghanistan

US Troops are finally returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, but what to kind of American are they returning

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – By the end of this year, the White House will reportedly have finally brought home a third of the 7,500 troops still stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq (against the advice of President Trump’s own military leaders). While there have been stories galore about the global security implications […]