Middle East

By Gareth Evans, Australian National University | – Since a United Nations General Assembly Resolution vote in November 2012, Palestine has had the status of a state within the UN system. It is not a full member state but, like the Holy See, a non-member observer state. Australia – after a heady debate within the […]

Iran

Iran, U.S. Renew Engagement To Avoid ‘Big Crisis’

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. ( RFE/RL) – Iran said it is engaged in indirect talks with the United States over a possible prisoner swap and the lifting of crippling American sanctions. […]

China

Xi Jinping backs Palestine entry into Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as Beijing offers to Mediate Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas accomplished a great deal on his 4-day visit to Beijing, including a Chinese agreement to try to bring Palestine into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, if the other members agree. Chinese President Xi Jinping and he announced on Tuesday a strategic partnership. Some months ago Foreign Minister […]

Donald Trump

Iran confirms it is Talking with the Biden Administration about Nuclear Enrichment, Prisoners and Regional Relations

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is coming out that the US and Iran have been talking privately in Oman about a range of bilateral issues, including prisoner exchanges and Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program. This news emerged, according to Barak Ravid at Axios in the form of a complaint from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin […]

Israel/ Palestine

I saw Israel’s ‘final solution to the Palestinian problem’ in Lebanon 41 years ago, and I see it again today

Mondoweiss

By Rev. Dr. Don Wagner ( Mondoweisss ) – Forty-one years ago, I was in Lebanon leading a group of ten U.S. relief and development directors hoping to introduce them to the extensive needs of impoverished Lebanese and Palestinian refugees. On June 4, 1982, around 3:00 p.m., we were on our way to the crowded […]

Democracy

Can Lebanon Finally elect a President who will Lead it out of its Economic and Political Morass?

Habib Badawi

By Habib Badawi Beirut (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Lebanon may be a small country of some four million citizens with a land area a little less than that of Connecticut, but it plays an outsized role in the geopolitics of the Middle East. Its upcoming presidential election on June 14th therefore has wide […]

Israel/ Palestine

Permanent Apartheid in Palestine: This is why Israel wants to reactivate E1 Plan

Ramzy Baroud

Dr Ramzy Baroud RamzyBaroud ( Middle East Monitor ) – The Israeli government is at it again, actively discussing the construction of thousands of illegal settlement units as part of a massive settlement expansion scheme known as E1. Though Israeli construction in the East Jerusalem area has supposedly been halted under international pressure, the […]

Afghanistan

It’s Not Just Iran: Conflict over Water Resources is on the Rise as Climate Crisis Grows

Sustainability Times

By Laureen Fagan ( Sustainability Times ) – The clash over water rights led to fighting between Iran and Afghanistan recently, in the latest battle over water resources among neighboring nations—clashes that are expected to become all the more common in hot and arid regions like the Middle East and Africa’s Sahel. At least two […]

Featured

Mohammed Altamimi, Age 2: The Latest Victim of Israeli Apartheid Toward Palestinians

Mohammed Samaana

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Like any other toddler in the world, two and a half years old Palestinian toddler Mohammed Altamimi was with his father in the car at their home entrance in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. All was normal until the Israeli army opened fire at their car. Both […]