Middle East

By Amira Abo el-Fetouh | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 14 February, 1945, while US President Franklin D Roosevelt was returning from the Yalta Conference where he met Britain’s Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin of the USSR, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was summoned to meet […]

Authoritarianism

Iran’s Executions Of Protesters Triggers Public Outrage, Draws Criticism From Clerics

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Hannah Kaviani I’m Hannah Kaviani, a senior broadcaster and editor at RFE/RL’s Radio Farda. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. ( RFE/ RL ) – Iran has publicly executed two young men over their involvement in the ongoing antiestablishment protests that have rocked the country […]

Iraq

In Iraqi Kurdistan, Yazidi girls box their way to a new future after Daesh terror

Juan Cole

By Roshan De Stone | – ( Middle East Monitor) – After the 2014 Daesh genocide which left them reeling from the effects of mass abduction and rape, Yazidi refugee girls are rebuilding their lives with the help of boxing, art and music classes. Emma Loffhagen and Charline Bou Mansour report from Iraqi Kurdistan In […]

Climate Crisis

In Sign of Turkey-Israel Thaw, a Joint Project is inked to build the World’s Largest Wave Power Plant on Black Sea

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has had a rocky relationship with Israel, which Turkey has long recognized and with which it does substantial trade. Erdogan’s acerbic comments about the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza have drawn equally sharp retorts from Israeli politicians. Still, about a month ago […]

Authoritarianism

Iranian Protesters turn to TikTok to get their Message past Government Censors

The Conversation

By Whitney Shylee May, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts | – Images of the protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, in Iran and reports of the government’s brutal crackdown have circulated widely on social media. This flow of information comes despite efforts […]

Israel/ Palestine

Heard the Phrase ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements?’ All such Squatter-Settlements are Illegal

Middle East Monitor

By Sari Al-Qudwa | – ( Middle East Monitor) – All Israeli settlements violate Article 49, paragraph six, of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. They are, therefore, considered to be war crimes, according to Article 84, paragraph four of the additional first protocol of 1977; an annex to the 1949 Geneva Convention; and Article […]

History

Mehran Kamrava, ‘Triumph and Despair: in Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic’ (Review)

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Mehran Kamrava, Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Barcelona (Special to Informed Comment) – During the last three months, Iran has been a main focus of international media attention due to the ongoing anti-government protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: Two Protesters Executed in Grossly Unfair Trials, Several More in Danger (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities’ execution of two men in connection with widespread antigovernment protests is a gross miscarriage of justice and a dangerous escalation, Human Rights Watch said today. According to human rights groups, revolutionary courts of first instance have issued at least 11 other protest-related death sentences and are expected […]

Children

UN: 11,000 Boys and Girls have been Killed or Wounded in the Yemeni War that the US backed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – UN News reports that 11,000 boys and girls are estimated to have been killed or wounded by direct violence in the Yemen War that has been going on since the Saudi air assault of spring 2015. The figure was released by Catherine Russell, the head of the UN children’s fund, […]