Middle East

Trump Pardons Blackwater 4 for Nisour Square Massacre in Iraq, because Whites must never Suffer for Killing Innocent Brown People

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Tuesday, Trump the Mad pardoned 4 Blackwater mercenaries who killed 14 Iraqi civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, with indiscriminate fire at Nisour Square in downtown Baghdad on September 14, 2007. The four were convicted at then VP Joe Biden’s insistence, and were serving jail terms. WaPo says, “Investigators for […]

Israel/ Palestine

“Master Swindler” Netanyahu isn’t the Cause of Israel’s Instability or Ruinous Colonization of Palestine, but the Symptom

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – It is convenient to surmise that Israel’s current political crisis is consistent with the country’s unfailing trajectory of short-lived governments and fractious ruling coalitions. While this view is somewhat defensible, it is also hasty. Israel is currently on the cusp of a fourth general election in less than two […]

Iraq

‘Wealth Accumulates and Men Decay:’ Can America learn the Lessons of Iraq and Vietnam

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In choosing a title for his final, posthumously published book, the prominent public intellectual Tony Judt turned to a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, published in 1770. Judt found his book’s titlein the first words of this couplet: Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey Where wealth […]

Kurds

Will Syrian Kurds be crushed between the Russian Hammer and Turkish Anvil?

Nikola Mikovic

Major global actors in the Middle East are traditionally using the Kurds as bargaining chips for their own geopolitical trade. Russia is no exception. The Kurds of northern Syria could soon “fall victim” of the Russo-Turkish lucrative deals. Moscow has reportedly recently asked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – an alliance composed of Kurdish, Arab, and […]

Russia

Why is the Russian Public Paying for Bombing Schools in Syria?

Human Rights Watch

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 […]

Democratic Party

2020 Began and Ended with Trump baiting Iran into War: Can we get through another Month without One?

Middle East Monitor

By Ahmed Omar | – The single main story of the year has without a doubt been the coronavirus pandemic which has thus far claimed over 1.5 million lives around the world amid encouraging news about vaccine development. However it is now easy to forget that before this story became a near permanent fixture of […]

Featured

Everyday War Crimes: Israeli PM Netanyahu Gets COVID Vaccine, Squatters get Vaccine, but Not Occupied Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received a coronavirus shot on Saturday. He has pledged that the 9 million Israelis will be vaccinated in a matter of months. Inside Israel, Netanyahu was widely thought to have mishandled the pandemic, and it hurt his popularity as the country goes yet again to […]

Democratic Party

How will Biden’s Middle East — and Iran — be different from Trump’s?

Juan Cole

By Tony Walker | – Canberra policymakers will be conducting a root-and-branch reassessment of Australia’s foreign policy following Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election and ahead of an incoming Democrat administration. Top of the list of items for review will be a leaden-footed China policy. Chinese trade reprisals for perceived Australian slights are […]