Middle East

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment) – In the village of Jaba in Bethlehem district this month, Israeli squatter settlers chopped down and destroyed 300 olive trees. October is the olive harvest month in Palestine. This emblem of peace, however, is under attack by illegal extremist Israeli squatter settlers who carry out their attacks under the […]

Donald Trump

With UN Embargo on Arms Sales to Iran Lapsing, Will Russia take on US to reap Bonanza?

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – As of today, the 2007 UN Security Council embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran expired. At least from the point of view of international law, Iran can now purchase powerful and advanced weapons such as the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, or the Su-30 fighter jet. Still, although Iranian […]

Armenia

Trying To Be Neutral: Iran Worried Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Could Turn Into Wider War

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL ) – Sharing a frontier with both Armenia and Azerbaijan as they fight a bitter war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh territory, Tehran is closely watching the conflict amid growing concern it could spill over the border. A number of artillery shells and rockets have recently landed in Iranian territory, including a residential area, only […]

Dissent

Is Turkey spying on Dissidents in the West?

The Conversation

By Mehmet Bastug and Davut Akca | – Turkey’s long arm and espionage activities against dissidents living in exile in Canada has become a growing concern. As revealed in a startling recent news report, 15 Turkish-Canadians have been targeted by the Turkish government within the scope of a “terrorism” investigation. Needless to say, the term […]

Donald Trump

America is Complicit, as Yemen Spirals toward Mass Starvation

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mark Lowcock of the United Nations gave an impassioned and apocalyptic speech on Thursday warning that 4 million Yemenis who had been receiving aid no longer are, because of a shortfall in donor contributions, and the country could be on the cusp of mass starvation. There already is widespread malnutrition […]

Jabhat al-Nusra

Russia and Syria are committing War Crimes, Targeting Civilian Infrastructure

Human Rights Watch

Unlawful Attacks on Hospitals, Schools, Markets Forced Idlib Population Out

Israel/ Palestine

If it is Tuesday, this must be Occupied Palestine: Tourism in the Service of Israeli Colonialism

Al-Shabaka

By Halah Ahmad | – ( Al-Shabakah) – Tourism has been critical to the Zionist enterprise since the first Zionists settled Palestine. Al-Shabaka policy analyst Halah Ahmad explores the role of tourism, and especially religious tourism, in propagating the Zionist and Israeli-state narratives, focusing on the damaging impacts of Israeli settlement tourism in illegally occupied […]

Tunisia

Will Tunisia, the only Success of the Arab Spring, be Ruined by a Police Protection Bill?

Global Voices

By Rima Sghaier | – ( Global Voices ) – As the Tunisian parliament considers a controversial police protection bill, protests erupted in the city of Bardo to oppose it. On October 6 and 8, human rights groups and a youth-led citizen movement dubbed Hasebhom (translated as “hold them to account”) rallied outside the parliament […]

censorship

Khashoggi’s Ghost: World Resoundingly rejects Saudi membership on UN Human Rights Council

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sulayman Hajj Ibrahim writes in the London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] that Saudi Arabia’s bid to join the 47-member Human Rights Council of the United Nations was rejected resoundingly by the General Assembly. Human Rights Watch waged a campaign against allowing China and Saudi Arabia onto the council. […]