Middle East

By Ora Szekely | – Despite many attempts at negotiations, the Syrian war – a conflict with a complicated and constantly changing cast of characters that has killed as many as 585,000 people and displaced over half of Syria’s prewar population – has proved extremely difficult to resolve. As the war grinds on, conditions are […]

Donald Trump

Iran Covid-19 Deaths Rival US as Trump Blockade blocks Medical Supplies; and Europe Defies Washington

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The European Union has activated the Instex trading mechanism for the purpose of sending medicine and medical supplies to Iran to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Instex operates in Euros rather than dollars and avoids US banks, so that the US Treasury Department cannot claim jurisdiction over it. The Instex bank […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Israel Gov’t is taking advantage of Pandemic to Heighten Military Dictatorship over Palestinians

Asa Winstanley

The populations of many countries the world over are right now living under unprecedented quarantine measures and restrictions on movement. The threat of the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic has changed the world for the foreseeable future. It is true that most people who contract COVID-19 (the disease caused by this new coronavirus) will suffer only […]

Feminism

Presence-as-Resistance: Iranian Women and the Politics of Social Contestation

Navid Pourmokhtari

The history of everyday public resistance on the part of women’s movements in Iran

War

Yemen still on the brink following coronavirus risks and fragile ceasefire

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – As Yemen’s catastrophic war enters its sixth year, the Saudi-led coalition offered a desperately needed ceasefire on Friday, which the current coronavirus pandemic has made more vital than ever. The move came after the UN Secretary General on March 25 called for an end to hostilities in all regional […]

Saudi Arabia

Yemen: Saudi Forces Torture, ‘Disappear’ Yemenis

Human Rights Watch

At Least 5 Detainees from al-Mahrah Illegally Transferred to Saudi Arabia

Epidemics

No Mercy even in a Pandemic: Israeli Occupation Authorities Demolish Makeshift Field Hospital in Palestinian Hamlet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Demonstrating that the technologies of settler colonialism never take a break, Israeli Occupation forces have demolished an emergency clinic set up by Palestinians in a small town inside the Palestinian West Bank, according to the Israeli peace organization, Btselem. It writes, “This morning, Thursday, 26 March 2020, at around 7:30 […]

Donald Trump

Why have America and Saudi Arabia Bonded for Decades? Can you Say ‘Oil,’ Children?

Middle East Monitor

By Essam Abdul Shafi | – ( Middle East Monitor) – With its inherent connection to the religion of Islam as the Custodians of the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah, Saudi Arabia’s origins and characteristics were reflected by US policy towards the Kingdom from its foundation. American missionaries based their efforts on providing social, […]

Epidemics

Coronavirus Solidarity: A 13th Century Mystical Persian Poem about Humanity Shows why We need a Global Response

The Conversation

By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam | – Coronavirus is all about human connectivity. From a philosophical perspective, I’ve been thinking about how this virus is forcing us to confront our common fate, highlighting our connections in the process. The novel coronavirus defies geography and national borders. There is no escaping it – exactly because humanity is inevitably […]