Middle East

By Miles A. Pomper | – As the Syrian crisis pits Turkish troops against former U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials have been reviewing plans to remove 50 nuclear bombs stored at a U.S air base in Turkey. A congressional directive to the Pentagon to quickly assess alternative homes for U.S. “personnel and assets” currently stationed […]

Israel/ Palestine

She deserves our support: Rep. Betty McCollum wants US to stop subsidising torture of Palestinian children

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – In December 2018, 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Sabah was only 14 years old when the […]

Donald Trump

Unlike Trump, Putin faces down Turkey on Plans for Massive Syria Incursion

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With Trump and his special operations troops out of Syria, it fell to Russia to deal with Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to push back from its border the leftist Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Trump has not only become irrelevant, but the troops formerly stationed in Syria now seem […]

Displaced and Refugees

Deportation to Syria could mean death for women, children and LGBTQ refugees in Turkey

The Conversation

Deina Abdelkader | – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn’t limiting his assault on neighboring Syria to attacking Kurdish troops that run the country’s northern region. He says the 3.6 million Syrians now living as war refugees in Turkey may also be returned “to their own homes” once northern Syria is wrenched from Kurdish control. […]

Featured

As Netanyahu Era Ends in Israel, Anti-Arab Racism Causes Political Deadlock

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the far right Likud Party, has failed to form a government. His rival, former general Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, will now get a chance. In the US, the two big parties make their coalitions before the election, […]

Turkey

Can his Incursion into Syria Help Turkey’s Erdoğan Consolidate Power?

Ramazan Kilinc

By Ramazan Kılınç | – Omaha, NE (Informed Comment) – Turkey is a country where the status of democracy and human rights has never been isolated from international developments. Turkey became a multi-party democracy only after it was threatened by Soviet Russia and put under the NATO defense shield. As I examined elsewhere, when Turkey […]

Tunisia

Will Tunisia’s Populist “Robocop” new President bring “Freedom and Dignity” or . . .?

The Conversation

By Mohamed Kerrou | – Kaïs Saïed has won Tunisia’s presidential election. This triumph came at the expense of the two forces that have dominated Tunisia’s political landscape since the 2011 revolution: Islamism and nationalist secular parties. Over the past eight years, these two movements failed to meet the urgent demands of the people, expressed […]

Lebanon

Will Massive Lebanese Demos end the Country’s Era of Corruption?

Middle East Monitor

By Amira Abo el-Fetouh | – We may be too optimistic to hope that the massive demonstrations that have spread in all the cities of Lebanon will lead to the collapse of Hariri’s regime that has ruled the country for about 30 years. This regime was established when businessman Rafik Hariri, close to Saudi Arabia, […]

Donald Trump

No, Trump isn’t Bringing Troops home: Not those in Syria, or any of the 60,000 in the Mideast

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although Trump keeps talking about bringing the troops home from the Middle East, that isn’t what he is doing. There are some 60,000 US troops in and around the Middle East. There is no prospect of any significant number of them “coming home” any time soon. In fact, Trump just […]