Middle East

Motasem A Dalloul | @abujomaaGaza | – Israel’s General Election two weeks ago has presented it with its second major political deadlock this year. The Blue and White party won 33 seats and the Likud won 32; the other parties will only be significant if they join a coalition with one of these two major […]

Donald Trump

Trump Talks tough with Journalists but Lets Real Strongmen like Turkey’s Erdogan Walk all over Him

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week during the visit of the Finnish president, Trump acted out with a journalist, James Mason of Reuters who asked him a simple question. What exactly did Trump want from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky during the notorious July telephone call? Trump did a bad de Niro impression, asking him, […]

Iraq

Baghdad’s Youthquake: Iraq’s Young Protestors ‘Have Nothing Left To Lose’

Mustafa Habib

(Niqash.org ) – Anti-government protests in Baghdad were led by the younger generation, one that has grown up under military rule, lived a more liberal life online and is now questioning the very basis of local, political culture. More than a hundred deaths and over 4,000 wounded as a result of five days of anti-government […]

Foreign Policy

How the Saudi Oil Field Attack Overturned America’s Apple Cart

Conn M. Hallinan

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – For all their overwhelming firepower, the U.S. and its allies can cause a lot of misery in the Middle East, but still can’t govern the course of events. In many ways it doesn’t really matter who — Houthis in Yemen? Iranians? Shiites in Iraq? — launched those missiles and drones […]

Featured

Iraqi Gov’t Teeters as Protest Death toll Rises to 100, with 4,000 Wounded

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Protests broke out again in Baghdad on Saturday, leaving 15 dead. The government had shut down the internet a few days ago in a bid to quell the widespread rallies, but returned partial service yesterday, which allowed activists to call for further protests. The Neoconservatives and the Bush administration pledged […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi looks ‘positively’ at Yemeni truce proposal

Middle East Monitor

Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Salman believes that his country looks “positively” at the truce proposal announced by Houthis in Yemen, Arabi21.com reported on Friday. In a series of tweets, the prince wrote “we look positively at the truce announced by Yemen because this is what we have been seeking. We hope it is really implemented.” […]

Donald Trump

Is Turkey planning an attack on Syrian Kurds?

Reese Erlich

ISTANBUL —The Turkish government plans to use Syrian refugees to displace the local Kurdish population in northern Syria. But so far, the scheme isn’t working so well. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayep Erdoğan announced his intention to settle up to two million refugees now living in Turkey into northern Syria. “We aim to accelerate […]

Authoritarianism

Duke U. Faculty reply to Trump Dept of Ed. demand for Negative Teaching on Islam and Palestinians

contributors

Letter: 62 Duke faculty respond to Department of Education directive letter to the editor By Concerned Faculty October 3, 2019 | ( The Duke Chronicle) – We appreciate the recent statement on academic freedom from President Price and Provost Kornbluth following the US Department of Education’s investigation of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East studies. […]

Featured

US Press Horrified by Trump’s “Shoot Migrants in the Legs” but ignores what Israeli Snipers do to Palestinian Protesters

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Americans were horrified to hear that Trump wanted to have US forces at the US-Mexico border to charge migrants with bayonets or shoot them in the legs. Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis at the New York Times reported that Trump wanted US forces to fire on migrants as […]