Middle East

By Laura Gottesdiener | – (Tomdispatch.com) – There’s a dark joke going around Baghdad these days. Noof Assi, a 30-year-old Iraqi peace activist and humanitarian worker, told it to me by phone. Our conversation takes place in late May just after the Trump administration has announced that it would add 1,500 additional U.S. troops to […]

Featured

Whoever Hit the Gulf Tankers, Pompeo was Wrong to Finger Iran before Evidence Was In

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The mysterious mines that blew up two tankers, one of them Japanese-owned and operated, on Wednesday, sent a frisson of fear through the Gulf, since it was clear that Trump warmongers would blame Iran and then use the incident as a springboard to war. Despite the confident pronouncements of “Benghazi […]

Iran

Iran’s Green Uprising 10 Years Later: A Humanizing Legacy

Pouya Alimagham

By Pouya Alimagham (Informed Comment) – June 12, 2019 marks the tenth anniversary of what sparked the Green Uprising in Iran. While many have noted that it was a “failed revolution” because it was unsuccessful in abrogating the controversial election results or toppling the state that ratified them, it enjoyed many subtle victories, one of […]

Bashar al-Assad

War Crimes: Syria’s Assad has Systematically Targeted Hospitals as a Battle Tactic

Middle East Monitor

By Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal | – Although many reports touch on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria, little has been said about the medical situation in the war-torn country, and the plight of its doctors who remain there. The conflict has raged for eight years with no end in sight. The uprising against Bashar […]

Featured

Iran to Germany: For sake of Keeping Nuclear Deal, you Must do more to Defy Trump

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranians are increasingly impatient with Europe’s lack of concrete steps to protect Iran from Trump’s severe sanctions, and the frustration made for a tense visit Tuesday by German foreign minister Heiko Maas to Tehran. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani told him to his face that Europe had reacted in the politically […]

Israel/ Palestine

Kushner thinks Israelis have Rights but Palestinians have only Needs (if they Behave)

Middle East Monitor

By Mohammad Makram Balawi | – It was a revealing and quite intersecting interview that Jared Kushner had with Jonathan Swan on Axios on HBO aired a week ago. Sawn asked Kushner a few direct questions on his mission as advisor on the Middle East peace negotiations. When Swan asked him if he understands why […]

Iran

Fake Newsman: Anti-Iran Forbes “Writer” is a People’s Jihadi Front (TYT Video)

The Young Turks

“Heshmat Alavi” who has published anti-Iran screeds in Forbes, the Daily Caller and other substandard rightwing venues, does not, according to The Intercept, actually exist. The name is a front propaganda efforts of the People’s Jihadis (Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK). The MEK has committed numerous acts of terrorism in Iran and then collaborated with Iraqi […]

Yemen

In War-Torn Yemen a Mother and 6 Newborns Die every Two Hours during Labor

Middle East Monitor

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated that “every two hours, a mother and six newborns die in Yemen due to complications in pregnancy or childbirth.” The data was included in a report issued by the organisation, Monday. UNICEF explained that “the years of war in Yemen have led to worsening the condition of women […]

Featured

Bipartisan move in Congress to Cancel Trump’s Stealth $8 bn Arms sale to Saudis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan De Luce at NBC News reports on a bipartisan attempt in Congress to block Trump’s sidelining of the legislature in fast-tracking an $8 bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia that includes components useful in building ballistic missiles. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the step on the grounds of […]