(Informed Comment) – Despite appearances of random, off-the-cuff decisions, rendered on tweets and without, or even in opposition to, the advice of foreign policy specialists, I am going to posit a rationale behind the warlike actions and pronouncements of Messrs. Trump, Bolton and Pompeo. To do so, I will try to put all the scattered […]
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Middle East
Israel Demolished 41 Palestinian-Owned Structures in Two Weeks
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that in the past two weeks alone, Israeli forces demolished 41 Palestinian-owned structures in occupied East Jerusalem and Area C of the occupied West Bank, displacing 38 Palestinians and affecting 121 others.OCHA said in its biweekly Protection of Civilians Report that […]
Pace Pompeo: What if the US is “Sowing Chaos” in Mideast & Iran is a Status Quo Power?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC that Iran is an active threat to US interests and “sowing chaos” in the Middle East. It strikes me that exactly the opposite is true. The Islamic Republic of Iran has in recent years, despite its heritage in the 1979 revolution, acted as […]
Failure to Launch: Trump’s Palestine ‘Deal’ Stillborn
By Asa Winstanley | @AsaWinstanley | – There is seemingly no stopping deluded prospectors digging for nuggets of gold in the empty mine of Palestinian leaders’ capitulation. True, that mine once contained rich seams. Small, but rich enough. In 1993 Yasser Arafat terminated the First Intifada, the popular Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. In exchange, […]
Palestinians: US is Imposing a Surrender Plan on us, not a Peace Deal
WASHINGTON (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki called the US-proposed peace plan a Palestinian surrender, as the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, lashed out at the United Nation’s “anti-Israel bias” while urging support for the Trump administration’s “vision,” on Thursday. Greenblatt said it was “surprising and unfair” that Indonesia, […]
Trump, hostage to Bolton and Pompeo, Pleads with Iran to call and Rescue Him
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Julian Borger at The Guardian reports that Trump gave an impromptu news conference on Thursday in which he urged Iran to call him, as though he was being held hostage by John Bolton and Mike Pompeo and was signalling that Iran should rescue him. I happened to see the bizarre […]
What I saw in Gaza Changed me Forever
By Ned Rosch | – My true liberation as a Jewish person is bound up with the liberation of Palestinian people. | – (Yes! Magazine) – Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism is a powerful collection of 40 essays by Jews from diverse backgrounds. Each describes a personal journey from a Zionist worldview to activism in solidarity […]
Thousands of Innocent Palestinians in Gaza at Risk of amputation from Israeli Sniping
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Thousands of innocent Gaza Palestinian protesters wounded by live fire by Israeli snipers are in danger of losing limbs if the decrepit Gaza hospital system does not receive $20 million, according to Jamie McGoldrick, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory. Since the Great March of Return protests […]
“Ghost Tankers:” Can Iran Evade Trump’s Severe Sanctions on its Oil Sales?
(RFE/RL) – The United States has pledged to cut Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” denying Tehran a key source of revenue through tough sanctions and the threat of stiff penalties to potential buyers. But economists say that while the U.S. measures will hit Iranian oil sales, which account for 70 percent of the country’s revenues, […]








