Middle East

Algerians who have been demonstrating on the streets for more than a month appear to have achieved their primary goal of toppling President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. On Monday the official news agency reported that the 82-year-old president will resign “before 28 April” – the date when his current mandate expires. [Update: Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday April […]

Featured

Senators Grill Rick Perry on Transfer of Nuclear Info to Saudi Arabia Despite “Troubling Actions”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Timothy Gardner at Reuters reports that senators on Tuesday sent a sharp letter to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry about the Part 810 approvals he secretly gave US businesses to provide sensitive nuclear specifications to Saudi Arabia. Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) insisted that Perry inform them […]

Turkey

Turkey’s Erdogan Lost Key Cities in Paranoiac Campaign that ignored Sinking Economy

The Conversation

By Ihsan Yilmaz and Erdoan Shipoli | – Votes are still being counted in local elections that took place across Turkey on Sunday, but so far it appears that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party has lost key cities and towns. That includes the Turkish capital Ankara, which has been run by Islamist mayors for the […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Political Prisoners Face Severe Abuse: Report

Middle East Monitor

Political prisoners in Saudi Arabia are facing severe abuses by prison authorities, according to a medical report leaked to the Guardian newspaper. The leaked report documented evidence that political prisoners – both men and women – are suffering from malnutrition as well as cuts, burns and bruises due to severe physical abuse by authorities. The […]

Featured

Syrian Ambassador: Trump should give Israel the Carolinas, instead of Syria’s Golan

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Syria’s envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, lambasted the Trump administration for recognizing the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights. He said that if Trump wanted to give somebody else’s territory to Israel, it should be North and South Carolina. The United Nations Charter forbids the acquisition of territory […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Great March of Return is a Turning Point in Palestinian Collective Memory

Middle East Monitor

By Yousef Alhelou | – Despite Israeli efforts to deter Palestinians from taking part in this weekend’s Great March of Return, and in spite of the cold weather conditions which prevailed, a tsunami of demonstrators flocked to Gaza’s 25-mile-long fence. Heavily-armed Israeli forces fired live ammunition at protesters, who came in their thousands to mark […]

Israel/ Palestine

Incremental Settler Colonialism: Israel to Approve 5,000 new Squatter Units in Palestinian West Bank

AFP

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli Civil Administration is expected to approve 1,427 new illegal settlement units, on Sunday, and to announce plans to construct another 3,500 units next week. Haaretz news outlet reported that the Israeli Civil Administration is expected to approve the 1,427 new settlement units across the occupied West Bank. Sources mentioned that […]

Featured

Israeli Snipers Kill 4, wound 207 as 40,000 Palestinians March Peacefully in Gaza for Right to Return

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As an unprecedented 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza marched for the right to return, marking the one-year anniversary of the beginning of weekly such marches, Israeli snipers shot into the Gaza Strip, killing 4 youth and wounding at least 207. The Israeli army uses military-grade tear gas on the crowds, and […]

Arab World

Arab World Warms to Russia after Trump gives Syria’s Golan to Israel

Middle East Monitor

The Ambassador of the League of Arab States to Russia, Jaber Habib Jaber has praised Russia’s steadfast position on the Jerusalem and Golan files, which is in compliance with the international laws and legislation. Jaber also thanked Moscow for its adherence to this principle and considered it the right way to play an effective and […]