Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen is keeping two million children out of school (Yemen is a country of 27 million). Worse, schools and schoolchildren have repeatedly been struck from the air by Saudi, UAE, Moroccan and Jordanian pilots using American-supplied planes and bombs, in a […]

Iraq

Why do Iraq’s Shiites want US Troops out, but Sunnis prefer they Stay?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | Iraq’s Sunni Muslims are anxiously watching the debate over the presence of US troops in Iraq. Civilians believe they are an important neutralising presence and military personnel want their help and their technology. On January 27, a friendly fire incident in Iraq’s Anbar province ended in the […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Boomerang Effect: How Netanyahu Made Israel a Partisan US Issue, and Lost

contributors

By Ramzy Baroud | (TeleSur) | – – Netanyahu’s strategy in courting U.S. conservatives has proved a success. However, the price of that success is that the relationship between Israel and the American public has fundamentally changed. Despite massive sums of money spent to channel public opinion in the United States in favor of Israel, […]

Israel/ Palestine

54 Palestinians from Gaza died in 2017 awaiting Israeli travel permits

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The record low rate of permits issued by Israel for Palestinians seeking vital medical treatment to travel outside the Gaza Strip underlines the urgent need for the Zionist state to end its decade-long closure of the enclave, a group of Palestinian and international rights groups have said in a […]

Israel/ Palestine

Celebrities speak out for Jailed Teen Ahed Tamimi: Israel/Palestine

Juan Cole

IMEMC | – – Celebrities and civil rights figures declared their support for imprisoned Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, 17, who was detained by Israeli forces on December 15, after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier who broke into her house in Nabi Saleh village, near Ramallah, went viral. A number of high-profile entertainers, […]

Corruption

What Does Netanyahu Corruption Case tell us about Trump’s Fate?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Israeli police have recommended that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu be indicted for corruption. The recommendation now goes to attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, who may or may not decide to act on it. Although 60% of Israelis in polling have said they wanted Netanyahu to step down […]

Kurds

The U.S. Is Permanently Occupying Northern Syria, and That’s Trouble

contributors

By Reese Erlich | (The Progressive) | – – When President Barack Obama started bombing Syria in 2014, he enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington, D.C. Americans were appalled by the atrocities of the Islamic State, which had massacred Yazidis, and seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. At the time I warned that, […]

Featured

Syria: War is over at the Center, but Powers nibbling at Edges

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Where people live and how many of them there are constitute basic questions for any social scientist but these basics are often ignored by the writers of headlines in the press. There is a rash of articles about how Syria’s war is heating back up. It […]

Israel

Joining BDS, Israeli Gov’t to Boycott Israeli Film in Paris

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The Israeli government is to boycott the Paris Film Festival over the organiser’s decision to air a movie that is said to “hurt the reputation of Israel’s military”. Culture Minister, Miri Regev, is said to be on a mission to stop the film “Foxtrot” gaining wide recognition. The Israeli […]