Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The United States as a superpower is in competition with global and regional competitors for influence in the world. Its rivals and enemies will take advantage of Trump’s insult of Africa, the Caribbean and Central America to reduce US leverage there and to increase their own. […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel approves $230m for settler only roads in West Bank

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Israel’s Channel 7 has reported that the Israeli government has approved the allocation of $230 million to finance the construction of settlement roads in the occupied West Bank. According to the channel, which is close to the settlers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Head of Shomron Regional Council […]

Iran

How Iran’s Bread Riots turned anti-Systemic & what it means for the Future

contributors

Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran started 2018 with protest rallies and anti-riot police in many cities across the country. Public protests against the regime caught many observers by surprise, just as the 2011 Arab Spring had done. But displays of public anger in Iran are not new. Throughout 2017, Iran witnessed […]

Featured

Nearly a year after Trump bombed Syria, al-Assad and Russia extend control

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian war limps along at the margins. It is over where it matters but continues in key demographic pockets. The two most significant are East Ghouta near the al-Assad-held capital of Damascus and the province of Idlib in the northwest of the country. East Ghouta […]

Employment

Tunisia: Austerity Protests roil Birthplace of Arab Spring

contributors

TeleSur | – – Protests have been taking place across the North African country over the past several nights in protest against government austerity measures at the behest of the IMF. At least one person is dead and 200 people have been arrested during several nights of protests in Tunisia, according to The Guardian. Protests […]

Environment

EVs are Better: Iranian oil tanker in East China Sea could burn for a month

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea could burn for as long as one month, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters on Wednesday, as the blaze raged for a fourth day following a collision with a freight ship. Dozens of rescue boats battled […]

Donald Trump

Iran’s Khamenei: Trump Unbalanced, Playing Crazy Games, but Iran policy will Fail

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran’s clerical leader, Ali Khamenei, gave a speech in Qom on Tuesday, in which he warned Donald Trump that his “crazy games” would not go without a response. Western news outlets such as the NYT tried to represent this speech as a threat, and some outlets […]

Corruption

Why Israel doesn’t run on Solar: Netanyahu’s son boasts of father’s gas deal at strip club

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – A recording emerged yesterday of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair boasting that his father had set up a $20 billion business deal for businessman and gas tycoon Kobi Maimon. Published by the Israel Television News Company, the report has stirred renewed controversy at a time when Netanyahu […]

Featured

Iran’s Khamenei blames Early English Learning for Unrest, Bans Classes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran’s government has apparently discovered the real reason for the protests that swept its small towns and working class neighborhoods during the past couple of weeks. English was being taught to third graders in some schools. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the clerical Leader of the country, has […]