Middle East

(London) – Palestinians have thanked the Argentinian football team and star forward Lionel Messi for cancelling their friendly match with Israel scheduled for Saturday, according to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). Football fans and Palestinian human rights supporters had urged the Argentinian team to cancel the match, set […]

Cartoon

America was Asking ‘Where’s Melania?’ when the Question was ‘Where’s Razan?’ (Cartoon)

Paul Jamiol

Via: Jamiol’s World – Get Paul Jamiol’s latest book of political cartoons, Hatred Rising Related Informed Comment Posting: “War Crimes: Israeli Snipers Kill Palestinian Nurse, Injure 100, at Gaza March of Return” .

Qatar

Trump’s Debacle: Gulf Game of Thrones between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Continues

Beverly Milton-Edwards

The crisis that erupted between a Saudi-led bloc of Arab states and Qatar led to the tiny Emirate facing an attack on them that was unprecedented. A full year later, the crisis is still unresolved. Read against the wider exigencies of US interests in the Gulf, the crisis has also highlighted profound weaknesses in Donald […]

Qatar

Qatar Seeks to Join NATO, Saying It Is “Stronger” Despite Year-Long Saudi-led Blockade,

David Harding

Doha (AFP) – On the first anniversary of a bitter Gulf diplomatic rift, Qatar’s foreign minister on Tuesday declared his country stronger than ever and said it was open to dialogue with its regional rivals. Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani also rebuked Qatar’s foes for “imaginary victories” against the small Gulf state, the target of a […]

Featured

War of Aggression: The Saudi & UAE Slaughter in Yemen isn’t a Proxy Conflict with Iran

Sheila Carapico

Richmond, Va. (Informed Comment) – Alongside their throttlehold over which reporters can visit what parts of Yemen, and thus what story they can tell, Saudi and Emirati investments in public relations, lobbying, think-tanks, and political consultants are shaping the narrative about their war there. Headline writers, pundits, Wikipedia, news correspondents, and even some so-called experts […]

Displaced and Refugees

Can America Heal the Psychological Wounds of our Syrian Refugees?

Arash Javanbakht

Detroit (The Conversation) – War in Syria and the refugee crisis have been the subject of a heated debate in United States politics, leading to a travel ban and drastic reduction in the number refugees to the U.S. this year. We occasionally hear about brutal deaths and starvation of civilians in Syria from the news, […]

Iran

Pressuring Europe over Trump, Iran will Build New Centrifuges for Enriching Uranium

Marc Jourdier

Tehran (AFP) – Iran said Tuesday it has launched a plan to boost uranium enrichment capacity with new centrifuges, raising the pressure on European diplomats scrambling to rescue the crumbling nuclear deal after Washington pulled out. “If conditions allow, maybe tomorrow night at Natanz, we can announce the opening of the centre for production of […]

Democracy

Is there Too Much Democracy in the Middle East?

Juan Cole

In the Washington Post last week, historian of the US Yoav Fromer of Tel Aviv University published an article about how the problem with the Middle East is too much democracy and not too little. Fromer seems to take at face value George W. Bush’s policy of “democratization.” That was a slogan to cover the […]

Yemen

Forgotten War in Yemen Heats up as 100 die in Fight for Key Port

AFP

Khokha (Yemen) (AFP) – The battle for a major rebel-controlled port in Yemen has left more than 100 soldiers and insurgents dead in less than a week, medics and military sources said Saturday. Yemeni forces are fighting to close in on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, the main conduit for humanitarian supplies into a […]