Middle East

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Iraq’s Parliament has failed its people. This was the message from protestors last week. But what could possibly replace the flawed system? Each potential solution comes with its own dangers. Protestors left Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone last week, after having spent two days expressing […]

Development

Surprise! Despite Syria-Iraq Turmoil, Major Mideast Economies growing 3-4%

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When you only hear bad news from a place, you form a negative opinion of it. But when I went looking for news about the economies of the most populous Middle Eastern countries, I was surprised to find that the IMF and/or World Bank is seeing […]

Colonialism

100th Anniversary: What did the Sykes-Picot Agreement mean for the Middle East?

contributors

By Stephen Pascoe | (The Conversation) | – – To mark the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, we’ve got a package with an explanatory article about the secret accord (below) . . . The Sykes-Picot accord was conceived at a high point in Britain and France’s imperial power. Hammered out in the midst of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Annual ‘March of Return’ draws thousands of Palestinians to the Negev

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – NEGEV (Ma’an) — Thousands of Palestinians participated in the annual ‘March of Return’ on Thursday afternoon near Bedouin towns in the Negev (Naqab) in southern Israel, commemorating the 1948 Nakba amid the conclusion of Israeli independence day celebrations. Palestinians in Israel, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners emblazoned with […]

Featured

Baghdad gov’t paralysis made capital vulnerable to massive ISIL bombings

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) launched a series of suicide car and truck bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 and wounding nearly 200 persons. Baghdad security had improved over the past couple of years, but the Coalition United for Reform blamed political wrangling on sectarian and […]

Israel/ Palestine

In Resistance and Creativity, the Occupied Palestinians find Hope

contributors

By Victoria Brittain | (OpenDemocracy) | – – The village of Nabi Saleh is a story of resistance in the face of theft and violence. Rawabi encapsulates the vision of a neo-liberal pacified Palestine. And then there is Gaza… On a warm spring evening in the occupied West Bank Bassem Tamimi was looking over his […]

Israel/ Palestine

Azarya Trial and Israeli Values: Israeli soldier charged with Killing prostrate Assailant

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The trial of an Israeli soldier charged with manslaughter for the point-blank shooting of a Palestinian earlier this year began on Monday, amid Palestinian fears that the accused would evade meaningful legal consequences for his actions. A panel of judges read the indictment to Elor Azarya, […]

Economy

Can Europe compete with China in post-Sanction Iran? Will the US Let it?

contributors

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – The cake is quite big, but everyone wants a slice. Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, visited Iran last month accompanied by business leaders from the energy, transportation and defence sectors. It was a return visit after the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, had made Italy his first […]

Human Rights

Yemen: Saudis Using US Cluster Munitions

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – End Production, Transfer of These Banned Weapons (Washington, DC) – Saudi Arabia has used US-made cluster munitions near civilian areas in Yemen, leaving behind unexploded submunitions, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should cease its production and transfer of cluster munitions to conform with the widely accepted […]