Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The end of most UN and European sanctions on Iran and the likely end of US third party sanctions are shaping how regional states see the Vienna agreement between Iran and the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Iran is expected to […]

Apartheid

Israel orders half of West Bank Palestinian village demolished after Ramadan

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of around half of the homes in a village south of Hebron to be carried out after Ramadan, Israeli watchdogs said on Wednesday. (MaanImages/Charlie Hoyle, File) Rabbis for Human Rights and B’Tselem said in a statement that pressure from Israeli settlers […]

Children

Wars targeting Children: 20 mn Homeless, 300K Conscripted & now Mass Abductions by ISIL

contributors

By Beatriz Ciordia | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Whether in Palestine, Ukraine or Somalia, wars result in millions of children threatened by the brutality of armed conflict. The numbers speak for themselves: more than 300,000 child soldiers are currently exploited in situations of armed conflict and six million children […]

Apartheid

The Next Gaza War

contributors

By Max Blumenthal | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – “A fourth operation in the Gaza Strip is inevitable, just as a third Lebanon war is inevitable,” declared Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in February. His ominous comments came just days after an anti-tank missile fired by the Lebanon-based guerrilla group Hezbollah killed two soldiers in an […]

Featured

Iran Deal: Why doesn’t US Media interview Real Allies on American Policy?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So after France and Britain and Germany conducted negotiations with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program alongside the United States, you would expect American television news eagerly to seek out interviews on the deal from David Cameron, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel– or foreign ministers […]

Iran

“The World Has Changed’: Reformist Iranian Press Goes Wild for Vienna Deal

contributors

By Mahsa Alimardani | (Global Voices) | – – Almost every front page of Iran's daily newpapers covered the nuclear deal on Wednesday 15 July. Screenshot from www.jaaar.com. Iran's media landscape is typically a place to gauge what differences lie across the country's political factions. However, on Wednesday, July 15, the country's various publications seemed […]

Education

Teaching tolerance: Five Israeli schools unite Jews and Palestinians

contributors

By: Anna Kokko | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – JAFFA (Ma’an) — Paper lanterns crafted for Ramadan are hanging over the heads of children as they run between a snack table and a cartoon playing on the television. On first glance, this could be any other kindergarten in the city of Jaffa, where over […]

Economy

European Companies poised for Iran Gold Rush but will Hill Keep US Out?

contributors

By Charles Recknagel | ( RFE/ RL) Many of the punishing UN, U.S., and EU financial and energy sanctions imposed on Iran in recent years to pressure Tehran to curb its nuclear activities are to be suspended or lifted in the wake of the deal struck in Vienna on July 14. But many other sanctions, […]

Featured

Did rise of Daesh/ ISIL ensure Iran Nuclear Deal?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Iraq on Tuesday, Iraq militias and the Iraqi military launched a counter-attack on Falluja with the ultimate aim of driving Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) out of al-Anbar Province. The operation follows the successful liberation of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, from Daesh by these same forces. In […]