Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The clerical leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, gave a speech on Sunday in which he urged that Iran maintain its military readiness in order to fend off any hostile invasion or attack. But, he said, “Iran has never invaded a country and never will.” He also called US […]

Bahrain

Should Formula 1 be held in Major Human Rights Violator Bahrain?

contributors

VICE News | – “Formula 1’s annual Bahrain Grand Prix opened April 17 to global fanfare, but demonstrators in the small Gulf kingdom off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia have been protesting the motorsports event for weeks, accusing Formula 1’s management of ignoring longstanding human rights abuses in the country. This year’s race comes […]

Jabhat al-Nusra

Assad: Syria has ‘no relation’ with Hamas, will Never Trust it Again

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Syrian regime no longer has any relationship with former ally Hamas and will never trust the movement again, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Friday. “There is no relation at all on the formal level or on the popular level,” the president told Swedish newspaper Expressen, adding, “I […]

Houthi

Yemen as War of Right-Wing Billionaire Establishment in the Middle East

contributors

By Conn Hallinan | (Foreign Policy in Focus) – The Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen has more in common with 19th-century Europe than the 21st-century Middle East. Saudi Arabia’s recent intrusion into Yemen is ostensibly part of a bitter proxy war with Iran. But the coalition that Riyadh has assembled to intervene in Yemen’s civil […]

Featured

As US Consulate in Irbil. Iraq, is Bombed, can US still do Diplomacy in ME?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) A bombing that killed 3 people and wounded 10 on Saturday outside the US consulate in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, raises an important question about the US diplomatic presence in the eastern reaches of the Middle East. Is it still possible for diplomats to do their work this way? The […]

Iran

If U.S. Bombed Iran What Would Actually Happen?

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) – ” Cenk Uygur host of The Young Turks discusses what would happen if the United States decided to launch a war campaign against Iran. “Many in the United States government seems to be foaming at the mouth to go to war with Iran including Republican Sen. Tom Cotton […]

Iraq

Iraq: Shiite Gov’t faces Mammoth Task in taking Sunni al-Anbar from ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Only a few hours after the start of the next big military campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq, things [went] wrong. Anbar will not be like Salahaddin – there are social, political, military and geographical obstacles to overcome first. Last week the Iraqi government, buoyed […]

Houthi

Yemen: U.N. calls for Ceasefire, denounces War Crimes

contributors

By Thalif Deen | – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The United Nations, which is providing humanitarian aid to over 50 million refugees worldwide, is struggling to cope with a new crisis in hand: death and destruction in Yemen. In an urgent appeal for 274 million dollars in international aid to meet the needs of some […]

Dissent

Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]