US Foreign Policy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden was at an ice cream shop with late night comedian Seth Myers on Monday, and was asked about the possibility of a Gaza ceasefire, according to Alex Marquardt and Donald Judd at CNN . He said, “Well I hope by the beginning of the weekend, I mean, […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza: Will Biden go Big on Diplomacy or on Military Destruction?

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – On the horizon, shimmering like some heavenly ideal, is a grand bargain to end the war in Gaza, establish an independent Palestinian state, and stabilize the Middle East. Also on the horizon, blazing like an infernal nightmare, is the prospect of an escalation of the current war in […]

Democratic Party

A majority of Jewish Democrats and Muslim Democrats agree on one Thing: Immediate Gaza Ceasefire

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new opinion poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Muslim-American think tank based in Michigan, finds that half of Jewish Democrats and a majority of Muslim Democrats agree on the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Some 78% of Muslim Democrats favored an immediate […]

Egypt

Egypt Threatens Netanyahu with End of Camp David Peace Accords if he Invades Rafah

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is being widely reported based on press leaks that the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has privately threatened Israel. Cairo is said to have warned that the 1978 Camp David Peace Treaty will be suspended “with immediate effect” if the government of Binyamin Netanyahu tries to take […]

Iran

Little Room For Negotiation Between Iran And U.S. Amid Middle East Tensions

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Michael Scollon ( RFE/RL ) – Like two heavyweight boxers, the United States and Iran circle the ring — flexing their muscles without stepping close enough to actually trade blows. It is clear that neither wants to fight, but they also have no interest in settling their stark differences. That is how experts say […]

Displaced and Refugees

U.S. Officials Acknowledge Moral Issues at Stake in Gaza

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Over the past several months, officials in Washington have acknowledged that one of the fundamental issues at stake in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is its effect on the people of Gaza. Even as the United States has continued helping Israel wage its military campaign, […]

Iraq

Washington Chooses Genocide over Diplomacy in the Middle East

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – On February 7, 2024, a U.S. drone strike assassinated an Iraqi militia leader, Abu Baqir al-Saadi, in the heart of Baghdad. This was a further U.S. escalation in a major new front in the U.S.-Israeli war on the Middle East, centered on the Israeli genocide in Gaza, but already also […]

Featured

Saudis Contradict Blinken: Want Actual Palestinian State now, not Vague ‘Peace Process’

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On Tuesday afternoon (6 February 2024), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took part in a joint press conference with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha. The press conference was mainly about the war in Gaza and the possibility […]

Donald Trump

A Trumpian Bacchanalia in 2024?

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I was born on July 20, 1944, almost two years after Joe Biden arrived on this planet and almost a year before You Know Who, like me, landed in New York City. The United States was then nearing the end of the second global war of that century and things were […]