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Archives for 2019

Donald Trump
Trump  Awaits orders from Saudis; and Why the Houthis could have Done It

Trump Awaits orders from Saudis; and Why the Houthis could have Done It

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s bizarre infatuation with strongmen and dictators was on full display in his response to Saturday’s drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. As our foremost Gulf expert, Kristian Ulrichsen, noted, The way you phrase it sounds like you are waiting for the Saudis to tell you what to do. […]

Featured
Pompeo Manipulatively blames Iran as Saudi Arabia loses 58% of Oil Production to Houthi Attack

Pompeo Manipulatively blames Iran as Saudi Arabia loses 58% of Oil Production to Houthi Attack

Juan Cole

Yemen’s Zaydi Shiite Houthi rebels, who control the northwest of Yemen, including the capital of Sana’a, claimed on Saturday to have launched the 10 drones that struck the major Saudi petroleum production and refining installations at Abqaiq and Khurais. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied that the drones came from Yemen, blaming the attack on […]

Iran
Forget Politics: The Joys of Iran's Traditional Music

Forget Politics: The Joys of Iran’s Traditional Music

The Conversation

By Darius Sepehri | – Weaving through the rooms of my Brisbane childhood home, carried on the languid, humid, sub-tropical air, was the sound of an Iranian tenor singing 800-year old Persian poems of love. I was in primary school, playing cricket in the streets, riding a BMX with the other boys, stuck at home […]

Israel
Debate: Should Palestinian Citizens of Israel Boycott Tuesday's Elections?

Debate: Should Palestinian Citizens of Israel Boycott Tuesday’s Elections?

Al-Shabaka

By Nijmeh Ali and Yara Hawari | – (Al-Shabaka) – Palestinian citizens of Israel earlier this year organized a campaign to boycott the April Knesset elections. Under the banner of the “Popular Campaign for the Boycott of the Zionist Elections,” the campaign called on Palestinians to refuse participation in the Israeli general elections so as […]

Authoritarianism
'Emperor has no Clothes:' Trump asked of Egypt's al-Sisi, 'Where's my Favorite Dictator?'

‘Emperor has no Clothes:’ Trump asked of Egypt’s al-Sisi, ‘Where’s my Favorite Dictator?’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has long been accused of having a soft spot for dictators, but now he has admitted it, even if only in the form of a jest. Nancy Youssef, Vivian Salama, and Michael Bender at the Wall Street Journal report that at the recent G7 meeting where Trump saw a […]

Israel/ Palestine
Donald Trump: The Face of Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Campaign

Donald Trump: The Face of Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Campaign

H. Scott Prosterman

From my point of view, the world was humming along pretty nicely until about 1981 when Ronald Reagan became US President, while Menachem Begin and Maggie Thatcher became Prime Ministers in Israel and Great Britain. Suddenly, all three Western powers took a sharp tack to the far-far right. Though there was a recovery period in […]

Islam
Islam, the Oud and American Jazz Prodigy Ahmed Abdul-Malik

Islam, the Oud and American Jazz Prodigy Ahmed Abdul-Malik

Shalom Goldman

(Informed Comment) – On John Coltrane’s breakthrough album Live at the Village Vanguard album (1961) there were many musical innovations, and the sound of an instrument new to jazz, the oud. The oud, staple of Middle Eastern music – and ancestor of the lute and guitar – was played by Coltrane’s bassist, Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Just […]

China
China is positioned to lead on climate change as the US rolls back its policies

China is positioned to lead on climate change as the US rolls back its policies

The Conversation

By Kelly Sims Gallagher and Fang Zhang | – As the effects of climate change become more widespread and alarming, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called on nations to step up their plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Every country has a part to play, but if the world’s largest emitters fail to meet their […]

Feminism
Iran: After barred woman Fan sets herself Alight, Soccer Star Condemns Female ban at Stadiums

Iran: After barred woman Fan sets herself Alight, Soccer Star Condemns Female ban at Stadiums

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) -The captain of Iran’s national soccer team has renewed his criticism of a ban on female spectators following reports a young Iranian woman set herself alight after being sentenced to prison for trying to attend a men’s soccer match. Masoud Soleimani Shojaei — who is considered a national hero — said on September 6 […]

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