Middle East Monitor | – – The Saudi-led military coalition fighting against the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The move, which follows the interception of a missile fired […]
The GOP Plot Against America’s 99%
By Nouriel Roubini | (Project Syndicate) | – – US President Donald Trump, in partnership with congressional Republicans, is pursuing tax cuts that will blow up the fiscal deficit and add to the public debt, while benefiting the rich at the expense of middle- and working-class Americans. Once again, Trump has not hesitated to betray […]
Saudi Arabia: Is the Prince fighting on too many Fronts?
Carool Kersten | (OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The Saudi crown prince moves towards concentrating absolute power in his own hands, while escalating tensions on several fronts. If Machiavelli were alive today, he might have modeled his political treatise ‘The Prince’ on Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS). Events on the first Saturday of November […]
Top 4 Things Paradise Papers tell us about Super-Rich
Ronen Palan | (The Conversation) | – – The so-called Paradise Papers may sound familiar – leaked documents from a law firm that specialises in offshore services reveal how the global elite avoids paying taxes. Even the name has the same ring to it as last year’s Panama Papers expose. But the Paradise Papers are […]
Lebanon Hizbullah leader: Saudis dictated Hariri resignation
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Secretary-General of Hizbullah, the Lebanese party-militia, Hassan Nasrullah, gave a major speech Sunday in the wake of the resignation of prime minister Saad Hariri. Nasrullah characterized this step as a Saudi move dictated to Hariri by Riyadh. Lebanon’s three big religio-ethnic groups are Sunnis, Shiites […]
Kurds didn’t Get Independence, US Support or even Democracy
By Reese Erlich | ( 48hills.org | – – I stood at a border crossing as thousands of Yazidis and other refugees fled ISIS attacks on Mosul and nearby cities. Tens of thousands of refugees flooded into the Kurdish Region of Iraq as Kurdish relief workers greeted them with water and food. It was August […]
Will Congress ever be brave enough to End War Authorization?
By Danny Sjursen | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – On September 1, 1970, soon after President Nixon expanded the Vietnam War by invading neighboring Cambodia, Democratic Senator George McGovern, a decorated World War II veteran and future presidential candidate, took to the floor of the Senate and said, “Every Senator [here] is partly responsible for sending […]
Lebanon PM Hariri Resigns in fear for Life, Slamming Iran
Middle East Monitor | – – Lebanon’s prime minister Saad al-Hariri resigned on Saturday, citing an assassination plot against him and accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. His resignation thrusts Lebanon back into the frontline of Saudi-Iranian regional rivalry and seems likely to exacerbate sectarian tensions between […]
Does Religion Cause Violence?
By Maxwell Kennel | (The Conversation) | – – It’s a common question that arises when discussing religion, politics and world crises, particularly apparent terrorist attacks of the type that played out in New York City on Tuesday. Islam in particular is branded as a violent faith, but others argue Christianity deserves the same assessment. […]








