By Ibrahim Al-Marashi and Mohammad Eslami ( Al Jazeera ) – Historians may well mark June 13, 2025, as the day the world crossed a line it may not easily step back from. In a move that shocked the international community and sent global markets reeling, Israel launched a wide-scale military operation against Iran in the early hours […]
Are Cyberattacks and Iran’s Port Explosion the First Salvo in Disrupting U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks?
Iran, Israel, the US, Russia, and China are interconnected by rumors of cyberattacks and sabotage By Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Marashi | – Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – As negotiations between Iran and the United States entered a critical third round, an unexpected disaster struck one of Iran’s […]
Pope Francis’s Enduring Legacy on Palestine and the Middle East
By Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Marashi | – Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The world now grieves the loss of Pope Francis, a spiritual titan whose moral compass and unwavering voice for the marginalized reverberated far beyond the confines of Vatican walls. At the heart of his papacy […]
The Takedown of Bashar Assad has an Impact on Many in the U.S. Here’s how
( San Diego Union Tribune ) – Syrian refugees in El Cajon danced in the streets upon hearing about the Dec. 7 collapse of the Assad dynasty, which hailed from the Shi’a Alawite minority and ruled the majority Arab Sunni population of Syria for more than 50 years. Nevertheless, there are also Syrians who stayed […]
Oliver Stone talking about War in San Diego, a military Hub, is a perfect Fit
( The San Diego Union-Tribune) – To mark this year’s Veterans Day, the fifth anniversary of the foundation of Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, D.C., and the 50th anniversary of the end of Vietnam War, the Center for War and Society at San Diego State University will be hosting a completely booked event aboard […]
Why Tehran chose to attack Israel
( The National ) – Iran is the first Middle Eastern state in the 21st century to strike Israel directly, having fired a massive salvo of ballistic missiles from its territory – not once, but twice – in just one year. But it is not the first Middle Eastern state ever to have done so. […]
Hezbollah is not Finished Yet
( The National ) – The assassination of Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut will not diminish the group he once led. The killing demonstrates the counterintuitive notion that eliminating the head of an organisation does not always destroy it. Hezbollah has a bureaucratic set-up, with a robust ideology and communal support. Any armed […]
From Stuxnet to Gospel to Pager Bombs, Israel is leading the Weaponization of the digital World
By Ibrahim Al-Marashi ( The National ) – A series of pager explosions across Lebanon, and secondary attacks on walkie-talkies the following day, have killed and maimed a number of Hezbollah operatives, as well as many civilians, including children. The attacks have also injured thousands, including Iran’s ambassador to Beirut. Israel normally does not claim […]
The Kurdish Town of Kocho is the ‘Guernica’ of the 21st Century
( Rudaw.net) – A decade ago, on August 3, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) conquered the village of Kocho (Kojo) in the Sinjar (Shingal) area of northern Iraq. On August 15, it began massacring several hundred men and elderly women of the Yazidi community, an ethno-religious minority in Iraq and Syria, after they failed to […]