Middle East

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Maximilien Alvarez writing at The Chronicle of Higher Education interviews eminent Black philosopher Cornel West on the latter being denied tenure at Harvard University. West is convinced that his views on the Palestine issue are the real reason for which Harvard will not give him a permanent job. Universities have […]

Israel/ Palestine

Imagining Palestine: Literature and the Language of Exile

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – For Palestinians, exile is not simply the physical act of being removed from their homeland and their inability to return. It is not a casual topic pertaining to politics and international law, either. Nor is it an ethereal notion, a sentiment, a poetic verse. It is all of this […]

Israel/ Palestine

How the Israeli Occupation has devastated the Palestinian Economy

Ibrahim Saleh

( Al-Shabakah) – The Israeli occupation has crippled Palestinian productive sectors, leading to the dominance of internal trade in the Palestinian economy. Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Ibrahim Shikaki, examines how these structural distortions developed as a result of Israel’s oppressive economic policies since it occupied Palestine in 1967. He offers recommendations to the international community and […]

Iran

Biden and the Iran nuclear deal: what to expect from the negotiations

The Conversation

By Ali Bilgic | – As Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, speculation was rife that one of the first things his administration would do would be to seek re-entry to the Iran nuclear deal that had been quit by his predecessor in the White House. The Joint […]

Epidemics

Israeli Ministry of Health Study finds Pfizer Vaccine stops 89.4% of Virus transmission, Raising Hopes of Return to Normalcy: Der Spiegel

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s national health system, an artefact of its past as a country founded by socialists, has allowed the country of 9 million to vaccinate almost half of its citizens already, the most progress made by any country in the world. This accomplishment (which unfortunately excludes the five million stateless Palestinians […]

Feminism

Saudi women’s activist Loujain al-Hathloul released and tweeting

Global Voices

She remains restrained by a travel ban and limits on public appearances

Israel/ Palestine

Could Israel Target the Hague over ICC Prosecution?

Asa Winstanley

( Middle East Monitor) – It has been a long time coming. Earlier this month, a panel of judges ruled that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could investigate Israel for war crimes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A coalition of Palestinian human rights lawyers celebrated the “landmark” ruling as “a critically important […]

Israel/ Palestine

Could the Int’l Criminal Court Curb Israeli War Crimes against Occupied Palestinians?

Middle East Monitor

By Belal Yasin | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 5 February the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a ruling in which it agreed to investigate possible war crimes by the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories and decided that its jurisdiction extends to the territories controlled by the Israeli occupation since the […]

Armenia

In Challenge to U.S., Putin’s Eurasian Union seeks to Incorporate Iran

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – Iran is hoping to join Russia-dominated Eurasian Union by the end of February. The Islamic Republic could also soon get a new rail connection with the Russian Federation, and such an action would additionally strengthen economic and political ties between the two countries. Such a major infrastructural project would […]