Month

Archives: Arab World

Under Saudi Bombs, Yemen hit by 500,000 Cholera Cases

TeleSur | - - Each day there are more than 5,000 new cases of the waterborne disease. More than half a million people in Yemen have been infected with cholera since the…

Iraq after ISIL needs Security, Anti-Corruption & Jobs, not Identity Politics

By Andrea Teti, Pamela Abbott, and Munqith Dagher | ( OpenDemocracy.net ) | - - Ignoring priorities that have popular support in Iraq risks undermining post-ISIS attempts to build a stable country,…

Iraq’s Next Elections will be the most Important in its History

Mustafa Habib. | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - In Iraq, larger political parties disagree on everything except maintaining the status quo: Parliament just passed a law that will badly affect the…

Should Western Countries be Selling Masses of Arms to Saudi Arabia?

By Riccardo Labianco | (The Conversation) | - - Since the catastrophic Yemeni civil war began in 2015, the British public has woken up to a serious problem: the use of UK-manufactured…

Did Saudi ‘Cheap Oil’ Policy throw Venezuela into Crisis?

Bulent Gökay | (The Conversation) | - - Venezuela is sinking ever deeper into a political and economic calamity. Inflation is above 700% and GDP is more than a third below 2013…

Is Turkey on brink of Invading Syrian Kurds, US BFF?

TeleSur | - - The Turkish Armed Forces are massing on the Syrian border days after a reshuffle of top brass in the country's military in anticipation of a potential invasion that…

Tunisia: Landmark Step to Shield Women from Violence

Human Rights Watch | - - New Law Offers Protection, but Needs Funding (Tunis) – The law on violence against women, including domestic violence, approved by the Tunisian parliament on July 26,…

UN Report: Muslim Youth going to fight in Syria mostly not Motivated by Islam

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Lizzie Dearden at The Independent reviews a new report by the United Nations Office of counter-terrorism report. Some 25,000 young men are said…

Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster

Bryan G. Williams | (Informed Comment) | - - Book excerpt from the just-published Counter Jihad: America's Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria [CLICK]: At the time of the writing of…

Guess What Iraq’s Biggest Problem Really Is

By Pamela Abbott, Andrea Teti and Kevin M. DeJesus | (The Conversation) | - - With the defeat of the so-called Islamic State (IS) on the battlefield looking imminent, Iraq is confronting…

Al-Sadr in Jidda: Are Saudis looking for channel to Iran, or anti-Iran Client?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday paid a visit to Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port, Jidda, at the invitation of the Saudi…

Losing Cities, can ISIL strike Iraq, West from Mountain Bases?

By Dashty Ali | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) | - - Having been driven out of Mosul, the extremist Islamic State group is doing what Al Qaeda did before them: setting up new…

Syria: The American War on Civilians

By Laura Gottesdiener | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family. They…

UN Says Yemen Is Now the Largest Global Humanitarian Crisis

TeleSur | - - Arab nation is said to be on the brink of famine after almost 2 years of war and disease. In Yemen, the world's worst cholera outbreak is unfolding…

Trump: Aid to Syrian Rebels was ‘Massive,’ ‘Dangerous;’ slams Post

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump trashed the Washington Post on Monday, calling it the Amazon Washington Post and implicitly complaining about a July 19 article on his…

Revolution Over? Draft Law Could Return Tunisia to a Police State

By Amna Guellali | ( Human Rights Watch) | - - Parliament Should Reject Abusive Security Bill Since the fall of the government of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia's…

After ISIL Defeat in Mosul, Camps or Rehabilitation for Families?

Nawzat Shamdeen | (Mosul) | (Niqash.org) | - - Locals in Mosul are divided on whether to rehabilitate, reconcile or punish the families of Islamic State members. Meanwhile rumour has it that…

Even Major Oil State UAE running for Exits toward Green Energy

By Rabiya Jaffery | (Inter Press Service) | - - ABU DHABI (IPS) - Much of the world is moving away from oil for its electricity generation, according to the International Energy…

Morocco’s Rif Revolt: Only a Democratic Response is Sufficient

By Hsain Ilahiane | (Informed Comment) | - - Since October 2016, the Berbers (Imazighen) of the Rif, a region on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, have been carrying out one of…

Empire of Destruction: Mosul reveals Myth of Precision Bombing

By Tom Engelhardt | (Via Tomdispatch.com ) | - - You remember. It was supposed to be twenty-first-century war, American-style: precise beyond imagining; smart bombs; drones capable of taking out a carefully…