Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The late Saudi Maj. Gen. Ali al-Qahtani is said to have shown up at the morgue from the Riyadh Ritz Carlton where he had been imprisoned by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 32, with a broken neck, bruises and swelling all over his body, and […]

Featured

Iraq: Al-Sadr & Communist Party ally against Corruption, Iranian Hegemony

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Nativist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 44, is encouraging members of his Sadr Movement to vote in the upcoming national elections for parliament. “Vote,” he said, “and save our country from corruption.” A newly formed political party, al-Istiqama or the Upright Party, will hew the Sadrist line. […]

Human Rights

Western Man jailed for “insulting” UAE online

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – A 39-year-old teacher* has been jailed and forced “to sign a fake confession” in the UAE following “an electronic insult” on social media. The teacher was arrested in October 2017 while working as a teacher in Abu Dhabi. His mother says he is being held in filthy conditions and […]

Lebanon

Lebanon: 5 Steps to Improve Women’s Rights

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – Parliament Candidates Should Commit to Reforms (Beirut) – Candidates running in Lebanon’s May 6, 2018 parliamentary elections should commit to five key steps to improve women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today, on International Women’s Day. Political parties should also ensure greater participation of women in parliament by including […]

Bashar al-Assad

Surprise withdrawal of Syrian guerrillas from East Ghouta as Regime advances

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian War is largely over, but the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers appear determined to mop up the remaining enclaves of rebel opposition, despite sweet talk of de-confliction zones and of negotiations in Sochi or Astana. It would be better […]

Saudi Arabia

Battle of the billboards as Controversial Saudi crown prince arrives in London

contributors

By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com) | – – The roadside signs show a bearded man in Arab head-dress with the words “He is bringing change to Saudi Arabia”. Passing drivers, unless they are followers of Middle Eastern politics, may wonder who “he” is, but that doesn’t really matter. The adverts seem to have been […]

Featured

Saudi Prince: Turkey, Iran & Extremists are ME “Triangle of Evil”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Egypt’s al-Shuruq newspaper, which tilts liberal and secular, reports on the press conference in Cairo conducted by neophyte crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 32 on Wednesday. Bin Salman said that the current “Triangle of Evil” [paraphrasing George W. Bush’s speechwriter David Frum] was Iran, Turkey and […]

Syria

Syria’s war at home is giving way to dangerous proxy conflicts

contributors

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – As Syrian government forces crush the country’s largest remaining rebel strongholds and with Bashar al-Assad apparently here to stay, Syria is turning into an arena for three new proxy conflicts. In the south, Israel is facing off against Iran; in the northern region of Afrin, Turkey […]

Donald Trump

Tower of Jello: The Struggle of Russia and UAE over Tillerson’s helming of State Department

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The New Yorker reports that there was a further Steele memo, prepared by the same ex-MI6 intelligence officer who authored the notorious “golden shower” dossier, which reported Russian foreign ministry boasts that they had blocked Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as secretary of state. Romney had […]