Arab World

When Foreign Policy Elites Manipulate the Public into War, the First Amendment is the First Casualty

Eau Claire, WI (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – United States presidents have repeatedly waged wars with tacit congressional approval and distorted narratives at the expense of citizens’ political participation in the political process and to the detriment of their first amendment rights. the seemingly popular support for such interventions is constructed and deprives millions […]

Displaced and Refugees

Lebanon: Armed Forces Summarily Deporting Syrians

Human Rights Watch

Lebanese Armed Forces have summarily deported thousands of Syrians, including unaccompanied children, back to Syria between April and May 2023. Syrians in Lebanon are living in constant fear that they could be picked up and sent back to nightmarish conditions, regardless of their refugee status. Lebanese authorities should enable Syrians to regularize their status in […]

Algeria

France’s Double Uprising: Will the Earth be Habitable; Will France be Habitable for People of Color?

Waging Nonviolence

By Nicolas Haeringer | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – On June 27, Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French boy of North African descent was murdered by a white police officer in a Parisian suburb. Since then, anger has erupted almost everywhere in the country, especially in poor neighborhoods. Young people are taking to the streets to […]

Featured

Muslims are understandably Protesting Qur’an Burning in Sweden, but the Qur’an itself urges them to do so Peacefully

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Swedish police permitted the burning of the Muslim scripture, the Qur’an (Koran) in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, on the grounds that previous attempts to stop such acts have been overruled by the courts on freedom of speech grounds. Hate acts targeting minorities are not actually free […]

Colonialism

Fascist Italy’s forgotten Concentration Camps in Libya

Middle East Monitor

Mustafa Fetouri MFetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italy’s colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above […]

Displaced and Refugees

Put People’s Rights first in Syria Sanctions

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union should urgently renew the earthquake-related humanitarian exemptions they introduced to their Syria sanctions’ regimes in February 2023 to more effectively facilitate aid to the Syrian people, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued a question-and-answer document examining […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change: Severe flooding in Yemen has Affected over 165 000 people, Worsening the displacement Crisis

The Watchers

( The Watchers ) – More than 165 000 people across more than 70 districts of Yemen were impacted by widespread flooding over the past couple of months, leading to loss of life and significant damage to shelters, crops, and infrastructure. The already vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDP) find themselves further distressed as their shelters […]

Featured

Saudi Foreign Minister in Iran seeking $1 bn in Bilateral Trade, Security for Gulf Shipping, Justice for Palestine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The London-based pan-Arab newspaper al-`Arab reports on the visit of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Tehran, where he met with his counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, as well as with President Ebrahim Raisi. It was the first such visit by a high Saudi official since Iran and […]

Israel/ Palestine

I saw Israel’s ‘final solution to the Palestinian problem’ in Lebanon 41 years ago, and I see it again today

Mondoweiss

By Rev. Dr. Don Wagner ( Mondoweisss ) – Forty-one years ago, I was in Lebanon leading a group of ten U.S. relief and development directors hoping to introduce them to the extensive needs of impoverished Lebanese and Palestinian refugees. On June 4, 1982, around 3:00 p.m., we were on our way to the crowded […]