Middle East

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual State Department report on terrorism says that terrorist attacks were down by 23% world wide in 2017. The report attributed this decline in some large part to the defeat of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. (Obviously, they haven’t disappeared there, and pockets continue to offer resistance, but let’s […]

Corruption

Who was High Israeli Official in Manafort Ukraine Corruption Case?

Juan Cole

I wrote in my column on Sunday, “Manafort’s Plea Deal is a Constitutional Crisis, we Just don’t Know it Yet:” Manafort has to give to the Federal government over $40 million in ill-gotten gains. Manafort has been convicted of lobbying for pro-Russian politicians and interests in Ukraine, of not registering as a foreign agent, and […]

Egypt

Quality of Life dropping in Military-Ruled Egypt, Inequality Rising: UN Report

Middle East Monitor

The UN Development Programme has ranked Egypt 115th of 189 countries in its annual Human Development Index (HDI), four places below its ranking last year. The index, which has recorded governmental progress in human development since 1990, takes into account three main indicators: income per capita calculated in US dollars, average life expectancy, and markers […]

Yemen

Five Million Children Risk Famine in Saudi-led War on Yemen

AFP

Sanaa (AFP) – More than five million children are threatened by famine in war-torn Yemen as prices soar, a charity said Wednesday, warning an entire generation may face death and “starvation on an unprecedented scale”. The three-year conflict between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and Huthi rebels linked to Iran has pushed the already impoverished country to […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Cost of Exposing Israel’s Illegal Squatter Settlements

Eric Goldstein

Activists Face Intimidation, Violence, and Arrest for Peaceful Protests

Yemen

Yemen’s Descent into Hell: A Saudi-American War of Terror

Rajan Menon

(Tomdispatch.com) – It’s the war from hell, the savage one that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, along with seven other Middle Eastern and North African states, have been waging in Yemen since March 2015, with fulsome support from the Pentagon and American weapons galore. It’s got everything. Dead children in the dozens, a […]

Donald Trump

US, having created 4 mn Refugees in Iraq, Slashes Immigrant cap to 30,000

Juan Cole

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the Trump administration would slash refugee admissions to 30,000 in 2019, down from 45,000 in 2018 and from 85,000 in fiscal 2016. Refugees come in numbers to the US when there is a crisis in their own country. At the same time, US policies toward refugees in […]

Syria

Putin agrees with Erdogan to Spare Syria’s Idlib from Assault if Radical Fighters Withdraw

AFP

By Maria PANINA | – Sochi (Russia) (AFP) – Moscow said Monday there would be no assault on Syria’s Idlib as the leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised zone around the Syrian rebel-held province. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who are on opposite sides […]

Israel/ Palestine

Trump Closes Palestinian Mission in Revenge for Abbas taking Israel to Int’l Criminal Court

AFP

Washington (AFP) – The Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington ceased operations on Thursday following a demand by the United States to shut down but expressed hope the closure would be short-lived. State Department officials on Monday ordered the office shuttered, in a bid to pressure the Palestinians to enter peace talks with Israel. It was […]