Middle East

By Michael Page | Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – President Biden is set to land in Saudi Arabia later this week to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid disturbing media reports that, if true, signal a policy reversal that could lead to […]

Arab World

Many Young People in Middle East, struggling to see Bright Future, want to Emigrate to West

The Conversation

By Georges Naufal, Texas A&M University | – The Middle East’s population is growing almost twice as fast as the world overall, and one-third of its people are under the age of 15. As Joe Biden takes his first trip to the region as president, he plans to focus on the prospects for peaceful international […]

Apartheid

Palestinians Protest, hang Black Flags of Mourning over Biden’s Bethlehem Visit, Accusing him of Sidelining their Political Rights

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that widespread protests broke out on Thursday in the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank against the planned visit on Friday by US President Joe Biden to Bethlehem, with residents staging demonstrations and raising black flags. They chanted against US one-sidedness in backing Israel’s actions, and […]

Israel/ Palestine

In Biden World, Palestinians are not an Occupied Nation-in-Waiting but a mere Charity Case

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor ) – When the Palestinian Authority leader jumped on the US bandwagon spouting status quo rhetoric, he should have remembered President Joe Biden’s dedication to Zionism and colonial Israel. Upon arriving in Israel yesterday for a two day visit during which he will also go to the occupied West Bank, Biden […]

Featured

B’Tselem Billboard Campaign as Biden arrives in Israel: “Mr. President, this is Apartheid”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli human rights organization B’tselem greeted President Biden on his arrival in Jerusalem with a billboard campaign proclaiming, “Mr. President, this is Apartheid.” B’Tselem concluded in a report last year that there is a single governing authority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, which rules over 7 million […]

Climate Crisis

The Troubling Message of Biden’s Trip to Saudi Arabia

Basav Sen

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – President Biden has set out on his travels to Saudi Arabia. The implications of the trip for the intertwined issues of human rights and energy policy are dire. The Saudi Arabia visit represents a 180-degree turn for Biden, who once called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning for president. […]

Donald Trump

Imperial Detritus: Henry Luce’s “American Century” Comes Undone

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – “The American Century Is Over.” So claims the July 2022 cover of Harper’s Magazine, adding an all-too-pertinent question: “What’s Next?” What, indeed? Eighty years after the United States embarked upon the Great Crusade of World War II, a generation after it laid claim to the status of sole superpower following the […]

censorship

The Family of American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed by Israeli Sniper, Pleads for Meeting with Biden on Mideast Trip

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The family of slain American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is asking for a meeting with President Joe Biden during his trip to the Middle East this week. So reports Yasmin al-Qassas at Sada al-Balad. In a letter to Mr. Biden, Shireen’s brother Anton Abu Akleh wrote that the family “feels […]

censorship

Biden once wanted to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ – so why is he playing nice with the kingdom’s repressive rulers now?

The Conversation

By Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Even before setting foot in the Middle East for his first visit to the region as president, Joe Biden felt compelled to defend a portion of the trip. “I know that there are many who disagree with my decision […]