Middle East

By Golnaz Esfandiari and Mohammad Zarghami | – ( RFE/RL) – Analysts say economic desperation and growing frustration in Iranian society have led to angry demonstrations around the country that began with people protesting water shortages in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. “If the society wasn’t hopeless, it wouldn’t take to the streets. It wouldn’t […]

Featured

Half of Palestinians Killed by Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza in May were Civilians and other War Crimes: HRW

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human Rights Watch conducted a detailed study of military actions by Israel and the Hamas party-militia in Gaza and concluded that both committed war crimes during the Israeli assault on the Palestinian enclave this spring, but that deaths of Palestinians at Israeli hands were 21 times higher than Israeli deaths.Three […]

al-Qaeda

Imperial Overstretch: Is the American Empire going the way of the Soviet Union?

Tom Engelhardt

By Tom Engelhardt | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was all so long ago, in a world seemingly without challengers. Do you even remember when we Americans lived on a planet with a recumbent Russia, a barely rising China, and no obvious foes except what later came to be known as an “axis of […]

Featured

Sleight-of-Hand in Baghdad: The Biden Pull-Out from Iraq that Isn’t

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mursi Abu Tawq at Al-Zaman (The Times“) in Baghdad reports that President Joe Biden on Monday announced that the US combat mission in Iraq would end by December 31 of this year, beginning a new stage of military cooperation between the US and Iraq. The remarks came after a White […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel continues to target Al-Aqsa Mosque under new government

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Abu Amer | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Recent statements by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about the freedom of Jews to pray inside Al-Aqsa Mosque have once again highlighted the debate about Jerusalemites and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, and their ongoing battle against the occupation state since Ramadan. Bennett’s statements also throw […]

Israel/ Palestine

Ben and Jerry’s Is Shunning Israeli Settlements. The US Should Too

Human Rights Watch

By Sari Bashi | Special Advisor, Program Office | – Published in: Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) ( Human Rights Watch ) – Ben & Jerry’s, the popular Vermont-based ice cream company, announced earlier this week that it will stop selling its products to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Activists have […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia’s President just made the kind of Coup Trump and US Republicans plotted (and are plotting) Against President Biden

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the prime minister, prorogued parliament for 30 days, stripped parliamentarians of their immunity and appointed himself the country’s attorney general in what the opposition branded a coup. Opposition leaders pointed out that the Tunisian constitution does not grant the president the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Beita is only south Nablus town that lacks an illegal Israeli settlement and Palestinians want to Keep it that Way

Middle East Monitor

By Anjuman Rahman | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Beita is the only village around southern Nablus that does not have an illegal Israeli settlement built on its land. The Palestinians are determined to keep it that way. “The people of Beita completely reject the presence or even the idea of settlements,” activist […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis Grips Iran with Water Shortages, Provoking Protests, Clashes in Southwest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan region, the center of its petroleum industry, has been wracked with protests for a week, in part over water shortages. Rallies have erupted in the towns of Mahshahr, Izeh, Ahvaz, Kut-e Abdollah, Susangerd, Aligoudarz and Shoushtar, according to Amnesty International The Iranian government has sometimes replied to […]