Middle East

The bombing was the worst I’ve experienced, but it can’t contain the Palestinian uprising that is showing the world the true face of Israel[/pullquote] By Aya Al-Ghazzawi | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – We were all so excited. Ramadan was coming to an end, and preparations for the Eid al-Fitr holiday were underway. As the eldest […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why does Israel ban Palestinian mothers from accompanying sick children from Gaza seeking treatment in the West Bank?

Middle East Monitor

By Eman Abusidu | – ( Middle East Monitor) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out in its 2020 annual report that, “All patients and patient companions from the Gaza Strip must apply for Israeli permits to exit the Gaza Strip in order to access hospitals in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and […]

Iran

Iran’s Hardliners: We’re Back, Too

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – To some critics, U.S. elections are managed affairs. According to this cynical view, the “powers that be” narrow the field of candidates, the two parties don’t represent the real range of public opinion in the country, and periodic elections are just shadow plays staged by powerbrokers behind the […]

Iran

Meet The New Boss: Iran’s Raisi In His Own Words And Those Of Others

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/RL ) – Hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi has been declared the presumptive winner of Iran’s June 18 presidential vote, which was marred by the disqualification of prominent moderates that paved the way for Raisi’s path to presidency. Concerns have been raised that Raisi’s rise to power could bring more social and political restrictions for […]

Donald Trump

In Siccing Justice Dept. on Jimmy Kimmel and SNL, Trump Channeled worst Mideast Dictators

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bassem Youssef was Egypt’s most famous comedian in the 2000s and until 2014. His weekly half-hour satire, “The Program,” skewered the government of president-for-life Hosni Mubarak in the run-up to the 2011 youth revolt. Mubarak was thin-skinned but did allow some comedians and pundits to blow off steam. He did, […]

Israel/ Palestine

‘Putting lipstick on a pig’: New Israeli PM Bennett is More Extreme than Netanyahu, so why is Washington Fawning over New Gov’t?

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – When former US President Barack Obama used an old cliché to denigrate his political opponent, the late US Senator John McCain, he triggered a political controversy lasting several days. “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” said Obama at a campaign event in 2008. […]

Iraq

This tiny minority of Iraqis follows an ancient Gnostic religion – and there’s a chance they could be your neighbors too

The Conversation

By James F. McGrath | – ( The Conversation ) – In March 2021 Pope Francis became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Iraq. The number of Christians in Iraq has fallen sharply in the past two decades amid mass violence at the hands of the Islamic State group. Iraq stands […]

Featured

Iran’s Raisi: Supports renewed Nuclear Deal, Seeks Lifting of US Sanctions, and Restored Saudi Diplomatic Relations

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his first press conference on Monday, newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi expressed support for the negotiations in Vienna toward restoring the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the United Nations, as long as, he said, they achieve benefits for the Iranian nation and do not drag on forever. He […]

Iran

Iran election: what Ebrahim Raisi’s victory will mean for his country – and the rest of the world

The Conversation

By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam | – When Iranians elect a new leader, the world watches. So the election of Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline right-winger, to replace the more centrist Hassan Rouhani, is global news of some significance. Raisi is the choice of Iran’s socially arch-conservative and politically anti-reformist “deep state”. This ideological core of the state […]