Middle East

(

Israel’s Systematic Repression of Palestinians Continues during Pandemic: UN

Item 7, General Debate – UN Human Rights Council 45 Israeli authorities have continued to systematically repress and discriminate against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Between March and August, Israeli authorities demolished 389 Palestinian homes and other structures in the West Bank, the majority for lacking building permits that Israeli authorities make virtually impossible […]

Armenia

Where does Iran stand on Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh?

Middle East Monitor

By Marwan Kabalan | – ( Middle East Monitor) – While most attention is focused on the positions of Russia and Turkey in the ongoing conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Iran receives less attention. The former are the direct regional sponsors of the Armenian and Azeri parties to the crisis, but Iran is likely to […]

Donald Trump

With Crushing sanctions on 18 Iranian Banks, is Trump trying to leave a War behind for Biden?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the dying Trump administration, literally on a sickbed, contemplates losing power, its hawks are lashing out at Iran in an attempt to ensure that the 2015 international nuclear deal is dead and buried, and that the US and Iran remain on a war footing. Trump’s two main allies in […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria’s security services flourish while people starve; what sort of ‘president’ is Assad?

Juan Cole

Ghazi Dahman | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – It is no surprise that the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre has released documents revealing that Syrian Embassies around the world spy on their own citizens on behalf of the Assad regime. Every Syrian who has travelled abroad for any reason knows that the regime’s […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian Refugees expelled by Israel to Lebanon are caught in its Multilayered Crisis

Al-Shabaka

By Jaber Suleiman | – (Al-Shabaka) – The disastrous explosion that struck Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, greatly exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which followed on the heels of the severe financial crisis that had led to massive popular protests in late 2019. The Lebanese economy is now in almost total collapse […]

China

Is US Ally Pakistan tempted instead by China-Iran Deal?

Middle East Monitor

Arhama Siddiqa | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – It is no secret that despite international sanctions, Iran is known for leaving Western powers at a loss, sometimes by making what are considered to be outrageous statements, on other occasions with similarly outrageous actions. In July, the New York Times ran a story on […]

Cults

Fundamentalist Pastor and Trumpie John Hagee, who sued over Pandemic Shutdown, Contracts COVID-19

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last summer, the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, ordered all schools closed until September 7 as a mitigation measure against the spread of the coronavirus. Texas had a major outbreak this summer, one of the country’s worst hot spots. Texas has had over 800,000 cases and 16,444 deaths. Fundamentalist […]

Saudi Arabia

The Catastrophic Saudi War in Yemen heads for more Disasters, for Yemenis

Middle East Monitor

By Yaseen Tamimi | – ( Middle East Monitor) – The commander of the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen, Aidarus Al-Zoubaidi, appeared last month in the guise of a full-fledged president, surrounded by Saudi Arabian guards, meeting figures who are said to be separatist southerners and raising the separatist flag alongside the Saudi flag. All […]