By Ashish Sinha and Gayatri Kathayat | – Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now modern Iraq and Syria. […]
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Middle East
European Court of Justice rules Israeli Squatter Products from Stolen Palestinian Lands must be Labeled
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Associated Press reports that the European Court of Justice has ruled that goods produced in the West Bank by Israeli squatters on Palestinian land must be labelled as such, and cannot pretend to be from Israel proper. The move does not go as far as some EU members. Ireland’s […]
How the Trump Administration has Made Iranian Nuclear Enrichment only Rational
By Akan Malici (Informed Comment) – It would be rational for Iran to pursue a nuclear bomb. Ironically, the U.S. has long been compelling it in this direction. The U.S. also bears the blame for the newest escalation, as it does for the enemy relationship generally. U.S. leaders will be quick to discard these statements […]
Iraq Protests Heat Up Long-Standing Rivalry Between Iraqi And Iranian Shiite Religious Leaders
By Elias Thomas | – ( Niqash.org) – Behind the scenes of Iraq’s demonstrations, a decades-old rivalry between two centres of religious learning and authority, one local and the other in Iran, is playing out. 3.11.2019 Politics Protests in Baghdad. In early October, snipers shot at unarmed protesters on the streets of Iraq, who were […]
The Map: Beirut’s Demonstrations as Live City-Making
By Filip Noubel | – (GlobalVoices.org) – The protests that have swept Lebanon since October 17, 2019 started as a reaction to the announcement by the government of new taxes. They have since evolved into a rejection of the political and economic model that has allowed local elites to maintain control over the country since […]
Saudi Oil Giant Aramco’s $1.5 trillion IPO flies in the face of our Climate Crisis Reality
By Mark Shackleton | – The largest oil and gas producer, Saudi Aramco, is due to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company. The Saudi government is planning to sell a small fraction of the firm’s shares on the Riyadh stock exchange before seeking a listing for 5% of the firm on an international […]
No, Russia isn’t taking over the Middle East from the US
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – There has been a lot of talk of Russian reassertion in the Middle East and angst (except in Donald Trump) about a deterioration of the US position there. Neither of these propositions, of a Russian assertion or a US decline, is supported by much evidence. And a US disengagement from […]
Trump’s Debacle in the Desert: A Post Mortem on the Kurdish-American Military Alliance (1941-2019)
(Informed Comment) – An “After-Action” Report on the Kurds’ Vital Role in The Defeat of ISIS and Death of “God’s Shadow on Earth”: On October 26th US Delta Forces, acting on intelligence provided to them by their trusted Kurdish allies, launched a dangerous, long-distance heliborne raid from Iraq, across a region in northern Syria that […]
Israeli Army slammed for Hypocrisy over Cancer Tweet, as Gaza Patients Denied Care
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera English reports that a big tweetstorm broke out on Twitter after the Israeli military posted a tweet about two female soldiers who shaved off their hair and donated it for wigs for cancer patients. Chemotherapy is accompanied by hair loss. Observers complained that the Israeli military authorities have […]