Middle East

By Mehmet Ozalp | – As the nine-year Syrian civil war enters its final turn, Turkey and Russia, long-time allies in Syria, are on the brink of war over the Syrian province of Idlib. Both sides are sending stern messages of warning as diplomacy to end the conflict has so far failed to de-escalate the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Nonviolent Noncooperation: A Palestinian Response to the Kushner/Trump Plan

Mubarak Awad

( Nonviolence International) – President Trump and his son-in-law’s “peace” plan would worsen the long term subjugation of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and even Israel itself. This is a plan for extended injustice, second class citizenship, and continuing hatred. Sooner or later, if implemented, it will erupt into the opposite […]

Epidemics

On Top of Everything Else, Coronavirus hits the Middle East

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) – Iran announced on Friday that the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 388, with 34 deaths so far (among a population of more than 80 million). These official figures are widely disbelieved and it’s likely the actual totals are much higher. One problem is that the number of infections […]

Featured

Clouds of War: Russia sends Warships as Turkey kills 45 Syrian Troops and blackmails Europe with Migration

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey and Russia engaged in a tense dance of negotiation and threat on Friday in the wake of the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers in an air strike the previous day. Russian sources maintained that the Turkish troops were “where they were not supposed to be,” and were nested among […]

Elections

Iran goes from Bad to Worse: Hardliners win elections, thanks in part to Trump’s treaty withdrawal

Reese Erlich

(Progressive.org) – ‘TEHRAN—The parliamentary candidates had rented a large hall for a campaign rally, but only a few hundred supporters showed up. They came to see Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a leading hardliner and possible presidential candidate next year. As warm-up speakers droned on, the audience responded with ritualistic chants but little enthusiasm. Many stared at their […]

Israel/ Palestine

Listing companies to boycott over Israeli war crimes is a start . . .

Asa Winstanley

(Middle East Monitor) – The UN finally published its database this month listing companies which profit from Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank. This move was only made after years of unexplained delays. Rather helpfully, though, the Zionist Federation – an anti-Palestine, pro-Israel lobby group in Britain — admitted that, “The United States […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey mobilizes for war with Syria and Russia as Nearly 3 Dozen Turkish Troops Killed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that nearly three dozen Turkish soldiers in a barracks in Syria were killed Friday by an air strike. Although most reports say that the bombing was carried out by the Syrian Air Force, some Syria experts suggest that it was instead done by the Russian Aerospace Forces, […]

censorship

Iran: No Justice for Bloody Crackdown (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Unlawful Lethal Force, Families Threatened, Cover-Ups

Donald Trump

Anti-Science and Opportunistic: Trump and Iran’s Ayatollahs both Play down Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Christine Romans at CNN wonders if Trump’s news conference on Wednesday evening on the Covid-19 coronavirus was his “Mission Accomplished” moment. After he invaded Iraq in the spring of 2003, George W. Bush gave a triumphant speech that May about how war was now good for humankind beneath a banner […]