Middle East

CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM March 11, 2025Katrina Armstrong, PresidentColumbia UniversityDaniel Abebe, DeanColumbia School of Law Dear President Armstrong and Dean Abebe: We are writing on behalf of California Scholars for Academic Freedom, a group of over two-hundred scholars from campuses across California, to call upon you to demand the immediate release from ICE custody […]

Kurds

Syria integration deal with Kurds brings Relief after Days of bitter Violence wracks war-torn Country

The Conversation

By Rob Geist Pinfold, King’s College London (The Conversation) – The new Syrian government has signed a deal with to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia into the regime, in what is a big step towards uniting the fractured country. The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led (HTS) government has been struggling for legitimacy since it […]

Bill of Rights

We are All Mahmoud Khalil

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The arrest of legal permanent U.S. resident Mahmoud Khalil, 29, by Department of Homeland Security agents for thought crimes is a shot across the bow of the American Constitution. All Fascist governments despise free speech, and the Trumpist regime is no exception. Khalil is only a test case. The Trumpists […]

Alawites

Syria: End Coastal Killing Spree, Protect Civilians

Human Rights Watch

Summary Executions, Indiscriminate Shootings, Outrages on Personal Dignity. ( Human Rights Watch – (New York) – Summary executions and other atrocities have taken place in Syria’s coastal region following insurgent attacks on Syrian security forces and during subsequent government security operations, with the Alawite community bearing the brunt of the violence, Human Rights Watch said today. […]

Israel/ Palestine

Health-Care Workers in Gaza should not be a Target: Their Detention and Death affect the Whole Population

The Conversation

By Tania King, The University of Melbourne; Fiona Stanley, The Kids Research Institute Australia; Guy Gillor, The University of Melbourne; Rob Moodie, The University of Melbourne, and Tilman Ruff, The University of Melbourne (The Conversation) – A freeze on aid entering the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel last week, means once again tons of urgent […]

Featured

Israel Cuts Electricity for Water to Gaza, as Smotrich plans Expulsion of 5,000 Palestinian Civilians a Day for One Year

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Basil Maghribi at the Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen ordered late Sunday that all electricity deliveries from Israel to Gaza be halted immediately. Maghribi cautions that Israel does not deliver very much electricity to Gaza — most of it is generated by an […]

Food Insecurity

My Jewish Faith and Int’l Law Demand an Immediate Resumption of Aid in Gaza

OtherWords

By Mara Kronenfeld | – ( Otherwords.org) – Israel’s assault on Gaza, with backing from the United States, has created one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet. Now Israel is violating a hard-won ceasefire deal by refusing to admit all aid into Gaza. The Israeli government also passed legislation recently to outlaw UNRWA, […]

Featured

Israel returns to Deliberately Starving Palestinian Civilians in Gaza, Planning for Further Total War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ashraf al-Hur reports at al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] that the extremist government in Israel has escalated its military attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past few days. The moves come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to start the second phase of the ceasefire deal earlier this week, […]

Eurasia

Can the Caspian Sea be Saved from turning into an environmental Disaster?

Global Voices

Written byNurbek Bekmurzaev ( Global Voices ) – The Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water in the world, faces a grim future in the form of significant desiccation, loss of flora and fauna, and large-scale pollution. All these processes have already started and their further deterioration poses immense risks for the economies and […]