Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Saudi cabinet, chaired by King Salman, on Monday evening fired army chief of staff and several prominent officers, forcing them into retirement. The government offered no explanation for the seismic upheaval in the Saudi officer corps, but it was widely believed that the palace is […]

Donald Trump

The “Iran deal”: when American and Iranian arch-conservatives are on the same side

contributors

By Kourosh Ziabari | (OpenDemocracy.net) The domestic critics of the Iran deal and its Republican misanthropists in the United States are making a similar mistake. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Deal, is a UN-endorsed agreement that caps Iran’s nuclear activities, subjects them to the full safeguards of the International […]

Displaced and Refugees

Anger as Israel begins deportation of African Refugees

contributors

By Tanja R. Müller | (The Conversation) | – – Around 20,000 Israelis and African migrants took to the streets in Tel Aviv on February 24, protesting against a government policy of detaining and deporting African asylum seekers who refuse to leave the country. A few days earlier, a group of Eritrean asylum seekers held […]

European Union

Europe’s big Plans for Iran Trade announce Independence from Trump’s Washington

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite the significant economic problems Iran faces, and despite the real problems in unequal income distribution, Iran’s economy is seeing bright spots that the Western press rarely admits. In the year after international sanctions were lifted on the signing of the nuclear accord, spring 2016-spring 2017, […]

Christianity

Priests close Church of Holy Sepulchre over Israeli “attack on Christians”

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Church leaders in Jerusalem shut the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday in protest at a new Israeli tax policy and a proposed land expropriation law which they called a “systematic and unprecedented attack against Christians in the Holy Land”. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian church leaders […]

Featured

UN Security Council calls for 30-Day Ceasefire in Syria’s East Ghouta

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The United Nations Security Council finally passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire between the Damascus government and the al-Qaeda-dominated guerrillas in Eastern Ghouta. UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded all sides of their absolute duty in international law to safeguard the life of innocent noncombatants. […]

censorship

Saudi Arabia, UN Human Rights Council Member, Continues Rights Crackdown

contributors

By Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the Gulf region and its neighbouring countries. Saudia Arabia, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), continues its crackdown on human rights. The HRC, consisting […]

Bashar al-Assad

Rescuers say cannot keep up with air strikes battering Syria’s Ghouta

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies, in one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war. Warplanes pounded the rebel enclave on Saturday, the seventh day in a row of a fierce escalation by […]

Israel/ Palestine

Ahed Tamimi: father speaks of his pride as Palestinian activist prepares for trial

contributors

Emma Heywood | (The Conversation) | – – Popular resistance against the Israeli presence in the West Bank, be it violent or peaceful, is a constant feature of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. With no money and little international support, Palestinian activists put their own lives at risk and sacrifice their well-being to fight […]