Middle East

By Mohammad M. Hedayati-Kakhki | (The Conversation) | – – The merest hint of a successful deal over Iran’s nuclear programme is enough to get people excited. And as the country emerges from economic isolation, nowhere is the enthusiasm more keenly felt than in the huge oil firms with a chance to make a splash […]

Archaeology

Brutal Bombing of Yemen risks Destroying its Cultural Heritage along with Civilian Lives

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Parties to Yemen’s armed conflict should take all necessary measures to protect Sanaa’s Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. International humanitarian law provides special protections to buildings and other structures that are part of humanity’s cultural heritage. Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, has been controlled for the past […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s crackdown on protesters is illegal, costly and reckless

contributors

By Julie M. Norman | (The Conversation) | – – The escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine since the start of October has led to seven Israelis killed by Palestinians in a spate of stabbing attacks and at least 30 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, including three 13-year old Palestinians killed in separate demonstrations by live […]

al-Qaeda

American Hypocrisy: Against Muslim Sharia law at home, Calls it “Moderate” in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I just watched the 5 pm news hour on CNN anchored by Wolf Blitzer, and the editors had clearly decided that the lead was that Russian bombing in south Aleppo risks creating a new wave of refugees. They also stuck to the cover story that the […]

China

The new Chinese Century? Can a Green China with no Mideast Entanglements Surpass US?

Neil Thompson

London (Informed Comment) – In the last fifteen years the United States has spent a total of between $4 trillion and $6 trillion on its twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the while running up its national debt, and damaging its international prestige. The root cause of these foreign entanglements, and America’s costly position […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is the Syrian Crisis Nearing the point where Diplomacy Can make a Difference?

contributors

Jo Comerford and Mattea Kramer | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Introduction by Tom Engelhardt : Whatever happened to the “imperial presidency”? In mid-September, in the midst of the serial collapse of a $500-million Pentagon program to train “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), President Obama suddenly claimed, through White House Press […]

Israel/ Palestine

200 Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village with firebombs

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said. During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones […]

Featured

Syrian Army advances under Russian air Support, al-Qaeda no. 2 Killed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Arabic press is reporting that under cover of Russian air support, the Syrian Arab Army of Bashar al-Assad has made some advances against al-Qaeda in Syria and hard line Salafi rebels fighting for imposition of sharia or their conception of Islamic law on the country. […]

Eastern Europe

‘Putin of Arabia’ hugely popular among Iraqi Shiites

contributors

By Jean-Marc Mojon with Raji Nasser in Najaf | ( Your Middle East ) | – – The new Iraq Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighbouring Iraq, where some await “Hajji Putin” like a saviour. Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad […]