Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Attendees at the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul from 20 countries produced, and 60 of them signed, a declaration this week warning of the dangers of climate change and urging urgent action to curb carbon dioxide emissions. But, I fear the press reporting on […]

Barack Obama

Despite Sordid Past, Nuclear Deal can Repair US-Iran Relations: An open letter to Congress and the White House

contributors

Francis A. Mlynarczyk, Jr. and Walter M. Cadette | (Informed Comment)| – – Washington has an opportunity to repair its tattered relations with Iran. The opportunity is there on the premise that Washington, in fact, makes good on its P5+1 commitments to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for circumscriptions on Iran’s nuclear program. […]

Alawites

Iran’s Support for Syria Pragmatic, not Religious (or, Who are the Alawites?)

contributors

By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | – – The Shia government in Teheran and the Alawi regime in Damascus have had warm relations since Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and many attribute that to a common affinity for Shia Islam. While Alawis have embraced their relatively recent inclusion in the Muslim world, for the vast majority of their history […]

Algeria

As Oil Prices Crater, Algeria needs an Actual Economy or big Trouble Looms

contributors

By Allan Christelow | (Informed Comment) | – – Like other oil producers, Algeria faces difficulties with the sharp decline in prices since 2014. But unlike oil producers in the Gulf region, Algeria has a strong tradition of public discussion, a tradition that has managed to survive the concentration of wealth in the hands of […]

Bashar al-Assad

How many thousands US troops would GOP Hopefuls send to Iraq and Syria?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Bill Barrow of the Associated Press took a look at the specifics of plans for US troop deployments in the Middle East put forward by some of the GOP presidential hopefuls. Several Republican politicians have pledged a return of US combat troops in large numbers to […]

Authoritarianism

Egypt’s “Terrorism” Law Violates “Fundamental Freedoms”

contributors

By Kitty Stapp | (Inter Press Service) | – – NEW YORK (IPS) – Egyptian authorities are already holding a record number of journalists behind bars, and a draconian new anti-terror law signed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday will further broaden the crackdown on dissent, press freedom groups warn. It imposes heavy penalties […]

Authoritarianism

The Long Knives Come out in Baghdad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In principle, the idea of streamlining the Iraqi government and making it more efficient is a capital one. But the reforms being pursued by Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi have to raise some questions about the direction the country is taking. One step al-Abadi has taken announced […]

Apartheid

Gaza: Managing the Disaster isn’t Enough; not one of 11,000 buildings repaired

contributors

By Charlie Hoyle | (Inter Press Service) | – – The rubble of twisted concrete and metal bakes in the hot Mediterranean sun of a regional heat wave. A year on from Israel’s 51-day military operation in 2014, not a single one of the 11,000 destroyed homes in Gaza has been rebuilt. Photo credit: UNRWA […]

al-Qaeda

Is Syria doomed to become Sunni version of Theocratic Iran?

contributors

By Hakim Khatib | ( Your Middle East ) – – War in Syria The Syrian upheaval has, increasingly, been fixed in a religious framework – Sunnis against the rest, writes Hakim Khatib. “Non-religious books were substituted by religious or religiously coloured ones” When the crowds of the Iranian revolution initially rose up against Muhammad […]