The Obama administration is now targeting Bashar al-Asad and other top Syrian officials with financial sanctions. The US Treasury Department has extensive abilities to freeze assets and to influence financial institutions. Likely the European Union will follow suit soon Obama came into office wanting better relations with Syria and sending an ambassador. The Arab Spring […]
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Middle East
Tripoli’s Gradual Collapse: ICC Indictment of Qaddafi and Ghanem’s Defection
Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem has defected from the Qaddafi regime and fled to Tunisia. This defection is a big deal. Ghanem had been at OPEC when Libya was under economic sanctions, and his return to Libya as prime minister and head of the ruling party in 2003 was intended to signal Muammar Qaddafi’s return […]
Shihade: A New Era for Palestinians
Magid Shihade writes in a guest column for Informed Comment The Palestinian Unity Agreement and the Beginning of New Era The agreement of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, ending years of Palestinian political divisions and paralysis, was signed last week. The reasons for signing the unity agreement at this point are many including local, regional […]
Arabs: 90% say Qaddafi illegitimate, 75% Want him Forcibly Removed
I received this press release from the Doha Debates (a member of the Qatar Foundation) by email. The results vis-a-vis Libya are not surprising, since Qaddafi is widely hated in the Arab world and everyone watched in horror as he had tank salvos and cluster bombs fired at non-combatants. But that last bit about being […]
Meyer: After Bin Laden: Israel & Middle East Peace
Carlyn Meyer writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: I recently returned from a trip to Israel and the West Bank. I am not Jewish but work with JStreet, the trip’s sponsor, because it is the only group in the US actively lobbying Congress and the Administration for a two-state solution to the Palestine/Israeli […]
The Arab Spring comes to Israel
Contrary to the line taken by the Israeli leadership, the Palestinian protests on May 15, Nakba Day, were not an Iranian or Syrian plot but rather the grassroots protests of a dispossessed and displaced people that refuses to accept its fate as flotsam of the earth, deprived of their identity and dignity by the great […]
Why was Strauss-Kahn Arrested but W. & Cheney went Free?
What is it about the United States that makes for harsh prosecutions over sex crimes but lets leaders off the hook when it comes to war crimes? New York police rushed to arrest Dominique Strauss-Kahn , the head of the international Monetary Fund, on Saturday on learning of charges against him by a hotel maid […]
Women Protest, Mourn in Liberated Misrata as UK Pledges Aid
Chairman of the Transitional National Council based in Benghazi, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, met Thursday in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Abdel Jalil said that the recent defense of the port of Misrata from deadly attacks by Qaddafi brigades was made possible by the arrival of light arms at the port, with which the […]
Stewart Skewers Bushies for claiming Bin Laden Credit
Jon Stewart of the Daily Show makes fun of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, Doug Feith and other figures from the Bush administration to take credit for the demise of Usama Bin Laden. In fact, of course, they ran off to illegally invade and ruin Iraq and invested hundreds of billions of dollars in […]