US Foreign Policy

Exeter, UK (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The Arab revolutionary wave that began in 2011 presents two of its most significant, yet fundamentally divergent, case studies: Egypt and Syria. While both nations experienced the overthrow of long-standing authoritarian regimes, the mechanisms, actors, and ultimate outcomes of their revolutions differed significantly. A comparative analysis reveals […]

Democratic Party

Democrats in Congress Are Out of Touch With Constituents on Israeli Genocide

Norman Solomon

San Francisco (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Last month, some House members publicly acknowledged that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. It’s a judgment that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unequivocally proclaimed a year ago. Israeli human-rights organizations have reached the same conclusion. But such clarity is sparse in Congress. And no wonder. Genocide denial is needed for […]

Egypt

How Global Power Shifts are Playing out in the Red Sea Region of the Mideast

The Conversation

By Federico Donelli, University of Trieste (The Conversation) – The competition for global influence and control is shifting. One of the places where this dynamic is playing out is the Red Sea region, which encompasses Egypt, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Here, international rivalries, regional ambitions and local politics collide. Federico Donelli, who […]

Donald Trump

Ozymandias on the Potomac: Energy Policy and the Politics of American Decline

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – At the dawning of the British Empire in 1818, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley penned a memorable sonnet freighted with foreboding about the inevitable decline of all empires, whether in ancient Egypt or then-modern Britain. In Shelly’s stanzas, a traveler in Egypt comes across the ruins of a once-monumental statue, […]

Arab World

Why Palestinian Statehood is a Prerequisite for Arab-Israeli Peace and Expansion of Abraham Accords

The Conversation

By Simon Mabon, Lancaster University (The Conversation) – Mohammed bin Salman wants to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham accords, the network of agreements to normalise relations between Israel with other countries in the Middle East and, increasingly, beyond. Donald Trump would have enjoyed hearing this when the Saudi crown prince visited the White House […]

Iraq War

Is Venezuela the New Iraq?

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Richard W. Coughlin | November 18, 2025 ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Iraq and Venezuela share an obvious trait: they are oil-rich states whose resource nationalism puts them at odds with U.S. geopolitical ambitions. For George W. Bush, Iraqi oil was framed within the “peak oil” panic and U.S. dependence on foreign […]

Donald Trump

Trump Shifts to Monarchy Promotion in Middle East

Foreign Policy in Focus

. By Edward Hunt ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The Trump administration is transforming U.S. policy toward the Middle East by promoting monarchy as the ideal form of government. While the president toys with the idea of turning the United States into a monarchy, presenting himself as the country’s king, his administration is […]

Donald Trump

Trump Pledges F-35s to Saudi Arabia in return for an unlikely $1 trillion in Investment, Angering Israel Lobbies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al-Jazeera reports on the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to the White House. One US goal for the meeting was to induct Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, which Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Kazakhstan have joined, recognizing Israel in return for US economic and […]

Latin America

Escalating the Escalation: A Short History of the Long War on Drugs in Latin America from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump

Greg Grandin

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Today, Donald Trump presides over his own Murder Incorporated, less a government than a death squad. Many brushed off his proclamation early in his second term that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be called the Gulf of America as a foolish, yet harmless, show of dominance. Now, however, he’s created […]