Month

Archives: Politics

Is Israeli military using Barak in struggle w/ Netanyahu over Iran Deal?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - - The revelations from former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's memoir keep coming. Another excerpt was broadcast by Israel's Channel 2 on Sunday. Barak gave…

Did Ayatollah Sistani just save Iraq from Iran-backed militias by pushing Gov’t Reforms?

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org)| - - During last week's protests, secret plans were made to use demonstrations to topple the government. But a senior Shiite spiritual leader seems to have…

Tunisians fight back

By Christine Petré | Your Middle East | - - In an interview with Swedish radio I was asked if there is any support for these radical Islamist ideals among people in…

Selling the Gaza Assault: Israel’s Self-Inquiry is Self-Serving

John Hickman | (Informed Comment) | - - The document titled "The 2014 Gaza Conflict, 7 July – 26 August 2014: Factual and Legal Aspects" released by the Israeli government on May…

Iraq needs another National Party: Tariq Aziz’s Baath Party was

Iraq needs another National Party: Tariq Aziz’s Baath Party Ruined the Country

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and former foreign minister of Iraq, is dead at 79. He died in prison in the custody…

Will Turkey’s Election end hopes for Turkish-Kurdish Rapprochement?

By Mustafa Gurbuz | (Informed Comment) | - - Whatever the election outcome on Sunday, prospects for Kurdish Peace Process are grim. Yet, regardless whether largely Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) passes…

Turkish Voters worried about Integrity of Elections, Deterioration of Democracy

By Deniz Erkmen | (Informed Comment) | -- As Turkey approaches a pivotal parliamentary election on June 7, there is growing doubt about just how “free and fair” this election is…

Tel Aviv: Tens of Thousands Rally against Netanyahu

By IMEMC News | - Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied on Saturday evening, in Yitzhak Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, calling for the current Israeli Prime Minister to be replaced in the…

Paris Rally: Charlie Hebdo Team regret not Parading Caricatures of Hypocritical World Leaders

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Le Monde reported on the Charlie Hebdo team at the Paris rally on Sunday, the largest demonstrations in France since the end of World War II. They…

British Cabinet Member Resigns over UK Gov’t Gaza Stance, wanted to go to ICC

Channel 4 News "Sayeeda Warsi, the minister who quit over Gaza, says she had to stand down because of the UK's "indefensible" position. Watch her first TV interview since her exit" She…

Arab-Americans take on hate

By Anna Lekas Miller "[This week]... several members of New York City’s Arab-American community filed into the Good Shephard’s Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for the launch of the Take On…

In Midst of Tikrit Campaign, al-Maliki refuses to step Down

By Juan Cole Despite the Iraqi parliament's failure to reach a quorum on Tuesday, in a clear slap in the face to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other incumbents running for another…

What the Arab Youth Movements have Wrought: Don’t Count them Out Yet

By Juan Cole via Tomdispatch.com Three and a half years ago, the world was riveted by the massive crowds of youths mobilizing in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand an end to Egypt’s…

Barzani: Kurdish Rule To Stay In Kirkuk

Via RFE/RL Iraqi Kurdish leader Masud Barzani has said that there is no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other northern towns that Kurdish fighters…

The Fate of Dissenters in Al-Sisi’s Egypt: The New “Disappeared”

By Jihad Abaza As Abdel Fattah el-Sissi assumes his new role as Egypt’s president, enforced disappearances are on the rise in the Middle East’s most populous country, according to a recent press…

A Subtle Alchemy: US Finds it easier to Occupy Abroad than to Withdraw

By Alan McPherson In 2003, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously foresaw victory in Afghanistan and Iraq as demanding a “long, hard slog” and listed a multitude of unanswered questions. Over…

Fox News A ‘Fanatical Terrorist Propagandist Organization’ According To Russell Brand (VIDEO)

By Samuel Warde According to Russell Brand, “fanatical” Fox News is “more dangerous than Isis.” His comments were made in response to a particularly disturbing rant by Fox News host Jeanine Pirro…

Afghanistan Elections: Abdullah refuses to Concede, Protests Erupt charging Fraud

By Frud Bezhan via RFE/RL KABUL -- As allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's runoff election pile up, protest movements have mobilized against what they see as systematic vote-rigging. Two groups have taken…

Is Iraq Actually Falling Apart? What Social Science Surveys Show

By Mansoor Moaddel Several nationally representative surveys carried out in Iraq between 2004 and 2013 provide important facts about Iraqi orientations toward secular politics, basis of identity, Americans, and Iranians. These facts…

As US Pressures Maliki to Resign, will Iraqi Gov’t Collapse?

By Juan Cole A consensus is forming in Washington that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki must resign, as part of accountability for his failures with his Sunni Arab citizens. Because Washington is so…