Yes, Iran is playing chess, but only after rewriting the rules of the game
March 27th, 20262 By Ramzy Baroud & Romana Rubeo The origins of chess are contested, but few dispute that while the game began in India, it was the Sassanian Persian Empire that refined it into a recognizable strategic system. It was Persia that codified its language, symbolism and intellectual framework: the shah (king), the rokh (rook) and...
U.S.-Israel war on Iran and Lebanon enters fifth week with no clear end in sight
March 27th, 20260 The war being waged by the United States and Israel against Iran has entered its fifth week, with no real prospect of a near end, amid the high thresholds set by Washington, Tel Aviv and Tehran. Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon continues to confront Israeli ground incursions south of the Litani River, inflicting heavy losses...
The impact on the many fronts of the war on Iran will continue
March 27th, 20260 The costs associated with any war — losses of lives, treasure and security — are to be expected. And so it is with the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. It was unnecessary. It has been massive. And it has been waged without any clear objective or strategic purpose. Though only a few weeks old, and still too early to project how it will play...
From Palestine to Iran: What Arab and Muslim silence really reveals
March 26th, 20260 By Ramzy Baroud & Romana Rubeo I have always found it interesting, and at times revealing, when seasoned activists and intellectuals in the West, including those who see themselves as deeply committed to Palestine, raise the same familiar point: Arab governments must stand up to Israel and the United States in solidarity with their...
Strains emerge between Trump and Netanyahu as Iran war escalates, energy crisis deepens
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — After nearly three weeks of intense military confrontation with Iran, early signs of divergence between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are beginning to surface, raising critical questions about the trajectory of the war, its broader regional consequences and the absence of a clear...
MAGA divide deepens as top official resigns over Iran war driven by Israeli pressure
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON — In the first major rupture within President Trump’s administration over the war on Iran, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned from his post Tuesday, declaring that he could no longer support the conflict and accusing Israel of misleading the United States into war. Joe Kent becomes the first...
U.S.–Israel war on Iran enters fourth week amid stalemate, energy crisis and rising regional risks
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S.–Israel war against Iran has entered its fourth week without achieving any meaningful breakthrough in subduing the Islamic Republic, while no clear path toward a near-term resolution has emerged. Instead, fears are mounting over widening regional consequences and escalating global risks, as President Trump...
Dearborn to host major community fundraiser for displaced families in Lebanon
March 20th, 20260 DEARBORN — Under the patronage of the Lebanese consul general of Lebanon in Detroit, Ibrahim Khalil Charara, and with the participation of a broad coalition of local organizations, the Bint Jebail Cultural Center will host a major solidarity and fundraising event for Lebanon on Sunday, March 22. The event will take place at the...
No time for losers: Why the war meant to save Israel may destroy it
March 19th, 20260 When Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu launched their military aggression against Iran on February 28, they appeared convinced that the war would be swift. Netanyahu reportedly assured Washington that the campaign would deliver a decisive strategic victory — one capable of reordering the Middle East and restoring Israel’s battered...
Metro Detroit Lebanese American community rallies to aid the displaced and war refugees in Lebanon amid Israeli assault
March 13th, 20260 As Israel’s continuing assault on Lebanon drives wave after wave of displacement, Lebanese American organizations in Metro Detroit have stepped up relief efforts to support families uprooted by the violence. While the resistance continues confronting Israeli forces on the ground and striking inside Israel with rockets and drones, the...
U.N. Security Council condemns Iran’s regional attacks as war spreads; Russia and China abstain
March 13th, 20260 The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning Iranian missile and drone attacks on several Gulf states as the rapidly escalating war between Iran, Israel and the United States spreads across the Middle East, raising fears of a broader regional confrontation and a global economic shock. The resolution —...
The war Iran prepared for: How Tehran is raising the cost of war
March 13th, 20260 Iran is pursuing a multi-layered strategy—military, economic, political, and diplomatic—to raise the cost of war and prevent regime change. Iran’s strategy in the current war As the war on Iran continues to expand across multiple fronts, Tehran appears to be pursuing a complex strategy that combines military escalation, economic...
Iraq’s lessons and the Powell Doctrine: Why Americans question a new war with Iran
March 13th, 20260 In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to present the George W. Bush administration’s case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. His remarks were directed at two audiences: reluctant allies and unconvinced Americans. Hawks who wanted this war termed Powell’s performance “compelling and...
Debunked and confirmed: Myths and realities from the war on Iran
March 6th, 20260 The war on Iran has not merely opened a new military front in the Middle East. It has shattered long-standing myths that have shaped U.S. policy and regional politics for decades. What has unfolded in the past days is not simply a battlefield confrontation; it is a historical rupture. Several narratives that once appeared unassailable...
Hezbollah targets military sites in Galilee in response to Israeli strikes across Lebanon
March 6th, 20260 On Thursday, Hezbollah said that it launched rockets at Israeli military positions in northern Israel, responding to ongoing Israeli attacks across Lebanon. The Lebanese group said in a statement that its militants targeted sites in the Galilee region with rocket barrages, describing the strikes as a “response to the criminal......
Who decides what is legitimate? Power, democracy and the war on Iran
March 6th, 20260 Democracy is invoked as moral legitimacy in war, while Iran’s authority rests on layered political, religious and historical foundations. Democracy, however, is not the enemy. Its manipulation is. For decades, Western political discourse has equated legitimacy with elections — numbers counted on a single day, certified by...
House rejects bid to halt Trump’s war on Iran as Congress confronts growing conflict
March 6th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly rejected a resolution Thursday that would have forced President Trump to halt military operations against Iran without congressional authorization, highlighting deep divisions in Washington as the conflict threatens to expand across the Middle East. The measure failed......
Trump’s Board of Peace ignores Palestinian history and rights
February 27th, 20260 When President Trump convened his Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, a key agenda item was his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s extravagant (and detached from reality) plan for a “New Gaza.” The scheme’s rendering depicts more of a luxury resort for tourists than the foundation of a just future for the Palestinian victims of...
Ignoring Palestinian rights won’t bring peace
February 20th, 20260 When President Trump convened his so-called Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, a key item on the agenda was to endorse his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s extravagant (and, I might add, detached from reality) plan for a “New Gaza.” The rendering of Kushner’s scheme shows it to be more of a luxury resort for wealthy tourists than...Trump plans to announce Gaza funding plan, troops at first Board of Peace meeting, U.S. officials say
February 13th, 20260 WASHINGTON — President Trump will announce a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a U.N.-authorized stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave at the first formal meeting of his Board of Peace next week, two senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. Delegations from at least 20 countries,...
Netanyahu says Trump may be creating conditions for Iran deal
February 13th, 20260 on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped that President Trump was creating the conditions to reach a deal with Iran that would avoid military action. Netanyahu, who met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, said he had expressed "general skepticism" and said that if an agreement was reached, "it must......
After the headlines fade: Gaza, abandoned while the genocide persists
February 13th, 20260 A colleague, an editor at a widely read outlet that centered Gaza throughout the two-year genocide, recently voiced his frustration that Gaza is no longer a main focus in the news. He hardly needed to say it. It is evident that Gaza has already been pushed to the margins of coverage — not only by mainstream Western media, long known...
U.S. mercenary firm tied to notorious aid scheme is recruiting for new Gaza deployment
February 12th, 20260 UG Solutions, which provided security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been interviewing ex-soldiers for potential “robust security” operations. By Sharif Abdel Kouddous UG Solutions, a leading U.S. military subcontractor that provided security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is......
Lebanese General Security Chief Hassan Choucair visits local community, speaks on Lebanon’s challenges and reforms, praises diaspora support
January 30th, 20260 DEARBORN — On the sidelines of his participation in a security conference in Las Vegas, Lebanese Director General of General Security Major General Hassan Ezzat Choucair made a point of visiting the Lebanese community in the Detroit area on Friday, January 23, where he addressed recent political developments in Lebanon at a private...
Trump’s “Board of Peace” and the reinvention of American power in Gaza and beyond
January 30th, 20260 The history of American power is, in many ways, the history of reinventing rules, or designing new ones, to fit U.S. strategic interests. This may sound harsh, but it is a necessary realization, particularly in light of President Trump’s latest political invention: the so-called Board of Peace. Some have hastily concluded that......
