No normalization, but Saudi Arabia and Israel ready to gang up on Iran
November 26th, 20200 RIYADH — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman earlier this week, despite a denial of the meeting by Israeli officials. On the discussion table was a country that has played the role of boogeyman for both Israel and its allies in the U.S. government: Iran. The two leaders talked...
Syria’s longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem dies at age 79
November 21st, 20200 DAMASCUS – Syria’s longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad, died on Monday. He was 79. Al-Moallem, who served as ambassador to Washington for nine years, starting in 1990 during...
Future of American democracy: On inequality, polarization and violence
November 18th, 20200 In January 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s Democracy Index downgraded the state of democracy in the United States from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy.” The demotion of a country that has constantly prided itself, not only on being democratic but also on championing democracy throughout the world, took...
We can stop COVID-19: Moderna vaccine success gives world more hope
November 16th, 20200 Moderna Inc’s experimental vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said on Monday, becoming the second U.S. drugmaker to report results that far exceed expectations. Together with Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, which is also more than 90 percent effective, and...
Nowhere to go: Displaced Iraqis desperate as camps close
November 14th, 20200 MOSUL — Iraq has started closing camps housing tens of thousands of people, including many who fled their homes during the final battle against ISIS, but aid groups warn this could create a second wave of displacement with dire consequences. Among those having to leave are 50-year-old Umm Ahmed and her two sons, who have lived at...
Hope is elusive in troubled Middle East
November 5th, 20200 Where is the hope for the Middle East? No matter how hard we try, it is hard to find grounds for optimism about the future of this troubled region. The Middle East has been a focus of American foreign policy for decades. The time, talent and resources that the United States has spent on challenges in the Middle East are staggering,...
Israeli delegation travels to Sudan to discuss normalization, Sudanese PM ready for ties with Israel
October 23rd, 20200 KHARTOUM – On Thursday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok indicated he was ready to proceed with normalizing relations with Israel once a yet-to-be-formed transitional parliament has approved the step, two Sudanese government sources told Reuters. The comments are the clearest sign that Hamdok, under pressure from the United...
Yemen’s warring parties start prisoner swap, raising peace prospects
October 17th, 20200 SANAA – On Thursday, planes carrying prisoners exchanged by the warring parties in Yemen took off from three airports in an operation to return about 1,000 men home and help build the trust to enable fresh talks to end a devastating war. The Saudi-led military coalition and Yemen’s Houthi movement agreed last month in Switzerland to...
America’s standing in the world
October 15th, 20200 Call it American exceptionalism or not, the American people have always embraced the idea that we live in an exceptional country. We are grateful to be Americans. We take a lot of pride in our country, as we should. Pride and patriotism are among America’s greatest strengths. Having said that, we need to be clear-eyed about our...
Despite ambiguity in international law, Palestinians are winning the “legitimacy war”
October 14th, 20200 “International law” remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the...
Lebanon asks Interpol to arrest Russian ship captain, owner over port explosion
October 2nd, 20200 BEIRUT (REUTERS) – Lebanon has asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the Russian captain and owner of the ship that brought the explosive material that detonated at Beirut port in August, killing nearly 200 people, state media reported on Thursday. About two months after the explosion that injured thousands and ravaged the...
In lieu of a liberation strategy: Palestinian elections are designed to buy time
October 1st, 20200 It is abundantly clear that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has underestimated the seriousness of the challenges facing Palestine and the Palestinians. The rushed agreement between his party, Fatah, and Hamas in Istanbul on September 24, and the Palestinian leader’s speech at the 75th session of the U.N. General...
How do Democrats and Republicans differ on Palestine and Israel?
September 23rd, 20200 The polarized nature of American politics often makes it difficult to address fundamental differences between the country’s two main political rivals, Republicans and Democrats. As each side is intent on discrediting the other at every opportunity, unbiased information regarding the two parties’ actual stances on internal and...
Israeli who killed Palestinian baby, parents gets life imprisonment
September 14th, 20200 LOD (REUTERS) — An Israeli court sentenced a Jewish settler to life imprisonment on Monday for killing a Palestinian couple and their baby in a 2015 arson attack in the occupied West Bank. The deaths of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents, Saad and Riham, in the village of Duma contributed to a surge of Israeli-Palestinian...
As Washington retreats, Eastern Mediterranean conflict further marginalizes NATO
September 11th, 20200 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance in name alone. Recent events notwithstanding, the brewing conflict over territorial waters in the Eastern Mediterranean indicates that the military union between mostly Western countries is faltering. The current Turkish-Greek tension is only one facet of a much larger......
Israel’s friends at the RNC: “Christian Zionists” dictate the agenda of the Republican Party
September 3rd, 20200 It is difficult — and futile — to argue which American president has historically been more pro-Israel. While former President Obama, for example, has pledged more money to Israel than any other U.S. administration in history, Donald Trump has provided Israel with a blank check of seemingly endless political...
Nuclear weapons remain an existential threat
September 3rd, 20200 Seventy-five years ago, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing an end to World War II and sounding a warning about the devastating power of nuclear weapons. Remarkably, we have managed to avoid using these weapons in warfare again. But nuclear arms still present an existential threat and it is......
Macron presents “concept paper” outlining reforms for crisis-ridden Lebanon
August 31st, 20200 BEIRUT – French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined political and financial reforms Lebanese politicians need to make to unlock foreign aid and rescue the country from multiple crises, including an economic meltdown, according to a document seen by Reuters. The two-page “concept paper” was delivered by the French ambassador...
Two dead, several injured in clashes south of Lebanese capital
August 28th, 20200 BEIRUT – Two people were killed and at least 10 wounded in clashes in a town south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Thursday evening, the state news agency and a security source said, as several political parties urged calm. The Lebanese army said on its Twitter account that it had deployed units to Khaldeh town to “control the...
Gazing over wasteland, Beirutis mourn lost “Lady of the World”
August 27th, 20200 BEIRUT — Over centuries, Beirut built its reputation as a cultural crossroads, a thriving port and a playground known as “the Paris of the Middle East.” In just moments, much of it lay in ruins. Now stunned residents come and stare at the heaps of rubble and twisted steel, contemplating all they have lost. An elevated highway...
“Palestine is still the issue”: U.N. vote exposes, isolates Canada
August 26th, 20200 This article is cowritten by Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo The notion that “Canada is better”, especially when compared with U.S. foreign policy, has persisted for many years. Recent events at the United Nations have, however, exposed the true nature of Canada’s global position, particularly in the matter of its blind and......
Two European patients re-infected with coronavirus
August 25th, 20200 AMSTERDAM/BRUSSELS (Reuters) — Two European patients are confirmed to have been re-infected with the coronavirus, raising concerns about people’s immunity to the virus as the world struggles to tame the pandemic. The cases, in Belgium and the Netherlands, follow a report this week by researchers in Hong Kong about a man there who...
Lebanon’s grand mufti joins call for international investigation into blast, early parliamentary elections
August 21st, 20200 BEIRUT — On Wednesday, Lebanon’s leading Sunni grand mufti joined calls for early parliamentary elections and an international investigation into the explosion at the Beirut port, which he said deepened the country’s existential crisis. At least 179 people were killed and 300,000 left effectively homeless when massive amounts of......
Sultan of Oman reshuffles government
August 21st, 20200 MUSCAT - The Sultan of Oman issued 28 new royal decrees this week during a reshuffle of government roles and responsibilities. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said has named Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi as foreign minister to replace foreign affairs chief Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah after 23 years of service. When you have...
Dubai changes its alcohol consumption laws to help its economy
August 21st, 20200 DUBAI - While the United Arab Emirates struggles to regain its economic footing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai has once again loosened its alcohol consumption laws. Previously in Dubai, non-Muslim residents were required to carry plastic red cards issued by police in order to purchase alcohol. Otherwise they’d face action from......
