Israeli lawmakers pass a key law to weaken the judiciary despite public outrage

By Joe Hernandez; Daniel Estrin Israeli lawmakers on Monday approved controversial changes to the judiciary, part of a package of proposed actions that’s roiled the country in protests in recent months and sparked opposition from broad swaths of Israeli society. The vote in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, capped a monthslong campaign by Israel’s far-right government to… Read More Israeli lawmakers pass a key law to weaken the judiciary despite public outrage

25th July 202325th July 2023 Dilip

The recovery of cuneiform, the world’s oldest known writing

Louise Pryke For over 3,000 years, cuneiform was the primary language of communication throughout the Ancient Near East (roughly corresponding to the Middle East today) and into parts of the Mediterranean. The dominance of the cuneiform writing style in antiquity has led scholars to refer to it as “the script of the first half of the known… Read More The recovery of cuneiform, the world’s oldest known writing

11th July 202310th July 2023 Dilip

America’s War for Oil and the Great Mesopotamian Dustbowl

Juan Cole / TomDispatch In early April 2003, as American forces sought to wrap up their conquest of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and take strongholds to its north, the Marine Corps formed “Task Force Tripoli.” It was commanded by General John F. Kelly (who would later serve as Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff).… Read More America’s War for Oil and the Great Mesopotamian Dustbowl

10th July 202310th July 2023 Dilip

Israeli Officials Now Promoting Impunity for Settler-Colonial Violence

RAMONA WADI ( Middle East Monitor ) – If Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, can find excuses for the hilltop youth’s colonial violence, how much more is the concept of settler-colonial presence as a form of violence normalised? During a meeting called by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir described the hilltop youth as “sweet boys” forced into… Read More Israeli Officials Now Promoting Impunity for Settler-Colonial Violence

4th July 2023 Dilip

Europe Ignoring Israeli War Crimes under Guise of Combating anti-Semitism: new report

( Middle East Monitor ) – The chilling repercussions of the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism have been revealed in a recent report by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC). Titled “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Anti-Semitism”, the report by the independent Dutch-based organisation uncovered shocking examples of the IHRA’s… Read More Europe Ignoring Israeli War Crimes under Guise of Combating anti-Semitism: new report

21st June 202321st June 2023 Dilip

Netanyahu is leading a coup against his own country. But the threat is not only to Israel

Jonathan Freedland I look at the contrasting journeys taken by Northern Ireland and by Israel in the last 25 years and conclude that one got on the right train and the other missed it – with consequences that get only more tragic. To be sure, not everything in Northern Ireland is rosy. The institutions of self-government remain… Read More Netanyahu is leading a coup against his own country. But the threat is not only to Israel

1st April 20231st April 2023 Dilip

A poisonous dictatorship has been built in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab spring

Sihem Bensedrine I was relieved when Hervé, a young man from Ivory Coast who occasionally helps me around the house, finally called. It had been four agonising days of radio silence. Since his landlady had evicted him, he had been wandering the streets of Raoued, a suburb of Tunis, trying to avoid the marauding gangs.… Read More A poisonous dictatorship has been built in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab spring

31st March 202331st March 2023 Dilip

Iraq’s economic impasse twenty years after the invasion

Adam Tooze Saddam’s attack on Iran in the early 1980s indicated his violent ambition, but as far as Iraq’s economy is concerned it was the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the US-led riposte that delivered the first devastating shock. After a measure of recovery under the more relaxed sanctions regime of the late… Read More Iraq’s economic impasse twenty years after the invasion

27th March 2023 Dilip

Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

A major shift in global relations has recently transpired. To some in America, it may look like the second coming of the Evil Empire. Too much of the rest of the world, it’s a welcome chance for a renewed multipolar order, where the sovereign desires of nations are respected and new collaborations can be established.… Read More Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

19th March 2023 Dilip

We Iraqis had survived Saddam Hussein. It was the US invasion that destroyed our lives

NB: Will George Bush & Tony Blair ever be held accountable for war crimes? DS We have a saying that captures the devastation of our country: ‘Saddam has gone, but 1,000 more Saddams have replaced him’ Balsam Mustafa Twenty years ago, around this time, the US-led military operation to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein’s… Read More We Iraqis had survived Saddam Hussein. It was the US invasion that destroyed our lives

18th March 202318th March 2023 Dilip

After the truth-shower

Philosophy, history, literature, current affairs, and other stuff. Posted by Dilip Simeon

Tag: Middle East