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Middle East

The Chris Hedges Report: The Looming Catastrophe In The Middle East

October 2, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , , , , , ,
It has become quite rare to hear any meaningful accountability for Israel’s actions from Israeli citizens themselves. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy is an anomaly in Israel by today’s standards, as for his entire career he has challenged the apartheid and occupation of the Israeli state. On today’s episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Levy joins host Chris Hedges to discuss his book, The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe, and explain the spiritual destruction, both of Israel and Palestine, that the current genocide in Gaza is causing as well as the implications of new military operations in Lebanon.

The Middle East After Nasrallah

October 2, 2024 As'Ad AbuKhalil, Consortium News. , , , , , , ,
There is no doubt that leaders do matter in the life of nations and movements, no matter how much one must acknowledge the role played by the masses of ordinary, working people. The death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser in 1970 changed the political landscape in the region forever and helped launch what is commonly dubbed the “Saudi era” (i.e., the domination of Saudi Arabia over the affairs of the Arab world). Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s impact on the Arab-Israeli question has been, perhaps, bigger than Nasser’s because he has been more effective — from the standpoint of the Arab struggle against Israeli aggression and occupation — in his understanding and containment of the Israeli threat towards Lebanon and Palestine.

US Bolsters Forces In Middle East, Issues Warning To Iran

September 30, 2024 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com , , , , , ,
The Pentagon on Sunday announced steps to bolster its forces in the Middle East amid Israel’s non-stop bombardment of Lebanon. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the US will reinforce its “air-support capabilities” in the coming days and said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “increased the readiness of additional US forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies.” Ryder said Austin also ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group to stay in the region. The USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group / Marine Expeditionary Unit will also continue to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Freedom Flotilla Ship Handala Makes Waves

September 4, 2024 Elizabeth Murray, WRMEA. , , ,
During a two-week midsummer port call at the Tino Rossi Harbor in Corsica’s capital city Ajaccio, the Norwegian-flagged Handala—an international solidarity ship sailing toward Gaza—generated considerable attention and interest, with the help and strong support of local organizations. Carrying 17 international passengers and crew from New Zealand, Spain, Canada, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Palestine, Finland, Brazil and Sweden, among others, Handala embarked from Oslo, Norway on May 1, 2024 and has stopped at more than 25 ports along the European and Mediterranean coastlines all summer to raise awareness of the plight of Gaza’s besieged citizens, who have been under constant bombardment since Oct. 7, 2023 and under siege for 17 years (see www.freedomflotilla.org).

Chris Hedges Report: The Middle East’s Roots Lie In The Fall Of The Ottomans

August 29, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , , ,
Modern borders represent mere lines in the sand when understanding the deep history behind the forces that drew them. In the contemporary Middle East, nations such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and most notably Palestine, cannot be fully understood without delving into the region’s intricate past—especially the pivotal role of the Ottoman Empire’s influence. Eugene Rogan, the Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Oxford, joins host Chris Hedges to discuss his book, “The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East,” and explain how the modern geopolitical makeup of the region came to be.

The DNC Fiddles While The World Burns

August 21, 2024 Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, CODEPINK. , , , , , , , ,
An Orwellian disconnect haunts the 2024 Democratic National Convention. In the isolation of the convention hall, shielded from the outside world behind thousands of armed police, few of the delegates seem to realize that their country is on the brink of direct involvement in major wars with Russia and Iran, either of which could escalate into World War III. Inside the hall, the mass slaughter in the Middle East and Ukraine are treated only as troublesome “issues,” which “the greatest military in the history of the world” can surely deal with. Delegates who unfurled a banner that read “Stop Arming Israel” during Biden’s speech on Monday night were quickly accosted by DNC officials, who instructed other delegates to use “We Joe” signs to hide the banner from view.

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 311: Condemnations Of Israel’s Massacre

August 12, 2024 Qassam Muaddi, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , , , ,
The death toll from Israel’s bombing of the Tabi’in school in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City surpassed 100 victims according to the Palestinian health ministry. The bombing targeted two floors in the school, one of which was being used as a mosque, where civilians were holding the dawn (Fajr) prayer at the moment of the strike. The Palestinian Civil Defense said that Israeli bombs killed and maimed everyone who was present on the mosque floor, describing the massacre as “beyond imagination” and comparable to the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City in December of last year, which killed 500 Palestinians.

Israel’s New Assassination Campaign Could Set Middle East Further Aflame

August 2, 2024 Phyllis Bennis, Foreign Policy In Focus. , , , , ,
A new assassination campaign aimed at Israel’s opponents has erupted across the Middle East, imperiling already shaky Gaza ceasefire talks and threatening an even greater regional expansion of war. While Israel continues its genocidal attack on desperate Gazans, killing scores, perhaps hundreds just in the last several days, the latest moves were clearly designed to escalate Israel’s war in Gaza and expand the military tensions already simmering on its border with Lebanon, in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere into a full-scale war, potentially drawing in both Iran and the United States even more directly.

Why The Fight For Palestine Is The Fight Against US Imperialism In The Region

June 15, 2024 Adam Hanieh, Mondoweiss. , , ,
The following is the first in a series of articles co-published by Mondoweiss and the Transnational Institute that places Palestine in the long trajectory of anti-colonial struggles, from Haiti to Vietnam to Algeria and South Africa. Over the last seven months, Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has generated an unprecedented wave of global protest and awareness around Palestine. Many millions of people have taken to the streets, encampments have spread across universities throughout the world, courageous activists have blocked ports and arms factories, and there is a deep-seated recognition that a global campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel is needed now more than ever.

America’s Decline In The Middle East And The Axis Of Resistance

May 29, 2024 Alan MacLeod, MintPress News. , , ,
The Middle East – or what should more accurately be called West Asia – is a pivotal region of the globe. It is home to the primary source of the planet’s most important commodity: oil. Not coincidentally, it is also the epicenter of global conflicts. Since 9/11, the United States has launched a series of attacks on sovereign nations, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya, Syria and beyond. These wars have left the region beleaguered and broken. But recently, as American power wanes, a new set of forces has emerged. An axis led by Iran, Syria and Yemen has emerged to counter U.S.-Israeli dominance and global giants, such as China and Russia, are increasingly being drawn into the region.

Our Operations In The Red Sea Are Consistent With The World’s Demands

May 26, 2024 Robert Inkalesh, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
The spokesperson of Yemen’s Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, recently announced Phase 4 of their military escalation against Israel and threatened to hit targets that “the Zionist enemy” has not yet thought to be possible. In conjunction with this, airstrikes have been repeatedly launched by the UK and U.S. fighter jets against sites across northern Yemen. Yemen’s Ansar Allah has been propelled into the international spotlight since imposing a blockade in the Red Sea against Israel in an act of solidarity with Gaza during the ongoing war. Yet, we rarely hear directly from the group, known in the West as the “Houthi Rebels”, for its response to various allegations leveled at it and why it continues to fight on behalf of Palestinians.

2009 US Policy Paper Planned Current Israeli-Iranian Tensions

April 18, 2024 Brian Berletic, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , ,
Since October 7, 2023 it would appear a spontaneous chain of events is leading the Middle East deeper and deeper into conflict. From Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza to its strikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and repeated strikes across Syria (including the recent strike on Iran’s embassy in Damascus), to the ongoing US-led confrontation with Yemen in the Red Sea, it would appear that poor diplomacy is failing to prevent escalation and is instead leading to mounting tensions and a growing potential for wider war.

The Missiles Of April

April 15, 2024 Scott Ritter, Consortium News. , , , , , ,
I’ve been writing about Iran for more than two decades. In 2005, I made a trip to Iran to ascertain the “ground truth” about that nation, a truth which I then incorporated into a book, Target Iran, laying out the U.S.-Israeli collaboration to craft a justification for a military attack on Iran designed to bring down its theocratic government. I followed this book up with another, Dealbreaker, in 2018, which brought this U.S.-Israeli effort up to date. Back in November 2006, in an address to Columbia University’s School of International Relations, I underscored that the United States would never abandon my “good friend” Israel until, of course, we did.

The Revenge To Come

April 2, 2024 As’Ad AbuKhalil, Consortium News. , , ,
The scenes of Gaza’s genocide will shape generations to come, and Joe Biden has ensured that current and future generations will blame the U.S. for this war as much as they will blame Israel. The U.S. government openly admits helping the Israeli government in executing its genocidal war. The U.S. will continue in its unconditional support for Israeli genocide, and the Biden administration has been a full partner while frequently feigning concern for the “humanitarian situation” in Gaza, as if Palestinians are dying from a devastating plague.

The Last American War

February 13, 2024 Yoav Haifawi, Mondoweiss. , , , , ,
These are difficult times. Day after day, a shocking genocide is unfolding before the eyes of the whole world. Israel is nurturing a psychotic seizure as its “functional response” to the trauma of October 7. We have already become accustomed to living in the heart of an apartheid regime, oppression, and wars that have shed rivers of blood, but the death and destruction that Israel is inflicting today upon the residents of the Gaza Strip are much worse than anything we have seen before in the history of “the conflict.” At the time of this writing, the United States has not only done nothing to stop the massacre of Gaza’s residents but has increased arms shipments to Israel.
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