Middle East

The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) extends its warmest congratulations to the governments of all those states that have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), a treaty which prohibits the development, testing, production, acquisition, possession, stockpiling,…

By Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, Conor Tobin’s January 9, 2020 Diplomatic History[1] article titled: The Myth of the ‘Afghan Trap’: Zbigniew Brzezinski and Afghanistan[2] attempts to “dismantle the notion that President Jimmy Carter, at the urging of National Security…

Pushbacks Against Surge of Arrivals by Boat From Lebanon Cypriot coast guard forces summarily pushed back, abandoned, expelled, or returned more than 200 migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers coming from Lebanon during the first week of September 2020 without giving them the opportunity…

The Netherlands announced on Sept. 18 that it had notified Syria of its intention to hold that government accountable for torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture. The Syrian government responded by saying the Netherlands had no right to address human rights,…

The Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu plans to annex the Jordan Valley. Why is this decision being made right now? What interest does it represent for Israel? What threats does this pose to the Palestinians? What consequences would this have…

Everyone is trying to make sense of this current moment of almost total chaos. Some some call it anarchy, but that is not correct as we still have governance at many levels. This state of chaos can be seen in…

Viewpoint by Sara Tafakori* t has been called an Iranian #MeToo movement, and it is. Thousands of women in Iran – and some men – are going online to speak about the sexual assault and harassment they experienced. What is…

Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious decline. Reliable large-scale…

The United Nations has strongly condemned the attack, on Wednesday, in Kabul, targeting the official convoy of Afghanistan’s First Vice President Amrullah Saleh. The Vice President survived the attack but dozens of civilian casualties – mostly bystanders – were reported…

By Jhon Sánchez In 2010, one block away from the L train in Brooklyn, I always found my favorite falafel place. The owner was a Palestinian man, nicknamed Yuyo. What I remember the most from Yuyo was his hands. They…