In Depth

Russia and Belarus are expected to redefine their relations in the foreseeable future, primarily in terms of energy. After mass protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko erupted in August, following the controversial presidential election, the Eastern European country abandoned its multi-vector foreign policy and pushed for closer ties with Moscow. …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, …

Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who is now helping uncover the evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election, warned states not to certify the November election results. “They should rethink it very seriously. What they are certifying is their own complicity and fraud.” …

The FBI has an investigative team that is looking into the U.S. presidential election after substantial evidence was brought forward by the lawyers of president Donald Trump’s legal team, FOX News Lou Dobbs revealed Monday night citing a ‘credible’ source in the FBI. By Arthur Blok Trump’s lawyer Sidney Powell …

Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who is now helping uncover the evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election, said President Donald Trump won the elections in a landslide. “There needs to be a massive criminal investigation.” By Arthur Blok During an interview with …

Azerbaijan won the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with the help of its ally Turkey. It’s archenemy Armenia did not get similar support from Russia and was forced to sign a humiliating peace deal which is a de facto capitulation. By Nikola Mikovic Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is part of Azerbaijan …

President Donald Trump posted a tweet this week stating that that Dominion voting machines across the nation deleted 2.7 million Trump ballots. He added that further data analysis found that 221,000 Pennsylvania votes switched from President Trump to Biden. By Arthur Blok Records from the Federal Election Commission showed that …

Non-partisan political website RealClearPolitics (RCP) rescinded its call earlier this week of Joe Biden winning the state of Pennsylvania. Bringing him back down below the 270 threshold to 259 Electoral Votes. The recall came at a moment that votes are still being counted and many lawsuits were filed by the …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     I advise you to throw out altogether § 3—the “demand (women’s) for freedom of love”. That is not really a proletarian but a bourgeois demand. — Vladimir Lenin, in a letter to Inessa Armand, dated 17 January 1915       For once I’m …

The embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran, that expired on October 18, could result in Teheran purchasing Russian weapons. Iranian officials already expressed interest in acquiring the latest state-of-art Russian military technology, such as the S-400 missile system, or the Su-30 aircraft, the Kremlin seems to prepare an excuse …

The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 urged world leaders earlier this month to reconsider ‘using lockdowns as the primary control method’ of battling Covid-19. After first creating global panic by putting the Covid-19 mortality rate higher than 3 percent and urging governments in an unprecedented move to lockdown …

Kyrgyzstan seems to be on the brink of civil war. The Central Asian country is the third Russian ally that has been heavily destabilized in the past three months, as Moscow warns it has obligations to prevent total breakdown in the former Soviet republic. By Nikola Mikovic Following the parliamentary …

By JARRETT BLANC   In September 2003, I moved from Afghanistan to Iraq, where I would spend a year and a half establishing new electoral institutions and helping Iraqi authorities manage their first elections. The job was demanding, and the environment was difficult—each of the hotels that housed us were …

The frozen conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh turned into a hot war. The Turkey-backed Azerbaijani army is attempting to capture the region, and even though it has the upper hand in terms of high-tech military kit, Armenia-sponsored Nagorno-Karabakh forces so far managed to repulse …

Russian influence in Belarus continues to grow. Since mass protests that erupted after the controversial August 9 presidential election did not result in a regime change, President Alexander Lukashenko managed to consolidate his power with the help of Russia. Will relations between Minsk and Moscow go from strength to strength? …

Under pressure of the United States, Serbia announced last week it will designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. This unexpected decision came after Serbia and Kosovo, under the US President Donald Trump’s auspices, signed a controversial ‘historic deal‘ on economic normalization in Washington. By Nikola Mikovic On …

The Arab Muslim world struggles with sectarian and ideological conflicts that affect the stability and progress of the region’s states and count loss in human lives and economic devastation among their consequences. Sectarian conflicts are not exclusive to the Muslim world. By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem Both the Christian West and …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   CONTINUED from yesterday…   A Parting of Genders, a Meeting of Minds? When I began to dream up this article some time ago I’d stumbled onto a fan of MD’s on Twitter, a fellow Arab, Nayli Yasmeen (@nayli_yasmeen), and we got to talking about …

 By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   CONTINUED from yesterday…   Everybody’s ‘Bestest’ Big Sister Now Christian Papierniak’s little masterpiece Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town (2017), which he also wrote. I could write a whole book about the movie and still not get completely to the bottom of it. I …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD       “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.” — Rebecca West   “The more identities …

Lebanon’s security forces used excessive levels of violence against tens of thousands of protesters who had gathered in downtown Beirut on August 8, 2020, to express their rage and frustration over the government and political elites’ incompetence and corruption. The ruling elites’ incompetence is widely considered to have led to …

The Beirut explosions on August 4, resulting from 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate igniting along with other explosive materials present in far lesser quantity in a warehouse, left more than 200 dead, dozens missing and around 300,000 homeless. The explosions raised global concern and empathy for Lebanon. Importantly, the explosions …

A secret push by President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner to sell advanced arms — including F-35 stealth fighter jets — to the United Arab Emirates has caused confusion and frustration among agencies and congressional committees that would normally be involved in such a sale but have been left …

The explosion in Lebanon leads back to an abandoned ship in Beirut that had arrived in the city carrying 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. Reporting by DER SPIEGEL and OCCRP has determined that the ship’s owner has connections to Hezbollah’s bank. By Maximilian Popp, Christoph Reuter und Fritz Schaap In …

More Arab nations are on a path to normalising ties with Israel, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said on Thursday, a week after the UAE agreed to a peace accord with Israel. Dr Gargash said a normalised relationship with Israel under the Abraham Accord would be …

We don’t hear many good news stories out of the Middle East, particularly recently, in the midst of the despair over Beirut, regional conflicts and the ravages of covid-19. But on Thursday there was a hopeful development: President Trump announced a historic peace agreement that will normalize relations between the …

By DAVID ROMANO   So, Lebanon’s prime minister and leading government ministers announced their resignation on Monday evening. They evidently preferred to fall on their swords after demonstrations in Beirut featured effigies with nooses around the necks of Hassan Diab, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The question is, will …

by James M. Dorsey | Jul 30, 2020 Saudi support of religious ultra-conservatism in Indonesia contradicts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion of an undefined form of moderate Islam intended to project his kingdom as tolerant, innovative, and forward-looking. It also suggests that Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the Muslim Brotherhood …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called this week to discuss peace talks to end clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan that broke out mid-July. Both Russia and Turkey are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Libya, and if the situation in the Caucasus escalates the …

After having concluded a $400 billion strategic deal with China Iran now aims to sign a long-term partnership agreement with Russia. From the Islamic Republic’s perspective, good relations with Moscow and Beijing, as well as possibility to expand economic cooperation with the two countries, will help Iran to easier cope …

The Egyptian regime has reacted in an unexpected way to the global pandemic—with civilian, technocratic, and expert bodies leading the way and even some (admittedly officially patrolled) political debate being allowed to emerge. Does this portend a real change in Egyptian governance, and if so, why, what kind, and will …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     “An artist should be as impartial as God.” — Wyndham Lewis   “The summary of the advice of all prophets is this; Find yourself a mirror.” — Shams Tabrizi   Well, as luck would have it, some time ago I’d written a review …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     “With most people, not describable as artists, all the finer part of their vitality goes into sex. They become third-rate poets during their courtship. All their instincts of drama come out freshly with their wives. The artist is he in whom this emotionality …

by James M. Dorsey | Jul 14, 2020 An initial version of this story was first published in Inside Arabia A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. A Palestinian move to secure Palestine’s energy needs by tying them to high-stakes Turkish regional gambits constitutes an effort to reduce Palestinian dependence on …

The New York Times accusations of Russia allegedly offering bounties to members of the Taliban movement for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan resulted in increased anti-Russia sentiment in the US. The Donald Trump administration will likely be under pressure to impose fresh packages of sanctions against Moscow, even though some …

06 Jul 2020 This story first appeared as an MEI Insight A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. Resolving the tug of war in the Middle East will require a backing away from approaches that treat conflicts as zero-sum games, and engagement by all regional and external players. …

Israel’s annexation of the West Bank could push it down a path that challenges its Jewish and democratic character. The agreement establishing the current Israeli coalition government has set July 1 as the target date to begin consideration of the annexation in the West Bank. As this self-imposed deadline approaches, there …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I have written an article a long time ago about a horror-SF movie I watched largely against my will, Dark Skies (2013), which fits into my longstanding research on sexual anxieties and alien abduction scenarios. I’d been thinking of writing a follow-up for some time …

By : Siba El-Samra   The shortage of public spaces, as well as walking and biking infrastructure in Lebanon, is not a new problem. During a pandemic, this shortage becomes time-critical and even more life-threatening, especially in dense Beirut. As cities around the world look to find ways to live with …

By James M. Dorsey   China was quick to aid coronavirus-stricken Sri Lanka. Chinese magnanimity and speed in responding to the Indian Ocean island’s request contrasted starkly with Beijing’s more measured response to Africa’s needs, widely expected to be the pandemic’s next hotspot. Geography was but one reason why China …

By James M. Dorsey     Europe is progressively being sucked into the Middle East and North Africa’s myriad conflicts. As if wars on its doorstep in Libya and Syria were not enough, UAE support for an Eastern Mediterranean pipeline that could hurt Qatar economically — combined with Greek, Cypriot …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     “It is very true that one cannot always go by the principles of Marxism in deciding whether to reject or to accept a work of art. A work of art should, in the first place, be judged by its own law, that is, …

BY LYU JINGHUA   Neither side wants to appear weak, but recent actions and rhetoric by both sides has put all of us in greater danger of U.S.-China military tensions sliding into armed conflict. The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the U.S.-China relationship — but in the opposite of the way …

A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security (By MICHAEL YOUNG) Assaad al-Achi | Executive director of Baytna Syria, Syrian civil society activist Although leadership tensions, at least public ones, are extremely rare in Syria, they have always existed since Hafez …