Middle East

Growing Up Privileged in Apartheid, Colonial Israel – Shir Hever on Reality Asserts Itself (pt 1/4)
|

Growing Up Privileged in Apartheid, Colonial Israel – Shir Hever on Reality Asserts Itself (pt 1/4)

This interview was originally published on July 9, 2014. Mr. Hever says he became politically active after the Second Intifada was repressed with extreme violence by the Israeli military and police.

Radical Transformation is Needed for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace – Nadim Houry

Radical Transformation is Needed for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace – Nadim Houry

Nadim Houry, Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative, discusses the role of Arab countries in the Middle East in demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and negotiating the release of hostages taken by Hamas. Normalization between Bahrain and the UAE with Israel, in addition to negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, has been disrupted as the Israeli bombardment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza continues. Houry also addresses previous attempts to advance peace, such as the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, and argues that a regional rather than bilateral approach with Israel is necessary, one which requires a non-negotiable end to settlement expansion in the West Bank and brings Iran and other regional actors into the fray.

Strategically and Morally Bankrupt: U.S. Policy in the Middle East – Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
| |

Strategically and Morally Bankrupt: U.S. Policy in the Middle East – Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

Retired U.S. Colonel Larry Wilkerson discusses the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bombardment of Gaza and large-scale indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians. He points to state-sanctioned torture and other unlawful acts committed by the U.S. after 9/11 and asserts that the Israeli government is responding to Hamas’ attacks in a similar fashion by wholly disregarding international legal norms. In doing so, Israel is putting its own population at risk, as well as collectively punishing the Palestinians.

A Brutal Occupation Begets a Brutal War Between Israel and Hamas – Trita Parsi

A Brutal Occupation Begets a Brutal War Between Israel and Hamas – Trita Parsi

Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, analyzes Iran’s role in supporting Hamas’ brutal coordinated attack on civilians in Israel. Parsi unpacks Palestinian grievances, as well as Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and illegal blockade of Gaza. With host Talia Baroncelli.

Corruption in Lebanon Propped up by the Transnational Capitalist Elite – Nadim Houry
|

Corruption in Lebanon Propped up by the Transnational Capitalist Elite – Nadim Houry

Widespread corruption in Lebanon is fostered by the country’s ruling class, whose business interests are enmeshed with those of international finance. Nadim Houry, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative, explains how Lebanon’s culture of political impunity is tied to the reconstruction agreements put in place in 1990, at the end of the 15-year civil war. The ongoing political deadlock shields the authorities from scrutiny and allows for vulture capitalists such as the former governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, Riad Salameh, to embezzle the country’s resources. At the same time, ordinary people are faced with crushing inflation.

U.S.-Iran: An Unwritten Agreement on the Horizon? – Trita Parsi

U.S.-Iran: An Unwritten Agreement on the Horizon? – Trita Parsi

Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, discusses reported negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to agree to an unwritten deal. The JCPOA, or Iran nuclear deal, which was a legacy of the Obama administration, seems to be a thing of the past; yet de-escalation and an agreement on a smaller range of issues would be advantageous to both the U.S. and Iranian administrations. As in the case of Saudi-Iranian rapprochement, the role of China, Oman, and Iraq in facilitating these discussions is politically noteworthy. While the U.S. and Iran are nowhere near signing a comprehensive written deal which could be legally enforced and regulated internationally, a more limited unwritten deal would unfreeze at least 7 billion US dollars’ worth of Iranian assets, which would go towards purchasing food and medicine for Iranians.

Libyans Caught Between Warring Elites and Foreign Powers
|

Libyans Caught Between Warring Elites and Foreign Powers

Anas El Gomati is the founder and director of the Libyan think tank, the Sadeq Institute. He discusses how so much of Libya’s history has been shaped by European colonial powers and other foreign states meddling in its affairs. On the flip side, E.U. developments and the rise of right-wing populism and racist anti-migrant sentiment cannot be disentangled from what transpires in Libya. In light of the ongoing fighting between rival government structures, how can the control of oil resources and state assets shift from elite strongmen to civilian bodies?

End of content

End of content