Ariel Gold

Ariel Gold is the national co-director of CODEPINK and runs the organization’s Middle East Program.

How Feminists Can Support Afghan Women Living Under the Taliban

When the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, it froze billions of dollars in Afghan assets, grinding many of the country’s most essential operations to a halt and spreading misery. The US government must release those funds.

WASHINGTON (Jacobin) — Since the Taliban took control of Kabul and the central government on August 15, efforts to support Afghan women have become extremely challenging. According to some prominent U.S. feminists with strong ties to Afghan women, the Taliban “has no legitimacy beyond the brutal force it commands,” and governments, the United

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The Hawks Who Want War With Iran Are Working Overtime

Israeli leaders, Christian fundamentalists, and hawkish Washington neocons are doing everything in their power to block a peaceful US return to the JCPOA.

Iran Israel JCPOA

WASHINGTON (Jacobin) -- Just as talks between the United States and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium

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A Pro-Cairo Lobby is Spending Big to Make Sure Biden Doesn’t Cut Aid to Egypt’s Dictatorship

President al-Sisi is afraid that his free rein to commit human rights abuses are over now that Trump is out of office, that’s why he hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to the tune of $65,000 per month to whitewash his image and keep the American money flowing.

Egypt lobby Feature photo

Under Donald Trump’s presidency, Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE, and other repressive regimes, had virtually free reign to commit unchecked human rights abuses without worry that they might be chastised or lose U.S. diplomatic and financial support. But when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, President Sisi of Egypt started to worry.

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Robert Malley for Iran Envoy: A Test Case for Biden’s Commitment to Diplomacy

Biden’s response to the far-right uproar against Malley will be a test of his fortitude in standing up to the hawks and charting a new course for U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Robert Malley Feature photo

President Biden’s commitment to re-entering the Iran nuclear deal—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA—is already facing backlash from a motley crew of warhawks both domestic and foreign. Right now, opponents of re-entering the deal are centering their vitriol on one of the nation’s foremost experts on both the Middle

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Don’t be Hoodwinked by Trump’s UAE-Israel “Peace Deal”

The normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel, facilitated by the U.S., serves to prop up three repressive leaders — Trump, Netanyahu, and bin Zayed — and will cause further harm to Palestinians. It is both a shame and a sham.

UAE Israel Peace Deal Feature photo

HUGE breakthrough today,” crowed Donald Trump on Twitter as he announced the new peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state and the third Arab nation, after Egypt and Jordan, to have diplomatic ties with Israel. But the new Israel-UAE partnership should fool no one. Though it will

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To Help Stem Spread of Coronavirus, Trump Must Lift Sanctions on Iran

US Sanctions, according to Human Rights Watch, have not only been devastating to Iranian civilians, but they have also crippled the country’s ability to effectively deal with the coronavirus.

Coronavirus Iran Feature photo

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis and the refugee crisis have long been glaring examples that the wars or CO2 emissions on one continent risk the lives and well-being of people on another continent. What coronavirus is providing, however, is a unique

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Saudi Arabia’s Brave Women Pull Back the Curtain on Crown Prince MBS

The case of Al-Hathloul and the other women’s rights activists on trial in Saudi Arabia is a tremendous embarrassment for MBS, who has been putting an enormous effort into convincing his Western allies that he is a reformer and that the Kingdom is becoming more liberal.

Loujain al-Hathloul Feature photo

This week, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), Saudi Arabia’s 34-year-old de facto ruler, was on a tear. He arrested members of his own royal family and initiated an oil price war with Russia that has sent the price of oil—and the world’s stock markets—plummeting. Behind the headlines, however, another critical event will take place in Saudi

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