Catherine Shakdam

Catherine is a political analyst ​and reporter ​for MintPress focusing on​ the Middle East and the rise of ​radical movements. The Associate Director of the Beirut Center for Middle Eastern Studies, she has contributed her analyses to the Middle East Monitor, Foreign Policy Association, Your Middle East, IslamistGate, Majalla, ABNA, Open Democracy, International Policy Digest, Eurasia Review and many more.

Strange Bedfellows: US, Saudi, Al-Qaida & ISIS Interests Align In War On Yemen

The people of Yemen continue to suffer amid a humanitarian catastrophe created by foreign and domestic forces alike — almost all of whom stand to profit as long as war and chaos have a hold on the impoverished country.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam

LONDON --- (Analysis) As Yemen remains entrenched in the protracted, multi-fronted military conflict led by Saudi Arabia and funded by the United States, socio-political dynamics and economic realities have evolved according to the needs of competing factions -- often to the detriment of civilian populations. Since the Saudi-led coalition began

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The Fascism-Industrial Complex: How Xenophobia & Nationalism Lead To War & Terror

The media and right-wing politicians were quick to latch on to last month’s Brussels bombing to support a narrative of nationalism and xenophobia that leads to more war and terrorism.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Policemen detain a man at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels, Belgium, after authorities banned all marches in Brussels. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

LONDON --- (Analysis) The horrific terror attacks in Brussels on March 22 were a chilling reminder that radicalism, no matter the ideology that inspires it, is a threat to humanity as a whole, since its expression comes through violence and bloodletting. According to a Mar. 23 report by the BBC, 31 people were killed in the airport bombing,

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Saudi Arabia’s Slaughter Of Yemen Fueled By Oil Interests Not Democracy

More than 8,900 people have died in the year-long Western-backed Saudi onslaught against Yemen. The kingdom says it’s fighting to promote democracy and to save Yemen from Iran, but analysis of the actions of its lethal coalition reveal another side to the story.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, left, walks with Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman as he arrives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, March 26, 2015.

  (Analysis) -- Friday marked a full year since a Saudi-led coalition launched its attack on Yemen, leaving the poorest nation of Southern Arabia to crack and burn under a brutal display of military force while its civil infrastructure is ground to dust. “For the past year, governments that arm Saudi Arabia have rejected or downplayed

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The US Wraps Saudi Arabia — And Its Human Rights Atrocities — In Its Cloak Of Exceptionalism

U.S. dependence on oil prevents Washington from opposing Saudi Arabia’s repeated human rights violations and support for terrorist groups like ISIS or Boko Haram.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON --- In his eighth and final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made an impassioned plea against religious bigotry and sectarianism. Keen to underscore his commitment to social cohesion and tolerance, he rejected “any politics that targets people because of race or religion.” Referring to past fears and lapses in

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#YouStink Isn’t Another Arab Spring — It’s The Death Of Western-Born Monopoly Capitalism

“Lebanon has became the capitalist cautionary tale. This is what radical capitalism looks like when applied absolutely,” a journalist and lecturer tells MintPress. “I think we can agree it is not working.”

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A Lebanese anti-government protester holds his national flag as Lebanese riot policemen stand guard behind barbed wire that blocks a road leading to the parliament building, during a protest against the on-going trash crisis and government corruption, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Lebanon's prime minister says he hopes that political talks between senior politicians will help end government paralysis that has sparked angry street protests. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT --- Un-tethered by ethnicity and religious affiliation, Lebanon’s youth are uniting in protest, aiming to defend their shared values and country against the effects of corruption and monopolies birthed by capitalism. On Aug. 29, for instance, an estimated 10,000 people gathered in downtown Beirut, calling for the resignation of the

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#YouStink: Lebanese Rise Up Against The Capitalist Dream Of Privatization

“Lebanon is brutally capitalist in its structures … all public infrastructures are run privately,” one analyst tells MintPress. “And so what you see today as a ‘revolution’ against the establishment is really a denunciation of Western capitalism.”

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A Lebanese anti-government protester faces off with a riot policeman on a road leading to the parliament building before a scheduled meeting of political leaders to try to solve the on-going trash crisis and government dysfunction, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

BEIRUT --- Lebanon has been described as “the next domino to have fallen to the grand anti-establishment movement currently playing out in the Middle East” by Jawad Fairouz, a former Bahrain MP for Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s main opposition bloc and the largest political party in the Gulf Cooperation Council. All eyes are yet again locked on the Middle

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Puritanically Radical, Radically Puritanical: Saudi Arabia’s Religious Cleansing Policy Expands Through ME

“ISIS and, through ISIS, Saudi Arabia has declared war on religious pluralism to impose its own dogmatic and bigoted interpretation of Islam in the Middle East. The real crime against humanity here is being blind and deaf to it,” a religious scholar tells MintPress.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

LONDON --- Dubbed “the fountainhead of Islamist terrorism” by Yousaf Butt, senior advisor to the British American Security Information Council, Saudi Arabia has found itself at the center of many controversies over the past year. From inspiring and supporting the Wahhabi ideology of ISIS to fuelling sectarianism in the Middle East to better

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