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.

Christians, Muslims Heed Interfaith Call To Fight ISIS With Muhammad’s Peaceful Message

“It is time for all faiths to come together and say in one voice: ‘Not in our name!’” Dr. John Andrew Morrow, one of the forces behind a new interfaith movement to stand in peaceful opposition to ISIS and extremist groups like it, tells MintPress.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam

  LONDON --- A country in the throes of war, America has been battling an ever elusive enemy: radicalism. A force with many names and many masks, this threat appears to have compounded into the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, arguably the world’s fiercest and most immediate enemy. Because of a self-professed affiliation

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Saudi Arabia’s War On Yemen Opened The Floodgates Of Dissent Within It’s Own Borders

Saudi Arabia’s history of aggression toward, and repression of, its own people could be a major element contributing to its impending doom. In the kingdom, it seems, many are finding it easy to identify with the Houthis, who are putting up a strong fight of their own against Al Saud.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A Saudi man looks at an army tank being transported, in the city of Najran, Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, Thursday, April 23, 2015.

RIYADH --- If Saudi Arabia anticipated its military campaign against rebellious Yemen to be swift and painless, little did the kingdom realize that such a decision would open the floodgates of dissent within its own borders. Inspired by the rebellion of the Houthis of Yemen, the Sunni tribes of Najran, a province bordering Yemen in southwestern

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Saudi Arabia Weaponizes Humanitarian Aid In Yemen

Saudi Arabia opened its checkbook in response to a U.N. appeal for funds to cover the most urgent humanitarian aid to Yemen. But that aid would come at a steep price and with more than a few strings attached.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A Yemeni man looks at a World Food Program ship at the port of Aden, Yemen

SANAA, Yemen --- Five months have passed since Saudi Arabia declared war on Yemen, and for all its might, political resolve and military arsenal, the kingdom has yet to bring the poorest nation on the Arabian Peninsula to heel. Its institutions in tatters, its military apparatus reduced to rubbles, and with no economy to speak of, Yemen’s

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ANALYSIS: The House Of Saud: Is It About To Burn Or Just Collapse?

“Perceptions can be very deceiving when it comes to Saudi Arabia, especially since Western media have mostly acted as Al Saud’s personal publicists over the decades,” one analyst tells MintPress. “Reality is about to come crashing in, though.”

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia --- Space studies have established that at the very moment a star stands on the verge of its death, as its core becomes so unstable it starts to self-cannibalize, it begins to expand far beyond its regular size, appearing a giant when it is actually at its weakest and most vulnerable. Stephen Lendman, a veteran political

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Mapping A Geopolitical Future: America’s Adventures In Divvying Up Iraq

“Just like the Arab Spring was exploited to serve imperialistic agendas, this new wave of nationalism we see rise among ethnic groups has been weaponized to serve Tel Aviv’s neocons’ grand hegemonic ambitions,” a political analyst tells MintPress News.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Iraqi Kurdistan Regional President Masoud Barzani, left, walks to West Wing of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 5, 2015, where he is scheduled to meet with Vice President Joe Biden.

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional President Masoud Barzani, left, walks to West Wing of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 5, 2015, where he is scheduled to meet with Vice President Joe Biden. WASHINGTON --- When Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani reaffirmed in an interview with PBS in March that he would continue to push for secession from

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Why The US Is Arming Al-Qaida In Yemen

Whether it’s half-a-billion dollars in “lost” weaponry or arms and materiel sold directly to Saudi Arabia, one thing is clear: The U.S. is playing a major role in the chaos unravelling Yemen.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A man stands guard in a street in Sanaa, Yemen, after an al-Qaida attack. Al-Qaida has spread to operate in every province of the country of more than 25 million.

A man stands guard in a street in Sanaa, Yemen, after an al-Qaida attack.  Al-Qaida has spread to operate in every province of the country of more than 25 million. LONDON --- President Barack Obama told reporters in January that his administration remains intent on addressing terrorism in Yemen by opposing the threat posed by al-Qaida in the

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The New World War No One Is Taking About: The Global Clamor For Oil And Gas

With the world on the brink of another world war over a fire lit in the Middle East, oil and gas — not ideology, religion or even nationalism — are at the very core of the equation of power and greed.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, center meets with lawmakers from Azerbaijan, left row, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 14, 2009 to stabilize the south Caucasus with its vulnerable energy. Turkey is quietly emerging as a global energy hegemon.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, center meets with lawmakers from Azerbaijan, left row, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 14, 2009 to stabilize the south Caucasus with its vulnerable energy.  Turkey is quietly emerging as a global energy hegemon. LONDON --- Russia and the United States’ hegemonic ambitions were laid bare in March 2014 over the

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