“American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela’s economy and thereby lead to regime change. It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people.” — Columbia University economist and United Nations advisor Jeffrey Sachs
“Most of the Arab regimes in question are corrupt, extremely repressive and beholden to imperialism, and have no great political differences with Israel.” — Lebanese-American writer Joyce Chediac Wilcox
UNITED NATIONS -- As the Trump administration renews its push for a formal military alliance between the United States and its Arab allies to target Iran, several members of the emerging bloc have joined an unprecedented drive to normalize their relations with Israel. The timing, regional observers told MintPress News this week, is no
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, normally reserved in their criticism of Israel, have accused the occupying state of “war crimes.” Some hope the sheer scale of Israeli fire against unarmed civilians, along with the copious documentation of it, will prod the ICC to action.
THE HAGUE -- As the Great March of Return by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip nears its eighth month, legal organizations in the besieged Palestinian enclave have called for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israel over its forces’ repeated fire against unarmed protesters. By the end of the 30th weekly mobilization last Friday, over
“The Israeli military relies on a network of international companies, supplying everything from sniper rifles to tear gas, to carry out its massacres of protesters in Gaza. These companies are knowingly supporting war crimes, and are complicit in state-orchestrated murder.” — Tom Anderson, researcher for Corporate Occupation
NEW YORK — As Israeli soldiers gun down unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the Great March of Return, their lethal operations depend on an array of contractors and suppliers, many of them companies based outside Israel. “The Israeli military relies on a network of international companies, supplying everything from sniper rifles to tear gas, to
“The economic and social situation in Gaza has been declining for over a decade but has deteriorated exponentially in recent months and has reached a critical point.” — Marina Wes, World Bank Country Director for Gaza and the West Bank
UNITED NATIONS — As the Great March of Return roared past its half-year anniversary last Friday, it also seemed to reach levels of resistance and repression not seen in months. The escalation aims to “put more pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities, hoping they meet the protesters' demands -- lifting the siege and recognizing the right
Longstanding rivalries between Gulf powers are pushing the Palestinian Authority to tighten Israel’s closure of the Gaza Strip, even as Egypt takes unexpected steps to ease it. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas movement is seeking reconciliation with a faction of Fatah, its longstanding rival.
UNITED NATIONS -- Over a thousand miles from the heart of a tense diplomatic impasse between Qatar and its regional rivals, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a lesser known but closely related situation is developing in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. On June 18, 13 days after Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with Bahrain, Egypt, the
U.S. forces have teamed up with the Philippines’ military to combat terrorist groups in the country, ostensibly to bring about peace. But numerous human rights violations have sprung up in their wake and some believe that the U.S.’ ultimate goal may be to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.
MARAWI-- As United States special forces near their third week in Marawi, a city on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, observers say their participation in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ battle to
