Middle East - MintPress News

Biden’s Foreign Policy Team Hints at War with China, Conflict with Russia

An analysis by the Brookings Institute based on interviews with Biden’s foreign policy teams hints at a foreign policy that closely mirrors that of the Pentagon under President Trump.

March 30th, 2020

By Alan Macleod @AlanRMacLeod

Biden’s Foreign Policy Team Hints at War with China, Conflict with Russia

After closely conversing with senior foreign policy experts on Joe Biden’s team, Thomas Wright, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe for the influential think-tank the Brookings Institute, penned an unintentionally hair-raising

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Alan Macleod

Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.

The UK Hasn’t Bombed Iraq or Syria Since Last September. What Gives?

Amid COVID-19, Brexit, and an ongoing economic crisis, the UK appears to be winding down its deadly Middle East bombing campaign. So where to next for the RAF?

March 24th, 2020

By Darius Shahtahmasebi @TVsLeaking

The UK Hasn’t Bombed Iraq or Syria Since Last September. What Gives?

The UK’s involvement in the U.S.-led air war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has slowly and quietly wound down over the last few months. Official figures show that the UK hasn’t dropped a single bomb as part of this campaign since September last

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Darius Shahtahmasebi

Darius Shahtahmasebi is a New Zealand-based legal and political analyst who focuses on US foreign policy in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific region. He is fully qualified as a lawyer in two international jurisdictions.

The Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial: What Illinois Bikers Know That Washington Doesn’t

Andrew Bacevich on the sole memorial for those who have fought in our now almost 18-year-old war on terror — never actually a coherent “war” but a spreading set of conflicts, upheavals, and chaos of every sort.

May 24th, 2019

By Andrew Bacevich

The Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial: What Illinois Bikers Know That Washington Doesn’t

Earlier this month, I spent a day visiting Marseilles to videotape a documentary about recent American military history, specifically the ongoing wars that most of us prefer not to think about. Lest there be any confusion, let me be more specific. I am not referring to Marseilles (mar-SAY), France, that nation’s largest port and second largest

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Hezbollah Becomes Theresa May’s Latest Scapegoat In her Battle for Political Survival

Hezbollah is a popular political, military and social movement that wields considerable power in Lebanon. Its presence in defense of Lebanese sovereignty against Israeli aggression has earned it respect and support across Arab countries even if neo-colonial monarchies such as Saudi Arabia — another British creation — have teamed up with Israel to crush it.

February 27th, 2019

By Iqbal Jassat @ijassat

Hezbollah Becomes Theresa May’s Latest Scapegoat In her Battle for Political Survival

Having lost considerable influence in Europe and other parts of the world over the chaotic Brexit process, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking to gain leverage by boxing-in Hezbollah. British politics under the Conservative government not only appears to have lost the plot, but many may not be faulted if they also ask whether May has

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Iqbal Jassat

Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of Media Review Network in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A Major Regional Reset: The Syria Outcome Will Haunt Those Who Started This War

The US and their Gulf Countries and scrambling to salvage what’s left of their diplomatic clout following their failed venture in Syria.

January 14th, 2019

By Alastair Crooke

A Major Regional Reset: The Syria Outcome Will Haunt Those Who Started This War

The Middle East is metamorphosing. New fault lines are emerging, yet Trump’s foreign policy ‘hawks’ are still trying to stage ‘old movies’ in a new ‘theatre’. The ‘old movie’ is for the US to ‘stand up’ Sunni, Arab states, and lead them towards confronting ‘bad actor’ Iran. ‘Team Bolton’ is reverting back to the old 1996

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

Mike Pompeo Touts US Goodness and Threatens More of It

Pompeo’s speech seems to have been a not-so-subtle means of putting the entire Mideast region and world on notice that the U.S. is poised to initiate a new era of military intervention in the Middle East in order to “liberate” nations that continue to resist U.S. influence and regional hegemony.

January 11th, 2019

By Whitney Webb Whitney Webb @_whitneywebb

Mike Pompeo Touts US Goodness and Threatens More of It

CAIRO -- During a speech given Thursday at Cairo’s American University, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered remarks that some analysts have likened to a mix of evangelism and historical revisionism regarding the U.S.’ historical role in Middle Eastern and Northern African affairs.

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Whitney Webb

Whitney Webb is a writer and researcher for The Last American Vagabond and a MintPress News contributor and former staff writer. She has contributed to several independent media outlets and her work has been featured by The Real News Network, The Ron Paul Institute, The Zero Hour, and The Jimmy Dore Show, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.

The Arab World Flounders in the Face of the Coronavirus Crisis

Arab countries remain unable or unwilling to formulate a collective strategy to help their poorest and most vulnerable survive coronavirus.