Egypt’s Gas Curse
“Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!” So said the former...
Tag: Paul Iddon
Should the West Have Intervened in Syria? The Syrian Refugee Crisis
It hasn't been uncommon for quite some time now to see destitute and dirty Syrian children sleeping rough on the streets of Istanbul these days. Like millions of their counterparts they have been...
Breaking Up Syria and Iraq: The Islamic State
When the Islamic State (ISIS) group symbolically dismantled the Skyes-Picot border which had long separated the modern states of Iraq and Syria in the middle of 2014, following its takeover of large...
Kurdish Separatists? The Fight For Kurdish Equality in the Middle East
Since the two-and-a-half-year-old truce between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group broke down in recent weeks one often sees and hears the term “Kurdish separatists” or...
The Emerging Authoritarian Bargain in Egypt
Arab and Middle Eastern dictatorships are infamous for their cruelty, repression and violence. But these aren't the only things responsible for the longevity of tyrants like the Assad's of Syria,...
In the Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal, The Hawks Shore-Up Their Bases
In the early 1970's Ariel Sharon won on a political platform advocating a comprehensive settlement to the Palestinian issue. He reasoned that as a hawk he was the one to deliver peace since he could...
The Morbidly Fascinating Cruelty of ISIS
“Human beings the world over exhibit morbid fascination with violence, with cruelty. Could this kind of voyeurism be necessary for remembrance? People seem to want to know that it actually happened...
Where is Erdogan’s Turkey going?
The recent general election in Turkey proved to be a major setback for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plans to use his party's parliamentary majority to, via constitutional referendum, establish a...
Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Minority Communities in Syria’s War
Four-years of unrelenting war has really taken its toll on Syria. To say that the worst of both worlds has emerged from this horrible mess would be an understatement. On the one hand we have the now...
Battered Palestine: From Gaza to Yarmouk
Two news headlines relating to recent events in two Palestinian enclaves reminded one of the new realities gradually taking place in those enclaves. Let us start with the Gaza Strip. Since 2007 it...