Middle East

Photo: Mosques affiliated to Wahabis are fast becoming popular among youth in Kashmir. Source: India Today.

Saudi-Iranian Rivalry and Turkish Ambitions Meet in Kashmir

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Thought that sectarianism was a pillar of Saudi-Iranian rivalry? Think again, think Kashmir where the two countries’ geopolitical rivalry and Turkish ambitions cross sectarian lines.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 31 July 2019

UAE and Russia Eye Geopolitical and Commercial Mileage in Climate Change

By James M. Dorsey*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Climate change, much like war, could prove to be a geopolitical and commercial gold mine. At least, that is the take of DP World, Dubai’s global port operator, and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

DP World is partnering with the fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to create an all-year round maritime sea route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Middle East; 24 July 2019

Photo: This three-year-old girl had been twice displaced with her family in the West Bank over the past year. Credit: UNRWA/Lara Jonasdottir.

UN Condemns Israeli Destruction of Palestinian Homes

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – Calling it “not compatible with Israel’s “obligations under international humanitarian law”, the United Nations has condemned Israel's demolition July 22 of 70 homes in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s Supreme Court has reportedly ruled that the houses in the Palestinian community of Sur Bahir were built too close to the separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, violating a construction ban.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 23 July 2019

Photo: The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on 20 July 2015 a resolution establishing a monitoring system for Iran’s nuclear programme and considering the “eventual removal” of all nuclear-related sanctions against the country. President Trump told the White House press corps on May 11, 2018 that the Deal was defective at Its core. A new one would require real commitments. Credit: UN Photo.

Iran at the Edge of a Cliff as the Bomb Question Hangs Fire

Trump Scrapped Security Council Endorsed Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – There’s never been a full-scale war between two nuclear-armed states. If Iran one day did cross the nuclear threshold the same deterrence will apply. No one rational would want to provoke their own incineration. Columbia university professor, Kenneth Waltz, the distinguished theorist on the conduct of war, wrote in Foreign Affairs that with Israel possessing over 200 nuclear weapons (which the U.S. refuses to publicly admit) Iran having a bomb would bring stability.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 23 July 2019

Photo: Moroccan Male Youth. Credit: hiveminer.com

Reintegrating Moroccan Male in National and Global Interest

Viewpoint by Caleb Tisdale*

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Attracting young people to radical, extremist ideas is not hard. Just ask the ISIS recruiters behind one of the most effective propaganda presences in the world. Extremist groups are so effective at recruitment because the target audience is easily identified and appealed to: those who are at the margins of society. Radical ideologies offer an alternative to social and economic conditions – high unemployment, lack of purpose, social displacement – that have left them vulnerable.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 18 July 2019

Photo: Sword of Damocles, 1812, oil on canvas. Richard Westall. Ackland Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Public domain). Source: The Times of Israel.

Damocles' Sword Hanging Over Netanyahu and Netanyahu's Over Palestine

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – A sword of Damocles hangs over the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The sword of Netanyahu hangs over Palestine – and Israel. Which will fall first?

A court case approaches. A new election in September approaches. Netanyahu is being accused of a serious crime of corruption. He is fighting not just for his political beliefs but also for his own self-interest. If he wins the election he could seek immunity from prosecution.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 July 2019

Photo: The Chinese-backed Baloch port city of Gwadar – with seashores on both sides – on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, one of the four provinces of Pakistan, which has witnessed multiple attacks on its Hazara Shiite minority as well as in May on a highly secured luxury hotel frequented by Chinese nationals in Gwadar. CC BY-SA 4.0

Many More Than Just Maritime Powder Kegs in the Gulf

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

SINGAPORE (IDN) – A recent interview in which Baloch National Movement chairman Khalil Baloch legitimised recent militant attacks on Iranian, Chinese and Pakistani targets is remarkable less for what he said and more for the fact that his remarks were published by a Saudi newspaper.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 14 July 2019

Photo: UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis and the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Claudio Cordone meeting with Palestine refugees in Mieh Mieh refugee camp, Lebanon. 2019 UNRWA Photo by Ahmad Mahmoud

Palestinians Reject The 50 Billion Dollar ‘Deal of The Century’

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – A workshop entitled ‘Peace for Prosperity’ to introduce the United States President Donald Trump’s Peace Plan (also known as the ‘Deal of the Century’) for the Palestinians, was held in Bahrain on June 25-26 – hosted by Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.

According to Kushner, the deal includes: $50 billion in economic aid; extensive infrastructure investment; double the Palestinians' GDP; create over a million jobs; lower unemployment to single digits; and reduce the poverty rate by half – over the next decade.

: Somar Wijayadasa; THE WORLD; Middle East; 03 July 2019

Photo: The Bangladeshi migrants were part of a 75-strong group stuck onboard a tugboat for weeks before being taken to Tunisia. Photograph: Courtesy of Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux. Source: The Guardian.

Tunisia Forces Bangladeshi Migrants to Return Home

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

New York (IDN) – A shipload of desperate Bangladeshi migrants was told to turn the boat around and go home by Tunisian officials or be deprived of food, water and medicines. The migrants, trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks, were sent back to their home country against their will, according to relatives.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental organization linked to the United Nations, said the Bangladeshis “wished to return home”.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 June 2019

Photo: Palestinian boys raise their hands during one of the first classes of the new academic year, at a school in Gaza supported by UNRWA. UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan

UN Calls for Bridging Palestinian Refugee Agency's Funding Shortfall

By Jaya Ramachandan

NEW YORK (IDN) – UNRWA, officially the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, faces a "serious funding shortfall", the General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés has warned. The agency is $211 million short of the $1.2 billion needed to deliver its aid programmes.

She was speaking at the opening of the 2019 pledging conference for UNRWA on June 25, alongside Secretary-General António Guterres, and the agency’s Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl.