In 2013, American and British public opinion said “hell no” to plans to bomb (and surely regime change) Syria, taking the momentum out of the march to war. This marked a peak in post-Iraq war-weariness. But then in August 2014, many hearts were touched by the plight of a group of Yazidis trapped on a…
When someone mentions the word “Lemon”, I immediately think “fresh, clean and pure”. There is simply something about lemons that evokes an overall feeling of wellness and goodness. This might come from my memories of being given a lemon to hold and to smell when I suffered the occasional childhood illness. Using lemons for health…
You all remember former US Secretary of State Condi Rice’s notorious 2006 prediction about “birth pangs of a New Middle East.” True to the George “Dubya” Bush/Cheney regime, Condi got it all spectacularly wrong, not only about Lebanon and Israel but also Iraq, Syria and the House of Saud. The Obama administration duly maintained a…
“The serious exchange of missile fire between Israel and Syria early Friday morning reflects the Assad regime’s attempts to change the unofficial rules of the game.” So begins a column published in Israel’s Haaretz. The newspaper is of course referring to the Israeli jets that “breached Syrian air space early in the morning and attacked a…
Contemporary Egypt is the subject of sharp discord between Arabian monarchies. Some try to influence it; others try to bring down its economy or the ruling regime. In addition to Egypt, they fight each other over influence in Syria, Libya and Yemen. For the past ten years, Egypt is the key country in the Arab…
The Pentagon spokesperson insisted that the U.S. airstrike in the rebel-held village of Al-Jina in northern Syria on Thursday night did not hit a mosque. “The area was extensively surveilled prior to the strike in order to minimize civilian casualties,” Navy Captain Jeff Davis wrote in an email. “We deliberately did not target the mosque.” He…
