Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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‘Bread and circuses’: Musk, Zuckerberg and the art of distraction
“Panem et circenses”, said the Romans – Bread and circuses. This maxim served the Romans well. In times of crisis and whenever they needed a distraction from military defeats or political infighting at the highest levels, they simply entertained the masses. Caroline Wazir wrote an article for The Atlantic in 2016,...
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A ‘terrorist onslaught’? This is why Netanyahu, Gallant blame Iran for West Bank violence
Despite their complicated and often uneasy relationship, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, agree on one thing: Iran is behind Israel’s security problem. The socio-economic polarization in Israel, the country’s political and judicial crises, the ongoing settlers’ pogroms in the West Bank, the repeated calls...
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When the torturer is the ‘saviour’, can BRICS and the Global South help us to escape Western hegemony?
At the zenith of the mass protests in Egypt on 25 January 2011, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms based in the West appeared to be the most essential tools for the Egyptian Revolution. Although some observers later contested the descriptions “Twitter Revolution” or “Social Media Revolution”, one...
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Friend or foe? Russia’s West Jerusalem Consulate is very worrying
Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, a global cold war has also kicked in. As a strong ally of Washington and the home of a massive constituency of Russian, Ukrainian and East European Jews, it was only natural that Tel Aviv would be at the heart of the global...
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Is the Western media perception of Africa racist?
Racism goes beyond the use of certain words or discrimination in everyday life. It is also about political perceptions, intellectual depictions and collective relationships. Consider, for example, the way that Africa is currently being portrayed in the news. From a political viewpoint, Africa is seen as a singular entity, but...
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Palestinians welcome China new Middle East role, but it is not mediation they need
It is feasible for China to continue playing an important role in mediating Middle East conflicts. In fact, it already has. In the case of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, however, mediation is hardly the issue. Even before Beijing successfully managed to achieve reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran last...
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The uncomfortable truth about Ain Al-Hilweh, the capital of Palestinian ‘shatat’ and agony
The Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is known as the “capital of Palestinian shatat”. The term might not stir many emotions among those who do not fully understand, let alone experience the harrowing existence of ethnic cleansing and perpetual exile, and the tremendous violence which followed. ‘Shatat’ is...
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Balancing act is over: Israel protests are not about democracy, but ideology
The late Israeli commentator, Uri Avnery, wrote, “I am increasingly worried that the Israeli-Palestinian struggle … is assuming a more and more religious character.” At first glance, the statement may seem baffling. If Israel is a ‘Jewish State’ that serves as a ‘homeland’ for all Jewish people, everywhere, does it...
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Asia’s ‘strategic autonomy’: How the new era could shape our collective identities
In a recent speech, China’s highest-ranking diplomat Wang Yi spoke of a “united Asia” and its need to develop a “strategic autonomy”. In principle, Wang was not wrong; after all, a stable and prosperous Asia would benefit the region’s peoples and deny Western meddlers the chance to exploit historical fault...
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US and Israel: Is the ‘unbreakable bond’ finally breaking?
Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, added nothing of great value in his speech at the United States Congress on 19 July. His was the typical language. He spoke of a ‘sacred bond’, touted the shared experience between both nations as “unique in scope and quality”, and celebrated the great, common “values...
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What does solidarity mean in the new era in Palestine?
It is a new era in Palestine. It is taking shape before our very eyes, through the blood, tears and sacrifices of a brave generation that is fighting on two fronts: against the Israeli military occupation on the one hand, and collaborating Palestinians masquerading as a “leadership” on the...
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The Resistance vs. the Palestinian Authority: Will Abbas lead Palestinians to civil war?
This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not. Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern Occupied West Bank on 12 July demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader. As he...
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Jenin is just the start: Did Palestinians finally bury the ghosts of the past?
The deadly Israeli invasion of Jenin on 3 July was not a surprise. Also, unsurprising is the fact that the killing of 12 Palestinians, wounding of 120 more and the destruction of nearly 80 per cent of the Jenin Refugee Camp’s homes and infrastructure will not make an iota of...
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From ICC to ‘sportswashing’: The West’s self-serving narratives must be combated
In March, the South African Communist Party (SACP) denounced what it described as the “imperialist bias” of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The denunciation of the ICC as a “supranational institution at the service of imperialist states” came two days after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Russian...
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Burning of the Quran and the counter-offensive: Why the West is panicking
Desecrating, then burning the Holy Quran in Sweden has, once again, raised a political storm of condemnation, but also of justification, if not outright approval. Such acts are protected by law, top Swedish and EU officials have declared. But why are the rights of those who oppose western agendas, colonialism, imperialism,...
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Netanyahu’s remarks should prompt a major paradigm shift in occupied Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is known to be against the establishment of a Palestinian state, but now he has made it clear that he wants to go even further. “We need to eliminate aspirations for a state,” he told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee...
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The armed revolt: Why Israel cannot crush the Resistance in Palestine
Numbers can be dehumanising. However, when placed in their proper context, they help to illuminate wider issues and answer urgent questions, such as why is Occupied Palestine at the threshold of a major revolt. And why Israel cannot crush Palestinian resistance no matter how hard, or violently, it tries. That...
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The extraordinary Palestinians of Jenin will not surrender
A large Israeli military force raided the northern Palestinian town and refugee camp of Jenin on 19 June, from multiple directions. Not only did the raid fail, though, but it also backfired. Moreover, it also created a precedent in Israel’s decades-long war on the ever-rebellious Palestinian region. Israel killed eight...
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The beloved ‘Cavaliere’: Berlusconi’s death will not resolve Italy's democracy problem
“Berlusconi is there because others have failed.” These words by Italian columnist Massimo Franco were made to the Washington Post in 2018, shortly before the Italian elections. They sum up the story of Italy’s modern politics. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s adored but also loathed longest-serving prime minister died on 12 June. His party, Forza Italia, is...
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The irony of ‘World Refugee Day’: ‘Celebrating’, then blaming the victims
Fadi, a Syrian teenager, with curly hair and an acne-covered face, has miraculously survived one of the greatest migrant boat disasters in the modern history of the Mediterranean. Only 104 people have been rescued from a boat that carried an estimated 750 refugees after it capsized on 13 June in...
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Permanent Apartheid in Palestine: This is why Israel wants to reactivate E1 Plan
The Israeli government is at it again, actively discussing the construction of thousands of illegal settlement units as part of a massive settlement expansion scheme known as E1. Though Israeli construction in the East Jerusalem area has supposedly been halted under international pressure, the Israeli government has found ways to...
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Neoliberalism, geopolitics and ideology: The taming of Giorgia Meloni
Europe keeps reminding us that geopolitical interests often trump ideology. European politics is the prime example of how states and political parties are willing to ditch their ideological foundations to hold on to power, even if briefly. The unmistakable political shift of attitude by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and...
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China’s criticism of America’s ‘piecemeal crisis management’ in Palestine is based on international law
Remarks on 24 May by China’s Ambassador to the UN on the situation in Occupied Palestine were impeccable in terms of their consistency with international law. Compared with the position of the US, which perceives the UN and the Security Council in particular as a vehicle to defend Israeli...
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A man without a strategy: How Netanyahu is provoking armed Intifada in the West Bank
After signing a military decree on 18 May, allowing illegal Israeli Jewish settlers to reclaim the abandoned Homesh settlement located in the northern Occupied West Bank, the Israeli government has informed the US Biden Administration that it will not turn the area into a new settlement. The latter revelation was...
