Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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Bennett has to tread carefully or the ‘Sword of Jerusalem’ could be unleashed again
Ever since 15 April, the Israeli occupation army and police have raided Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on a daily basis. Under the pretence of providing protection for provocative “visits” by thousands of illegal Israeli Jewish settlers and right-wing fanatics, the occupation army has wounded hundreds of Palestinians, including...
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Palestine needs immediate attention to stave off a major food crisis
A young journalist friend of mine in Gaza, Mohammed Rafik Mhawesh, told me that food prices in the besieged territory have rocketed in recent weeks. Already impoverished families are struggling to put food on the table. “Food prices are surging dramatically,” he explained, “particularly since the beginning of the...
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With a multipolar world order in sight, is this the end of US hegemony?
The meeting between Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the eastern Chinese city of Huangshan on 30 March is likely to go down in history as decisive in the relations between the two Asian giants. It was not only important due to its...
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Palestine’s widening geography of resistance: Why Israel cannot defeat the Palestinians
There is a reason why Israel is insistent on linking the series of attacks carried out by Palestinians recently to a specific location, namely the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. By doing so, the embattled Naftali Bennett’s government can simply order another deadly military operation in...
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Can Israel exist without America? The facts suggest a changing reality
When Russian and Ukrainian delegations meeting in Turkey on 29 March reached an initial understanding regarding a list of countries that could serve as security guarantors for Kyiv should an agreement be struck, Israel was one of those mentioned. The other countries included the US, Britain, China, Russia, France,...
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Is Europe really more civilised? Ukraine conflict a platform for racism and rewriting history
When a gruesome six-minute video of Ukrainian soldiers shooting and torturing handcuffed and tied-up Russian soldiers circulated online, outraged people on social media and elsewhere compared this barbaric behaviour to that of Daesh. In a rare admission of moral responsibility, Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, quickly...
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From Korea to Libya: on the future of Ukraine and NATO’s never-ending wars
Much has been said and written about media bias and double standards in the West’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war, when compared with other wars and military conflicts across the world, especially in the Middle East and the Global South. Less obvious is how such hypocrisy is a reflection...
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Gaza’s next crisis might be worse than anything we have ever seen
“The water is back,” one family member would announce in a mix of excitement and panic, often very late at night. The moment such an announcement was made, my whole family would run to fill every tank, container or bottle that they could find. Quite often, the water supply...
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Time is ticking: Israel’s balancing act in Ukraine is likely to backfire
Israel’s balancing act in the Russia-Ukraine war is likely to falter soon, simply because the resulting NATO-Russia conflict is expected to last for years, not weeks or months. Eventually, Israel would have to make a choice. Alas, whatever that choice may be, Israel will stand to lose. From the...
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The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine
“We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This text was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web...
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In the new Great Game, can Venezuela negotiate an end to deadly US sanctions?
The tables have turned. A high-level US delegation visited Venezuela on 5 March, hoping to repair economic ties with Caracas. One of the world’s poorest countries, in part due to US-Western sanctions, Venezuela is, for once, in the driving seat and capable of alleviating an impending US energy crisis...
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Weathering the global storm: Why neutrality is not an option for Palestinians
A new global geopolitical game is in formation, and the Middle East, as is often the case, will be directly impacted by it in terms of possible new alliances and resulting power paradigms. While it is too early to fully appreciate the impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on...
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Sport and politics do mix, as FIFA’s hypocrisy demonstrates
Israel’s war on Palestinian sport is as old as the settler-colonial state itself. Sport is a critical aspect of popular Palestinian culture, and since culture itself is a target for the decades-old Israeli attack on Palestinian life in all of its manifestations, sport and athletes have been targeted purposely...
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As ‘La Françafrique’ comes to an End, Russia is ready to replace France in West Africa
Finally, France will be leaving Mali, nearly a decade after the original military intervention in 2013. The repercussions of this decision will hardly be confined to this West African nation, but will likely spread to the entirety of the Sahel Region; in fact, the whole of Africa. France’s decision...
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Why Israel is no longer the exception to international norms
Can Israel be pressured? Or is it the only exception to international norms and the global political order in which every country, big or small, is subjected to pressures and subsequent changes in attitude and behaviour? Events in recent days bring the question of Israel’s legal and moral accountability...
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The next step in Palestine's anti-Apartheid struggle is the most difficult
When Nelson Mandela was freed from his Robben Island prison on February 11, 1991, my family, friends and neighbours followed the event with keen interest as they gathered in the living room of my old home in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. This emotional event took...
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Biden’s real challenge is not Russia or China, but poverty in America
Mainstream US media continues to celebrate the supposed strength of the US economy. Almost daily, headlines speak of hopeful numbers, sustainable growth, positive trends and constant gains. The reality on the ground, however, tells of something entirely different, which raises the questions: Are Americans being lied to? And for...
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Africa must not abandon Palestine by granting Israel AU observer status
The current split in the African Union (AU) over Israel’s observer status within the organisation is emblematic of a larger conflict that has the potential to split the continent’s largest political institutions. Africa is currently facing one of its most crucial decisions regarding Palestine and Israel, the repercussions of...
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From Tantura to the Naqab, Israel’s roll call of shame is being exposed
A succession of events in recent weeks all point to the inescapable fact that nearly 75 years of Israel’s painstaking efforts to hide the truth about its origins and its racist apartheid regime are failing miserably. The world is finally waking up, and Israel is losing ground quicker than...
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Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua: The US-Russia conflict enters a new phase
As soon as Moscow received an American response to its security demands in Ukraine, it answered indirectly by announcing greater military integration between it and three South American countries, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. Washington’s response, on 26 January, to Russia’s demands of withdrawing NATO forces from Eastern Europe and...
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Instead of freeing Palestinian prisoners, new scheme aims at punishing their families
A scheme is under way to withhold or to reduce payments made by the Palestinian Authority to the families of Palestinian prisoners. According to Israeli media, the Biden Administration has requested that the PA entirely overhauls its support system of Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinian leadership had already expressed willingness...
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The Russians are coming: Are Beijing and Moscow at the cusp of a formal alliance?
It should matter little to the Chinese that American diplomats and a handful of their western allies will not be attending the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. What truly matters is that the Russians are coming. The above is not an arbitrary statement. It is supported with facts. According...
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Morality cannot be divided: How Netanyahu’s corruption has exposed Israel’s ‘democracy’
Former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his prosecutors are reportedly finalising the details of a plea deal that would practically water down, shelve, or drop altogether all three major corruption cases that have led to his high-profile trial in May 2020. If such news actualises, Israel would officially...
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Israel's Hasbara in Sheikh Jarrah: On Gilad Erdan's 'Terrorist' Rock and Faulty Logic
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, is leading his country’s anti-Palestinian propaganda, this time engaging in pre-emptive hasbara in anticipation of a Palestinian response to the ongoing evictions in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. “Would you consider it a terror attack if a rock like...
