Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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Israel is struggling to maintain a coherent position on Russia and Ukraine
Israel has struggled for a whole year to articulate a clear and decisive position regarding the Russia-Ukraine war. The reason behind the seemingly confused Israeli position is that it stands to lose, regardless of the outcome. But is Israel a neutral party? It is home to almost one million Russian-speaking…
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A month’s notice: Why Burkina Faso ordered French troops out of the country
Though it was clear that Burkina Faso was eventually going to follow in the footsteps of Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR), Ouagadougou’s decision to break military ties with France was not as simple as media sound bites want us to believe. The conventional wisdom is that these countries…
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Failed experiment: Three reasons why Israel fears a major war on Gaza
Though Israel’s past wars on Gaza have often been justified by Tel Aviv as a response to Palestinian rockets or, generally, as acts of self-defence, the truth is different. Historically, Israel’s relationship with Gaza has been defined by Tel Aviv’s need to create distractions from its own fractious politics, to…
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Palestine is my cause: Arabs reaffirm support for Palestinians, rejection of the Occupation
The latest Arab Opinion Index 2022 is yet more proof that Arab societies are diverse in every possible way, from their assessment of their economic situation and living conditions to their take on immigration, state institutions and democracy. With one single exception: Palestine. 76 per cent of all respondents to…
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Israel is a state for only some of its citizens, as the saga of the captive Black soldier highlights
The words uttered in Hebrew by a person believed to be Avera Mengistu, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin who was captured and held in Gaza in 2014, are telling. “For how long will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people of…
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A State for some of its citizens: Captured black soldier’s saga highlights racism in Israel
“For how long will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people of Israel?” These were the words, uttered in Hebrew, of a person believed to be Avera Mengistu, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin, who was captured and held in Gaza in…
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Strong militaries, weak society: The missing story in the Global Firepower ranking
The Global Firepower (GFP) ranking was published on 6 January. The annual report classifies the world’s strongest militaries based on over 60 factors, including size, spending and technological advancements. The report, which placed the United States military on top, followed by Russia, China, India and the UK, raised more questions…
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It has always been a ‘Religious War’: On Ben-Gvir and the adaptability of Zionism
In a self-congratulatory article published in the Atlantic in 2017, Yossi Klein Halevi describes Israeli behaviour at the just-conquered holy Muslim shrines in Occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 as “an astonishing moment of religious restraint”. “The Jewish people had just returned to its holiest site, from which it had been…
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What will happen after the ICJ delegitimises Israel’s occupation of Palestine?
Once more, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to offer a legal opinion on the consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. A historic UN vote on 31 December called on the ICJ to look at the occupation in terms of legal consequences, the rights of the Palestinian people…
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Giuseppe Trani and the ‘human condition’ suggest positive vibes for 2023
When the newsstand of Giuseppe Trani was swept away by disastrous flooding that devastated the southern Italian town of Casamicciola at the end of November, the 70-year-old man lost everything. Not for long, though, as the townsfolk, who were also affected by the flooding and landslides experienced throughout the whole…
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Israel was never a democracy, so why is the West lamenting the end of a ‘liberal’ state?
Even before the new Israeli coalition government was officially sworn in last week, angry reactions emerged, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s allies in the West. As early as 2 November, top US officials told Axios that the administration of US President Joe…
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Culture of hope: 2022 and the margins of victory in Palestine
Another critical year for Palestine has folded. While 2022 has wrought much of the same in terms of Israeli military occupation and increasing violence, it also introduced new variables to the Palestinian struggle – nationally, regionally and internationally. Palestine, the War and the Arabs The Russia-Ukraine War starting in February…
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The price of betraying Palestine: Moroccans challenge normalisation with Israel
Two years ago, Morocco and Israel signed the US-brokered “Joint Declaration”, thus officially recognising Israel and instating diplomatic ties. Though other Arab countries had already done the same, the Moroccan official recognition of Apartheid Israel was particularly devastating for Palestinians. Years ago, a close Moroccan friend told me that the…
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On football, opium and popular resistance: Not all sports are created equal
My friend is not an elitist. To the contrary, he has spent decades of his life fighting social inequality, racism and championing the rights of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, I was taken aback when he surmised that “football is the opium of the people”. The reference, which summons a famous Marxist…
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The Lions’ Den is not a fleeting phenomenon – an armed uprising looms
Just when Israel, and even some Palestinians, have started to talk about the Lions’ Den phenomenon in the past tense, a large number of fighters belonging to the newly-formed Palestinian group marched through Nablus in the occupied West Bank last week. Unlike the group’s first appearance on 2 September, the…
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The Nakba Day triumph: How the UN is correcting a historical wrong
The next Nakba Day will be officially commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 May, 2023. The decision by the world’s largest democratic institution is significant, if not a game changer. For nearly 75 years, the Palestinian Nakba, the ‘Catastrophe’ wrought by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by…
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Xi’s visit and the future of the Middle East: What does China want from the Arabs?
The problem with most Western media’s political analyses is that they generally tend to be short-sighted and focused mostly on variables that are of direct interest to Western governments. These types of analyses are now being applied to understanding official Arab attitudes towards Russia, China, global politics and conflicts. As…
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On ‘hate’ and love at the World Cup: Palestine is more than an Arab cause
We were mistaken to think that Palestine represents the central issue for all Arabs. Such language suggests that Palestine is an external subject, to be compared to other collective struggles that consume most Arabs, everywhere. The ongoing celebration of Palestine and the Palestinian flag at the Qatar World Cup 2022…
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‘Deliberate ambiguity’: Israel’s nuclear weapons are greatest threat to Middle East
As western countries are floating the theory that Russia could escalate its conflict with Ukraine to a nuclear war, many western governments continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s own nuclear weapons capabilities. Luckily, many countries around the world do not subscribe to this endemic western hypocrisy. ‘The Conference…
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Xi vs. Trudeau: How China is rewriting history with the colonial West
Though brief, the exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on 16 November has become a social media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange…
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Symbolic but significant, the decision to investigate Abu Akleh’s murder is unprecedented
The recent decision by the US Department of Justice to open an investigation into the killing in May of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is not a game-changer, but it is important and worthy of reflection, nonetheless. Based on the long trajectory of US military and political support for…
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Liberating Africa from poverty requires changing power relations with the West
Soon after arriving in Oslo, my taxi zigzagged through the city’s well-organised streets and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Large billboards advertised the world’s leading brands in fashion, cars and perfumes. Amid all the expressions of wealth and plenty, an electronic sign by a bus stop flashed the images of poor looking African…
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Palestinians are Native Americans, not ‘Red Indians’: it’s time to liberate our language
At a recent conference in Istanbul that brought many Palestinian scholars and activists together to discuss the search for a common narrative, a member of the audience declared at the end of a brief, but fiery intervention, “We are not Red Indians”. The reference was a relatively old one. It…
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If Lula’s victory in Brazil is to mean anything, the Palestinians need a unified foreign policy
Palestinians and their supporters are justified in celebrating the victory of the leftist candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in the runoff for Brazil’s presidential election on 30 October. However, Lula’s victory is incomplete and could ultimately prove ineffectual if not followed by a concrete and centralised Palestinian strategy. Lula…