Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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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 of…
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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 would…
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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 first…
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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 Services…
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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 if…
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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 the…
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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 as…
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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 to…
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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 to…
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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 place…
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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 what…
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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 which…
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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 it…
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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 ending…
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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 to…
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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 sink…
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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 this…
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US doesn’t care for China’s Muslims: Boycotting the Olympics is about global competition
The diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games may go down in history as the official start of the cold war between the US, a handful of its allies and China. The American strategy, however, of using boycotts to pressure Beijing in the name of ‘human rights,’…
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How Israel’s ‘Facebook Law’ plans to control all Palestinian content online
It is ironic that even former right-wing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had rejected a Knesset (Israeli Parliament) bill which proposed to give the government greater power to control and suppress online content. This was in 2016, and the bill was introduced by Netanyahu’s Likud party rival, Gideon Sa’ar. Some…
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In South Africa as in Palestine: Why we must protect the legacy of Desmond Tutu
Long before intersectionality became a prevailing concept which helped delineate the relationship between various marginalised and oppressed groups, late South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu said it all in a few words and in a most inimitable style. “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human…
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The real ‘Doomsday Scenario’: How Palestinian hunger striker, Abu Hawash, forced Israeli concession
As soon as media reports emerged regarding a deal between Palestinian prisoner, Hisham Abu Hawash and the Israeli prison authorities, Israeli extremists, led by Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir, angrily raided the Assaf Harofeh Hospital where Abu Hawash was being held. A Palestinian political activist, Abu Hawash, 41, is a father…
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Coming this 2022: Refugees, democracy and human rights
Although 2021 is now behind us, there are many issues that will linger for a while, or much longer, and will certainly dominate much of the news in 2022, as well. These are but a few of the issues. NATO-Russian brinkmanship Exasperated with NATO expansion and growing ambitions in the…
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As Israel plots an endgame in occupied Golan, Naftali Bennett should learn from the past
With Syria still embroiled in its own war, Israel has been actively rewriting the rule book regarding its conduct in the neighbouring Arab country. Gone are the days of the potential for the return of the illegally occupied Golan Heights to Syrian sovereignty in exchange for peace, as per the…
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2021 in Palestine: A new generation has finally risen
At the onset, 2021 appeared to be another ordinary year, one of unrelenting Israeli occupation and continued Palestinian misery. While much of that remained true, the dynamics of the Israeli occupation of Palestine were challenged by an unprecedented sense of popular unity among Palestinians, not only in the occupied East…