Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ahmed Mansour
-
Australia and Israel: Birds of a colonial feather and how ABC just spent $2 Million to prove It
When award-winning journalist Antoinette Lattouf won her unfair dismissal case against the ABC, it wasn’t just a personal victory. It was a piercing indictment of the national broadcaster’s complicity in policing speech on Palestine. It was also $2 million wake-up call for the Australian public, whose taxpayer money was...
-
China’s energy security and ambiguity in the Middle East crisis
The 12-day war between Israel and Iran once again exacerbated the geopolitical fault lines of the Middle East security dilemma. Israel’s unprovoked and illegal offensive against Iran for its alleged attempts at nuclear enrichment heightened the tensions in the region. Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles on Israel. The United...
-
Nukes or be bombed: How US and Israeli strikes on Iran legitimised nuclear weapons
In mid-June 2025, tensions in the Middle East took a sharp and dangerous turn. On 13 June, Israel launched a targeted airstrike inside Iranian territory. Just days later, On 21–22 June, the United States joined in—striking Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The justification was predictable:...
-
Diplomacy as deception: The West’s war on Iran was pre-planned
As bombs rain down on Iranian cities and missiles arc across the skies of the Middle East, we must speak plainly: this is not merely a war between Israel and Iran. It is a war against sovereignty, waged by an Israeli-Western coalition that has long sought to dismantle any...
-
The Gaza precedent: Criminalising humanitarian aid
On 6 May, 55 iNGOs sounded the alarm by releasing a letter calling for urgent action from the international community against Israel’s new registration rules for humanitarian organisations. These measures, introduced in March 2025 and set to take effect within six months, require all currently registered NGOs in the...
-
No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Amal Al-Merhi’s twin ten-month-old daughters often go without milk or diapers. She feeds them a mix of cornstarch and water, because milk is too expensive. Instead of diapers, Amal ties plastic bags around her babies’ waists. The effects of their poverty is clear, she said. “If you see one...
-
A case for a Saudi-US deal, minus the normalisation
On the eve of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to the Gulf next week, one of the most hotly debated questions is the fate of the Saudi-Israel normalisation deal under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Trump himself fuelled speculation on Tuesday, teasing a “very, very big” announcement before his...
-
If Einstein spoke out today, he would be accused of anti-Semitism
In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (AFFFI), condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community. “When...
-
Mahmoud Khalil’s detention: A chilling signal in the crackdown on Palestinian solidarity
The largest case in public discourse today revolves around Columbia University, where 22 students — including Mahmoud Khalil — have faced suspensions, diploma revocations, or even deportation. The crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism has escalated sharply since US President Donald Trump came to power in January, but Khalil’s case signals...
-
Education is at risk in the West Bank from Israel’s military operation and funding cuts
Every day, Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank run the gauntlet of Israeli roadblocks, checkpoints and settler attacks on their way to school. Since the launch of Israel’s major military operation in the West Bank in January, though, the trip has become even more perilous. Thousands of troops...
-
The death of the American dream after Trump axes refugee funds
Ali landed in the United States as a relieved refugee from Iraq just as Donald Trump moved back into the White House. His timing wasn’t good. “When I came to America, they assured me… they’ll help me financially, provide a place and food,” said Ali by telephone. “But when...
-
Children in Gaza defy trauma to return to school
Children have returned to school in Gaza, taking classes in tents or in the rubble of schools where families sheltered during the war, but trauma, aid blockades and the threat of more fighting could derail their drive to learn. At least 14,500 children have been killed in the war...
-
Sudan’s refugees face deadly game of ‘snakes and ladders’ in Libya
The mayday relay came in from Eagle 3, a surveillance aircraft for the EU’s Frontex border agency – a rubber boat crammed with 70 people was taking on water off the coast of Libya. Humanity 1, a rescue ship operated by the German NGO SOS Humanity, rushed to the...
-
Manufacturing consent: How youth are used to push normalization at diplomatic events
Diplomatic events present themselves as platforms for open dialogue, where youth voices are elevated to shape the future of conflict resolution. Youth involvement has gained traction in international and diplomatic channels, particularly following the publication of the UN Secretary General’s “Our Common Agenda” policy brief. This agenda has called...
-
The Arab Summit’s Gaza plan is a step forward, but the road ahead is long
The emergency Arab Summit on Gaza reconstruction held in Cairo yesterday was a rare moment of unity in the region. The summit was convened in response to the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in order to answer the question of the “day after” the bombs stop falling on Gaza....
-
Ocalan’s call for peace and the regional variable in favour of Turkiye
The Kurdish issue is viewed as a thorny and multi-dimensional issue, as it includes conflicts extending across four countries: Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Syria. In all of these countries, the Kurds are striving to fulfil their right to self-determination by establishing an independent state. Shortly after the change of...
-
Clearing the air: Can nuclear energy solve South Asia’s smog crisis?
For several years now, the provinces of Pakistani and Indian Punjab have been engulfed in a thick, suffocating smog each winter. Air pollution has escalated to alarming levels, choking the lives of urban inhabitants and rural communities alike. With each passing season, the vibrant pulse of daily life grinds...
-
Arab leaders must embrace multipolarity to counter Trump’s Gaza plan
In the aftermath of Trump’s ludicrous Gaza plan, which has now been watered down, Arab leaders have been scrambling to present a counterproposal — one that doesn’t spell disaster for them, unlike Trump’s brazen scheme to have the US “take over” Gaza while forcing millions of Palestinians into exile...
-
The crucial role of the Palestinian people in resisting displacement
For 77 years since the Nakba, the Palestinian people have played a leading role in confronting various attempts aimed at erasing their cause and resolving the conflict by bypassing their rights. These attempts have included displacement projects, alternative homelands, resettlement schemes and the annulment of the right of return....
-
World’s longest-serving prisoner freed after 44 years in Israeli prisons
After 44 years in Israeli prisons, the world’s longest-serving political prisoner was freed on Thursday as part of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement. Nael Barghouti’s time in prison saw him become one of the most prominent figures in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. His release marks a pivotal...
-
Between resilience and ruin: Lebanon’s sectarian divide and the path to survival
The funeral procession of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, and the head of its Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, drew hundreds of thousands of mourners from across Lebanon and the world yesterday. Representing various sects, the crowd arguably stood as a powerful symbol of national unity. The huge scale of the...
-
Hedging, Wedging, and Returning to Caution: China’s Tactical Dance between Alliances and Rivals in the Middle East
“Hide your strength; bide your time.” For over two decades, starting in 1992, this famous quote attributed to Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s reform movement, served as a sacred verse, guiding China in shaping its Middle East policy. This phrase encapsulated China’s masterclass approach of “Strategic Ambiguity” and...
-
How Taliban-led Afghanistan fits into Saudi Arabia’s reform agenda
In December 2024, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of its diplomatic mission in Kabul. The development came about three years after Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Kabul after the Afghan Taliban took over in 2021. This demonstrates a change in Saudi Arabia’s policy and willingness...
-
Washington is undermining international justice
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has long been a source of controversy in political circles, especially among the major powers which fear that their leaders or armed forces will be indicted on war crimes charges. To the Israeli occupation state, the court represents a potential threat due to its...