Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Zaakir Ahmed Mayet
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When will the UN ask the USA and UK to pay reparations for their illegal invasion of Iraq?
Iraq paid a total of $52.4 billion in war reparations that it owed for Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was compelled to make this payment when the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 687 in April 1991 finding that “Iraq is liable under international law for any...
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Will stoking Islamophobia help reverse France’s international decline?
We are living in a period of international tumult. A war on European soil, a global pandemic and increasing climate change alarm converge to destabilise the international political balance. In the midst of this, France’s status as an international power is feeling increasingly insecure. Indeed, in the last decade...
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Stop them … before they burn the whole region down
World leaders gather, these days, at the 77th session of the UNGA, and the main address for all speakers, from presidents and representatives of states, is international peace and security. The UN has achieved this in many places around the world, but failed to achieve in others, and perhaps...
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Egypt’s government-owned companies have shady employment policies
Illegal labour supply companies — employment agencies — in Egypt have reappeared, this time operating through companies that are wholly or partially owned by the government. Some of these are privately owned entities that have contracts to supply workers to companies using contracts that deny employees any remuneration or...
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Endless disregard of the non-intervention principle by the United States
Non-intervention principle in international law Article 2.7 of the United Nations (UN) Charter provides that “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state …” In 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted Declaration...
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A French Court’s Bizarre Verdict Roils Southeast Asian Waters
The recent decision by a French court to award the supposed heirs of the Sultan of Sulu a ludicrous sum of money in an arcane case stemming from long-disappeared colonial entities might well be considered a new form of neo-colonialism, or perhaps just a way of making national courts...
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Biden’s visit puts US interests and Israel ahead of legitimate Palestinians rights and regional security
US President Joe Biden is visiting the Middle East in the next few days. He will meet the Zionist leadership in occupied Palestine followed by a courtesy meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. Biden will then head to Saudi Arabia on a direct flight from Tel Aviv...
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‘We’re doing what we can to survive’: Beirut, bakeries and the black market
Ten bags of flour are stacked against the wall of a compact bakery in downtown Beirut. “One of these bags used to cost 25 thousand ,” says Anwar. He has worked at this bakery for 22 years and is now standing next to a pile of flour valued at...
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Turkiye-Africa relations after the 3rd Turkiye-Africa Summit
When the Turkish Republic was established, the majority of African countries were under colonial rule. During this period, the newly established republic had more imminent domestic priorities, such as economic development and nation-state building. The Cold War years have witnessed that bilateral relations were limited due to Turkiye’s security...
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Who will win France’s election and does it matter? Islamophobia and anti-Muslim persecution will always come first
As the French election looms on the horizon, Muslims in France are less interested in who will become president, instead of turning their concerns to the systemic Islamophobia that envelops all candidates, underpinning the entire political system. The structural nature of anti-Muslim persecution in France has ensured that the...
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Excuse me BBC Arabic, it is not free press, it is disinformation
The Syrian diaspora in the United Kingdom were shocked and outraged by BBC Arabic’s decision to allow special adviser to Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad air time to publicly deliver regime propaganda freely and without challenging her. Luna Al-Shibl was allowed on the broadcaster’s station even though she was included...
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The right to self-defence: between Ukraine and Palestine
Russian forces have invaded Ukraine on 24 February, and the battles are still going on in the vicinity of the Ukrainian capital with the aim of controlling it and changing the regime there, according to what was spread by the media and Western officials. In the midst of the...
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‘We are in crisis’: Middle East journalists on censorship, imprisonment and exile
Azra* has been a journalist in Turkey for 25 years. She has witnessed her country’s press freedoms fall away under the acceleration of censorship, and it has left her scared. Reporters have increasingly found themselves in court facing criminal charges for their stories. For Azra, her prosecution came with...
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Love Welcomes: Empowering female refugees through inclusion
Love Welcomes, a social enterprise helping to support and employ refugee women has become a vital lifeline in more ways than one. Founded in 2017 in response to the European refugee crisis, the initiative began with the creation of a workplace and skills training centre for refugee women living...
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The madness of economic figures before and after coronavirus: what will the poor do?
The latest study presented by Oxfam to the last Davos Forum included shocking figures, although they were a continuation of other previous figures by the foundation and other institutions. The title of the report, “Inequality Kills” is enough to give us an idea about its content. Some of what...
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Legal responsibility for the reconstruction of Gaza and Israel’s deception
Israel has persisted in its aggression towards Gaza with the objective of eliminating resistance to its occupation of Palestine in preparation for crushing the Palestinians once and for all. Every military offensive has resulted in the destruction of buildings and infrastructure, including public water, electricity and sewage facilities. If...
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How sectarianism affects Lebanon’s foreign policy
Lebanon has a confessional power-sharing system where representative numbers, political positions and power distribution are pre-determined among the religious groups in the country. There are 18 recognised religious communities in Lebanon, and with its sect-based, power-sharing system, an overarching Lebanese identity is not on the horizon. Lebanon is among...
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About the ‘Energy for water’ agreement: Implications and risks
Isn’t it weird that all the normalisation deals, or the alliance news with the Zionist entity, only come out from the former party, while the Arab side insists on secrecy until the last moment?! Does this not indicate the nature of those agreements that collide with the collective consciousness...
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The Balfour Declaration and terrorism
The ominous Balfour Declaration marked the beginning of terrorism in the region, when it gave what it did not own to the Jews to establish their state on land that is not theirs. They took advantage of Arab weakness and fragmentation at the time and the British influence in...
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Normalisation is the latest project to eradicate the Palestinian cause
Last Thursday, Jewish businessman Sylvan Adams told an Israeli channel that FIFA is seriously considering Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to co-host the football World Cup in 2030. Adams, who is close to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, said that sport can be a bridge for building relationships...
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The legal status of Palestinian prisoners and the need to amend the Arab position
Israel deals with Palestinians in accordance with its procedures and internal laws, and Israeli judges apply the unjust policies of the Israeli government. It is an illegitimate state and its people and institutions seek to achieve the Zionist project, which is to empty Palestine of its inhabitants in order...
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What’s next after Abbas’s latest threat?
Every year, Mahmoud Abbas presents us with a speech addressed to the UN, and it is often prefaced by statements from the leaders of the Fatah movement and employees of the PLO, who Abbas appointed as representatives of outdated factions. These statements refer to a new speech as “bombs”...
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The Afghanisation of Yemen and the forgotten conflict
It seems that the clouds of the Afghan crisis will rain in Yemen and bring with them more disasters than they did with the government of Ashraf Ghani. It has nothing to do with speculation, as since the eighties the events that occur in Afghanistan have directly affected Yemen,...
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How to bring justice for Palestinians
The current conflict in the ancient land of Palestine, with Jerusalem as the revered crown jewel of the three Abrahamic faiths, goes back to the dark years of World War 1 when Britain and France, two colonial powers of Europe, sowed the seeds of injustice in Palestine and the...