The passion soon spilled to the streets of Arab capitals, of course under the ever-vigilant eyes of Arab police and secret services.
By RAMZY BAROUD
In times of crisis, most Arabs tune in to Aljazeera television. Sometimes it's comforting for the truth to be stated the way it is, with all of its gory and unsettling details, without blemishes and without censorship. When Israel carried out massive air strikes against Gaza on Saturday, December 27, terrorizing an already host
Al-Zaidi was overpowered, then dragged away by Iraqi security.
By RAMZY BAROUD
The plot, so unexpectedly, thickened in Iraq on a Sunday like no other. The two main actors - US President George W. Bush, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – took to the stage to perform another well-rehearsed press conference. The scripts were ever so predictable: Bush to tout the ‘progress’ achieved i
Conquerors came and went, and Gaza stood where it still stands today.
By RAMZY BAROUD
It’s incomprehensible that a region such as the Gaza Strip, so rich with history, so saturated with defiance, can be reduced to a few blurbs, sound bites and reductionist assumptions, convenient but deceptive, vacant of any relevant meaning, or even true analytical value.
Deminers scour farmland in the village of Zawtar West in south Lebanon. (IRIN)
By RAMZY BAROUD
The United States, Russia and China are sending a terrible message to the rest of the world by refusing to take part in the historic signing of a treaty that bans the production and use of cluster bombs. In a world that is plagued by war, military occupation and terrorism, the involvement of the great military powers in signing
Of course, there is nothing worth celebrating about all of this.
By RAMZY BAROUD
World media rashly celebrated the ‘historic’ security pact that allows for US troops to stay in Iraq for three more years right after the Iraqi parliament ratified the agreement on Thursday, November 27. The approval came one week after the Iraqi cabinet did the same.
Gazans are still flipping through the channels and cranking the radio dials, left and right, as these calls continue to fall on deaf ears.
By RAMZY BAROUD
When Gaza's electricity is in working order, most Palestinians in the impoverished and overcrowded Strip huddle around their television screens. It's neither "American Idol" nor "Dancing with the Stars" that brings them together. It's the news.
Gazans' relationship to news media is both complex and uni
The issue of women’s rights is a pressing one, not just because of the horrifying statistics. (Zoriah- zoriah.net)
By RAMZY BAROUD
Qurban-Bibi and Nahil Abu-Rada are two women, one Afghan and the other Palestinian, who made news with similar tragedies. But their losses also helped further delineate the plight of millions of women in war zones and poor countries.
The United Nations news service reported on the troubles of Qurban-Bibi, a pregnant woman
There are a few buzzwords that every American politician, aiming for high office must utilize, even if disingenuously, to have a reasonable chance at getting elected.
President-elect, Barak Obama’s constant use of terms like ‘hope’ and ‘change’ contributed greatly to the overwhelming support
'US commandos killed eight Syrian civilians, including a father and his four sons.'
By RAMZY BAROUD
The sovereignty of an independent, stable country that has carried out many constructive moves in recent months and weeks, which could have surely contributed to the stabilization of the Middle East, has been violated, its borders breached and its civilians killed.
But when the country targeted is Syria, an Arab country,
Please contribute to our marathon fundraiser now, and also get involved as a runner or in any other way.
By RAMZY BAROUD
My right knee is wrapped. My left ankle is iced. I lost the nail on my right big toe, and have about 20 blisters and a similar number of bruises on both of my feet. This doesn’t even begin to convey half of the story of the punishment that my body has been subjected to in recent months. Why, you ask? Because I will join S
Palestinian uprisings are often a collective response to hard questions.
By RAMZY BAROUD
At a recent conference I was repeatedly asked about the prospects for a third Palestinian uprising, or Intifada. The question, although seemingly uncomplicated, is both loaded and important, and cannot be answered in a mere two minutes or less.
A 'third Intifada' would imply that the second has already ended. But has it
While elites in every society eagerly infuse such 'Reaganomics' at every turn, the world's poor is yet to feel the trickles.
By RAMZY BAROUD
The 25th annual World Food Day, marked on 16 October, was an occasion whose arrival and passing received little media attention or governmental fanfare. Evidently, much of the world media and governments are consumed with an economic crisis of epic proportions, which is perceived in the US as the worst such upheaval since the G
Palin and Biden: Yet more clichés and more mantras.
By RAMZY BAROUD
One should rightly assume that the weight of the US financial crisis, the full impact of which is just beginning to unravel, and the widening military debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, would compel new thinking amongst leading US politicians. And then again, maybe not.
Aside from tactical and rhetorical differences, pres
It's no secret that the EU is positioning itself to play a greater role.
By RAMZY BAROUD
Europe has showed greater willingness in recent months to play a larger part in the Middle East's most protracted conflict, that of Israel and Palestine. But willingness doesn't necessarily indicate readiness.
For the European Union (EU) to be truly ready to take on a conflict of such magnitude, it must fully and clearly
Whomever will dwell in the White House is likely to maintain the 'special relationship' between the US and Israel.
By RAMZY BAROUD
President Bush sounded much less uncertain of his peace "vision" when he received Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on Sept. 25. Certainly much has changed since the Nov. 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland, where Bush and his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice exhorted that a Palestinian state c
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone hosts an exciting discussion on Ramzy Baroud's book: My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story. Watch: Part I, Part II, Part III
