- November 27, 2024
Middle East
Spot the Difference: Trump and Obama, in Their Own Words
By Ramzy Baroud The nature of the rhetoric in Donald Trump’s first speech at the United Nations General Assembly was largely predictable. Even his bizarre threat to “totally destroy North Korea” was consistent with his overall style and previous warnings. But how different was his speech, if compared with the first and last UN speeches of President Barack Obama? A 19th […]
The Terror Next Time: The Daesh Story Is Not Ending
By Ramzy Baroud Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, has been reduced to rubble. It has been finally conquered, snatched back from the notorious group, Daesh, after months of merciless bombardment by the US-led war coalition, and a massive ground war. But ‘victory’ can hardly be the term assigned to this moment. Mosul, once Iraq’s cultural […]
The Curse of Mohammed Dahlan: Hamas Should Not Trade Resistance for Its Own Survival
By Ramzy Baroud “We have made mutual efforts with our brothers in Hamas to restore hope for Gaza’s heroic people,” Mohammed Dahlan told Palestinian lawmakers gathering in Gaza on Thursday, July 27. He spoke via satellite from his current exile in the United Arab Emirates. The audience clapped. True, Gaza has been pushed to the brink of […]
Fear and Trepidation in Tel Aviv: Is Israel Losing the Syria War?
By Ramzy Baroud Israel, which has played a precarious role in the Syrian war since 2011, is furious to learn that the future of the conflict is not to its liking. The six-year-old Syria war is moving to a new stage, perhaps its final. The Syrian regime is consolidating its control over most of the […]
Journalism, History and War: Sit, Type and Bleed
By Ramzy Baroud The typical newsroom set-up, where journalists chase headlines dictated by some centralized news gathering agency – often based in some western capital – does not suffice any more. In the case of the Middle East, the news narrative has been defined by others and dictated on Arab journalists and audiences for far […]
The Unwanted ‘Bride’: Can the 1967 War Offer Opportunity for Peace?
By Ramzy Baroud There is a saying that goes: “Be careful what you wish for, for you may get it.” This has been Israel’s dilemma from the very beginning. The Zionist movement, which held its first conference in Basel, Switzerland 120 years ago, wanted Palestine but not the Palestinians. They achieved this objective 50 years […]
Trump’s Visit to Israel: How Palestine Disappeared from US Media Coverage
By Ramzy Baroud As if he has, overnight, been transformed into a master politician, Donald Trump’s 27-hour trip to Israel has left many analysts mystified. Quoting former Israeli political adviser, Mitchell Barack, the New York Times referred to Trump as the “Liberace of world leaders”, in reference to flamboyant, piano player, Wladziu Valantino Liberace. The latter, known […]
When Daesh is Defeated: Who Will Fill the Intellectual Vacuum in the Arab World?
By Ramzy Baroud Back in the Middle East for a few months, I find myself astounded by the absence of the strong voices of Arab intellectuals. The region that has given rise to the likes of Michel Aflaq, George Habash, Rached Al-Ghannouchi, Edward Said and numerous others has marginalised its intellectuals. Arab visionaries have either been […]
Normalization under Occupation: How Israel Understands the Arab Peace Initiative
By Ramzy Baroud Once more, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is taking center stage. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas insisted during his speech before the recently-concluded Arab League Summit in Jordan, that the Initiative is the only solution on the table; asserting that it will not be changed or even tweaked. But why […]
‘Decolonizing the Mind’: Using Hollywood Celebrities to Validate Islam
By Ramzy Baroud When Terry Holdbrooks Jr., converted to Islam in 2003, he was inundated with death threats and labeled a ‘race traitor.’ If a religious conversion ever deserves to be admired, Holdbrooks’ conversion does, and not because Islam has ‘won’ yet another convert, but because the new convert was assigned the very rule of […]
American Muslims, No Apology Necessary
By Ramzy Baroud I have recently been asked to give a talk about “Being an American Muslim in the United States”. Although wary of the uses and abuses of the term, I obliged. Islam is a religion propelled by values, not race nor, theoretically, by blind tribal allegiances, I explained. The “American Muslim” identity which […]
The Trump-Netanyahu Circus: Now, No One Can Save Israel from Itself
By Ramzy Baroud The President of the United States can hardly be taken seriously, saying much but doing little. His words, often offensive, carry no substance, and it is impossible to summarize his complex political outlook about important issues. This is precisely the type of American presidency that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers. However, […]
The Uncomfortable Truth: Are We Hating Donald Trump for the Wrong Reasons?
By Ramzy Baroud I fear that many of us are hating Donald Trump for the wrong reasons. Multitudes are being swayed by mainstream media-inspired demonization of the new US president, based on selective assumptions and half-truths. US mainstream media, which rarely deviates from supporting the American government’s conduct, however reckless, is now presenting Trump as […]
Operation Chaos: Trump Will Ignite a Powder Keg in the Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump is about to do just that, reversing an historical course that has been in the making for one hundred years. The inexperienced, demagogic politician hardly understands the danger that lies in his decision to move […]
Paris and the End to a Western-dominated Era in the Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud No, it was not just ‘another Middle East peace conference,’ as a columnist in Israeli ‘Jerusalem Post’ attempted to depict the Paris Peace Conference held on January 15, with top official representations from 70 countries attending. If it was, indeed, just ‘another peace conference’, representatives from the Israeli government and the Palestinian […]
Baroud in Al Jazeera: Trump’s Embassy Move to Jerusalem ‘Self-Destructive’
By Ramzy Baroud – Al Jazeera Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump is about to reverse an historical course that has been in the making for 100 years. The inexperienced, demagogic politician hardly understands the danger that lies in his decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If he goes through […]
Navigating War: Has the War in Syria also Destroyed Journalism?
By Ramzy Baroud When a veteran war reporter like Robert Fisk constructs his argument regarding the siege of Aleppo based on ‘watching’ video footage, then one can truly comprehend the near impossibility of adequate media coverage on the war in Syria. In a recent article in the British ‘Independent’, Fisk reflects on the siege, uprising […]
Why is the Truth on Syria Difficult to Decipher?
By Ramzy Baroud “The United States has the power to decree the death of nations,” wrote Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe. Kinzer’s article was entitled: “The media are misleading the public on Syria.” In his piece, the scholar at a Brown University Institute contested that his country’s media misinformation on Syria is leading to […]
Honoring Aylan Kurdi by Ending the War in Syria
By Ramzy Baroud “A photograph, no matter how emotionally wrenching, can only do so much,” wrote Paul Slovic and Nicole Smith Dahmen in QZ.com. The photograph referenced in their comment was that of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body was washed ashore on some Turkish beach in September 2015. It has been over a year […]
‘Activism’ and Its Consequences: Syrian Refugees Are Not Subjects for a Social Media Gallery
By Ramzy Baroud The Italian ‘activist’ was keen on that photo, as if her social media activism career was dependent on it. As if the misery of the poor Syrian child was not palpable enough in his dejected face and his rash-infested skin, she wanted to define a point of absolute misery for a perfect […]
Libya’s ‘Operation Odyssey Lightning’ – The Obama Doctrine is Ravaging the Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud Everyone seems to have a theory on how to obliterate ISIS, or ‘Daesh’. However, two points are rarely raised: one, concerning the origins of the group and the second, on whether there are genuine intentions to defeat it, in the first place. We must boldly address the first to unravel the enigma […]
Of Hajah Zainab – Is Palestine still the central issue for Arabs?
By Ramzy Baroud Palestine is increasingly absent from Arab consciousness, at least at the official and media levels. For years, the discussion has veered elsewhere, to other regions and various other concerns, as Arab regional alliances are no longer driven by the ‘question of Palestine.’ Whether one blames that neglect on the so-called Arab Spring, […]
My Response to Bill Clinton: On (My) Liberty and (Your) America
By Ramzy Baroud Donald Trump wants to keep us out of the country altogether. But Bill Clinton, former president and husband of a Democratic presidential nominee, does not mind us staying, as long as we – Muslims – behave ourselves. Welcome to America where racial profiling is the country’s most popular idea, and where citizenship […]
Farewell to Yarmouk: A Palestinian Refugee’s Journey from Izmir to Greece
By Ramzy Baroud (Based on interviews with Palestinian refugees from Syria.) The refugee camp of Yarmouk was ever present in his being, pulling him in and out of an abyss of persistent fears that urged him to never return. But what was this refugee without Yarmouk, his first haven, his last earth? How could any […]
France’s Doomed War on ‘Islamist Terrorism’
By Ramzy Baroud Days after a truck ploughed its way into throngs of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, the Los Angeles Times reported that “[Daesh or the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] later claimed indirect responsibility for the attack”. The clearly deliberate act killed 84 people, many of whom were […]
From Nice to the Middle East: The Only Way to Challenge ISIS
By Ramzy Baroud I visited Iraq in 1999. At the time, there were no so-called ‘jihadis’ espousing the principles of ‘jihadism’, whatever the interpretation may be. On the outskirts of Baghdad was a military training camp, not for ‘al-Qaeda’, but for ‘Mojahedin-e-Khalq’, an Iranian militant exile group that worked, with foreign funding and arms, to […]
Being Black Palestinian: Solidarity as a Welcome Pathology
By Ramzy Baroud Last year, I wrote an article that made many readers unhappy. As soon as it was published, I began receiving messages of abuse and angry, threatening calls. I hesitated about reporting the threats to the local police in Washington State and, in the end, I resolved to file the unpleasant experience under […]
People above Politics: Political Deal will not Hamper the Turkish-Palestinian Bond
By Ramzy Baroud Hyped emotions, and political opportunism aside, the Israel-Turkey normalization deal, signed on June 27 is unfavorable for Palestinians – and for Gazans, in particular. There is much that is being said to blame Turkey or placate the damage of seeing Turkey – which has for years been one of the most visible […]
Ramzy Baroud: Thanks, Turkey – but it’s freedom, not charity, that Gaza seeks (ALJAZEERA)
When Israeli commandos violently raided the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010, something extraordinary happened in Gaza: a deep sense of loss, but also pride. It was the first time that this generation experienced real solidarity emanating from a Muslim country, exhibited with such resolution and willingness to sacrifice. Many Palestinians had finally renewed their faith, […]
Roots of the Conflict: Palestine’s Nakba in the Larger Arab ‘Catastrophe
By Ramzy Baroud On May 15th of every year, over the past 68 years, Palestinians have commemorated their collective exile from Palestine. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine to make room for a ‘Jewish homeland’ came at a price of unrelenting violence and perpetual suffering. Palestinians refer to that enduring experience as ‘Nakba’, or ‘Catastrophe’. However, […]
