Despite the dashed hopes of the early 2010s, social movements are still winning important fights — and building a framework for human survival.
As the Decade Closes, the Power of Protest Endures
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Lebanon
Rivers of Dust: The Future of Water and the Middle East
Without international diplomacy, the Middle East is going to run out of water — and it won’t be alone.
From Paris to Istanbul, More ‘War on Terror’ Means More Terrorist Attacks
At least 41 people were killed in the recent bombing of Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. The day before, suicide bombers killed five people in Qaa, a small village in Lebanon. And while the Saudi-led and U.S.-backed war in Yemen continues to rage, an ISIS affiliate claimed...
Amid the Hard Lessons of War, Refugee Women Learn Their Rights
Since the latest deadly attacks in Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad, the situation for refugees across the Middle East and Europe has become more complex and volatile than ever. And the violent tactics used to target innocent civilians by the extremist Islamic State (ISIS)...
Military Intervention in Syria Is the Problem, Not the Solution
A café. A stadium. A concert hall. One of the most horrifying things about the murderous attacks in Paris was the terrorists’ choice of targets. They chose gathering places where people’s minds wander furthest from unhappy thoughts like war. And they struck on a...
Is It Wrong to Mourn Paris More Deeply Than Beirut?
This article is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and TheNation.com. Since the Paris massacre of Friday the 13th, I've witnessed an unraveling of questions and debates on my social media feeds over the question of selective mourning. Who gets to be...
The Middle East’s New Nakba
After midnight on August 15, 1947, India and Pakistan became separate countries. What should have been a joyous occasion — a celebration of independence from three centuries of British colonial rule — quickly turned into one of the greatest tragedies in modern...
If Ralph Nader Had Been Elected President, the Iraq War Would Have Been a War Unfought
Ralph Nader has caught a lot of heat for his presidential campaign in 2000 being a key factor leading to the election of George W. Bush. Or, more accurately, to better position Bush for the Supreme Court to hand him the election. As Politico magazine reports, Ralph...
The Dark Saudi-Israeli Plot to Tip the Scales in Syria
A quiet meeting this past March in Saudi Arabia, and a recent anonymous leak from the Israeli military, set the stage for what may be a new and wider war in the Middle East. Gathering in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,...
Refugee Crisis: The Stunning Collapse of Syria’s Safe Spaces
While filming a documentary in Syria in the summer of 2003, I visited the Jaramana refugee camp near Damascus. Run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, Jaramana at the time housed around 5,000 registered Palestinian refugees from the Arab-Israeli wars of...