Middle East

Photo: Israeli Police official in Lod also known as Lydda, a city 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv and 40 km (25 mi) northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. Picture was taken on 11 May 2021. CC BY-SA 3.0

The Absurdity of the Israel-Hamas Relationship

Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Given that Israel and Hamas collaborate both publicly and tacitly on multiple fronts, one would think they would finally realize that they are stuck and neither can escape the other. It’s time for both to come to terms with their inescapable reality and seek a long-term solution to their conflict.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Middle East; 30 October 2022

Photo: Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems ‘Kihamba’, Shimbwe Juu, Tanzania. ©IWMI / Prashanth Vishwanathan

COP27: First official Food and Agriculture Pavilion

Putting agrifood systems transformation at the heart of the COP27

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) — For the first time, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), CGIAR and The Rockefeller Foundation will host the official Food and Agriculture Pavilion at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to 18.

COP27 will be held at a time when communities around the world are grappling with the compounded impacts of a global pandemic, growing pressures from the climate crisis, high energy and fertilizer prices, and protracted conflicts, which have disrupted production and supply chains and dramatically increased global food insecurity, especially for the most vulnerable.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 26 October 2022

Photo: Pakistan Ballistic Missile. Source: International Relations Insights & Analysis (IRIA)

And What If Saudi Arabia Were the Owner of Nuclear Missiles?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In any body politic there will be a group of powerful people who, if not in the inner circle of the president or prime minister, can win access to it at regular intervals. Security is their profession, and they can be met at discrete academic conferences where they tend to stand out as rather earnest, if sombre, figures.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 25 October 2022

Photo: Haji Hassa, a Yazidi farmer from Kuri Jami village in Sinjar, showing how the drought ruined the tomatoes vegetables at his farm. August 2021. Credit: Fared Baram/ NRC

Iraq’s Drought Crisis Destroys Income and Crops Countrywide

By Ahmed Bayram

The writer is an Amman-based Middle East Media Adviser of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

AMMAN, Jordan (IDN) — Farming communities in Iraq have seen their wheat, vegetable, and fruit harvests decline for the second year in a row because of severe drought conditions.

Households throughout the country will be increasingly vulnerable to eroded incomes and challenges accessing sufficient food, warns the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in a new survey ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP 27) in Egypt from November 6-18.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 25 October 2022

Photo: Women salvage usable materials from damaged parts of Al-Hatab Square in the old quarter of Aleppo, northern Syria, February 2017. Photo: EPA/Youssef Badawi

How Syrian Women Navigate Security Risks to Mediate Local Conflicts

A UN Women Feature

NEW YORK (IDN) — For over a decade, Syria’s protracted conflict has taken countless lives, displaced millions in and outside the country and left much of its infrastructure in tatters. International mediation efforts to end the conflict have largely stalled, in part because the local dynamics that help fuel the crisis are often overlooked by formal mediators. This makes mediation efforts that seek to resolve inter- and intra-community conflict and address local concerns vital to advance formal peacemaking efforts led by national actors.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 22 October 2022

Photo: The AN/TPQ-53 Counterfire Target Acquisition Radar in Saudi Arabia. Credit: US Army

US-Saudi Alliance in Jeopardy Threatening Multi-Billion Dollar Arms Sales

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The longstanding US-Saudi alliance—political, economic and military—which dates back to 1931, is in deep trouble.

US President Joe Biden has warned Saudi Arabia that it would face "consequences" after OPEC Plus, the oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced plans for a cut in oil production—an estimated 2.0 million barrels a day that could escalate gas prices in the United States.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 19 October 2022

Photo credit: Institute for Palestine Studies

The Fallacy of Tying the Occupation to Israel’s Security

Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state by many Israelis is based on national security concerns, which presumably offers a justification for the continuing occupation. The truth is that the occupation itself—not a Palestinian state—poses the gravest danger to Israel’s security.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 17 October 2022

Photo: US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Credit: WION

US Security Adviser's Fake Take: Lie About Iranian Drones for Russia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's bluff about an Iran-Russia deal for "hundreds" of drones was nailed by none other than US National Security Agency (NASA) spokesperson John Kirby.

On July 11, Sullivan claimed that Iran was preparing to sell hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including weapons-capable drones, to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 13 August 2022

It's High Time for Turkey's Accession to the EU

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Once again in the European Union, thanks to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the discussion about admitting new members is coming to the boil and, once again Turkey, promised membership of the Union over 30 years ago, is not on the list.