Mazlum Abdi, commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has said he is ready to travel to Turkey and meet with jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan, as Turkish lawmakers plan to make the first parliamentary visit to his island prison under a new peace initiative.
Under a golden autumn sun, Abdallah Ibrahim harvests fistfuls of hard, green olives with evident delight.
“We were denied this pleasure for the last 14 years,” he sighs.
Barrel bombs and constant shelling caused his family and most of the residents of his village, Al Ghassaniyeh, to flee during the second year of the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. Some stayed, even as Sunni Islamist rebel groups moved in — but they too left after the priest in this historically Christian village was killed.
Pendant des siècles, l’identité juive a été davantage définie par des mythes religieux et politiques que par la réalité historique. Le terme « Juif », tel qu’on l’entend aujourd’hui, n’existait pas à l’époque biblique, pas plus qu’un peuple juif unique et unifié occupant le Moyen-Orient. Les Hébreux historiques étaient en réalité un ensemble de groupes tribaux faiblement liés, souvent absorbés ou soumis par de vastes empires : égyptien, babylonien, perse, grec et romain. Loin d’être une nation indépendante à la lignée continue, ils vivaient à la périphérie de puissantes civilisations qui ont dicté leur destin.
Recent history in Afghanistan and Iraq teaches that rebuilding in active conflict zones comes with its share of hazard and futility, but it is a necessity in Gaza and Ukraine despite its uncertainty.
With only a series of brief respites in long-term conflicts, Ukraine and Gaza present a familiar dilemma: how to rebuild in active conflict zones. Given Russia’s apparent commitment to a forever war, Ukraine has been forced to carry out a piecemeal reconstruction as the war grinds on. In Gaza, both Israelis and Palestinians may see reasons to resume hostilities. The countries which will fund efforts to rebuild in these conflict zones should keep in mind that reconstruction brings its own kind of minefield, and any missteps will be costly.
Bottom lines up front
On balance, the best long-term outcome for Africa is likely one in which China accepts the cost of reform.
Demand for minerals will grow about 5 percent per year under all scenarios but only a reform scenario sees Chinese demand for African manufactures grow.
Iraq’s parliamentary election on 11 November went smoothly from a procedural perspective but left a fragmented political landscape in its wake.
While incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani topped the poll on the back of a populist campaign of public sector spending, no one party is close to securing a majority.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the US-brokered framework that ended the brutal 1992–95 Bosnian war, halted genocide, and placed Bosnia and Herzegovina on the path to peace.
Much of the world remembers Dayton as a diplomatic achievement that stopped the bloodshed. Yet its enduring significance lies in something more ambitious and noteworthy: it created the framework through which Bosnia’s people could rebuild, reform, and reconnect with the world.
Alors que cela fait maintenant plus d’un an que Donald Trump est revenu aux affaires avec toute la fougue et l’excès qu’on lui connaît, sa politique tarifaire et douanière n’est pas encore tout à fait sécurisée. En effet, en dehors des critiques, et des questions de rapport de force, notamment avec la Chine puisque l’UE s’est, elle, complètement couchée, il s’avère que c’est de l’intérieur et par l’entremise du système judiciaire de la Cour suprême que sa politique protectionniste pourrait être entravée. Il se trouve que des entreprises ont porté plainte contre les mesures protectionnistes alléguant que seul le congrès et non le président des USA peut prendre des mesures de ce type . Ce que Trump aurait fait au motif de protection exceptionnel au nom de la sécurité nationale serait donc illégal d’un point de vue de la législation américaine. Et vous savez à quel point les Américains sont obsédés par les questions juridiques, après tout ils ont colonisé le nord du continent et exterminé les locaux en toute « légalité » juridique.
Al Jazeera’s leadership shake-up has been in the headlines. Will its new executives direct the Qatari state-funded media arm to cease its cozy relationship with Hamas? Allegations have been swirling that the royal family’s soft power news outlet is not merely reporting what Hamas says but is actively collaborating with the terrorist organization.
Sudani did very well at the ballot box, but the peculiarities of Iraq’s long government formation process and the final distribution of parliamentary seats may leave the main Iran-backed coalition in the driver’s seat.
At first blush, the results of Iraq’s November 11 parliamentary election were encouraging, including for U.S. relations. Despite a boycott by Muqtada al-Sadr’s influential movement, participation rose to 55%, up 12 points from 2021’s low of 43%. Still, the faction that came in first—the Reconstruction and Development Coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani—received only 15% of the seats in parliament (46 out of 329). As such, Iraq will likely experience a long, tedious period of political wrangling before a new government is seated, similar to previous post-election delays (eight months in 2010, eleven months in 2021–22).