Orientul Mijlociu

Ending Yemen’s Multilayered War

For U.S. officials who worked under former President Barack Obama, many of whom are now beginning or contemplating jobs in Joe Biden’s administration, the war in Yemen casts a long shadow. What started on their watch as a primarily internal power struggle has since metastasized into a messy and multilayered conflict. It is the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis, involving alleged violations of international law—many of them perpetrated with American-made arms—and has become a potential trigger for a region-wide conflagration. For much of Biden’s foreign policy team, then, Yemen represents both unfinished business and, potentially, a small but significant piece of a wider course correction in U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

As Right-Wing Extremism Rises, Jihadism Still Persists

Six separate terrorist attacks took place in Europe between late September and late November of last year—three in France, and one each in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. All six attacks were inspired by Salafi-jihadist ideology, which is, and will remain, a persistent terrorism threat to Europe and elsewhere in the West for the foreseeable future.

Al-Qaida Is Diminished, but Don’t Write Its Obituary Just Yet

Rumors began swirling last fall that al-Qaida chieftain Ayman al-Zawahiri had died of natural causes. With no confirmation, counterterrorism analysts and long-time al-Qaida watchers weighed in with various assessments of what it would mean for the terrorist organization if it had indeed lost its leader. Just last week, al-Qaida’s official media arm, al-Sahab, released a video perhaps intended to quell reports of Zawahiri’s demise, with audio clips of Zawahiri addressing the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. But because those messages failed to reference any specifically current events—his vague comments about Rohingya Muslims could apply to events in Myanmar over the past several years—it fueled further speculation that the septuagenarian terrorist leader was in fact dead

Environmental Ruin Could Make Postwar Syria Unlivable

After nearly a decade of conflict, the extensive damage inflicted on Syria’s environment is emerging as another devastating, if less visible, tragedy of its civil war. Polluted soil and contaminated water are exacerbating the already severe suffering of Syrian civilians, undermining their ability to meet their basic needs and jeopardizing the country’s postwar future.

Les Turcs en France: un «isolat» séparatiste?

«L’assimilation est un crime contre l’humanité» affirmait le président turc Erdogan en Allemagne en 2008. En France, qu’il se rassure, les immigrés turcs ne se caractérisent pas franchement par leur assimilation. Chiffres.

Au mois d’octobre 2020, diverses villes de France ont été le théâtre des mêmes scènes stupéfiantes. À Dijon, Vienne ou Décines, plusieurs centaines d’individus brandissant des drapeaux turcs ont improvisé des défilés à la nuit tombée, scandant des slogans à la gloire du président Erdogan, des invocations religieuses (« Allah akbar ») ainsi que des menaces de mort envers la population d’origine arménienne.

Les terroristes Mohamed Lahouaej-Bouhlel et Jamel Gorchane se connaissaient-ils?

Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel et Jamel Gorchane étaient-ils des amis d’enfance ? Cette hypothèse mettrait clairement à mal l’idée selon laquelle le terroriste de Rambouillet serait un « loup solitaire ». Et c’est précisément ce qu’affirme le journaliste et écrivain Nicolas Beau, ancien de Marianne, du Monde et du Canard Enchaîné, dans un article paru sur son média d’infos de l’Afrique francophone, Mondafrique.

Will Communist China Dominate the Middle East?

“The connection between the BRI and the strategic partnerships it creates in the region… allows it to gradually take over the region without creating tensions with the U.S. or the West. In other words, the BRI is a sophisticated Chinese plan to transfer hegemony from the West and the U.S. to China without war or conflict”. — Dr. Mordechai Chaziz, author of the book China’s Middle East Diplomacy: The Belt and Road Strategic Partnership.

“China has signed documents on Belt and Road cooperation with 19 Middle East countries,” Wang told Al Arabiya during his visit to Saudi Arabia, one of the six countries he visited on his tour, “and carried out distinctive collaboration with each of them…. China is ready to …. expand new areas of growth such as high and new technologies.” The other countries Wang visited were Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Bahrain.

The Imperialist War in Yemen

During a House hearing held on April 21, 2021, US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking grossly misrepresented the imperialist war in the country. He remarked: “With regard to the Republic of Yemen Government, President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi remains the legitimate leader of Yemen. He was chosen in the last election held before the war, and UN Security Council Resolution 2216 recognizes his legitimacy as President.”