Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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Foreign policy for sale: Greece’s dangerous alliance with Israel
For a brief historical moment, Alexis Tsipras and his political party, Syriza, ignited hope that Greece could resurrect a long-dormant Leftist tide in Europe. A new Greece was being born out of the pangs of pain of economic austerity, imposed by the European Union and its overpowering economic institutions –...
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‘Whitewashing’ Genocide in Myanmar
Although the genocide of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has gathered greater media attention in recent months, there is no indication that the international community is prepared to act in any meaningful way, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded in border camps between Myanmar and Bangladesh. While...
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The trials of Africa and the real Dr King they want us to forget
On 15 January, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day. His famous speech, ‘I Have a Dream’ was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society. But that is only one...
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In words and deeds: the genesis of Israeli violence
Not a day passes without a prominent Israeli politician or intellectual making an outrageous statement against Palestinians. Many of these statements tend to garner little attention or evoke rightly deserved outrage. Just recently, Israel’s Minister of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, called for more death and injuries on Palestinians in Gaza. “What is...
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Israel step closer to making Jerusalem Jewish-only city
The Israeli government is planning a series of measures aimed at fully denying Palestinians their legal rights in Jerusalem and precluding any future peace settlement based on sharing the city between Israel and a future Palestinian state. One of the most aggressive measures to date is a bill that was...
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Shadow armies: The unseen, but real US war in Africa
There is a real – but largely concealed – war which is taking place throughout the African continent. It involves the United States, an invigorated Russia and a rising China. The outcome of the war is likely to define the future of the continent and its global outlook. It is...
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Year in Review: Will 2018 Usher in a New Palestinian Strategy?
2017 will be remembered as the year that the so-called ‘peace process’, at least in its American formulation, has ended. And with its demise, a political framework that has served as the foundation for US foreign policy in the Middle East has also collapsed. The Palestinian leadership and its Arab...
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Whitewashing: The media’s two narratives on terrorism
Within hours after Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant, allegedly detonated a pipe bomb in New York City on 11 December, severely injuring himself and wounding four others, a most comprehensive official and media narrative emerged. The formulation of the narrative concerning Ullah’s motives, radicalisation and assumed hate for the US...
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Towards a new Palestinian beginning
Now that the American mask has completely fallen, Palestinians require an urgent rethink in their own political priorities, alliances and national liberation strategy. Business should not go on as usual after US President Donald Trump accepted Israel’s definition of Jerusalem as its capital, thus violating the overwhelming international consensus on...
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The 'Last Martyr': Who killed Kamal Al-Assar?
When I learned of the death of Kamal Al-Assar a few years ago, I was baffled. He was only in his 40s. I remember him in his prime, a young rebel, leading the neighbourhood youth, armed with rocks and slingshots, in a hopeless battle against the Israeli army. Understandably,...
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Trump’s move on Jerusalem: Is this the end of US diplomacy in the Middle East?
Finally, US President Donald Trump pulled the plug. The so-called peace process, two-state solution, “land-for-peace formula” and all the other tired clichés have been long dead and decomposing. But Trump’s announcement yesterday to officially recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel has also laid to rest the illusion that the US...
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‘Say the Word’: What the Rohingya Struggle is Really About
Pope Francis lost a historical opportunity to truly set his legacy apart from previous Popes. Alas, for him, too, political expediency trumped all else. In his visit to Burma (Myanmar) on November 27, he refrained from using the word ‘Rohingya.’ But what’s in a name? In our frenzied attempts at understanding and articulating...
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Decades of US diplomacy has failed: Why the US wants to shut the PLO office
On 18 November, just days before the 50th anniversary of United Nations Resolution 242, the US State Department took its first step towards severing its ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). The timing of this decision could not be any more profound. The first formal contact between the US and...
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70 Years of Broken Promises: The Untold Story of the Partition Plan
In a recent talk before Chatham House think-tank in London, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, approached the issue of a Palestinian state from an intellectual perspective. Before we think of establishing a Palestinian state, he mused, “it is time we reassessed whether the modern model we have of sovereignty, and unfettered...
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Corruption in Israel is not just an Israeli issue
Whether the string of scandals, now hounding Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lead to his sacking or not, it matters little. Though nearly half of Israelis polled last July – well before the scandals took a much dirtier turn – believe that Netanyahu is corrupt, a majority of Israelis said that they would still vote...
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‘Creeping Annexation’: Why Israel shelved the ‘Greater Jerusalem Law’
The postponing of an Israeli Knesset bill that would have annexed major illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank to the Jerusalem municipality is the result of behind-the-scenes US and, possibly, European pressure. But the story of the so-called “Greater Jerusalem law” does not end there. Israel wants to maintain...
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Walls and militarised police: How Israel is exporting its occupation to the US
Israeli footprints are becoming more apparent in the US security apparatus. Such a fact does not bode well for ordinary Americans. US Senate Bill S.720 should have been a wake-up call. The bill, drafted by the Israel lobby group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as part of its “2017...
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This is not national unity: Hamas and Fatah must transform to speak on behalf of Palestinians
The reconciliation agreement signed between rival Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, in Cairo on October 12 was not a national unity accord – at least, not yet. For the latter to be achieved, the agreement would have to make the interests of the Palestinian people a priority, above factional...
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Trump’s angry diplomacy in North Korea is an attempt to counter China
To understand the United States’ stratagem in the Pacific, and against North Korea in particular, one has to understand the fundamental changes that are underway in that region. China’s clout as an Asian superpower and as a global economic powerhouse has been growing at a rapid speed. The US’...
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What is behind the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation?
Egypt’s enthusiasm to arbitrate between feuding Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, is not the outcome of a sudden awakening of conscience. Cairo has, in fact, played a destructive role in manipulating Palestinian division to its favour, while keeping the Rafah border crossing under lock and key. However, the Egyptian leadership...
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The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People
Some promises are made and kept; others disavowed. But the ‘promise’ made by Arthur James Balfour in what became known as the ‘Balfour Declaration’ to the leaders of the Zionist Jewish community in Britain one hundred years ago, was only honored in part: it established a state for the...
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The fight ahead: 13 questions about the origins, objectives and war on BDS
BDS stands for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions”. The BDS Movement was the outcome of several events that shaped the Palestinian national struggle and international solidarity with the Palestinian people following the Second Uprising (Intifada) in 2000. Building on a decades-long tradition of civil disobedience and popular resistance, and invigorated by...
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In their own words: When Trump and Obama sounded the same
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...
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Courting the Global South: Will Israel Become a UN Security Council Member?
There is a great irony in the fact that Israel is seeking a seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Since its establishment atop the ruins of Palestinian cities and villages in 1948, Israel has had the most precarious relationship with the world’s largest international body. It has desperately sought...
