Foreign Policy Blogs

Middle East & North Africa

Israel’s “Self-Investigations” Are Not Enough

Israel’s “Self-Investigations” Are Not Enough

Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-regarded Palestinian journalist, has become the next martyr in the Israel-Palestine Conflict. On May 11, she stood with her colleagues in the occupied West Bank. While wearing her blue press vest, which discerned her from combatants, Abu Akleh was struck in the head by unexpected gunfire. Unsurprisingly, both sides of the […]

read more

A New Strategy for Iran’s Nuclear Deal

A New Strategy for Iran’s Nuclear Deal

Former-President Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the JCPOA was misguided. Now President Biden negotiates with Iran after years of obscure nuclear development. It is time to reconsider foreign policy objectives for Iran’s nuclear program. Trump argued the nuclear deal failed to address Iran’s motive for nuclear weapons, and he stands correct. Trump […]

read more

How to create a terrorist

How to create a terrorist

On August 29th, just two days before the Biden administration’s deadline to complete America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, an unnamed official from the newly established “Over-the-Horizon Strike Cell” authorized a strike from an MQ-9 Reaper drone that killed ten Afghan civilians, including seven children.  This is a tragedy. Individual Americans, myself included, should be ashamed that […]

read more

Putting some context around negotiating with the Taliban

Putting some context around negotiating with the Taliban

  In early September, the Taliban began to fill cabinet positions for the new, “provisional government” that will attempt to stabilize Afghanistan following America’s military occupation and disorderly withdrawal from the nation. While it is true that the makeup of this cabinet is expected to evolve over time, the initial round of appointments includes some […]

read more

Ending The Palestinian Holocaust

Ending The Palestinian Holocaust

Prominently written on history’s ‘gate of shame’ are these haunting words: Hubris never had a worse enemy than itself; you may ask these specialists: Hitler, Pharaoh, or perhaps Lucifer. So, the extreme arrogance and the above-all-laws attitude expressed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his apartheid regime committed war crimes and crimes against humanity […]

read more

Iraqi human rights activist Al Hamadani praises elimination of Soleimani

Iraqi human rights activist Al Hamadani praises elimination of Soleimani

Iraqi human rights activist Ammar Al Hamadani is a strong supporter of the State of Israel and seeks the establishment of an Israeli Embassy in Baghdad.  He also supports compensation for Jewish refugees from Arab countries and has done much work in order to promote improved Israeli-Iraqi relations.  Given his strong sympathy for the Jewish […]

read more

Water Conflict in Africa: the Largest Hydroelectric Power Station Is the Bone of Contention Between Ethiopia and Egypt

Water Conflict in Africa: the Largest Hydroelectric Power Station Is the Bone of Contention Between Ethiopia and Egypt

Ethiopia has been building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile River since 2011. During this period relations between Egypt and Ethiopia became strained with mutual threats and accusations. Moreover, there is a risk of water conflict in Africa, which would completely destabilize East Africa. After construction, GERD will be the largest […]

read more

What It’s Like Being a Second Generation Refugee

What It’s Like Being a Second Generation Refugee

My earliest memories of Israel go back to the October 1973 war, a child, I already “knew” Israel is an invader in what was a sleepy part of planet earth. Despite radio and tv stations everywhere claiming Arab victories,  even then I knew this was fake news, kids know liars from their intonation. It’s hard […]

read more

2019 Review: Main Political Events in Africa

2019 Review: Main Political Events in Africa

Africa welcomed 2019 with reports about the coup in Gabon and ushered it out with elections in Guinea-Bissau. In the meantime, there have been enough challenges since January 2019. In order to analyze the main political events in Africa, they are divided into 5 categories: political situation and elections, security background, peace initiatives, regional integration […]

read more

Trump, Iran, and the Foreign Policy of Bluster

Trump, Iran, and the Foreign Policy of Bluster

Referring to the latest crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia, President Trump said that he is not interested in going to war with Iran. I believe him. He has not shown an interest in starting new wars (although he has been quite willing to escalate ongoing ones on occasion). The real problem here, I believe, […]

read more

Development of renewable energy in Africa: continent’s future as the world hub of green economy

Development of renewable energy in Africa: continent’s future as the world hub of green economy

Electricity is an important condition for the reduction of poverty and economic growth. The development of agriculture, education and technology demand sufficient and continuous electricity supply. The situation in Africa is fundamentally different. The shortage of energy significantly impedes the continent’s development. Approximately 70% of Africans don’t have reliable access to electricity. According to the […]

read more

Op-Ed: Why Americans should support the new Iraqi Revolution

Op-Ed: Why Americans should support the new Iraqi Revolution

The Iraqi people want to return their country to its rightful owners.  We should support them in this endeavor.   In recent years, the Iraqi people have suffered immensely under tyrannical regimes.  But now, the Iraqi people have had enough.  They want free elections and they want democratic change.  Furthermore, they are willing to fight as […]

read more

What Israeli foreign policy changes can we expect following the 2019 elections?

What Israeli foreign policy changes can we expect following the 2019 elections?

With 96% of the votes counted, the recent Israeli elections are increasingly looking like the contested 2000 elections in the United States.   Although Benny Gantz’s Blue and White received 33 seats in the Israeli Knesset against Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, who got only 31, it is unclear who will be the next Prime Minister of Israel.  […]

read more

Op-ed: Another Iranian base uncovered in Syria

Op-ed: Another Iranian base uncovered in Syria

The dream of the mullah’s regime in Iran is to establish a Shia Crescent from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea and to dominate the Middle East, if not the world entire. This is why Iran recently targeted the Saudi oil industry. This is why Iran is entrenching itself in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza. This […]

read more

Insecurity in Somalia: Is Mogadishu’s ‘Green Zone’ Part of the Problem?

Insecurity in Somalia: Is Mogadishu’s ‘Green Zone’ Part of the Problem?

Naturally broken nations like Somalia that require intervention from the international community require a safe area where diplomats and other officials representing key governments and organizations could be hosted. Hence Somalia’s heavily guarded “Green Zone”, or Halane as it is commonly known. As a compound dominated by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) soldiers, mostly […]

read more