26 August 2020

‘People of the Cave’: Palestinians Take Their Fight for Justice to the Mountains

Amarneh family in cave

[Photo: The Amarneh family via Twitter]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note
Ethnic cleansing is a polite euphemism for genocide, and genocide has been illegal under international law since 1948 and the ratification of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide. Further, genocide includes the eradication of a people’s culture as well as themselves. The ongoing targeted destruction of Palestinian and Bedouin homes, villages, farms, and orchards, and the forced removal of the residents are at the very least cultural genocide.

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6 June 2020

Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’: Israel’s China Strategy in Peril

US, China, and the new Cold War cartoon

[Graphic: US, China, and Cold War. Paresh Nath, U.T., Independent India.]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note
The U.S. has been a great friend to Israel; blocking moves against it in the UN Security Council, providing billions in (mostly military) aid; weapons development aid, and loan guarantees. Most of that money has been in the form of grants, not loans. Whether loan guarantees are to cover other (military?) purchases I cannot discern. An excellent tracing of these money flows is consolidated at The Jewish Virtual Library.

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23 March 2020

Death at the Greek Border: Syrian Refugees Should Not Be Used as Political Pawns

Syrian refugees denied cartoon

[Graphic: “Denied” by Amykins, Pixabay.]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note
In 2010, a year before the Syrian Civil War began, the population of Syria was 21,362,529. Now it is 17,500,658. The state of that population is far different than it was in 2010, and includes over 6.1 million people who are internally displaced – over one-third of the population. Another 6.7 million Syrians have fled Syria (UNHCR). As of March 2020, it is estimated that somewhere between 384,000 and 586,100 Syrians have died in the war; that includes an estimated 22,705 children (SOHR). Though the conditions for refugees has been poor throughout this period, they are reaching new lows with rising anti-immigrant policies across Europe, the U.S. withdrawing from Syrian and Iraq, and Turkey’s military initiatives inside Syria while locking the border. Now many of the refugees are pawns in politically sadistic game.

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31 January 2020

Pipeline or a Pipedream: Israel, Turkey Hydrocarbon Conflict is Brewing in the Mediterranean

Israel's Levantine gas fields

[Graphic: Israel’s Offshore Gas Fields. (Middle East Eye)]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note
Is peace in the world possible as long as we continue to demand fossil fuels? It is hard to imagine a broader corruption of our lives and our planets than has arisen around fossil fuels, particularly petroleum derivatives. The U’wa of Colombia believe oil is the blood of Mother Earth, and they have a sacred charge to protect their land and the oil. How far most of us are from the reverence of the U’wa and the balance of nature they preserve. In a world where everything is commodified, and a global economy has been rooted in oil (and now natural gas), those who control it control the world. This brings a level of greed and corruption that has decimated the planet, displaced hundreds of millions of people, and killed millions more. We are constantly distracted from the true costs of fossil fuels, and flags are waved in our faces to make fighting for oil companies “patriotic” and “fighting for our way of life”. Oh, how I wish that we would be told what “our way of life” means.

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23 January 2020

These Chains Will Be Broken

book cover Baroud

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note
I am honored to help launch Ramzy Baroud’s latest book, These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons.  Dr. Baroud has been a steady voice speaking out for Palestinians, with his personal experiences providing humanity to an issue that too often becomes depersonalized. In this book, Baroud elevates the voices of others who have struggled with captivity within captivity though the voices of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. This is a book that speaks to resistance and courage, at once a documentation of grim reality and a model of humanity and dignity.

“Ramzy Baroud’s book of Palestinian prisoners’ stories is a remarkable work. With each story, there is a roll-call of the best of humanity: courage, struggle, determination, generosity, passion, humility and, above all, defiance of injustice. Everyone, especially those of us in the West subjected to unerring propaganda, should read this searing and beautiful book. Then understand all over again that peace and justice are not possible in the world until the Palestinians are free.” JOHN PILGER

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