For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.
Israel
Tracking the trackers: the cyber snoops working in Australia
Companies that have provided surveillance equipment to some of the world’s worst régimes are operating in Australia
Gazing into the bloodied crystal ball: the wars of 2012
What conflicts are likely to escalate this year, with potentially devastating ramifications? Crisis in Syria, Iran/Israel and Afghanistan are at the top of the list, writes Louise Arbour.
Remember, Tehran’s nuclear ambiguity was learnt from Israel
Iran is under a greater level of scrutiny for ten years of nuclear weapons development than Israel has been for possessing them for over 40 years, argues NAJ Taylor.
Strange bedfellows: new nexus between Israel and far Right
This is an extract from an essay in On Utøya: Anders Breivik, right terror, racism and Europe.
Obama’s best strategy for the Middle East? Do nothing
Those pushing Barack Obama to act on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking should quiet down and remember there is little or nothing he can do. Obama’s top priority needs to be re-election, writes Aaron David Miller.
Palestine’s UN bin: a time of great opportunity
The longstanding situation between Palestine and Israel has become untenable, but Palestine’s bid to join the United Nations may turn a crisis into an opportunity, writes James L. Richardson.
Palestinians, Israelis targets of settler violence in lead-up to UN vote
In the lead-up to the United Nations vote on the recognition of Palestinian statehood, there is an overwhelming sense, in Israel and Palestine, of uncertainty, writes freelancer Nigel O’Connor.
Israel’s leaders have more doubts about democracy
It’s reported today that, as expected, a range of Israeli civil rights organisation’s will file legal challenges against that country’s new law against boycotts.
Guy Rundle: Extreme, maybe, but how much can the Greens stand for?
The ethical core of Green politics is that collectively and democratically, people should have control over those parts of human existence that are intrinsically shared and universal.
Political snippets: Richard Farmer’s chunky bits: Ordinary folk ignored by foreign affairs
Australians think that the government paid too little attention to the opinions of ordinary people when making foreign policy, according to the last annual Lowy Institute survey.
Chewing up the Greens — the Israel boycott backlash
The Greens have been labelled, in media and political discourse, as “extremists” for the NSW arm’s position on BDS. But how reasonable and representative is the mainstream debate on this issue, asks Associate Professor Jake Lynch?
Rundle: what’s with Galliano, Gibson ‘n’ Sheen’s anti-Semitism?
How to explain the insistent and free-floating nature of contemporary anti-semitism, the manner in which it ceaselessly returns, attached to very little or nothing at all?
Guy Rundle: Rundle: Libya success or failure depends on constellation of forces
The Libyan revolution has proved to be the final death of the bizarre era of Western narcissism and projection of power.
It’s all about Israel, and other Arabian tales from the Right
The Egyptian revolution has sent conservatives into a spin. Fortunately everything makes sense when viewed through Israeli eyes.
Does Israel believe that Egypt deserves democracy?
Truly free speech in the Arab world threatens Israel because a wide diversity of views will be more loudly heard and necessarily incorporated into the political mainstream, writes Antony Loewenstein.
Why the Palestine Papers matter to the peace process
Why do al-Jazeera’s Palestine Papers matter so much? Well, because they puncture the central fictions upon which the so-called peace process has always depended.
The Al Jazeera leaks that will bury the Middle East peace process
Al Jazeera’s Palestine Papers seriously damage the Palestinian Authority — but also wreck Israel’s long-running tactic of blaming the Palestinians.
The Palestine Papers: inside the peace process
Secret Palestinian documents reveal insights into Israel-Palestine peace meetings, including news that Palestinian negotiators would concede all but one of the East Jerusalem contested settlements. Al-Jazeera and The Guardian share the scoop.
Funding illegal Israeli settlements?
Priceless.
Visa, Mastercard and PayPal have all blacklisted Wikileaks, but they enable donations to West Bank settlements that breach both international and in some cases Israeli law - and worse.
Howes on being a ‘critical friend of Israel’ and union embrace of boycott
The Middle East “quagmire” is largely “the fault of Israel”, according to Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union (AWU).
Teary Helen Thomas slams Obama
Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas breaks down on radio discussing how president Obama agreed with her resigning over controversial comments over Israel. “You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive,” says Thomas.
