Ramzy Baroud

The apparently sudden Russian military withdrawal from Syria, starting on 15 March, left political commentators puzzled, but few of the analyses offered should be taken seriously. There is little solid information about why the Russian leader decided to end his country’s military push in Syria. The intervention, which began last September, was enough to change … Continue reading “Federalism Is a Pandora’s Box; if Syria Succumbs to It, Others Will Follow”

A foray of condemnations of the boycott of Israel seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Calls from Western governments, originating from the UK, the US, Canada and others, to criminalize the boycott of Israel have hardly slowed down the momentum of the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). On the contrary, it has … Continue reading “Why BDS Cannot Lose: A Moral Threshold To Combat Racism in Israel”

When Arab streets exploded with fury, from Tunis to Sanaa, pan-Arabism seemed, then, like a nominal notion. Neither did the so-called “Jasmine Revolution” use slogans that affirmed its Arab identity, nor did angry Egyptian youth raise the banner proclaiming Arab unity atop the high buildings adjacent to Tahrir Square. Oddly, the Arabism of the “Arab … Continue reading “‘Plan B’ – Not an Enigma: Why the West Is Keen on Dividing the Arabs”

As US liberals and some leftists are pulling up their sleeves in anticipation of a prolonged battle for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination, the tussle becomes particularly ugly whenever the candidates’ foreign policy agendas are evoked. Of the two main contenders, Hillary Clinton is the obvious target. She is an interventionist, uncompromisingly, and her term … Continue reading “Transcending the Clinton-Sanders Debate: The Middle East in US Foreign Policy”

The Israeli “Right”, as demonstrated by a scary coalition of rightwing nationalists, ultranationalists and religious zealots, deserves all the bad press it has garnered since its formation last May. But none of this should come as a shock, as the “Right” in Israel has never been anything but a coalition of demagogues that catered to … Continue reading “‘Good Labor – Bad Likud’: Dispelling the Myth of ‘Democracy’ Within Israel’s Political Establishment”

It is not true that only three wars have taken place since Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Other wars that were deemed insignificant or "skirmishes" also took place. Operation Returning Echo in March 2012, for example, killed and wounded over 100 people. But since the death toll, relative to … Continue reading “Next Onslaught in Gaza: Why the Status Quo Is a Precursor for War”

By Friday, January 29, Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeq had spent 66-days on hunger strike in Israeli jails. Just before he fell into his third coma, a day earlier, he sent a public message through his lawyers, the gist of which was: freedom or death. Al-Qeq is 33 years of age, married and a father of … Continue reading “The Logic of Hunger Striking Palestinians: When Starvation Is a Weapon”

Whenever Mariam Aljamal’s children hear the sound of thunder at night, they wet their beds. Their reaction is almost instinctive, and is shared by a large number of children throughout the Gaza Strip. Mariam’s three children – Jamal, Lina, and Sarah – were all born a few years after the Gaza siege was first imposed … Continue reading “Gaza Speaks: This Is What the Decade-Long Siege Has Done to Us”

Although intended to inspire his Fatah Party followers, a televised speech by Mahmoud Abbas on the 51st Anniversary of the group’s launch highlighted, instead, the unprecedented crisis that continues to wreak havoc on the Palestinian people. Not only did Abbas sound defensive and lacking in any serious or new initiatives, but his ultimate intention appeared … Continue reading “Palestine After Abbas: The Future of a People at Stake”

When I was a little boy, I used to dream of being reborn outside the hardship of the Refugee Camp in Gaza, in some other time and place where there were no soldiers, no military occupation, no concentration camps and no daily grind – where my father fought for our very survival, and my mother … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Young Muslims Everywhere: The Seed of Triumph in Every Adversity”