Concerns over violence Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank 

Photo: An Israeli settlement in the West Bank under construction in 2017 - Ronan Shenhav/Flickr The bloody war between Hamas and Israel has now been going on for more than 5 weeks and there is no end in sight. Reporting on the conflict currently focuses mainly on Gaza. Nevertheless, it is important [...]

Turkey's 'secular decline'

Photo: Statue of Atatürk looks down on a meeting of Erdogan - Wikimedia Commons Last week marked Turkey's 100th birthday. On 29 October 1923, national hero Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey, a secular state built on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. However, the celebrations have been scaled down, leaving many [...]

10 years after Lampedusa: a history that need not be repeated

Ten years ago, two terrible shipwrecks occurred off the island of Lampedusa. At least 368 refugees died during the first shipwreck on 3 October. Just eight days later, during a second disaster, at least 268 more refugees, including 60 children, drowned. The high death toll is not only explained by the [...]

Iraqi political cartel still standing firm

Photo: Iraqi protester during the October Revolution in 2019 - Wikimedia Commons October 1, 2019, marked the starting point of a series of violent protests in Iraq, the largest the country has seen since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The protests followed dissatisfaction with corruption, unemployment and government ineffectiveness. It led to early [...]

Concerns over new Jordanian 'cybercrime' law

Photo: The King of Jordan, Wikimedia Commons On 12 August, Jordan's King Abdullah II approved legislation that puts strong controls on what Jordanians can say and do on the internet. This law, previously passed by the Jordanian parliament and senate, will be officially implemented in a few weeks. [...]