Z Needs Your Help!
This week it looked much more as if Iran and the powerful European states, aside from Russia, which is already in the Iranian corner, were presenting a common front against the US in defence of the nuclear deal
Patrick Cockburn
Patrick Cockburn is an award-winning Independent columnist who specialises in analysis of Iraq, Syria and wars in the Middle East. In 2014 he forecast the rise of Isis. He also did graduate work at the Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University Belfast and has written about the effects of the Troubles on Irish and British policy in light of his experience.
Israel is flexing its muscles as the expected end of the Syrian conflict changes the political and military balance of power in the region
A vacuum of information is created which, at a moment of intense international interest, is going to be filled with dubious stories from partisan sources
Bloody suppression of demonstrators could turn other countries against Iran and fatally undermine the nuclear deal
The new area of instability in the Middle East today is further south in the Arabian Peninsula – the war in Yemen is now the bloodiest and cruellest in the region
Britain is a minor player in Syria and the major player in Northern Ireland, but makes similar mistakes in both places
Other states in the Middle East are coming to recognise that there are winners and losers, and have no wish to be on the losing side
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation represent failed states with neither morality nor courage to show for their presence at the Istanbul summit
The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will make it easier for Tehran to call for all Muslims, Shia and Sunni, to stand together in defence of the Palestinians and the holy sites
The city where three religions collide, and violence is never far away