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Tags: Middle East

Terrorism and Violence in Iraq

Majid Salih, formerly a field monitor for the world food programme in Iraq and currently a graduate student at the University for Peace, explains how his life, family, city, and country have been affected by terrorism and violence. Salih then addresses what he feels are the primary factors motivating terrorist acts and generates a complementary set of “solutions”. This analysis is meant to provide a basis for further research and reflection, and ultimately, to contribute to the reduction of terrorism and violence in Iraq and elsewhere, where enormous damage to life and social progress has already been felt.

Syria’s Civil War: Regional and International Implications

Jehun Alexander Hong discusses the continued escalation of the Syrian civil war in terms of internal, regional, and international power struggles, in the overlapping sectors of ethnic, religious, political, and economic rivalry. Emphasis is placed on the question of chemical weapons and the high number of child casualties, as well as the impacts of the conflict on neighbouring countries, in terms of displaced persons and wider conflict.

Syria, Iran, and Israel: tensions and potential consequences

Independent journalist Atkilt Geleta comments on the UNGA speeches made by Ahmadinejad and Netanyahu and offers some analytical insight on the worsening Syrian crisis and the complex geopolitical structure of alliances and interests that surround it.

Palestine and the International Criminal Court

The Palestinian National Authority’s 2009 declaration under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute to join the ICC presented the international court with an opportunity to implement its Statute and respond to the many UN and other reports of human rights abuses committed in Palestine since 2002. As Mahmoud Abdou argues, the Prosecutor of the ICC’s reaction accomplished precisely the opposite, allowing power politics to further frustrate the realization of justice and accountability in Palestine.

The State of Iraqi Democracy

Ebenezer Agbeko argues that violent sectarian divisions, internal political deadlock, regional insecurity, and the legacy of foreign occupation all work against the emergence of a robust democratic culture in Iraq.

Women in Iraq

This article introduces a gender-framed analysis of the Iraq war and continuing occupation. Through this analysis the author illustrates how the coalition forces’ ignorance of the cultural context within which their actions took place has impeded upon women’s empowerment. By analysing the conflict and occupation within the framework of honour and shame, the further argument is made that, despite the rhetoric of ‘women’s liberation’ used to justify the war, the consequences of the conflict have run contrary to any claim made to emancipate women.

The author concludes that it is only through re-framing our analysis of the Iraqi conflict, with gender at the fore, that we are better able to understand the conflict as a whole. Further that it is only through self-reflection and a concentration on the peaceful empowerment of society as a whole that we are able to counter all forms of violence against women.

Keywords: Gender, Iraq, Insurgency, War on Terrorism, Occupation, Humiliation, Honour and Shame, Self-reflection, Empowerment.