A Tender Kiss in the Desert

قبلة رقيقة في الصحراء

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#LGBT’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa

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Homosexuality in the Middle East and North Africa: A Grim Situation with Rays of Hope »

France Urges Arab Nations to Prevent Boycotts over Macron's Cartoons Defence

BBC: France has urged Middle Eastern countries to prevent any boycott of its goods in protest at President Emmanuel Macron's defence of the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The French foreign ministry said the "baseless" calls for a boycott were being "pushed by a radical minority".

French products have been removed from some shops in Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.

Meanwhile, protests have been seen in Libya, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

The backlash stems from comments made by Mr Macron after the gruesome murder of a French teacher who showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class.

The president said the teacher, Samuel Paty, "was killed because Islamists want our future", but France would "not give up our cartoons". » | Sunday, October 25, 2020

Is Russia the New Power Broker in the Middle East? Inside Story

Russia and Turkey reach deal on northern Syria after US brokered ceasefire expired.

Russia and Turkey are on opposite sides of the war in Syria. Moscow backs the Syrian president, while Ankara supports opposition rebels who want to remove Bashar Al Assad. However, the two sides have been working more closely in recent months.

On Tuesday, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave Kurdish fighters six days to retreat from the Syrian-Turkish border. They reached the agreement just before the end of a US-brokered ceasefire that halted Turkey's military offensive in the region.

As Washington pulls back from the region, is Russia becoming the new power-broker? And what are the implications for the wider Middle East?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra | Guests: Yusuf Alabarda - Retired Colonel of the Turkish Armed Forces; Pavel Felgenhauer - Russian Defence and Military Analyst; Samuel Ramani - Researcher at Oxford University and a member of the Valdai Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum

Exclusive: 'The Middle East Does Not Need Another War' Says Iraqi President

The president of Iraq, Barham Salih, tells Sky News about his fears over heightening tensions between America and Iran.

Old Grudges, New Weapons… Is the US on the Brink of War with Iran?

THE OBSERVER: While American hawks talk up an ‘imminent’ threat from Tehran with no hard evidence, echoing the start of the Iraq conflict, hardliners are in the ascendant in Iran

For better or worse, America remains the world’s leading military superpower. In Washington last week, a familiar row erupted over how best that power should be used. Past targets have included Soviet Russia, al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Today the international bogeyman topping the White House’s to-do list is Iran.

Once again the US is in the process of deciding whether to go to war. As always, it is a tangled, messy and dishonest business. On one side, favouring punitive action, stand the Iran hawks. They include neoconservative retreads such as John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, who championed the 2003 Iraq invasion; Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director and Christian evangelical who heads the state department; and Mike Pence, the ascetic US vice-president.

On the other side, opposing escalation, stand Democratic party leaders in Congress and a clutch of presidential hopefuls; sceptical Pentagon generals and security agency officials who trust Bolton as far as they can toss an IED; a majority of Washington’s more important allies in the EU and Nato; and China and Russia, which oppose American global power-plays on principle. » | Simon Tisdall | Saturday, May 18, 2019

What Shapes US Foreign Policy in the Middle East? | Inside Story

Qatar hosts a two-day conference on US policy and the Gulf crisis. From the crisis in the Gulf to the war in Syria, the decisions made in Washington have long-lasting consequences.

US president Donald Trump has taken a 'hands-off' approach to foreign policy while pushing his 'America First' strategy. He has long promised to find a solution to the conflict in Palestine with what he calls the 'deal of the century'. But there hasn't been much detail on what that deal contains.

Now, with an election year coming up in the US, and an ever-changing political dynamic in the Middle East, what will be America's policy in the region? And are we heading towards more uncertainty?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie | Guests: Mahmoud Jabara - Visiting Lecturer, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Seyed Mohammad Marandi - Dean at the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran; Omar Ayasra - Researcher in Religious Sociology and Political Transformation; Mohammed Cherkaoui - Senior Fellow, Al Jazeera Centre For Studies

Andrew Bacevich: The US-Saudi Relationship Is a Principal Source of Instability in the Middle East

We look at a number of recent developments in U.S.-Saudi relations, a day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for retired four-star general John Abizaid to become U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. On Monday, the Trump administration gave a private briefing to senators on the investigation into the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. Senators slammed the briefing for providing no new information. Meanwhile, The New York Times has revealed new details about the jailing and torture of a doctor with U.S. citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Walid Fitaihi is a Harvard-trained doctor who has been jailed without charge since 2017. We speak with Andrew Bacevich, a retired colonel and Vietnam War veteran, author and professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University, and William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.

What Impact Will Khashoggi's Murder Have on the Middle East? l Inside Story

Saudi Arabia is under mounting pressure to explain exactly what happened at its consulate in Istanbul when Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi - a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman - was murdered.

It’s reported that evidence links the killing directly to the Crown Prince's office, a charge Riyadh denies.

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis says that the case threatens the stability of the entire Middle East, and that Washington is ready to take more action against those responsible.

Visa bans are already in place for 21 suspects. Turkey wants the suspects extradited from Saudi Arabia but the Kingdom's Foreign Minister says they will be investigated and prosecuted where they are.

Presenter: Imran Khan | Guests: Majed Al-Ansari, professor of political science at Qatar University; Shafeeq Ghabra, professor of political science at Kuwait University; Hillary Mann-Leverett, former U.S. state department and White House official

Jamal Elshayyal: Response to Khashoggi’s Death Will Determine Future of Saudi Arabia & Middle East

New details have emerged in the disappearance and probable death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was reportedly still alive when his body was dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago. A Turkish source says it took Khashoggi seven minutes to die. The New York Times reports four of the 15 Saudi men implicated in the killing are directly linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s security detail. We speak with Jamal Elshayyal, an international award-winning senior correspondent for Al Jazeera. He wrote a piece for the Middle East Eye last year titled “The rise of Mohammed bin Salman: Alarm bells should be ringing.”

Donald Trump Sparks Protests across the Middle East

Jerusalem is a hotspot of conflict and controversy. It doesn't take much inflame tensions in such a disputed city, and that's exactly what happened when President Donald Trump officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital city. The move sparked waves of protest throughout the Middle East, but none was as violent as at the epicentre.

Yanis Varoufakis on Lost US Credibility in Middle East, from Iran Deal to Israel Embassy Move

Middle East Forecast: More Turbulence Expected

Trump | A Year of Unclear Middle East Policy

Saturday will mark one year since Donald Trump took the oath of office, becoming the 45th president of the United States.

Under Trump, the US' Middle East policy has witnessed some highly controversial decisions. One year in, what this administration thinks its policies in the region will ultimately achieve remains unclear.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr looks at how his presidency has impacted the Middle East.

The Middle East's Cold War, Explained

How two feuding countries are tearing apart the Middle East.

Inside Story - Does the EU Have a Rôle in the Middle East?

There have been widespread protests and condemnation since the US announced its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. As activists around the world take to the streets in anger, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his own tour to change minds. He is hoping to convince European leaders to follow the policy of US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu met EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. The Israeli leader is also expected to open the issue of the Iran nuclear deal. Most EU members have expressed alarm over Trump's decision on Jerusalem.

EU leaders say they want Netanyahu to resume meaningful negotiations with Palestinians. But as European and US policies towards the Middle East diverge, what options does Brussels really have?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan | Guests: Ali Fathollah-Nejad - Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Center; Robbie Sable - Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; James Moran - Associate Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy.

Tariq Ramadan: The US & Allies Are Destabilizing the Middle East & Selling Arms to All Sides

Extended web-only interview with Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan about U.S. arms trade, the so-called "democratization" of the Middle East and much more. Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. Ramadan was named by Time Magazine as one of the most important innovators of the twenty-first century. In 2004, Tariq Ramadan accepted a job at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and Time magazine listed him among the top 100 thinkers in the world. But nine days before Ramadan was set to start teaching here in the United States, the Bush administration revoked his visa, invoking a provision of the PATRIOT Act that allows the government to deny entry to non-citizens who "endorse or espouse terrorism."

Part 1 »

The Middle East's Cold War, Explained

How two feuding countries are tearing apart the Middle East.

Forbidden Talk: The LGBT Community In the Middle East

Description Recently pride marches were cancelled in Turkey due to threats from ultra-nationalists and this August, Iran plans to hold a conference to discuss Islamic Human Rights principles which will exclude LGBT rights...which begs the question, is the LGBT community at greater risk now than ever before, in the region?

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Forbidden Talk - Homosexuality in the Middle East (2014)

Homosexuality in the Middle East remains a highly controversial issue. We discuss what being gay means for people from the region, whether they believe it is compatible with religion, and if there could be a change in people's attitude in the near future.