A nearly unknown businessman named Khaled al Ahmad became Damascus’ secret liaison to the West and has quietly been dealing Syria’s grinding war to a close, reports Rhania Khalek.
The Mystery Fixer Who is Negotiating an End to the Syrian War
Category: Middle East
Gaza Flotilla Ship Al Awda Violently Seized by Israelis; USS Liberty Survivor Amongst Those Captured
UPDATED: Israeli forces have violently boarded a ship, being followed by Consortium News, that was headed to Gaza bringing humanitarian aid. A survivor of the USS Liberty is now in Israeli custody.
Ahed Tamimi and Her Mother are Freed from Jail
Ahed Tamimi and her mother were freed from prison on Sunday. Ray McGovern looks back on when he met the Tamimi family last year in their West Bank village and reflects on the spirit that drives them.
The World According to Ben Rhodes: Hypocrisy in Obama’s Foreign Policy
In a new book Obama’s deputy national security adviser opens up about Pentagon interference in policy, Obama’s political calculations and his own ignorance of the Middle East, as As’ad AbuKhalil explains in this review.
The ‘White Helmets’ Controversy
FROM THE ARCHIVES: As Israel in the past few days helped evacuate 800 “White Helmets” from Syria, en route to Britain and other Western countries, we look back at an article published by Consortium News in Oct. 2016.
Meanwhile, About Those Other Issues at the Summit
They actually held a Russian-American summit in Helsinki on Monday to talk about life and death issues, though you wouldn’t know it from the corporate media. Alexander Mercouris explores some of those other issues.
Israel Bulldozes Khan Al Ahmar and Buries the Two-State Solution
In the midst of tepid Western criticism, Israel is finally realizing its decades-old goal of splitting the West Bank in two, while putting an end to the fiction of a two-state solution, observes Jonathan Cook.
USS Liberty Survivor Named US Delegate on Gaza Flotilla
A survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 U.S. sailors has joined the Freedom Flotilla headed towards Gaza, as Joe Lauria reports.
Supreme Court Ignored International Law in Upholding Muslim Ban
The Supreme Court majority ignored two treaties and customary law in upholding Donald Trump’s latest travel ban, which the president himself said targeted Muslims, reports Marjorie Cohn.
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, seen by some in the West as a giant of Arab and Muslim scholarship, left behind a legacy of falsehoods and politically-motivated distortions, as As’ad AbuKhalil explains.