MESOPOTAMIA NEWS “FARCE!” : Russia, Iran congratulate Syria’s Assad on election win

Rudaw  28 May 2021 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Russia’s president and Iran’s foreign ministry offered their congratulations to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad on his re-election as president in a vote that Western governments called “neither free nor fair.”
Assad won the election with 95.1 percent of the vote, according to state media SANA.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a congratulatory telegram to his ally Assad, said the result confirmed “the trust your fellow citizens have for the policy pursued under your leadership towards stabilizing the situation in Syria as quickly as possible and strengthening its state institutions.”

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS EXCLUSIVE Turkey pushed NATO allies into softening outrage over Belarus plane, diplomats say

Humeyra Pamuk –  Robin Emmott – REUTERS – 28 May 2021

Turkey pushed NATO allies into watering down an official reaction to the forced landing by Belarus of a passenger plane and the detention of a dissident journalist on Sunday, two diplomats familiar with the matter told Reuters.

NATO’s 30 allies released a two-paragraph statement on Wednesday condemning the forcing down of a Ryanair flight to arrest journalist Roman Protasevich but did not include any punitive steps that Baltic allies and Poland had pressed for.

The statement was also less strident than NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s public remarks. He called the incident a “state hijacking” and “outrageous”.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS WAR ON THE ROCKS – Israel fears Hamas, Hezbollah coordinating attacks

The IDF worries about the simultaneous speeches this week of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas Gaza commander Yahya Sinwar, as both groups could launch simultaneous and coordinated attacks against Israel

Ben Caspit May 28, 2021 – AL MONITOR – Israeli media described the two-hour address delivered May 25 by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah as the “coughing speech.” Right after the televised speech, Israel’s Military Intelligence issued an assessment that Nasrallah, who had not been seen in public for weeks, appears to have contracted the coronavirus but refuses to take a test. Nasrallah, who appeared thin and pale, obviously had trouble breathing as he coughed his way through the speech, and his medical condition overshadowed its more interesting contents.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Why EU falls behind US on Palestine-Israel issue / The EU has long played an active role in seeking an end to Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. Why has it lost this role?

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell holds a press conference

Shada IslamNazlan Ertan – AL MONITOR  May 27, 2021 – BRUSSELS — The European Union was once viewed as an important and credible actor in the Middle East, even a potential counterweight to the United States. No longer. During the recent upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence, the 27-member bloc has come across as little more than a passive bystander, distracted by deepening internal divisions and out of touch with both the changed power dynamics in the region and an emerging rights-focused policy discourse in Washington.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS QUESTIONS : Hamas gains support, little else in battle with Israel

Many Gazans are now questioning what they first celebrated as a victory for Hamas.

Palestinian supporters wave to members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, during a military parade in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2021. –

Rasha Abou Jalal May 28, 2021 – AL MONITOR – GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — With the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel holding amid international efforts and Egyptian brokerage, many Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the resistance’s victory against Israel, but now they are wondering what Hamas actually gained.

Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip started May 10 in response to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad firing hundreds of rockets toward Israel in the wake of the Israeli police raiding Al-Aqsa Mosque and working to displace the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : DER ANDERE BLICK AUF ROTE TALIBAN – Mit Intoleranz bekämpft man keine Vorurteile – Wie Identitätspolitik Geschichte verfälscht

„Es ist daher keine Übertreibung zu sagen, dass der Staat Israel seine Existenz dem britischen Kolonialismus verdankt „ (DAN DINER)

 

–  Eric Gujer  NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG –  28 Mai 2021  – Es rollt eine Säuberungswelle. Was an der Vergangenheit stört, soll verschwinden oder umgedeutet werden. Der Historiker Dan Diner zeigt jedoch, warum Geschichte kein Gerichtshof ist.

Neuerdings herrscht wieder Waschzwang. In Berlin soll die Mohrenstrasse umbenannt werden, in Zürich das Haus «Zum Mohrenkopf». In England erregen Statuen von Winston Churchill, dem letzten Helden des British Empire, Anstoss. Mit der ehrenwerten Absicht, Kolonialismus und Rassismus aufzuarbeiten, soll Geschichte umgeschrieben werden.

Aber es sind gerade die moralisch am besten legitimierten Absichten, welche die schlimmsten Nebenfolgen hervorbringen. Historisch betrachtet ist es vom Glauben an die gerechte Sache bis zum Fanatismus nur ein kurzer Weg.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEW IN PROGRESS : DOWN-GOING WOKE WEST !

 
Amid the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban has negotiated takeovers of at least twenty-six of the Afghan government forces’ bases and outposts since May 1, often offering to spare lives in exchange for surrender, the New York Times reports.
 
The takeovers happened in four provinces. Four occurred at district centers that previously housed local officials. In recent weeks, six thousand families have fled their homes (VOA) due to heavy fighting between the Taliban and government forces, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s refugee agency said. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jens Stoltenberg told the Associated Press that the alliance will continue to provide civilian advice to Afghan ministers, funds for security forces, and support for ongoing peace talks. A Taliban statement today warned of consequences (TOLOnews) if the United States maintains a military presence in the region, especially in Pakistan.  
Analysis
“A big test is coming on the battlefield in Afghanistan. It will be decided by Afghans. But through rapid, highly visible actions, the United States and its partners can still do what they can to shore up Afghan morale and leadership—and to convince the Taliban to negotiate,” James Cunningham, Ronald E. Neumann, Hugo Llorens, Earl Anthony Wayne, and Richard Olson write for the Atlantic Council.  

“The United States might be closing the military chapter of its relationship with Afghanistan, but it cannot close the book altogether—especially after helping Afghan women and youth to connect with the world and internalize the value of democracy and the possibility of choosing their future,” the New York University Center for Global Affairs’ Rina Amiri writes for Foreign Affairs.

This Backgrounder looks at the Taliban in Afghanistan.

MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : ISRELI ARABS SHOULD LOOSE CITZENSHIP

Israeli Arabs Crossed a Red Line

By Dr. Yechiel Shabiy May 28, 2021pp BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,055, May 28, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The widespread riots initiated during Operation Guardian of the Walls by Israeli Arabs in support of Hamas—riots that took place while the terror organization was raining thousands of missiles down on the Jewish state, which it seeks to destroy—were a major escalation in their relations with the country’s Jewish majority. This is a serious development, and one that must not be ignored by the Israeli government. Anyone who identifies with Israel’s enemies at any time, let alone in wartime, should no longer be considered a citizen of the country and forfeit the right to benefit from its advantages.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS ANALYSIS : IRAQI MILITIAS TRY, AND FAIL, TO INTIMIDATE THE GOVERNMENT

by Michael Knights PolicyWatch 3492 May 27, 2021

Baghdad effectively enforced the rule of law by detaining a senior militia figure, though it still needs to arrest other murder suspects and show the public that October’s election will be safe.

On May 26, Iraqi authorities arrested militia commander Qasim Muslih in connection with the May 9 assassination of protest leader Ehab al-Wazni. Muslih is a leading figure in Iran’s effort to control the Iraq-Syria border through its Iraqi militia proxies, working closely with Kataib Hezbollah (KH), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and the top militia in Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Upon his arrest, he was transferred to the Iraqi military headquarters at Joint Operations Command-Iraq, a Baghdad site that is particularly secure against militias because it also houses the main coalition and NATO presence.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS INSIGHT :  PALESTINIAN POLITICS ARE MORE DIVIDED THAN EVER

by Ghaith al-Omari  – World Politics Review May 27, 2021

Fatah and Hamas have tried every conceivable power-sharing mechanism to no avail, and many Palestinians now feel alienated from both brands of authoritarianism.

The cease-fire that entered into force last Friday brought an end to 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas, leaving behind at least 248 Palestinian and 12 Israeli dead, as well as untold destruction in Gaza. Yet even as the fragile truce is holding thus far, the power struggle between the two largest Palestinian parties—Hamas and its rival, Fatah—seems poised to only intensify.

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