AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Hidden agendas

12 Oct 2023

Cosco on Sunday morning in Medford, Oregon is busy but the warehouse housing the wholesale market occupies is so large it can handle crowds of deal-hungry folk. Wire carts are...

Attack on Israel could change political calculus

08 Oct 2023

After 50 years and a day, Israelis were woken to war. On Saturday, October 7th, Hamas launched an air, land, and sea operation from Gaza into Israel. This was the...

Abundant food

05 Oct 2023

During a recent lecture in Nicosia a prominent archaeologist spoke about the need for his colleagues to collaborate with professionals in a wide range of fields to create a full...

Can Cairo’s City of the Dead come alive?

01 Oct 2023

The Egyptian authorities have paused bulldozing tombs in Cairo’s fabled City of the Dead after protests by public figures, cultural preservationists, tour operators, and global historians. Too little, too late....

Certain catastrophe

28 Sep 2023

In the early hours of Sept.11, Storm Daniel’s downpour burst two fragile Libyan dams. A seven-metre wall of water swept through the centre of Libyan coastal city of Derna, drowning 10,000-20,000...

Assad’s China visit a beginning of a new era of relationship

24 Sep 2023

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s journey to China has achieved far more than deepening close relations between Damascus and Beijing. Having been ostracised and isolated during his country’s civil and proxy...

A mysterious return

21 Sep 2023

US chief negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal Robert Malley disappeared months ago after being mysteriously stripped of security clearance and placed on unpaid leave. Although there has been no...

UN readies for hot-button climate change debate

17 Sep 2023

The UN General Assembly is set to open debate in its 78th session tomorrow. The over ambitious theme of this session is, “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action...

Life in limbo

14 Sep 2023

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has warned that the continuous flow of Syrian refugees into his country threatens the country’s independence and could disrupt its delicate demographic balance. He could...

US’ Kurd policy full of contradictions

10 Sep 2023

Sunni Arab tribesmen have delivered a hard knock to the US-Kurdish project in Syria’s oil hub and resource-rich Deir al-Zor province. The fragile Kurdish-Arab partnership in Deir al-Zor has been...

Michael Jansen

The author, a well-respected observer of Middle East affairs, has three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict.