AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Return to the Non-Alignment spirit vital now

04 Jun 2023

The Russo-Ukraine war and risky politico-economic competition between the US and China have made a pro-active return to Non-Alignment all the more necessary at this time of nuclear peril. Russia,...

Arab astronauts

01 Jun 2023

Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi is the first Muslim, Arab woman to be blasted into space and join the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the earth. Barnawi, 33,...

Zelensky wanted to ‘breach’ US pact not to attack Russia

28 May 2023

Among the dozens of classified US intelligence documents leaked on the Discord messaging platform by Massachusetts national guardsman Jack Teixeira were reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks to breach...

The return home

25 May 2023

When Arab foreign ministers met on May 7 to lift Syria’s suspension from the Arab League, they called for a “voluntary and safe return of refugees [as] an urgent priority”...

In Japan’s peace haven, G7 leaders talk war

21 May 2023

Last week saw three summits with contradictory agendas: war making, defence and peace making. The summit of the Group of Seven major industrialised countries (G7) focused on war and sanctions...

Catastrophic loss

18 May 2023

As Palestinians prepared to mark al-Nakba Day on May 15, the catastrophic loss of their homeland in 1948, the Israeli military launched against Gaza a surprise air campaign, which it...

UN observes Nakba Day in landmark move

14 May 2023

For the first time in Israel’s 75-year history, today is being marked by the United Nations as “Nakba Day,” the anniversary of the catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinian people by...

Too close to call

11 May 2023

Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary election could decide whether that vast country continues along the Ottoman path decreed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been in charge since 2003 or reverts...

Syria ends long isolation, back in the Arab fold

07 May 2023

The US is clearly disturbed by the rapid pace of reconciliation following the March 10th China-mediated agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen embassies closed since 2016. This has...

Rediscovering traditions

04 May 2023

Despite war and sanctions Heike Weber, a septuagenarian German woman, carries on with her mission to preserve the embroideries of Syria and Palestine. This effort preserves these countries’ cultural heritage...

Michael Jansen

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