AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Gold getter

17 Feb 2022

Gold medal skier Gu Ailing, a San Francisco-born 18-year-old Stanford university student, has attracted both praise and criticism as she represents China rather than the US at the Winter Olympics...

Most Americans feel Biden should keep out of Ukraine

13 Feb 2022

The over-hyped Ukraine crisis could be resolved with one simple word: neutrality. If Ukraine were to choose neutrality over Nato and the Western powers were to agree on inclusive Europe-wide...

Controversies, covid and consternation

10 Feb 2022

Last Friday’s splendid opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games, which coincide with the Chinese New Year symbolised by the tiger, launched 16 days of events that are gripping...

Operation against Qurayshi a good PR exercise for Biden

06 Feb 2022

US President Joe Biden hailed the demise of Daesh leader Abu Ibrahim Al Qurayshi during a US commando raid in Syria’s north-western Idlib province as a major victory in the...

Dire conditions

03 Feb 2022

The Daesh attack that sparked the uprising by detainees at the Ghwayran Kurdish-run prison in the northern Syrian city of Hasakeh has reminded the world of catastrophic conditions suffered by...

Syria has to extricate itself from warfare

30 Jan 2022

The attacks on an army post in north-eastern Iraq and the Kurdish prison in Hasaka in northern Syria appear to mark the resurgence of Daesh in the countries where the...

Off the radar

27 Jan 2022

Deprived of the presidency by an election he still claims was fraudulent, citizen Donald Trump plays golf with visitors from Washington and members at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach,...

Joe Biden’s policies badly dent his popularity

23 Jan 2022

US President Joe Biden’s grades on his one-year report card are mixed but his approval rating has fallen from 56 per cent at his inauguration in January 2021 to 41...

A firm stance

20 Jan 2022

More than 40 film stars have supported Harry Potter actress Emma Watson after she was sharply rebuked by Israeli officials for expressing solidarity with Palestinians on social media. The British...

Game over for Novak’s anti-vaccine serve

16 Jan 2022

Three Federal Court judges put an end to a two-week media feast by cancelling a visa for Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic who had set his cap at winning another...

Michael Jansen

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