AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Unprecedented times

22 May 2020

For the first time in the 1400 year history of the Faith, Islam’s three holiest mosques in Makkah, Medina, and al-Quds have been closed for Ramadan and public prayers are set...

Pandemic calls for a humane US approach

17 May 2020

The use of punitive sanctions to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran to capitulate to Trump administration demands has failed miserably. Iran not only refuses to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal...

Misdeeds, lies and refusals

15 May 2020

Dissident writer George Packer has, once again, stirred controversy in the US by reverting to his contention that the US is a failed state. This, he argues in The Atlantic...

Daesh exploits COVID-19 to mount more attacks

10 May 2020

Daesh is exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the coronavirus to regroup, recoup, and mount frequent attacks in Iraq and Syria. Daesh’s leadership has announced a “Ramadan offensive” and urged fighters...

Too little too soon

09 May 2020

Scientists believe Covid-19 could be with us for long time. So far, the coronavirus has infected 3.5 million and killed more than 350,000 around the world. While data experts have...

Lebanese will die of hunger if there is no bailout

03 May 2020

After four days of violent confrontations between Lebanese soldiers and civilians protesting the government’s failure to tackle the country’s economic collapse, Beirut finally adopted an economic rescue plan. ...

Double X, No Why

30 Apr 2020

The globe’s few female national leaders have tackled the coronavirus crisis more effectively and efficiently than many of their far more numerous male counterparts. Although women are the chief executives in only...

Lebanon’s COVID-19 fight is laudable

26 Apr 2020

Lebanon has, so far, successfully managed the coronavirus invasion. According to the latest count, at least 704 Lebanese have been infected by the virus, two dozen have died, and 143...

The buck stops here

23 Apr 2020

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is the nemesis and antithesis of the current occupant of the White House Donald Trump. Cuomo haunts Trump’s waking and sleeping hours because Cuomo adopts...

Erdogan faces huge domestic challenges

21 Apr 2020

While the globe is preoccupied with the coronavirus and economic meltdown, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pursuing his neo-Ottoman ambitions by projecting his country’s power on two fronts in...

Michael Jansen

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