AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

The spy who tried to stop a war

19 Sep 2019

In early 2003, Katherine Gun, an unknown Mandarin Chinese translator with British intelligence, tried to foil the US-UK conspiracy to wage their disastrous war on Iraq. Last week, a film, entitled Official...

Sacked Bolton wanted war, not peace, in Afghanistan

15 Sep 2019

Donald Trump’s summary firing of National Security adviser John Bolton was hardly surprising. Bolton’s dismissal followed Trump’s cancellation of his meeting with the Taliban at the US presidential retreat at...

Trump's empty promises

12 Sep 2019

Donald Trump’s decision to call off negotiations and a covert face-to-face meeting with the Taliban demonstrated, once again, that he is a loose cannon on the international scene. Trump had...

Trump’s sanctions on Iran are connected with Israel

08 Sep 2019

Washington has missed multiple opportunities to improve relations or reconcile with Iran since the 1979 Iranian “revolution”that toppled the Shah, a longstanding US ally. The latest occupant of the White...

Preserving dignity

05 Sep 2019

Trump-administration driven Western sanctions are blocking the massive reconstruction aid and investment Syria needs to rebuild. Syrians refer to the present phase of the conflict gripping their country as “economic...

UAE presence in Syrian fair boosts Arab ties

01 Sep 2019

Syrians enthusiastically received the Emirati and Omani delegations to the Damascus International Fair which opened on August 28th. The sight of white thobes and kuffiyeh and agal and Omani turbans...

Egypt in the West

29 Aug 2019

Fatima Said made her singing debut at 14 at the Cairo Opera House and had progressed to become the first Egyptian soprano to win a scholarship to study at the...

Vladimir Putin has begun to reel in Tayyip Erdogan

25 Aug 2019

Moscow last week demonstrated that Russia is unwilling to tolerate Turkey’s efforts to sabotage Syria’s repeatedly postponed campaign to recapture the country’s north-western Idlib province from al-Qaeda and its allies....

America's new squad makes waves

22 Aug 2019

Four high-profile freshmen members of Congress, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, dubbed the “Squad,” are making waves in Washington and rocking the status quo boat. They...

Israel ban makes Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar heroes

18 Aug 2019

Israel’s ban on the entry to Palestine of two US Muslim Congresswomen should wake the world to the urgent need for independent entry and exit channels for both visitors to...

Michael Jansen

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