AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

America should shed its hatred for Syria

13 Aug 2023

The agreement between the United Nations and the Syrian government to reopen the Bab al-Hawa crossing on Syria’s border with Turkey could deepen the process of Arab normalisation with post-war...

Reluctant First Lady

10 Aug 2023

A reluctant First Lady, Melania Trump has remained aloof from her husband’s third campaign for the US presidency although he announced his re-election bid in mid-November. She finally spoke up...

Lebanon: Anatomy of a nation’s travails

06 Aug 2023

Ahead of the third anniversary on August 4th of the Beirut port blast, Dutch Ambassador Hans Peter Van der Woude, German Ambassador Andreas Kindl, and Australian Ambassador Andrew Barnes...

Loved and loathed

03 Aug 2023

Few musicians who become international stars and celebrities also become authors of change in their homelands. Ireland’s Sinead O’Connor did both in her too short, tragic and tortured life which...

The conflict continues to damage Ukraine

30 Jul 2023

Kyiv’s delayed, slow-moving offensive against the well-fortified Russian front line in eastern Ukraine has given rise to concern that the war is stalemated and conflict could continue until one side...

Biden should scrap idea behind cluster bombs

23 Jul 2023

US President Joe Biden’s delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine is controversial and shameful. He announced that the decision to agree to Ukraine’s demand for cluster bomb shells for its...

Tendentious reporting over humanitarian aid to Idlib

20 Jul 2023

Last week the Western media strove mightily to skew reports of the squabble which initially erupted between Western powers and Russia over the delivery of humanitarian aid to the northern...

Ukraine has lost more than Russia in war

16 Jul 2023

The Ukraine war was meant to be a win-win conflict for all concerned but Russia. It is in fact a lose-lose campaign for those involved. Ukraine is, of course, the...

An invisible existence

13 Jul 2023

The ban on Afghan beauty salons and women’s hairdressers, set to take effect at the end of this month, is the latest tactic in the Taliban’s campaign to erase women...

Financial curbs on Syria must be lifted first

18 Jun 2023

Last week the European Union mounted its seventh conference to raise money for Syria and received pledges of Euros 9.6 billion in grants and loans, half a billion Euros short...

Michael Jansen

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