AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

A problematic figure

23 Jun 2022

As expected, Britain’s hard-line Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition to the US of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange where he would face trial on 17 charges which could inflict...

US has imposed divide-and-rule system on Iraq

19 Jun 2022

It is ironic that both the US, which claims to be the world’s first democracy, and Iraq face political deadlock nearly two decades after the George W. Bush administration invaded,...

Help or hinder

16 Jun 2022

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is struggling to regain popularity ahead of the coming presidential election which is particularly consequential as it is set to take place during the year...

Majority of US voters support the deal with Iran

12 Jun 2022

US presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to return to the 2015 agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. Instead, President Biden sticks to the dangerous and destructive...

New records

09 Jun 2022

Eight women were elected to Lebanon’s 128-member parliament on May 15, two more than in 2018 when a record six women broke through the financial, cultural and social barriers to...

Biden has to overcome key policy hurdles

05 Jun 2022

US President Joe Biden faces multiple challenges which he cannot hope to overcome before either the mid-term legislative elections in November and the presidential and Congressional polls in 2024. ...

A grave injustice

02 Jun 2022

In life Shireen Abu Akleh was a highly respected reporter and courageous role model for Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation; in death she has become an icon for journalists and...

32 years of provocation led to Ukraine ‘invasion’

29 May 2022

News has been transformed by the Ukraine war into propaganda. All but a tiny minority of marginal Western media have become captive to events in Ukraine and since Western news...

Food for thought

26 May 2022

“Doing well by doing good,” has become the motto of Souk El-Tayeb and Beit El-Baraka, two recently founded multi-purpose operations among scores of non-governmental organisations doing jobs Lebanon’s dysfunctional state...

Political deadlock in Lebanon could continue

22 May 2022

Lebanese greeted the May15th parliamentary election results with “a little satisfaction and a little sadness,” a veteran observer of the scene stated. Lebanese traditionalists were satisfied that the competing core...

Michael Jansen

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