Middle East Experience

Relations between Qatar and Korea have been steadily improving since their establishment in 1974..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: South Korea and Qatar's trade exceeds bn

States in the Gulf like Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi-Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are nowhere near achieving the implementation of equal rights for women in society. Foreign female workers in particular are almost treated like slaves..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Women in the Gulf: Exploited and Patronized

Western officials have largely lost hope the Iran nuclear deal can be resurrected, sources familiar with the matter said, forcing them to weigh how to limit Iran’s atomic program even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has divided the big powers.While they have not completely given up on the pact, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, there is a growing belief it may be beyond salvation.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“They are not yanking the IV out of the patient’s arm ... but I sense little expectation that there is a positive way forward,” said one source, who like others quoted spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity.Four Western diplomats echoed the sentiment that the deal - which Iran struck with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in 2015 but which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 - is withering away.The pact appeared on the brink of revival in early March when the European Union, which coordinates the talks, invited ministers to Vienna to seal the deal. But talks were thrown into disarray over last-minute Russian demands and whether Washington might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.The IRGC controls elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a global terrorist campaign.Tehran’s demand to remove it from the list is opposed by many US lawmakers, who see it as a terrorist entity despite Iranian denials.The Russian demands appear to have been finessed but the IRGC designation has not, with the impending Nov. 8 US mid-term elections making it hard for US President Joe Biden to buck domestic opposition to remove it.Nobody wants to say ‘enough is enough’Biden’s aides have made clear they have no plans to drop the IRGC from the list but have not ruled it out, saying if Tehran wants Washington to take a such step beyond strict revival of the deal, named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) then Iran must address US concerns outside the deal.“If they’re not prepared to drop extraneous demands, continue to insist on lifting the FTO, and refuse to address our concerns that go beyond the JCPOA then, yes, we’re going to reach an impasse that is probably not going to be surmountable,” said a senior US official.“Is it dead? We don’t know yet and frankly we don’t think Iran knows either,” the official said.So far, Iran seems unwilling to budge on the FTO removal.“That is our redline and we will not cave on that,” said an Iranian security official.Neither side wants to admit nearly a year of indirect talks may have failed, several sources said, with Washington hoping Iran might drop its IRGC demand and Iran convinced it can revive the deal whenever it wants.As a result, events may drift, with the world focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting oil price spike allowing Iran to earn more from its illicit oil exports that evade US sanctions.“I don’t think anybody wants to say enough is enough,” said a Western diplomat. “Does this go on indefinitely with neither side conceding that it’s over? ... Probably.”This could allow Iran to keep expanding its nuclear program, which it accelerated after Trump abandoned the deal. Washington believes Iran is within weeks of obtaining fissile material for ne nuclear weapon if it chose.Iran has long rejected seeking nuclear weapons.No real ‘Plan B’Despite talk of a US “Plan B” to address Iran’s nuclear program if the deal cannot be revived, there are few good options.Short of US or Israeli military action to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, the main lever big powers have is to cut Iran’s oil exports.While Washington won the tacit support of Moscow and Beijing to curb Iranian exports via US sanctions in the years before the 2015 deal, there is no such consensus among the big powers.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite US and European warnings show Moscow’s assent cannot be taken for granted.China is the chief buyer of illicit Iranian oil and the sources said getting it to cut back will be tough when oil supplies are tight and Beijing gets discounted pricing from Tehran.Asked previously about its purchase of Iranian oil in violation of US sanctions, China’s foreign ministry has declined to go into details but has reiterated Beijing’s opposition to US extraterritorial sanctions and urged the United States to remove its unilateral sanctions.Iranian oil exports rose in the first quarter to an average of 870,000 barrels per day, according to Kpler, which tracks oil flows, up from 668,000 bpd in the fourth quarter.The United States would, in effect, have to manage one effort to cut Russia’s oil exports and another to slash Iran’s.“Can you galvanize two sanctions coalitions at once? That’s tricky,” said another source, saying Iran is now selling about half the volume of oil that it could sell if US sanctions were removed but, because of the price rise, pocketing the same revenue.“(Why should Tehran) make a painful concession when they’re basically already getting that oil benefit?” he said.Read more: Top Democrat warns Biden administration against lifting IRGC terror designation
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Analysis: Iran nuclear deal near death, but West not ready to pull plug

Hostage-taking and forced migration were just two methods used by Russian forces in Ukraine and Poland a century ago.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 'Your rabbi was taken as a hostage': Accounts of Russian tactics in WWI

The Russians have made only “minimal” gains in the Donbas over the last several days, a senior US defense official said Monday.“I would just tell you that we continue to see minimal, at best progress, by the Russians in the Donbas,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The official added that Russian forces were still suffering from poor command and control, low morale and “less than ideal logistics.”“Quite frankly, there’s a casualty aversion that we continue to see by the Russians, not just in the air, but on the ground,” the official told reporters.Russia has launched more than 2,100 missiles at Ukrainian targets since it first invaded Ukraine over 2 months ago, according to the Pentagon official.In recent months, Washington has been providing millions of dollars in military aid and training to the Ukrainians. And military assistance continues to flow into the region before eventually being transferred to Ukraine.Over the last 24 hours, the US sent 14 planeloads of aid and several more will arrive in the next 24 hours.Around 200 Ukrainian troops have just finished training on the Howitzer artillery systems provided by the US, the official said. Another 20 Ukrainians completed a weeklong course on the Phoenix Ghost drones, which the US customized for Ukraine.“A small proportion of the 121 [Phoenix Ghost drones] are already in the Ukraine, and we've got them going through some training on how to use it,” the US official said.Read more: Pentagon developed custom-made ‘Ghost drone’ for Ukraine to use against Russia
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Russia has only made ‘minimal progress’ in the Donbas: Senior US defense official

The right-wing NGO Regavim said it was "easy for Defense Minister Benny Gantz to flex his muscles against a handful of hilltop youth, while not enforcing the law in the Arab sector."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Right slams gov't for IDF removal of three West Bank settler caravans

As part of this betrayal in favor of the prosecution, for years Shlomo Filber endured massive attacks in the media and verbal abuse at his home from Netanyahu supporters.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Netanyahu trial: For 4 years I’ve had mark of Cain on my head - Filber

First-person: Benny Gantz praised 'powerful ties between Israel, Evangelicals
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israeli defense minister meets with Evangelical leaders for the first time

A senior US diplomat said Monday that Russia was planning to annex two Ukrainian regions, adding that Moscow may also carry out other disruptive operations in the southeast of Ukraine.“According to the most recent reports, we believe that Russia will try to annex the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ to Russia,” US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Carpenter also revealed Washington’s belief that Russia was planning to abduct local officials in the southeast of Ukraine and force locals to use the Russian ruble.Carpenter also said Russia was planning to issue a “sham referenda” sometime in mid-May. “The international community, including the OSCE, where I work as ambassador, has been very clear that such sham referenda… will not be considered legitimate nor will any attempts to annex additional Ukrainian territory.”The US diplomat also said the US had “highly credible” reason to believe that Russia was also looking at annexing Ukraine’s Kherson.Read more: Ukraine says destroys two Russian Raptor-class patrol boats near Snake Island
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Russia planning to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk later this month: US official

US President Joe Biden told the parents of a reporter who disappeared in Syria almost a decade ago that his administration would work “relentlessly” until his return is secured, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Monday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Biden met on Monday with the parents of Austin Tice, a freelance journalist and former marine, who disappeared while reporting in 2012.“During their meeting, the President reiterated his commitment to continue to work through all available avenues to secure Austin’s long overdue return to his family,” Psaki said.She said the administration would work “relentlessly until Austin and other Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained worldwide are safely at home with their loved ones.”She added that Biden’s national security team, which had already held meetings and conversations with Marc and Debra Tice, would remain in regular contact with them.Read more: Missing Ukrainian journalist found dead near Kyiv: Presidential aideWestern plot to kill prominent Russian journalist foiled, says PutinThree journalists killed in war: Ukraine lawmaker
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Biden meets with parents of reporter who went missing in Syria