Rania Khalek Dispatches from the Underclass

Tag / Middle East

BT’s Rania Khalek sat down with Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, in Beirut, Lebanon. Hezbollah began as a resistance movement against Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and has since grown to become a regional player across the Middle East. They discussed Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon and the region as well as the group’s […]

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Assal Rad, a Senior Research Fellow at NIAC (the National Iranian American Council) joins Rania Khalek Dispatches to discuss the ongoing suffering of Iranians from US sanctions, the return to the Iran nuclear deal, and how little has actually changed under Biden as his team seems to escalate. » Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/BreakThroughNews

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Rania Khalek is joined by Ali Abunimah, director of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice In Palestine, to discuss developments in Palestine and regionally following the formation of a new Israeli government and Israel’s war on Gaza. From Israel’s ethnic cleansing through forced demolitions in Silwan to the Palestinian Authority acting […]

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A few weeks ago I participated in a speaking event about Syria and US foreign policy more generally. It was hosted by Massachusetts Peace Action. Below is a video of the conversation. What’s interesting about this event is that there was an attempt to get it canceled organized by a collection of pro-regime change groups […]

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The Trump administration is determined to get their war on Iran regardless of whether he wins the presidential election. If Biden wins they might even act more belligerently while they still can. My latest: pic.twitter.com/keD986d2Oq — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) October 27, 2020

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If you would like to support our show and keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on Patreon here. Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Patrick Cockburn, a longtime Middle East correspondent well-known for his coverage of Iraq and Syria. He is the author of The Age of Jihad: Islamic State and […]

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Contrary to popular media portrayals, the Middle East wasn’t always plagued by regressive fundamentalism. Salafi jihadist groups like Al Qaeda were not popular in the region. They still aren’t. They have been violently imposed on people thanks in large part to the actions of the US, which has a longstanding pattern of backing religious fundamentalists […]

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The worst winter storm to hit the Middle East in 20 years has devastated parts of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel. And for at least one Palestinian town in the West Bank, Israel’s apartheid wall has partnered up with climate chaos to exacerbate an already dire situation, according to Reuters report by Noah Browning:

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