The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

  By James M. Dorsey The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey depends on the support of its readers. If you believe that the column and podcast add value to your understanding and that of the broader public, please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking on the subscription button at http://www.jamesmdorsey.substack.com and choosing one of the subscription options. Thank you. To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. An audio podcast is available on Soundcloud. The stakes in the Gaza war for the United States and President Joe Biden could not be higher. For the United States, it’s the ability to garner support for its positions on multiple issues, among which the Ukraine war looms large. Mr. Biden’s bear hug approach towards Israel has sparked widespread allegations of hypocrisy and double standards. Neither the United States, nor Europe for that matter, has a credible response to calls to apply to the Gaza war the same...

  By James M. Dorsey The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey depends on the support of its readers. If you believe that the column and podcast add value to your understanding and that of the broader public, please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking on the subscription button at http://www.jamesmdorsey.substack.com and choosing one of the subscription options. Thank you. To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. An audio podcast is available on Soundcloud . It took 11 days and the death of 256 Palestinians for US President Joe Biden’s preference for a bear hug rather than a sledgehammer approach to get Israel to halt the Gaza bombing in 2021. Even then, Mr. Biden needed to be blunt and go public to get what he wanted. After 10 days of behind-the-scenes diplomacy and US blocking of condemnatory United Nations Security Council resolutions, Mr. Biden placed his fourth phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu...

By James M. Dorsey The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey depends on the support of its readers. If you believe that the column and podcast add value to your understanding and that of the broader public, please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking on the subscription button at http://www.jamesmdorsey.substack.com and choosing one of the subscription options. Thank you. To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. An audio podcast is available on Soundcloud . Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is in a bind. He is caught between public support for the Palestinians, and for Hamas in significant quarters, opponents painting him as a Western and Israeli lackey, and the need to not be seen as enabling a militant organization that brutally targets civilians. Protesters clad in keffiyeh, the distinctive Palestinian scarf, and waving the Palestinian flag marched after last Friday’s prayers towards the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur a...

  By James M. Dorsey The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey depends on the support of its readers. If you believe that the column and podcast add value to your understanding and that of the broader public, please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking on the subscription button at http://www.jamesmdorsey.substack.com and choosing one of the subscription options. Thank you. To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. An audio podcast is available on Soundcloud . Israel will likely win the Gaza war on the battlefield. Even so, it has already been defeated in the court of public opinion. It no longer really matters who attacked Gaza’s Al Ahli Arab Hospital in which hundreds of innocent civilians were killed or the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in the Strip. Public opinion has issued its verdict on the streets of cities across the Middle East and beyond. It took the attack on the hospital, which Israel asserts in...

  By James M. Dorsey The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey depends on the support of its readers. If you believe that the column and podcast add value to your understanding and that of the broader public, please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking on the subscription button at http://www.jamesmdorsey.substack.com and choosing one of the subscription options. Thank you. To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. An audio podcast is available on Soundcloud . Human beings’ most destructive instincts – survival, anger, fear, despair, and vengeance – dictate Israeli and Palestinian war strategy and policy in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 brutal attack on Israel. The dominance of emotions produces an environment in which one atrocity justifies another and reinforces Israeli and Palestinian demonization of the other. It also highlights both sides disregard for the lives of the other. “ Humanity is on holiday . Empathy, t...