Links April-May 2020

Belated linkdump…

• The American Virus | LRB
  Elliot Weinberger on Trump and Covid.

• No Bark, No Bite | Jewish Currents
  Peter Beinart: "With each passing week, it becomes clearer that Joe Biden’s victory over Bernie Sanders is making it easier for Israel to annex the West Bank."

• Biden 'completely' opposes withholding aid to Israel over West Bank policy, adviser says - Haaretz
  This is the Obama/Biden legacy on Israel: say you'd prefer things were different but do absolutely nothing about it. It amounts to endorsement of annexation.

• The US Goes to Bat for Lebanon’s “Butcher of Khiam” - Just Security

• A Mockery of Peace - Carnegie Middle East Center
  Marwan Muasher: "The Jordanian government should make intensive efforts to convince Netanyahu and Gantz of the risks of such a step, both as concerns Jordan and the peace process in general. Jordan cannot stand aside as the Israeli government proceeds with annexation."

• For Palestinian rights movement, Biden poses a familiar quandary | 972
  “We have to get Trump out of office in order to create enough room to do the political work that we want to do,” said Erakat. “[Biden’s] definitely a foe, but a foe under whose liberal administration gives a little bit more breathing room for us to organize effectively.”

• China's Balancing Act in Libya - Lawfare

• The Talking Heads Song That Explains Talking Heads | The New Yorker
  Lovely piece on "This Must Be The Place".

• Syria’s children ‘go to bed hungry’ as prices soar
  “The reality now is simply that people can’t afford food.”

• The Assad–Makhlouf Rift: A Sign of Assad's Strength - Syria Comment
  Aiman Mansour, formerly of the Israeli National Security Council, makes an odd argument that Assad may be trying to discipline Syria's oligarchs.

• The Twilight of the Iranian Revolution | New Yorker
  Dexter Filkins reports on Iran's cover-up of Covid-19 - here quoting a doctor: “We were burying three to four to five times as many people as the Ministry of Health was reporting,” Azad said. “We could have dealt with this—we could have quarantined earlier, we could have taken precautions like the ones the Chinese did in Wuhan—if we had not been kept in the dark.”

• Eric Foner · The Corrupt Bargain: Democracy? No thanks · LRB 21 May 2020
  On the bizarre and deeply undemocratic electoral college.

• The Dangers of Virtue Signaling in Iraq - 1001 Iraqi Thoughts
  How EU diplomats set off a firestorm over the LGBT rainbow flag.

• Benjamin Netanyahu’s Victory | Haaretz
  Gideon Levy on how the Israeli left's fixation with the Netanyahu corruption trial has enabled the right to "annex the territories, abuse asylum seekers, try to goad Iran or spill blood in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Nobody will oppose them, no public debate will be sparked, we are dealing with the Netanyahu trial, please don’t bother us. The criminal arena has replaced the diplomatic and moral arena. Just give us another quote from Case 4000 and the country will be shaken."

• Maroc : la monarchie parlementaire, une vieille promesse devenue chimère | Middle East Eye
  Mohammad VI's palace makes all Covid-19 decisionsin secrecy, leaving a figleaf government wiht nothing to say.

• U.S. and Iran Need a Coronavirus Peace Plan
  Senator Dianne Feinstein

• Special Report: Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support - sources - Reuters
  Things moving fast these days, but worth noting this happened, perhaps without precedent in US-Saudi relations.

• Qatar and the Gulf Crisis: A Conversation with Kristian Coates Ulrichsen - Project on Middle East Political Science
  Marc Lynch interview Ulrichsen on his new book.

• Silencing the Guns in Syria’s Idlib | Crisis Group
  Risk of a "possibly imminent spread of COVID-19 in Idlib, which can be contained only through concerted international action at a time of relative calm. Idlib’s health care sector is all but destroyed as a result of the latest offensive, and an outbreak in this densely populated province could prove disastrous."

• How to Avert a Deeper Crisis: Concrete Steps for an Urgent Social Response
  Sarah Hague and Walid Sayegh on what Lebanon should do.

• The Challenges of a Public Health Approach to COVID-19 Amid Crises in Lebanon - MERIP
  "40 percent of the Lebanese population will likely be below the poverty line soon"

• It's Russia's Syrian Mercenaries vs. Turkey's Syrian Mercenaries in Libya's War | Libya

• In Addition to Russia, France and the UAE Are Prolonging the Libyan Civil War | Foreign Policy

• Activist Killed Near Mohammed bin Salman's Planned Saudi Megacity of Neom Shows How the Kingdom Deals With Dissent | Foreign Policy

• Jailed Saudis Seek Influence in Washington to Counter Crown Prince - The New York Times

• It’s Turkey’s Libya now | European Council on Foreign Relations

• UAE, Egypt prepare for Haftar's exit after loss of Wattiyah air base | | Mada Masr

• What’s happening in Libya? - The Washington Post
  Emadeddin Badi and Tim Eaton on Haftar's military rule bluff.

• UN experts probe dispatch of Russian-made warplanes to Libya | Financial Times

• The United Nations and New Collective Security Realities — Center on National SecurityThe US and China are behaving disgracefully.

• Lebanon faces grave threat to stability as poverty mounts - StarTribune

• The Egyptian Army in the 1967 War – Khaled FahmyVery interesting lecture on the incompetence and infighting of the Egyptian military as one of the causes for its spectacular defeat.

• Julian Barnes · Robespierre’s Chamber Pot: Loathed by Huysmans · LRB 21 March 2020Delightful piece on Huymans as art critic.

• Mapping Algerian Trade Unions in the Time of Mass Mobilization: Current Dynamics and Future Challenges – Arab Reform Initiative

• A New Generation of Dissenters Dies in Egyptian Prison - The American Prospect

• Feminist Organisations in the MENA: Dealing with the Challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic | Daraj

• The Middle East between Collective Security and Collective Breakdown | Crisis Group

• Society max: How Europe can help Syrians survive Assad and coronavirus | European Council on Foreign Relations

• At a Breaking Point - Carnegie Middle East Center

• Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Really Change the Way We Think? | The New Yorker
  "Far from making us revise our fundamentals and reform our thoughts, major historical crises almost invariably reinforce our previous beliefs, and make us entrench deeper into our dogma."

• While we stayed home... | Synaps
  Great read by Peter Harling.

• Egypt says film-maker died in cell after drinking hand sanitiser | The Guardian

• Israel finally releases a coronavirus ad in Arabic. Too bad it depicts Palestinians as Saudis | Haaretz

• What People Power Looks Like in a Pandemic Democracy | The New York Review of Books | Daily

• Adam Tooze ·: Shockwave · LRB 4 April 2020

• How the Russian-Saudi Oil War Went Awry—for Putin Most of All | The New Yorker
  How OPEC+ deal is Putin's "Brest-Litovsk".

• War, the Economy and Politics in Syria: Broken Links — Valdai Club
  "A sustainable settlement is impossible unless the fundamental socio-economic causes of the conflict and the mentality that triggered it are eliminated."

• Règlements de compte au sein de la famille Assad – Un si Proche Orient
  Russian paper says Assad bought his wife $30M David Hockney painting, in possible smear op by Rami Makhlouf

• Internal challenges push Hezbollah into new rules of engagement with Israel | Middle East Eye

• Egypt: Shady Habash, filmmaker who mocked el-Sisi, dies in prison | Al Jazeera

• Dozens of Gay Men Are Outed in Morocco as Photos Are Spread Online - NYT

• IMPRISONED WITH THE PHARAOHS (1) – HILOBROW
  A serialized story story from 1924, written by Harry Houdini (apparently with H.P. Lovecraft!)

• The Perfect Storm: Coronavirus and Climate Change in the Middle East – POMED

• Resilience against violent radicalisation : why haven’t more Islamists taken up arms in Egypt since 2013? | EUI

• Tunisia’s Wake-Up Call: How Security Challenges From Libya Are Shaping Defense Reforms - Carnegie
  Tunisia’s Wake-Up Call: How Security Challenges From Libya Are Shaping Defense Reforms - Carnegie

• The Forgotten Iraq | Middle East Institute
  The Forgotten Iraq | Middle East Institute

• After the Pandemic: Reimagining the Role of State and Non-State Actors in (Re)building National Health Systems in the Arab World – Arab Reform Initiative

• ش.م.ل
  Interesting visualization tool for Lebanon's commercial register (who owns what in the formal economy)

• Are Authoritarian Regimes More Capable of Combating Epidemics? | Daraj
  Are Authoritarian Regimes More Capable of Combating Epidemics? | Daraj

• The Twin Crises and the Prospects for Political Sectarianism in Lebanon | LCPS
  The Twin Crises and the Prospects for Political Sectarianism in Lebanon | LCPS

• Adam Shatz · Shipwrecked · LRB

• U.S. Security Aid Is a Faith-Based Policy | Just Security

• How coronavirus almost brought down the global financial system | The Guardian

• Coronavirus will awaken inflationary forces before year is out | FT
  "In the US, the fiscal stimulus is less about making sure people keep their job and more about boosting the social safety net. Average weekly unemployment benefits have been increased from roughly $385 per week on average to $985. Our judgment is that a lot of people who receive this benefit will actually be better off while out of work."

• Grand Theft Lebanon | Synaps
  Grand Theft Lebanon | Synaps

• Global Ceasefire Call Deserves UN Security Council’s Full Support | Crisis Group
  Global Ceasefire Call Deserves UN Security Council’s Full Support | Crisis Group

• The Development of Libyan Armed Groups Since 2014: Community Dynamics and Economic Interests | Chatham House
  The Development of Libyan Armed Groups Since 2014: Community Dynamics and Economic Interests | Chatham House

• Jordan’s Tight Covid-19 Lockdown Also Squeezes Vulnerable Populations - Al-Fanar Media
  Ursula Lindsey.

• ‘Champagne’ of tea lost as coronavirus imperils supplies | FT
  Assam and Darjeeling lose first flush of tea leaves due to lockdown

• U.N. Inquiry Into Syria Bombings Is Silent on Russia’s Role | NYT
  Shame on the UN