By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Baghdad is under a state of emergency on Sunday a day after members of the Sadr Trend stormed the Green Zone and invaded the parliament building, briefly imprisoning parliamentarians in the chamber (and some in a basement) before letting them go. Some apparently were beaten as […]
‘Monstrous’ violence in Aleppo as ‘Regime of Calm’ begins in rest of Syria
by Juan Cole: The US and the Russian Federation agreed Friday that from Saturday there would be a “regime of calm” in most of Syria. Two areas where clashes have broken out in the past week are East Ghouta east of Damascus and the northern countryside of the Mediterranean province of Latakia (72 hours), and […]
Syria: As fierce Fighting reignites, Aleppo on brink of ‘Humanitarian Disaster’
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syria’s largest city, Aleppo has seen a worrying outbreak of violence in the past week that could fatally undermine the cessation of hostilities that had held between most Free Syrian Army units and the Syrian Arab Army. The ceasefire did not extend to al-Qaeda or Daesh […]
Trump’s Foreign Policy is just GOP Boilerplate, only more Confused
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump tried his hand at foreign policy on Wednesday, and the results weren’t any prettier than his incessant forays into domestic policy. He does not know anything serious about either one, but of course his fund of ignorance is far deeper when it comes to […]
Winning in Losing: How Sanders pushed Clinton to the Left
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Bernie Sanders’ path to the nomination as the Democratic Party standard bearer in 2016 was all but closed off by Clinton’s four big wins on Tuesday. His only hope had been to get close enough to her in pledged delegates to have a substantial number of […]
Reinventing Saudi Arabia after Oil: The Prince’s $2 Trillion Gamble
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision for Saudi Arabia on Monday in a plan called “Vision 2030.” He wants to get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years, by 2020, and wants to […]
ISIL Endgame: Obama to send 250 more US Troops into Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama is announcing Monday morning in Hanover, Germany, that he will send another 250 US troops, likely mostly special operations, into Syria, bringing the total to 300. The 50 troops already there are embedded with the YPG or People’s Defense Units of the leftist Democratic […]
US finally acknowledging al-Qaeda factor in breakdown of Ceasefire
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the frustrations of following the Syria conflict from the Arabic press is that when you then turn to the English language accounts, they tend to play down the importance of al-Qaeda or the Support Front (al-Jabha al-Nusra). In American parlance, there have just been […]
Caravan Schools and educating Syrian Refugee Children
By Samantha Schmidt | ( Yes | – – In response to overcrowded public schools in countries neighboring Syria, caravan schools provide refugees with free education to keep them from falling behind. ZAATARI, Jordan – In a tiny classroom in a metal trailer, the 11-year-old Syrian refugee writes his name on the chalkboard, practicing the […]
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