Arab World

By Natasha Ezrow | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a powerful car bomb detonated outside a state security building in northern Cairo which injured 29 people, including six policemen. The Egyptian ministry claimed that: “A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Impose Arms Embargo on Regime Following Deadly Airstrikes

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (New York) – The United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government following the government’s repeated air attacks on Douma’s popular markets and residential areas on August 16, 2015. The attacks killed at least 112 people, whom witnesses and first responders described as overwhelmingly […]

Authoritarianism

Crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan: Attacked by ISIL & Turkey; and Now Leaderless

contributors

Honar Hama Rasheed | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – As the issue of Iraqi Kurdistan’s vacant presidency heats up, delegations from the US, Turkey and Iran have all visited to have their say. But what do they really want? The current Iraqi Kurdish presidency officially ended yesterday. Massoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdish Democratic […]

Authoritarianism

Huge ISIL Blast at Cairo Security Bldg. Injures 29; Sisi Security Claims in Tatters

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – An enormous explosion damaged a building housing secret police in a northern district of Cairo (Shubra al-Khayma) on Thursday early morning, wounding nearly 30 persons, including 6 police personnel, who were transferred to hospital for treatment. Two different branches of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility, the […]

BDS Occupied Territories

Israel and the BDS debate: two scholars respectfully agree to differ

contributors

By Ingrid Matthews and James Arvanitakis | (The Conversation) | – – From Australia, we watch Israel at a great distance, safe in the knowledge that the regular and horrific levels of violence in the region are far from our shores. But we still find ourselves, like most of the world, asking: what can we […]

Archaeology

Syria: Daesh/ ISIL Kills aged Archeologist who refused to reveal hidden Palmyra Antiquities

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “ISIS beheaded 82-year-old Khaled Al-Asaad on August 18, 2015, in the 2,000-year-old city he spent his life restoring. Syria’s most prominent antiquities scholar is the latest victim of the Islamic State group’s war on history.” AJ+: “ISIS Kills 82-Year-Old Scholar In Ancient City Of Palmyra He Helped […]

Christians

Huckabee’s virtual Genocide: erases Palestinians from West Bank, declares it “Israel”

contributors

IMEMC | – – US presidential contender Mike Huckabee said during a visit to Jerusalem, on Wednesday, that he did not consider the West Bank occupied by Israel. The Republican and Baptist minister, a regular visitor to Israel, attended a fundraiser for his campaign on Tuesday at an illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian […]

Alawites

Iran’s Support for Syria Pragmatic, not Religious (or, Who are the Alawites?)

contributors

By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | – – The Shia government in Teheran and the Alawi regime in Damascus have had warm relations since Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and many attribute that to a common affinity for Shia Islam. While Alawis have embraced their relatively recent inclusion in the Muslim world, for the vast majority of their history […]

Algeria

As Oil Prices Crater, Algeria needs an Actual Economy or big Trouble Looms

contributors

By Allan Christelow | (Informed Comment) | – – Like other oil producers, Algeria faces difficulties with the sharp decline in prices since 2014. But unlike oil producers in the Gulf region, Algeria has a strong tradition of public discussion, a tradition that has managed to survive the concentration of wealth in the hands of […]