Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian Federation is a key player in Syria, and backer of the dictatorial government of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday attempted some diplomacy, however, welcoming a delegation of Syrian rebels against the authoritarian al-Assad in Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said just […]

Apartheid

Settlement Expansion Largely Responsible for Violence in Occupied West Bank

contributors

By Kanya D’Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Just weeks after an 18-month-old baby was killed in an arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma, located south of Nablus city in the Occupied West Bank, a United Nations special committee has blasted Israel’s policy of settlement expansion, saying […]

Iran

Did Ayatollah Sistani just save Iraq from Iran-backed militias by pushing Gov’t Reforms?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org)| – – During last week’s protests, secret plans were made to use demonstrations to topple the government. But a senior Shiite spiritual leader seems to have stepped in at the last minute to save the country from chaos. At the end of July thousands of locals took to the […]

Featured

Why Partitioning Iraq is a Terrible Idea

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I think the remarks of outgoing US Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno on the possible partition of Iraq have been reported in a sensationalist way. He just said that Sunni-Shiite relations in Iraq are at a nadir and that the country could look different in the […]

Displaced and Refugees

Saudi-led war in Yemen provokes Humanitarian Crisis, 1.2 mn. displaced

contributors

By Kitty Stapp | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Doctors Without Borders . . . is warning that the violence in Yemen “has radically increased” since March, with the humanitarian group seeing mass casualties from bombings and thousands of severely injured. “Especially in Aden, the situation has been extremely difficult, […]

Bush

Memo to Jeb Bush: It was W’s Surge that created ISIL, not Hillary

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Jeb Bush very unwisely went after Hillary Clinton last night on the grounds that her Iraq policies gave us Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Bush may think he is cleverly pulling a Karl Rove, attacking his opponent on her strong point (foreign policy), as Rove swiftboated John Kerry […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Is ISIL/ Daesh biggest threat to Saudi Arabia?: Mosque of Secret Police Bombed

contributors

By Mohammed Al Nemer | ( Global Voices Online) | – – Another suicide bomb hit Saudi Arabia on Thursday, this time at a mosque inside a Special Forces headquarters in Asir, southwest of Saudi Arabia, killing 15 people and injuring nine. The attack, by ISIS, was carried out by Abu Sinan Al Najdi. This […]

Iraq

Controversy: Did Turkish anti-PKK Airstrikes hit civilian Kurdish village of Zargeli?

contributors

BBC | (Video News Report) | – – “Turkey may have joined the air war against Islamic State militants across the border in Syria. The nation has also been taking action against Kurdish fighters that it accuses of launching attacks within Turkey. One such airstrike took place last Saturday over the border in Iraq, where […]

Gulf

How Iran Deal Could Change the Middle East

contributors

By Benjamin Tua | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Washington’s rapprochement with Iran has opened the door for major realignments from Israel to Afghanistan. Similar to the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, ethno-sectarian fights will inevitably remold the Middle East and reshape the boundaries for new nation-states. The profound changes occurring in […]