Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Sawt al-`Iraq reports that sources in the Turkish military announced Saturday that about 150 Turkish troops had been placed into northern Iraq along with 20-25 tanks. The head of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, Hakim Ilzami, said that this incursion was just switching out […]

Iraq

In the Actual fight against Daesh/ ISIL, the Key is Cutting off Mosul

Juan Cole

By Special Correspondent | ( Niqash.org) | – – The Sinjar victory saw the route between Mosul and Raqqa cut. But local truckers have found another way in the desert that extremists are thought to be using too. If this road closes too, Mosul will be fully isolated. The new route out of Mosul heads […]

Syria

12 Million homeless, displaced Syrians facing Disaster as Winter Approaches

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — More than 12 million people in Syria — nearly half of whom are children — are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance before winter sets into the war-torn country, an international aid group said Friday. Robert Mardini, regional director for the Middle East at the International […]

Syria

Syria: Mission Impossible

contributors

By John Feffer | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – p>Imagine this new TV series coming to HBO in 2016. The planet faces an unprecedented peril. The international community brings together a team of experts, each one with a different specialty: the scientist, the general, the computer geek, the engineer, the spook. It’s their […]

al-Qaeda

How Turkish President Erdogan went Wrong: Dividing and Not Ruling

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Receb Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, was once seen as a political breath of fresh air and a beacon of change in the Middle East. Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia and other countries in the region were locked into an unhealthy political gridlock. The […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Refugees in Jordan’s Camps Reply to Dr. Ben Carson

contributors

AJ+ | (Video report) | – – “After a recent visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson described it as “really quite nice.” We went to the camp to ask refugees there what they thought of his comment.” AJ+: “We Asked Syrian Refugees To Respond To Ben Carson’s Comments […]

Iraq

Beyond ISIS: Suicide by World War IV

contributors

By Andrew Bacevich | (Tomdispatch.com) |- – Introduction by Tom Engelhardt Let’s consider the two parties in Washington. I’m not referring to the Republican and Democratic ones, but our capital’s war parties (there being no peace party, of course). They might be labeled the More War Party and the Much (or Much, Much) More War […]

Iraq

Senators McCain & Lindsay want to “Reoccupy” Iraq and Invade Syria: Should We?

Juan Cole

Guest post from Brian Glyn Williams on viable strategy to diminish terrorist attacks in the West.

Israel/ Palestine

Upheaval in Palestine and Israel: Occupation and beyond (96 Palestinians, 17 Israelis Killed since Oct. 1)

contributors

By Mahmoud Jabari | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – It can be argued that the rising escalation in tensions and confrontations between the Israelis and Palestinians over the past two months demonstrates that the Israeli policy of conflict management in order to maintain the status quo in the occupied Palestinian territory has become unsustainable. […]