Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Tuesday that the US would send more Special Operations troops to Iraq to fight Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) both in Iraq and in Syria. They would coordinate with and reinforce the Iraqi Army and the Kurdish peshmerga. It looked to […]

Iraq

Former US Military Chief: US invasion of Iraq spawned ISIL: (“Huge Error”)

contributors

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer| (Commondreams.org) | – – The U.S. is poised to repeat all the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq after 9/11, says former head of Defense Intelligence Agency The Islamic State (ISIS) formed in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said (Ret.) U.S. General Mike Flynn. […]

censorship

The End of Press Freedom in Turkey?

contributors

By Joris Leverink | (Inter Press Service) | – – ANKARA, Turkey (IPS) – Days after the 1 November general elections in Turkey, Beyza Kural, a reporter with the independent press agency Bianet, rushed to Istanbul University to cover a stand-off between protesting students and the police. At the scene, Kural was harassed and manhandled […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin: Turkey was protecting ISIL oil Smuggling; Russia urges Assad-Kurdish Alliance

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in Paris that his government had intelligence that the reason Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last week was to protect oil smuggling from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) through Turkey. Putin said, “”We have every reason to think that the […]

Dissent

Shooting of pro-Kurdish Human Rights Lawyer Deepens Turkey’s Political Crisis

contributors

GlobalVoices.org | – – On November 28, Tahir Elçi, one of Turkey's most prominent pro-Kurdish lawyers, was holding a press conference close to the very same minaret he referenced in his tweet above, explaining that the people of Turkey's Kurdish-populated East were tired of conflict and recurrent government military operations in the region. Moments after […]

Israel/ Palestine

Two Israelis Found Guilty of Burning Alive Palestinian Teen

contributors

By IMEMC | – – The Jerusalem District Court, on Monday, convicted two of the three people accused in the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir. On July 2, 2014, Abu Khdeir, 16, was murdered by tree Israeli men in the neighborhood of Shuafat, in occupied East Jerusalem close to his home. He was driven to […]

censorship

Turkey’s Coup against Press, own Generals over Arms Supplies to Syrian Militants

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey has jailed two very prominent journalists for publishing video last May of a January, 2014, Turkish intelligence convoy of weapons to Syrian militants. When I say prominent, I mean prominent. They are Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul. […]

Israel/ Palestine

Angered that EU labels Squatter W. Bank Products, Israel suspends EU from “Peace Process”

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel said Sunday that it would suspend diplomatic contacts with European Union bodies involved in the Palestinian peace process, following an EU decision earlier this month to label goods produced in Israel’s illegal settlements. The Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister […]

Economy

Turkey reels as Putin imposes Stiff Economic Sanctions

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian sanctions announced by President Vladimir Putin on Saturday could have a severe impact on the Turkish economy. It is not clear whether President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu did not expect this severe a reaction to the shoot-down of a Russian fighter […]