Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities closed the main entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhoods with cement blocks on Wednesday, preventing Palestinians from preparing for the Eid al-Adha holiday, locals said. Ma’an Images Locals told Ma’an that Israeli authorities closed the three main entrances of the Sur Bahir neighborhood, as well […]

Russia

Could Daesh/ ISIS bring Russia and the west together?

contributors

By Marta Ter | (Open Democracy) | – – For a couple of years after 9/11, there was a solid US-Russia anti-terrorism cooperation that basically gave the Kremlin a freer hand in crushing the Chechens. The first Chechen war: Grozny. Demoted/Alexander Nemenov. All rights reserved.“The Islamic State (IS) is Russia’s main enemy”, the Russian Foreign […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrians welcomed Armenian, Iraqi, other Refugees but now Unwelcome as Refugees

contributors

AJ+ | – – “The world hasn’t been very hospitable to refugees from Syria – a country with a long history of taking in people displaced from other parts of the world.” AJ+: “History Of The Refugees Who Fled To Syria”

Eastern Europe

As Russia supports Iran in Syria, Netanyahu Loses Again

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accompanied by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot and Military Intelligence chief Hertzi Halevy, visited Moscow and attempted to hammer out an agreement with Russia to forestall any military confrontations between the two. Netanyahu also lobbied Russian President […]

Islam

Violent clashes in Jerusalem fed by extreme Israeli counter-measures

contributors

By Yoav Galai | (The Conversation) | – – On the evening of Monday September 14, Alex Levlovich was driving back from the Rosh-Hashana Seder, the celebration of the Jewish new year, along the road that separates the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv and the Palestinian neighbourhood of Tsur Bahir in East Jerusalem when the […]

Islam

Syria, Reserve army of Terrorism: Taliban Uzbek in Suicide Bombing of Shiite Village

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk and Barno Anvar | ( RFE/ RL ) An Uzbek militant has carried out a suicide truck bombing in the predominantly Shi’ite town of Fua in Idlib Province, part of a major attack against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian forces by Islamist factions led by Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front. One of a […]

Palestine

Majority of Palestinians lose hope in 2 States, Await Israeli Ethnic Cleansing

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A majority of Palestinians now oppose a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, with only a third believing it is still a practical possibility, a poll released Monday found. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research, found that 51 percent of […]

Bashar al-Assad

What’s behind Russia’s military build-up in Syria?

contributors

By Alexander Titov | (The Conversation) | – – Evidence is emerging of a significant intensification of Russia’s military support for the Assad government. While the exact scale and purpose of Russia’s latest deployments remain obscure, the available evidence suggests that the Russians are preparing an airbase near the city of Latakia for possible airstrikes […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkey Risks Turmoil with end of Peace Process & of Non-Intervention Policies

contributors

By Omer Tekdemir and Oğuzhan Göksel | (Open Democracy) | – – Though often depicted as a relatively stable exception in a turbulent region, the Republic of Turkey has also wrestled with burdens of the Ottoman Empire. Arguably, the most troublesome legacy has been the multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of post-Ottoman society, because even after […]