Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Washington-based think tank published a study Friday reporting Israel’s possession of around 115 nuclear weapons, despite the country’s ongoing policy of ambiguity regarding its nuclear capacities. According to the report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Israel has produced 660 Kg of […]

Featured

“For Paris” on Russian Missiles hitting Syria as ISIL Oil Facilities Targeted

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Coment) | – – the Syrian observatory said that the Russian strikes on the eastern province of Deir al-Zor killed 36 on Friday. Meanwhile, Russia also bombed positions in Idlib and other provinces, including with a cruise missile, which, according to the Russian foreign minister, killed 600 fighters of Daesh […]

Displaced and Refugees

Dear GOP: France is still Taking in Syria Refugees so who is the Coward?

contributors

AJ+ | (Video report) | – – “While U.S. governors say no to refugees in response to the Paris attacks, France says it will take in 30,000 Syrians.” AJ+: “France Still Welcoming Syrian Refugees, Unlike Many U.S. Governors”

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Did Daesh/ ISIL’s Paris attacks bolster al-Assad? Spain calls him ‘lesser of evils’

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Spanish foreign minister José Manuel García Margallo said Wednesday in the course of a television interview: “At the end of the day, the thesis has begun to clarify that it is the lesser evil to make an agreement with Bashar al-Assad and to thereby achieve a […]

Israel/ Palestine

Arrest Warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu for War Crimes in Spain, South Africa

contributors

IMEMC | – – South Africa issued, on Tuesday, an arrest warrant against four Israeli officials over their role in deadly attacks on pro-Palestinian international activists. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against the Israeli occupation in Africa said, in a statement: “South Africa’s Directorate of the Priority Crimes Investigation Unit has issued warrants of arrest against […]

Iraq War

2003: Iraqi Governors who did not want Americans in their Country

Juan Cole

“Could we have a prudent pause?”

Israel/ Palestine

Swedish FM worries about Muslim & Palestinian Youth Despair, draws Israeli Rebuke

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Following the Paris attacks on Friday, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom made a connection between Islamic State extremism and the Israeli occupation, causing a feud between the two governments, that the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned its Swedish envoy on Monday. In an interview with a Swedish TV channel, following the […]

France

Paris attacks: how effective has the military response been?

contributors

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Even as Parisians were trying to assess the scale of the attacks by Islamic State (IS) which killed 132 people on November 13, politicians were promising a decisive and effective military response. French President Francois Hollande assured, “We will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic […]

Featured

Is Daesh/ ISIL a modern Raiding Pirate state?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Some analysts trying to understand Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) had suggested that it differs from al-Qaeda in its emphasis on taking and holding territory, thus becoming a state– something that al-Qaeda was largely uninterested in. They expected the self-proclaimed “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to concentrate his resources […]