Middle East

HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Wednesday destroyed 450 olive trees, leveled land, and demolished a Roman-era water well in the village of Beit Ula in northwestern Hebron, after claiming the Palestinian land [which is in the Occupied West Bank] belonged to Israel, locals said. h/t Ma’an Photos (File) Issa al-Imla, the coordinator of a […]

Banking

Are Arab Oil Monarchies divided over Iran Deal?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. In recent years it has faced severe internal divisions, especially a Saudi-Qatar split over the Muslim Brotherhood, which Riyadh wanted to crush but which Qatar generally has supported. After […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

On Edge over Syria, Kurdish issues, Turkey tense after horrific Bombing

contributors

By Cengiz Gunes | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State appears to have stepped up its war with the Kurds by bombing a meeting of socialist activists as they gathered in the town of Suruç. The incident is not only a terrible blow to the Kurds, but threatens further unrest in Turkey, where a […]

Iraq

Is the ISIS War About Oil After All?

contributors

By Jack Werner | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The unfolding intervention against the Islamic State shows that oil doesn't just guide U.S. foreign policy. It constrains our ways of thinking about it. Foreign intervention is 100 times more likely if oil reserves are present in a country experiencing civil war. That’s the […]

Featured

Terrorist kills 31 at Socialist Rally for Kobane in Turkey

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – According to Alarabiya, on Monday a young woman aged 18 detonated a suicide bomb belt at a socialist youth rally in Suruç, Turkey, just ten miles from the border with Syria. Some three hundred members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associates were on a summer […]

Iran

Security Council Defies GOP, AIPAC on Hill by Approving Iran Nuke Deal

contributors

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – When all 15 members of the Security Council raised their collective hands to unanimously vote in favour of the recently-concluded nuclear agreement with Iran, they were also defying a cabal of right-wing conservative U.S. politicians who wanted the United Nations to […]

Apartheid

Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children: Chokeholds, Beatings, Coercive Interrogations

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Jerusalem) – Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11. Security forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their […]

Iraq

As the Iraqi Army takes on ISIL in al-Anbar: How did we get here?

contributors

Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Last week the Iraqi government announced that it would be commencing operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of the vast western province of Anbar from ISIL (also called ISIS and Daesh). This represents the Shiite-dominated government’s first attempt to roll back the hybrid terrorist-army in Iraq’s […]

Featured

Iraqi Government halts al-Anbar Campaign over Sectarian Fears, US Pressure

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Kuwaiti press (al-Siyasah) is alleging that the Iraqi government, under American pressure, has hit the pause button on its campaign to take al-Anbar Province back from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). The report was also carried by 24.ae in the United Arab Emirates. A source in the […]