Middle East

By Nelly Bassily | ( openDemocracy) | – – Yara Sallam is starting the second year of her sentence in Qanater Women’s prison outside Cairo. She says, “I do not feel any regret or self-defeat, the prison is not inside me.” Yara Sallam is starting her second year of detention in an Egyptian prison. No […]

Bahrain

Why the Arab Gulf Oil Monarchies should Welcome Iran Deal

contributors

By Miriam R Lowi | (Via al-Araby al-Jadeed ) | – – Gulf states, long-time rivals of Tehran, should seize the opportunities for regional peace and security offered by the historic deal, writes Miriam Lowi. In recent months, a lot has been said about the promises and perils of negotiating with Iran, making compromises and […]

Apartheid

After Israeli Attack, 50% Gaza Children have PTSD, 70% have regular Nightmares

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Gaza Community Mental Health Program’s (GCMHP) Deputy Director General for Professional Affairs Taysir Diab Thursday said around 51% of Gaza’s children and 31% of its adults suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result to the latest Israeli mass attack on the besieged Gaza Strip. These results were presented following a […]

Featured

Turkey enters war on ISIL w/ airstrikes: Does AKP Fear losing Snap Election?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey at long last entered the struggle against Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) on Thursday. It gave the US Air Force permission to bomb sites in Syria from Incirlik Air Force Base. (The US has long had use of this base as part of Turkey’s NATO commitments, and […]

Iran

Israel’s Netanyahu & Iran: Even former Intel Officials think he’s Unhinged

contributors

By Jeffrey Rudolph | (Detailed Political Quizzes) | Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot be taken seriously when he talks about Iran. While Netanyahu is a master at exploiting fear in a particularly fearful society, the following points demonstrate that thinking people can ignore his claims dealing with Iran. “Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders blasted […]

fiction

One Ring to Bind them: Reading the Lord of the Rings to defeat ISIL

contributors

By Akil N Awan | (The Conversation) | – – The wave of recent attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and Turkey, all apparently linked to Islamic State in some way, have reinforced the spectre of the unstoppable “Daesh death cult” whose tentacles of terror can reach deep into every corner of the globe The omnipresence of […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkish Gov’t Worries about Kurdish, Leftist Mobilization after Bombing, briefly bans Twitter

contributors

BBC | (Video News Report) | – – “In Turkey authorities have blocked access to Twitter in a bid to prevent the broadcast of images of the suicide bomb attack in the border town of Suruc. A state run news agency also said the ban on social media was put in place to stop anti […]

Apartheid

Israeli forces destroy 450 olive trees, Roman-era well in Hebron, Palestine

contributors

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 […]