Good summary. However the article missed the important geopolitical fact that Azerbayejan, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran have majority Shia population. Also it is noteworthy that the current strand of terrorism is essentially Sunni in nature and in particular of Wahabbi sect.
Algebra in its modern form (at least modern in the context of early modern science and math) was invented by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebra
Saudi Arabia's cult of death and mayhem, Turkey's authoritarian half democracy bent on arming the Jihadists and Western daemonization of Iran and Iranian peoples has everything to do with Iran's attempt to build a buffer zone around her. If you go to Iraq today, a lot of infrastructure is build by Iran and hundreds of thousands of small merchants owe their livelihoods to Iranian tourism and money; to a lesser extent Afghanistan also benefits from Iranian investment. There is not a single shred of evidence that Iranian regime with all its faults is behind a single act of ethnic cleansing or mass killing. Criticism of Iran should be reserved for Iran's internal politics and mostly assigned to people of Iran. What have other Arabs, Turks and Westerners done for people of the region?
Demanding Muslims to condemn extremists in their ranks is like asking Jews to apologize for Israel's actions or Buddhists to take a position on the genocide in Myanmar. The logical line of liability is simply nonexistent.
The issue of Syrian Army not as actively engaging ISIS has a clear explanation: all the strategic areas that Assad/Hezbollah care about are outside the control of ISIS and are fought over by Al-Nusra and other groups. When ISIS pushed its way to areas controlled by the Syrian army, the battles were fierce and outcome bloody. Assad is being a pragmatic dictator in the way he uses his limited military power. Given that still the majority of Syrian army fighters are Sunnis, it is highly presumptuous to state that if elections were held today, Assad would be ousted. He is still popular the Sunni merchant class and minorities.
While no one can honestly claim that Assad is a democratically minded leader, this project seems to suffer from extreme naivete at best and propagandist intent at worst. The premise of this initiative is to blame Iran for the Syrian refugee crisis whereas any elementary student in recent history can attest that it was first the invasion of Iraq in 2003 followed by the funding/aiding of Jihadists by Saudi Arabia and Turkey that has led to the tragedy of Syria. Lack of objectivity has dramatically weakened the humanitarian message here.
Dear Mr. Cole, you refer to the launching of missiles from the Syrian side as an attack on Israel. Isn't the case that occupied Golan Heights were the target which is not an Israeli territory?
The argument that markets create states still stands; the very basis of state creation is market control, therefore regardless of which precedes the other.
Good summary. However the article missed the important geopolitical fact that Azerbayejan, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran have majority Shia population. Also it is noteworthy that the current strand of terrorism is essentially Sunni in nature and in particular of Wahabbi sect.
Professor Cole,
Algebra in its modern form (at least modern in the context of early modern science and math) was invented by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebra
Saudi Arabia's cult of death and mayhem, Turkey's authoritarian half democracy bent on arming the Jihadists and Western daemonization of Iran and Iranian peoples has everything to do with Iran's attempt to build a buffer zone around her. If you go to Iraq today, a lot of infrastructure is build by Iran and hundreds of thousands of small merchants owe their livelihoods to Iranian tourism and money; to a lesser extent Afghanistan also benefits from Iranian investment. There is not a single shred of evidence that Iranian regime with all its faults is behind a single act of ethnic cleansing or mass killing. Criticism of Iran should be reserved for Iran's internal politics and mostly assigned to people of Iran. What have other Arabs, Turks and Westerners done for people of the region?
Demanding Muslims to condemn extremists in their ranks is like asking Jews to apologize for Israel's actions or Buddhists to take a position on the genocide in Myanmar. The logical line of liability is simply nonexistent.
US has already -for the most part, beautified Al-Qaeda doing business as the Nusra front.
Professor Cole,
The issue of Syrian Army not as actively engaging ISIS has a clear explanation: all the strategic areas that Assad/Hezbollah care about are outside the control of ISIS and are fought over by Al-Nusra and other groups. When ISIS pushed its way to areas controlled by the Syrian army, the battles were fierce and outcome bloody. Assad is being a pragmatic dictator in the way he uses his limited military power. Given that still the majority of Syrian army fighters are Sunnis, it is highly presumptuous to state that if elections were held today, Assad would be ousted. He is still popular the Sunni merchant class and minorities.
While no one can honestly claim that Assad is a democratically minded leader, this project seems to suffer from extreme naivete at best and propagandist intent at worst. The premise of this initiative is to blame Iran for the Syrian refugee crisis whereas any elementary student in recent history can attest that it was first the invasion of Iraq in 2003 followed by the funding/aiding of Jihadists by Saudi Arabia and Turkey that has led to the tragedy of Syria. Lack of objectivity has dramatically weakened the humanitarian message here.
Dear Mr. Cole, you refer to the launching of missiles from the Syrian side as an attack on Israel. Isn't the case that occupied Golan Heights were the target which is not an Israeli territory?
The argument that markets create states still stands; the very basis of state creation is market control, therefore regardless of which precedes the other.