By RFE/RL The Islamic State initially exhibited some restraint after entering northwestern Iraq in June, focusing on establishing control of the territories it held and gaining the trust of local Sunni communities. But as the self-declared caliphate has grown more comfortable in its surroundings, it has revealed its radical aims by destroying anything that conflicts […]
Archives for July 2014
Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness
By Juan Cole Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying its only power plant. Gaza can no longer generate its own electricity. Without electricity, the water purification plants cannot operate and the drinking water ends up being mixed with sewage or salt water. Without electricity, patients on life support […]
Abushagur reported kidnapped
By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab. Tripoli, 29 July 2014: Former Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur has been kidnapped according to reports, although it has not been confirmed. Abushagur, who was elected in Suq Al-Juma last month as one its five members of the new House of Representatives, is said by an intelligence source to have been seized […]
Gaza: Palestinians “Philosophical,” Israel “foils Foreign Infiltration” during 1957 Occupation (British “Report”)
By Juan Cole This British “report” suggests that Palestinians in Gaza were all right with being militarily occupied by the Israeli army in 1956-1957 before an absolutely furious President Dwight Eisenhower forced PM David Ben Gurion to withdraw. (Israel, Britain and France had jointly launched an unprovoked war of aggression on Egypt in late October, […]
Weapons paid for by US are Missing in Afghanistan: Did they go to the Taliban?
By Luke Johnson via RFE/RL Weapons bought and paid for by the United States for Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have gone missing, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released on July 28. The Department of Defense has provided the ANSF with 747,000 weapons since 2004 for approximately $626 […]
Israel seeks to force 400,000 People from Homes in North Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Israeli military on Monday evening sent text messages and phone calls to residents of all cities in the northern Gaza Strip and parts of Gaza City telling them to evacuate their homes “immediately,” potentially displacing more than 400,000 people. The military said in a statement that it had told the […]
America’s Dumbest Politician On Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (The Young Turks)
By Cenk Uygur “Just one day after international watchdogs said Iran was complying with demands to scale back its nuclear program, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) called for the country to be bombed because of the conflict in Gaza. “Mr. Speaker, in Israel right now, there is a battle for peace,” he said Tuesday on the […]
Unlike Iraq, Iran, Libya, N. Korea, Israel has Impunity from Defying UNSC (Gaza Ceasefire)
By Juan Cole The United Nations Security Council is theoretically a sort of sovereign in international law. If it designates a regime like that of Gaddafi in Libya as a threat to international peace, it can deputize the nations of the world to remove it. One major exception to UNSC authority is Israel, which routinely […]
The Persecution of Christians by ISIS contradicts idea of a Caliphate
By Erica C D Hunter, SOAS, University of London – via The Conversation ISIS conquests across northern Iraq have been comprehensive in recent weeks. Taking control of large parts of the region, they declared a Caliphate last month. And one group who have especially suffered at their hands are the Christians that have been a […]
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