By Haidar Khezri | – Kurdish fighters under attack by Turkey have described President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria as a “stab in the back.” Since bombing began on Oct. 9, Turkish military operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, Washington’s staunchest and most effective allies in the […]
As Turkish troops move in to Syria, the risks are great – including for Turkey itself
By Mehmet Ozalp | – Turkey did not waste much time in launching an attack on Syrian soil just days after US President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw US forces from northern Syria. As this development opens a new chapter in Syria, Turkey maybe unwittingly sinking deeper into that country’s civil war. This is […]
Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for Freeing Ethiopia’s Dissidents, but Challenges still Await
By Mohammed Girma | – Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He becomes the 100th Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the first Ethiopian to receive the accolade. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock Abiy is the 12th winner from Africa to be awarded the prize. Last year it […]
Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds
By James L. Gelvin | – Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike anything I have seen in more than 30 years studying the Middle East. In a surprise Oct. 6 statement, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw its troops […]
Did Bush put Iraq on Road to Democracy? Not to Judge by the Violent Crackdown on Protesters
By Balsam Mustafa | – When Muhanad Habib, a 22-year-old Iraqi from the Sadr City district of Baghdad, posted on Facebook in late September, he probably didn’t imagine that his demands for a better life and basic rights would be met with bullets. It will be a huge and angry public revolution in Baghdad … […]
On Yom Kippur, remembering the Diversity Iraq’s Mosul has Lost with Nationalism and ISIL
By Stephennie Mulder | – On Yom Kippur each year, as Jews around the world pray for atonement, the biblical Book of Jonah is read in its entirety. Jews recall the story of how God summons Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell its inhabitants to turn from their evil deeds. At […]
Trump decision to withdraw troops from Syria opens way for dangerous Middle East power play
By Tony Walker | – US President Donald Trump’s precipitate announcement he was withdrawing American forces from northeast Syria to enable Turkey to assert its authority along the border risks wider regional bloodshed – and further destabilisation of one of the world’s most volatile corners. If implemented against a furious pushback from his own side […]
Lots of Countries have Enriched Uranium – How Iran’s Program Fell on the Wrong Side of History
By Joseph O’Mahoney | – As tensions remain at fever pitch between Tehran and Washington, Iran continues to breach limits agreed in the 2015 Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Since Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in May 2018, its future has become more and more uncertain. […]
Why Trump’s bad Nixon imitation may cost him the presidency
By Ken Hughes | – Whatever Donald Trump does, Richard Nixon usually did it first and better. Nixon got a foreign government’s help to win a presidential election over 50 years ago. Trump’s imitation of the master has proven far from perfect, and that may cost him the presidency. Trump’s first mistake was soliciting foreign […]