Europe

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia’s aerial intervention in Syria is apparently yielding some modest battlefield advances for the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia is also resupplying the Syrian Arab Army, training it in tactics, and giving it strategic advice. The big news is that Russia airstrikes on the secret […]

Left Politics

Will Spain’s Bernie Sanders be a power Broker in wake of Elections?

contributors

By Paul Kennedy | (The Conversation) | – – Although Spain’s two big parties technically remain the largest after this year’s general election, they find themselves in a radically transformed political landscape – and neither has a clear mandate to govern. The Popular Party (PP), which secured its best ever result in 2011, winning 186 […]

Russia

Flash Point: Could Turkey block Russian access to Mediterrranean?

contributors

By Tony Wesolowsky | ( RFE/ RL) | – – Could Turkey block Russia’s access to one of the world’s most strategic waterways? That question has arisen with mutual relations in a southward spiral since the Turkish air force downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on November 24. It arguably took on added […]

Featured

Russo-Turkish Conflict over Syria & Iraq Boils: “Manifestations of impotent Rage”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Turkish and Russian government have continued their war of words that followed on the shooting down of an Su-25 bomber on Nov. 24. Issues include a new Turkish accusation that Russian bombing in the north of Latakia province aims at ethnically cleansing the Turkmen populations […]

European Union

Global Outrage at Trump Islamophobia; French PM: “Mr Trump…is feeding hatred and misinformation”

contributors

Euractiv.com | – – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump yesterday (8 December) defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, comparing his plan to the World War Two detainment of Japanese-Americans in an attempt to dismiss growing outrage from around the world. On Monday (7 December), the billionaire conservative called for blocking […]

al-Qaeda

How Turkish President Erdogan went Wrong: Dividing and Not Ruling

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Receb Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, was once seen as a political breath of fresh air and a beacon of change in the Middle East. Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia and other countries in the region were locked into an unhealthy political gridlock. The […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin: Turkey was protecting ISIL oil Smuggling; Russia urges Assad-Kurdish Alliance

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in Paris that his government had intelligence that the reason Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last week was to protect oil smuggling from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) through Turkey. Putin said, “”We have every reason to think that the […]

France

ISIL/ Daesh exults at our loss of Liberties: “8 Men caused a nationwide state of emergency”

contributors

by Charles Kurzman | ISLAMiCommentary Two years ago, al-Qaeda’s Iraqi franchise took Raqqa, Syria, from al-Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, and was promptly kicked out of al-Qaeda. Within the year, the rulers of Raqqa proclaimed themselves “the Islamic State” and embarked on a global campaign to spread their so-called caliphate throughout the world. The group’s attacks this […]

Economy

Turkey reels as Putin imposes Stiff Economic Sanctions

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian sanctions announced by President Vladimir Putin on Saturday could have a severe impact on the Turkish economy. It is not clear whether President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu did not expect this severe a reaction to the shoot-down of a Russian fighter […]