Europe

Clouds of War: Russia sends Warships as Turkey kills 45 Syrian Troops and blackmails Europe with Migration

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey and Russia engaged in a tense dance of negotiation and threat on Friday in the wake of the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers in an air strike the previous day. Russian sources maintained that the Turkish troops were “where they were not supposed to be,” and were nested among […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey mobilizes for war with Syria and Russia as Nearly 3 Dozen Turkish Troops Killed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that nearly three dozen Turkish soldiers in a barracks in Syria were killed Friday by an air strike. Although most reports say that the bombing was carried out by the Syrian Air Force, some Syria experts suggest that it was instead done by the Russian Aerospace Forces, […]

Bernie Sanders

Why the Russian Petro-state is actually terrified of a Bernie Sanders Presidency: The Green New Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused by Western intelligence agencies of seeking to interfere in the 2020 US elections in favor of Donald Trump on the right and in favor of Bernie Sanders on the left. But guess what, Russia doesn’t actually want Bernie to win. At all. Moscow […]

Bernie Sanders

Russia wants Trump reelected, and may be Making a Bet that Bernie Sanders can’t Defeat Him (They’re Wrong)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Julia Arciga at The Daily Beast writes that the Bernie Sanders campaign is convinced that notorious far right wing internet troll Richard Grenell, whom Trump wants to make acting Director of National Intelligence, is the source of the leak that Russia is backing the Sanders campaign. At the same time, […]

Featured

White Terrorism targeting Innocent Muslims in Germany is not termed “Terrorism”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Thursday, a racist extremist went to two shisha bars in Hanau, Germany, randomly shooting the people there. Since smoking hookah is a Middle Eastern custom, he clearly thought he could be sure of killing Muslims at these establishments. He killed a pregnant woman and bar staff, leaving at least […]

Russia

As Tensions Flare between Russia and Turkey in Syria, will Trump be Drawn in on side of Ankara?

Middle East Monitor

By Bakr Sidqi | – Amid international neglect of the tragedy of an additional one million displaced individuals from the “de-escalation” zones in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, Moscow and Ankara announced that the talks that took place on Monday and Tuesday failed to reach any new understandings. “We did not accept the […]

Russia

In Syria’s Idlib, Turkey is trying to play middle man between Russia and the US – with little success

The Conversation

By Umut Korkut and Tarik Basbugoglu | – The recent turn of events in Idlib, an opposition stronghold in north-western Syria undergoing bombardment by the Syrian military, has put Turkey in a difficult position. Since the end of January, Syrian regime forces have killed 13 Turkish soldiers who were monitoring a tense ceasefire in Idlib. […]

Featured

Will the new, Left-led Ireland Recognize Palestine and Boycott Israeli Squatters?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – That the Left has swept to power in Ireland may position that country to play an important role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The European Union member states sometimes rail against their irrelevance on foreign policy. Despite Europe’s enormous population (pop. 445 million vs. 320 million in the U.S.) and a […]

Bashar al-Assad

Humanitarian Catastrophe as Syrian Army Advances on Idlib, 750K Displaced since Fall

Middle East Monitor

By Elif Selin Calik | @CalikSelin | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Last December, Robert Malley, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, penned an article for the Foreign Affairs magazine, addressing the topic: “The Unwanted Wars: Why the Middle East Is More Combustible Than Ever.” Today, at the peak of the […]