Europe

By Elizabeth Drayson | (The Conversation) | – – It was the moment which set Spain on a course to become the greatest power in early modern Europe. On January 2, 1492 Abdallah Muhammad bin Ali, or Muhammad XII, known as Boabdil, the last Moorish sultan of Granada and head of the Nasrid dynasty, surrendered […]

Donald Trump

Tower of Jello: The Struggle of Russia and UAE over Tillerson’s helming of State Department

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The New Yorker reports that there was a further Steele memo, prepared by the same ex-MI6 intelligence officer who authored the notorious “golden shower” dossier, which reported Russian foreign ministry boasts that they had blocked Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as secretary of state. Romney had […]

Bashar al-Assad

Britain may join US strikes against Syria if chemical weapon use proven

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC radio “If we know that it has happened, and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful then I think we should seriously consider it.” Britain would consider joining US military strikes […]

European Union

Europe’s big Plans for Iran Trade announce Independence from Trump’s Washington

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite the significant economic problems Iran faces, and despite the real problems in unequal income distribution, Iran’s economy is seeing bright spots that the Western press rarely admits. In the year after international sanctions were lifted on the signing of the nuclear accord, spring 2016-spring 2017, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Church Shooting ‘Nothing To Do With Islam,’ Say Russian Muslim Leaders

contributors

RFE/RL | – – The mainstream Muslim leadership in Russia’s Daghestan region has condemned an attack that killed five people outside a Russian Orthodox church, saying that the suspect had “nothing to do with the true Islam.” In a February 19 statement, the office of the region’s chief mufti also extended condolences to the relatives […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is the Syria War over and has Putin won it?

contributors

By Danny Makki | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The end game is clear: Assad, Russia and Iran will emerge victorious. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L, Front) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (2nd R) view a military parade in the Russian-run Hmeimim Air Base in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, on Dec. […]

Donald Trump

Russiagate or Deep State? What Some Progressives Get Wrong on Russia

contributors

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The bizarre denialism of some on the left and right about Russiagate doesn’t bode well for the future of American politics. When it comes to the Russiagate scandal, progressives usually take one of two positions. Glenn Greenwald talking Russiagate on Fox News’ Tucker […]

Featured

Let’s remember the Schoolchildren US & Russian bombs are killing, too

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen is keeping two million children out of school (Yemen is a country of 27 million). Worse, schools and schoolchildren have repeatedly been struck from the air by Saudi, UAE, Moroccan and Jordanian pilots using American-supplied planes and bombs, in a […]

Featured

Russia warns Israel on Syria strikes, danger to Russian Troops

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Monitoring reports on a statement in Russian at the site of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reacting to the Israeli air attacks on Syria and the shoot-down by the Syrians of one Israeli fighter-jet. The Foreign ministry expressed “serious concern” over the Israeli air strikes, […]