History

Stephen Dale/ Joseph Preville/ Julie Harbin | (ISLAMICommentary) | – – Column » ‘By the Book’ with Joseph Preville by JOSEPH RICHARD PREVILLE and JULIE POUCHER HARBIN for ISLAMiCommentary on JANUARY 7, 2016: Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was a colossus among Muslim scholars. Stephen Frederic Dale gives us a portrait of this extraordinary man in his […]

Featured

Top 5 Things for which We should be grateful to Arabic Writing

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When a teacher in rural Augusta county, Virginia, decided to expose her students to the Arabic script (a piece of calligraphy writing out the Muslim profession of faith), the backlash from some furious parents so hinted at violence that county schools had to be closed for […]

Archaeology

In Iraq’s Ur, Archeologists Explore History’s Potential to Unite A Divided Land

Juan Cole

By Ahmad Thamer Jihad | (Niqash.org) | – – The best way to combat the damage done to Iraq’s antiquities during the current security crisis is to put more effort into exploring and maintaining the ancient sites that extremists cannot reach, says Abdulamir al-Hamdani , an Iraqi archeologist who was studying at Stony Brook University […]

History

ISIS and the Abuse of History

contributors

By Akil N. Awan and A. Warren Dockter | ( History Today) | – – Volume 66 Issue 1, January 2016 N. B. IC house style is Daesh, but this is a reprint from elsewhere). The defeat of ISIS can only be achieved if we take a long view and question the Jihadists’ simplistic interpretation […]

Colonialism

Western Invasions can’t fix the Middle East because they wrecked the Middle East

contributors

By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | – – MADRID (IPS) – One hundred years ago, on 6 May 1916, two men, Briton Sir Mark Sykes and French diplomat François Georges-Picot, were entrusted by their respective governments with a rather exceptional task. That task, which initially counted with the assent of the Tsarist Russia, […]

History

Vacuum of Knowledge: What you Need to know about the History of Syria

contributors

Via ISLAMICommentary Column » ‘By the Book’ with Joseph Preville by JOSEPH RICHARD PREVILLE and JULIE POUCHER HARBIN for ISLAMiCommentary on DECEMBER 4, 2015: Is there a more tragic country in the world today than Syria ? How did it descend into chaos, conflict, and crisis? John McHugo offers some answers in Syria: A History […]

Climate Change

This Year Thanksgiving overlaps Paris Climate Summit: Let’s be Thankful we can Do Something

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Reprint edn. The popular story about Thanksgiving is an environmental parable that we would do well to remember today. It was a harvest festival in 1621, participated in by the 50 (out of 100) survivors at Plymouth Plantation and 90 Native Americans. Some of these latter, such as […]

History

Lessons for the West on Immigrants & Exclusion from the Age of the ‘Bomb-throwing Anarchist’

contributors

By Akil N. Awan | (The National Interest) | – – The bearded young terrorist furtively slipped amongst the oblivious theatergoers. Glancing around to ensure he had not aroused suspicion, he looked out over the crowded throngs in the theater. Blissfully unaware of the carnage that awaited them, they laughed and reveled in their petty […]

Archaeology

Brutal Bombing of Yemen risks Destroying its Cultural Heritage along with Civilian Lives

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Parties to Yemen’s armed conflict should take all necessary measures to protect Sanaa’s Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. International humanitarian law provides special protections to buildings and other structures that are part of humanity’s cultural heritage. Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, has been controlled for the past […]