military

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – This morning, according to the Syria Observatory and the Arabic press some 500 Sunni Arab rebels based in Turkey crossed back into Syria to help defend the town of Azaz from the YPG miitia of Syrian Kurds, which is advancing on the city. They were allowed […]

military

Are Outside Interventions in Syria undermining Int’l Law & our own Security?

contributors

By Ingvild Bode | (The Conversation) | – – Since 2012, the war in Syria has lurched from one escalation to another. Syrians have been subjected to large-scale military force not only by their own government, but also by an array of rebel groups, Islamic State (IS), a US-led coalition and other states. The results […]

Egypt

Mexican Tour Organizers, Buddhist Healers, Baffled by Egyptian Army Attack

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Gabriela Bejarano Rangel, the sister and daughter of the Mexican organizers of the tour to Egypt that met with tragedy Sunday, has been interviewed at Excelsior.com. The Egyptian military mistook the tourist convoy in the western desert near Siwa Oasis for terrorists and attacked them, killing […]

Kurds

Fighting at Funerals: Turkey plunges back into Conflict

contributors

T. Deniz Erkmen | (Informed Comment) | – – It has been a month since the government of Turkey has ended the tenuous peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), by bombing Qandil mountains in Iraq and rounding up Kurdish activists. What instigated the resumption of the conflict was the killing of two […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey’s Snap Elections: Erdoğan is forcing his people to take sides

contributors

By Bahar Baser and Ahmet Erdi Öztürk | (The Conversation) | – – Ever since the June 2015 elections, which thwarted the proposed presidential system that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long craved, Turkey has been hurtling into one of its most turbulent periods in decades. And with a snap election called for November 2015, […]

Climate Change

Water Being Used as Weapon of War in Syrian Conflict, UN Warns

contributors

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer. | (Commondreams.org) | – – Compounded by scorching heat wave, Syrians are experiencing ‘deliberate’ water cut-offs, often for weeks at a time The United Nations on Tuesday said it has reason to believe that groups in the Syrian conflict are using the country’s scarce water supply as a weapon of […]

Featured

Is Israeli military using Barak in struggle w/ Netanyahu over Iran Deal?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – – The revelations from former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s memoir keep coming. Another excerpt was broadcast by Israel’s Channel 2 on Sunday. Barak gave the interviews as background to his autobiography “Wars (Milhamot) of my Life.” “Bibi is weak, he doesn’t…he doesn’t want to take tough steps […]

Authoritarianism

How Islamic State is moving its Egyptian battle from Sinai to Cairo

contributors

By Natasha Ezrow | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a powerful car bomb detonated outside a state security building in northern Cairo which injured 29 people, including six policemen. The Egyptian ministry claimed that: “A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped […]

Authoritarianism

Huge ISIL Blast at Cairo Security Bldg. Injures 29; Sisi Security Claims in Tatters

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – An enormous explosion damaged a building housing secret police in a northern district of Cairo (Shubra al-Khayma) on Thursday early morning, wounding nearly 30 persons, including 6 police personnel, who were transferred to hospital for treatment. Two different branches of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility, the […]