Arab World

(Tomdispatch.com) – It’s the war from hell, the savage one that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, along with seven other Middle Eastern and North African states, have been waging in Yemen since March 2015, with fulsome support from the Pentagon and American weapons galore. It’s got everything. Dead children in the dozens, a […]

Donald Trump

US, having created 4 mn Refugees in Iraq, Slashes Immigrant cap to 30,000

Juan Cole

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the Trump administration would slash refugee admissions to 30,000 in 2019, down from 45,000 in 2018 and from 85,000 in fiscal 2016. Refugees come in numbers to the US when there is a crisis in their own country. At the same time, US policies toward refugees in […]

Syria

Putin agrees with Erdogan to Spare Syria’s Idlib from Assault if Radical Fighters Withdraw

AFP

By Maria PANINA | – Sochi (Russia) (AFP) – Moscow said Monday there would be no assault on Syria’s Idlib as the leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised zone around the Syrian rebel-held province. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who are on opposite sides […]

Donald Trump

Trump Hired Mattis After General Proposed ‘War of Annihilation’ in Syria, New Book Reveals

TeleSur

(TeleSur) – Investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s new book claims that Trump hired Mattis as Defense Secretary for proposing a “war of annihilation” against the Islamic Group in Syria. Journalist Bob Woodward’s new White House tell-all book “Fear: Trump in the White House” revealed that the current U.S. Secretary of Defense Norman James Mattis was offered […]

Iraq

Defying Trump, Iraq Parliament Elects pro-Iran Candidates on Advice of Tehran Super-Spy

Ammar Karim

Baghdad (AFP) – The Iraqi parliament elected pro-Iran candidates as speaker and first deputy speaker on Saturday, boosting the country’s chances of forming a new administration more than four months after national elections. National politics has been in paralysis since the May 12 ballot, but Saturday’s selections are expected to solidify new parliamentary alliances. The […]

Qatar

Qatar to Sue Saudi Arabia and UAE for Hacking its News Agency, Spoofing Emir

Middle East Monitor

London (Middle East Monitor) – Qatar’s Attorney General has confirmed that independent investigations have proven that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were involved in hacking into the official Qatar News Agency last year. Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri pledged to sue the two countries for “piracy” before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Al-Marri […]

Algeria

French President Admits Colonial System in Algeria Deployed Torture

AFP

Paris (AFP) – France admitted Thursday that it instigated a “system” that led to torture during Algeria’s independence war, a conflict that remains hugely sensitive six decades on. President Emmanuel Macron is set to acknowledge that mathematician Maurice Audin, a Communist pro-independence activist who disappeared in 1957, “died under torture stemming from the system instigated […]

Syria

Syria: Dutch Gov’t Prosecuted Levantine Front Member, then Admitted they Supported It

TeleSur

The government of the Netherlands is facing widespread criticism from lawmakers and citizens after it was revealed it had supported a Syrian rebel group, which Dutch prosecutors had labeled a ‘terrorist’ organization. The revelation came in a news report on Nieuwsuur, a current affairs program on public broadcasters NOS and NTR Monday. According to the […]

Iraq

Iraq: Muqtada al-Sadr demands PM Abadi Resign after Massive Basra anti-Corruption Protests

Ammar Karim

Baghdad (AFP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faced calls to resign Saturday as his alliance with a populist cleric who won May elections crumbled over deadly unrest shaking the country’s oil-rich south. The two leading groups in parliament called on Abadi to step down, after lawmakers held an emergency meeting on the public anger […]