Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani has written a letter to the parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government announcing that he will not run for president again and will go out of office on November 1 as his much-extended term of office ends. Barzani had taken heart from […]

Iraq

Iraq: How Youtube & Facebook Fake News Raised Kurdish-Shiite Tensions

Juan Cole

By Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – After clashes in northern Iraq this week, hundreds of fake pictures have flooded Iraqi social media. Some are real, some not, but leaders on both sides say it’s leading to a dangerous escalation of tensions. Given the partisan nature of much of the media funding […]

Feminism

Saudi women between online resistance and new physical realities

contributors

Heyla Selim | ( GlobalVoices.net ) | – – What role did collective action, and social media play in Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women driving? Picture of the author taken in 2015 by Lujain Mirza as part of her research project about visual representation of Saudi Women at Brighton University. All […]

Featured

Continued Conflict: Iraqi PM rejects Kurdish offer, insists Referendum be Annulled

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi was in Tehran on Thursday for consultations with the Iranian government (no, Abadi isn’t afraid of Trump.). During his meeting with Iranian vice president Ishaq Jahangiri, his office released a statement replying to Massoud Barzani. Barzani is the president of the […]

Iraq

Iraqi Arabs & Kurds Use Weapons, Meant For Extremists, On Each Other

contributors

Shalaw Mohammed | (Kirkuk) | (Niqash.org) | – – The countries that gave the Iraqi and Kurdish military rockets, vehicles and guns were concerned that locals might turn the guns on one another. They just didn’t think it would happen so soon. In the various military skirmishes that have erupted during the movement of troops […]

Arab Spring

Women as a force for Democracy in Repressive Egypt

contributors

Anwar Mhajne and Crystal M Whetstone | The Conversation | – – Democracies in sub-Saharan and North Africa have regressed in recent years. Ethnic and religious minorities, political opposition, women and the LGBT community still struggle for equal rights and the right not to experience violence. Activists throughout Africa, many of them women, are working […]

Featured

Top 7 ways Saudi could learn from Qatar about Moderate Islam

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman has announced that he wants to take his kingdom toward a more moderate Islam. The state religion of Saudi Arabia is what outsiders call Wahhabism, a puritanical and strident interpretation of the religion. Only about 40% of Saudis are thought […]

Featured

Fading ISIL in Syria lashes out, kills 128 in reprisals as Gov’t takes back Town

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The so-called Islamic State group of Syria and Iraq, which locals call Daesh (in US, it is ISIS or ISIL), needs a new name. It hardly exists in either of those countries, much less as a state. Maybe “Losers anywhere” would work for them. The extremists, […]

GCC

Kuwait, Terrified of Gulf Depression, Frantically Mediating Saudi-Qatar Crisis

contributors

Nicolai Due-Gundersen | (The Conversation) | – – A blockade against Qatar by its Gulf neighbours is now in its fifth month. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates severed socio-economic ties with Qatar as punishment for its alleged support of terrorism and interference in their affairs. As well as hurting Qatar’s economy, […]