Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The intrepid Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima report at WaPo that anonymous US intelligence officials have decided to go public with what they know about the attempt of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to frame Qatar. The hacking attack on May 23 that planted fake news, […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Bloc: Qatar’s Al Jazeera can Stay, it Just has to Report as We Say

contributors

TeleSur | – – Al Jazeera said it rejects any “external intervention” and reiterates its “independence and professional editorial stance.” The four Arab countries currently boycotting Qatar are set to drop their demand that the Al Jazeera Media Network be shut down, a United Arab Emirates minister said. The closure of the Qatar-based broadcaster and […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump & Macron Consult on Syria Cease Fire in Shadow of Don Jr. Scandal

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – French President Emmanuel Macron and his American counterpart Donald J. Trump consulted on a number of bilateral issues on Wednesday, including cooperation in Syria and Iraq. Trump says he was in France to attend Bastille Day and commemorate the centenary of the entry of the US […]

Iraq

Does Sunni Fragmentation after ISIL threaten Iraq’s Future?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – As the date for a Baghdad summit on unity nears, the cracks are showing. It seems the country’s Sunni politicians can’t even get together to discuss their possible unity, in post-Islamic State Iraq. In mid-July, there is to be a conference in Baghdad for Sunni […]

Arab World

Arab Youth Bulge: Could this Generation Explode Again?

contributors

By IPS World Desk ROME/AMMAN (IPS) – More than ever before, the Arab region now registers an unprecedented youth population growth while facing huge challenges such as extremely high unemployment rates –more than half of all regional jobless population–, and inadequate education and health provision, in particular among young women. These challenges come amidst increasing […]

Iraq

Rolex “Caliph” of ISIL Dead: Syrian Observatory

contributors

TeleSur | – – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death has been widely speculated for months. Reports from the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SOHR, claim that ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed. “(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside […]

Iraq

Can the Liberation of Mosul begin to free the Mideast from Fundamentalism?

contributors

By Balsam Mustafa | (The Conversation) | – – After an offensive lasting nearly nine months, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, walked through the streets of Mosul on July 9 after Iraqi forces backed by US-led coalition airstrikes “liberated” the city from so-called Islamic State (IS). Abadi was there to congratulate security forces for […]

Corruption

Hobby Lobby caught smuggling Iraqi Antiquities (TYT)

contributors

Cenk Uygur and Brett Erlich | (The Young Turks News Video) || – – “Hobby Lobby just got caught smuggling. Cenk Uygur and Brett Erlich, the hosts of The Young Turks, tell you what they were smuggling. “(CNN)Hobby Lobby agreed to forfeit thousands of artifacts from modern-day Iraq and pay a $3 million fine to […]

Featured

Iraqi Gov’t declares “mighty Triumph” over ISIL in Mosul, as Sunni Press decries Casualties

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Al-Mada reports that 24 hours after Mosul was completely liberated from the hold of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi visited it and walked around the city. Photos on his official Twitter site showed him in black military garb. Al-Abadi convened a meeting with leaders […]