Arab World

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In his less than three months in office, Donald Trump has escalated four wars, and all of his escalations have been failures. To be fair, Trump inherited all 4 wars from Barack Obama– Afghanistan, Iraq v. ISIL, Leftist Kurds v ISIL in Syria, and targeting support and […]

Iraq

‘Suicide belts Everywhere’: As Iraqi Forces Close in, ISIL prepares to Drink the Coolaid

contributors

Special Correspondent | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – As pro-Iraq forces close in on the Islamic State fighters in Mosul, civilians trapped in the city with them, say the extremists roam around wearing suicide belts and appear to be ready to fight to the death. Word from inside Mosul makes it clear that the […]

Donald Trump

ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?

contributors

Peter Bartu | (OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The west has treated ISIL as enemy number one while local actors see it as a sideshow in a political arena stretching from the Mediterranean to Iran. What does the defeat of ISIL in Mosul mean for Iraq? NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. A general view shows […]

Donald Trump

Trump: We’re Not Going Into Syria . . . Unless We Do (TYT)

contributors

Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, & Jayar Jackson |The Young Turks|(Video)| – – “Our Dumbass-In-Chief can’t figure out how to not contradict himself inside the same sentence. Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, and Jayar Jackson, hosts of The Young Turks, discuss. . . “President Donald Trump on Tuesday tried to clarify his administration’s policy toward Syria after […]

Displaced and Refugees

Risk of Mass Starvation Rising Rapidly in Africa, Yemen

contributors

TeleSur | – – “This really is an absolutely critical situation that is rapidly unfolding across a large swathe of Africa from west to east.” The risk of mass starvation in four countries — northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen — is rising rapidly due to drought and conflict, the U.N. refugee agency said […]

Bashar al-Assad

Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia is not going to yield its sphere of influence in Syria to Donald Trump or anyone else. Russia has all but won the Syrian War as we speak. There is no longer any feasible pathway for the rebels to take the capital of Damascus. The […]

Copts

Sharpening Contradictions: ISIL Strikes Egyptian Christians on Palm Sunday

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility Sunday for two suicide bombings at Christian churches in Lower Egypt on Palm Sunday, which left over 40 dead and over 100 wounded. The death toll would have been higher except that an Egyptian policeman stopped the suicide bomber in Alexandria […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will the US missile strike be the turning point in Syria’s shifting war?

contributors

By Harout Akdedian | (The Conversation) | – – The US has struck the Syrian airbase used to launch a suspected sarin gas attack against Khan Sheikhun that killed more than 80 civilians. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cited the chemical attack as the reason for their country’s first direct […]

Bashar al-Assad

Al-Sadr: Russia, America and al-Assad should all get out of Syria!

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday issued a broadside demanding that Russia and the United States withdraw from Syria and that strongman Bashar al-Assad resign as president. Al-Sadr’s stand against al-Assad is unusual among Shiite movements. The Lebanese Shiite militia, Hizbullah, has entered Syria to […]