Arab World

By Bernard Haykel | (Project Syndicate) | – – In 2017, Saudi Arabia will continue to pursue two key goals: to reduce its economy’s dependence on oil revenues and government spending; and to position the Kingdom as a regional hegemon that can meet any threat. The country’s transformation will be difficult, but it is necessary, […]

Iraq

Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad

contributors

TeleSur | – – Kurdish independence “is a reality that will come true,” said Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Kurdish parties will meet with the Iraqi government to discuss independence, reported Kurdish media on Saturday. The delegation will include five Kurdish parties, who will meet with Turkmen, Chaldean and Assyrian […]

CIA

Trump to CIA: We now have 2nd Chance to take Iraq’s Oil

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship with the US intelligence community, in part over their conviction that the Russian Federation attempted to use cyber tradecraft to interfere in the US election on behalf of Trump. His visit to the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters at Langley, […]

Iraq

The Future of Iraq? As Police Lose Control Of Streets, Militias Take Over

contributors

Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – The volunteer militias formed to fight the Islamic State group are now policing Baghdad’s neighbourhoods. But as they do, they compete with the real police, ignore the real laws and often act more like a mafia. Recently Baghdad local Jafar al-Aboudi’s son got into a fight […]

Syria

Even after Russia included US in Syria Peace Talks, can they Succeed?

contributors

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – The Middle East keeps going its way as usual, continuously creating global news headlines. Two such current and hot news events are the much awaited peace talks in Astana, the Kazakh capital, between the Syrian government and the diverse rebel groups under Russian–Turkish initiatives, and the […]

Arab Spring

Along with pardoning Manning, Obama should have repealed 1917 Espionage Act

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a daring and bold move that showed his profound humanitarian side, President Obama has commuted the 35-year sentence of Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman and former military intelligence analyst who in 2010 leaked hundreds of thousands of State Department cables and also some Iraq and […]

Foreign Policy

Is the next big US-Iran Conflict control of Iraq-Syria Border?

contributors

Mustafa Habib| (Niqash.org) | – – The border of Syria and Iraq looks likely to be the next testing ground for the newly conciliatory – yet unsteady – relationship between Iran and the US. Various powers are already jockeying for position on the frontier. As the fight against the extremist group known as the Islamic […]

Displaced and Refugees

Under Saudi Bombing, Specter of Famine Haunts Yemen’s Children

contributors

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 2017 (IPS) – Millions of Yemenis could soon face widespread famine if no action is taken to improve food access through humanitarian or trade means, an early warning system has said. Up to eight million Yemenis are severely food insecure while […]

Egypt

Pain and torture: state violence in Egypt

contributors

By Maged Mandour | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The root of state violence and torture is not poor police training, nor a political decision that can be reversed, it is the nature of the regime and the political order it has created. Arabic on the banner reads, “remove our shackles.” Cairo. 3 May 2016. […]