Arab World

RT | (Video Report) | – – “In the face of the deadly threat posed by the so-called Islamic State, many Kurdish women decide not to leave their survival to fate. Instead, they fight for their lives and their future. Taking up arms, they join the YPG – Kurdish People’s Protection Units that defend their […]

Christianity

Israel releases 16 Squatter Youth suspected in arson of Church of Loaves & Fishes

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Israeli police detained and have now released 16 young Jewish settlers, Thursday, after an overnight arson attack damaged a revered shrine in northern Israel. The arson attack struck the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where many Christians believe Jesus fed the […]

Iraq

End of Sykes-Picot: Is Independence for Iraqi Kurdistan a Decade Away?

contributors

Niqash.org | Sulaymaniyah | – – As Iraqis and Syrians fight, Kurds are holding elections and drafting laws. After Kurds also won in Turkish elections, nationalists hope the 100th birthday of the Sykes-Picot may be its last and borders will be redrawn. As Turkish voters went to the polling booths, Iraq’s Kurds were watching eagerly. […]

Apartheid

Israel’s Ultranationalist Squatters March in Jerusalem, beat Palestinian Journalist

contributors

Channel 4 News | (Video Documentary) | – – “Bussed in from nearby settlements, Israel’s ultranationalist right were defiant at a rally for Jerusalem day this year. Hardline views have become more influential than ever in Israel – with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wider public. Inigo Gilmore went to meet the settlers.” […]

Arab World

Women’s Voices Matter, especially in the Middle East

contributors

By Lauren Feeney | (Informed Comment) – – Before there were nine million Syrian refugees, civil wars in Yemen and Libya, mass death sentences being handed down in Egypt, there was a moment of profound hope. It is easy to lose track of the emotions that first defined the Arab Spring among headlines full of […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Arabia Lashing Blogger Reveals What Religion Fears Most

contributors

Cenk Uygur & John Iadarola | (The Young Turks Video) | – – “The public flogging of jailed blogger Raif Badawi is now “sure” to resume after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld his sentence at the weekend, his wife has told The Independent. Ensaf Haidar spoke out amid growing fears among human rights groups that […]

Featured

Pres. Erdogan sees Syrian Kurds’ advance against ISIL as “danger” to Turkey

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leftist Kurdish Protection Forces (YPG) and their Arab allies, the Euphrates Volcano, continued their assault on Sunday on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) positions in northern Raqqa Province in Syria, taking the village of Salouk on the outskirts of Tel Abyad. Tel Abyad lies on the border […]

Iraq

Next year in Mosul: Iraqi Kurds cut off ISIL/ Daesh Supply Lines

contributors

VICE News | (Video report) | – “A year after the Islamic State’s lightning conquest of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international coalition’s only reliable boots on the ground in northern Iraq. The Pentagon’s hopes of recapturing the city by spring 2015 have been dashed by […]