Arab World

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The prime minister of the Kingdom of Sweden on Friday said that the country would recognize the State of Palestine, becoming the first major Western European state to do so. Prime Minister Setfan Loefven said during his inaugural address that “the conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be solved with a […]

Economy

Expansion of Morocco’s Largest Solar Complex to Provide 1.1 Million Moroccans with Clean Energy

contributors

World Bank WASHINGTON, September 30, 2014 – The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$519 million project to support Morocco’s ongoing efforts to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels by developing its renewable energy resources. The project will back the government’s strategy of harnessing power from the sun through the use […]

Featured

The Alamo of the Kurds: Kobane Near Falling to ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Ismat Sheikh, commander of the Kurdish forces at the border town of Kobane (Ain al-Arab) that is besieged by ISIL tanks and artillery, says that he expects massacres of its inhabitants if it falls to the Sunni Arab extremists. He warned that ISIL fighters are less than a mile from his front […]

Education

In Iraqi Classrooms, Sunni Muslim Extremists Ban Evolution, Patriotism And Literature

contributors

By Ahmad Mohammed | Kirkuk | via Niqash.org In areas under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists, teachers have been issued a special set of instructions. Among other things they say that males and females are to be separated, all mentions of evolution are to be removed from textbooks and anything that encourages patriotism –like […]

Colonialism

Lessons from French Morocco: “Fanaticism Anxiety” about Muslims has been with us since the Colonial Era

Juan Cole

By Edmund Burke III Today we hear a great deal about the question of what went wrong in Middle Eastern societies. For an historian of the early twentieth century world, it’s déjà vu all over again. Similar questions and similar anxieties were being voiced a century ago. Very much like fin de siècle Europeans, we […]

Featured

Palestine goes to UN Security Council to Demand Israeli Withdrawal by 2016

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole AP reports that Palestine is presenting a resolution to the United Nations Security Council (through its “Arab Group”) calling for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by 2016. Palestine will argue that Israel has systematically and over decades violated all the international laws regulating military occupations, and […]

Featured

$22 Billion to Fight ISIL in same Year Congress cut $8.7 bn in Food Stamps

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole It was all the way back in February, so the memory of this headline has faded: ” Congress passes $8.7 billion food stamp cut By Ned Resnikoff It’s official: 850,000 households across the country are set to lose an average of $90 per month in food stamp benefits. The Senate on Tuesday […]

Human Rights

The Other Iraq Reality: Shiite Militias besieging Sunni Towns

contributors

By Erin Evers, HRW Shia militias, still operating under the control of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, are laying siege to Latifiyya, especially the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq militia. Failure to address the broader effects of international assistance in Iraq’s fight promises to further polarize Iraq’s communities. The spectacular conquests by the Islamic State have held […]

Barack Obama

Pretext for US Syria Bombings?: No sign that Dread “Khorasan” Group even Exists

contributors

AJ+ Imran Khan “The Khorasan Group: The U.S. government insists it’s one of the biggest threats facing the country. But until a couple of weeks ago most people had never heard of it. We talk to Imran Khan, the Al Jazeera English correspondent in Baghdad, who has a theory about what is going on.” “> […]